Going by Tavayogi's words and the teachings of the Siddhas, we are here to work on our destiny. And in doing it we are bound to live through our fate. The https://grammar.yourdictionary.com/ explains these beautifully.
The universe has an order. No matter how hard you try, you can’t get away from it. However, while fate is set by outside forces, destiny involves choice. By definition, fate is those outside forces establishing the preordained path of your life despite what you do. You can’t control the Fate. Given its definition, it should come as no surprise ‘fate’ comes from the Latin, fatum, meaning has been spoken. Imagine you get on a bus to go to work and it gets a flat tire, which leads to you missing your job interview. These events were beyond your control. That’s fate.
While
Fate is outside your control, however, you can shape destiny with your choices. Why? Because destiny is your future. Coming from the Latin term destinare, which means intended or firmly established, destiny hasn’t already been determined. Therefore, the changes that you make will affect your destiny in life.
Destiny is all about your traits determining your future. And, you have the choice to change your destiny by choosing differently. An interesting way to visualize destiny is to think about walking a path. However, your choice to take a fork in the road changes your path.
In other terms, the difference between fate and destiny is: "The former is predetermined while the latter depends on your choices. While fate is concrete and determined by the cosmos, destiny depends on your choices in life."
If Agathiyar initially had us carry out remedies or parikaram after revealing our past deeds and faults that formed our karma through Nadi readings and gave us hope that we could change or mend our past acts and all shall be well we later came to know that just as a vase that is broken although pieced together and glued carries the marks, even with having done remedies we carry the remnants of our past into the future. The only way to heal or rid the past that comes as traits and character suffering and illness etc is to bring a reformation and transformation from deep within in our thoughts and actions and in our very cells. So did Agathiyar lie to us on the onset? Are the words of the Siddhas or Siddhan Vaakku false?
If he had told us that we had to live with it, our lives would seem doomed. Instead, he gave us some hope in the beginning of a change or a silver lining. As one gains Gnanam or wisdom traveling his path he begins to accept the truth that karma can never be done with completely. What we can do is make the future both now and in a future birth brighter.
A friend from Slovenia sent me a PDF book published online by Amitabha Pureland at http://www.amtbweb.org" titled "Changing Destiny - A Commentary on Liaofan's Four Lessons by Master Chin Kung" last night that was very timely too. We are told that the reason to reform was to avoid misfortune and to accumulate good fortune.
The first lesson, which is about cause and effect, concentrates on building up the confidence in an individual’s ability to alter destiny and the ways in which to do so. The second and third lessons emphasize the methods to accomplish this; thus, they are concerned mainly with the ways to refrain from wrongdoings and theways to accumulate virtues.
Liaofan carefully wrote down the principles and methods that the master had taught him in changing his destiny and passed them on to his son, hoping that he too would cultivate following this method. Liaofan had received remarkable results from this practice and thus firmly believed in all the principles and methods that the master had taught.
This was the first lesson from Agathiyar too. The Siddhas too transferred their knowledge to those keen to seek their way telling us that if it worked for them, it should work for us too. As Tavayogi, Agathiyar, and many saints of the past asked us to question our purpose in being here rather than live a mundane life, we learn the same from the above book.
If we live for the present and procrastinate, we will remain bound by our fates. How we are born and die, where we will go after we die all accords with our destinies. Master Yungu called people like this ordinary, philistines who blindly follow what has been destined. They are what the Buddha called “pitiable beings.”
The Book of History explains, “Destiny exists but it is changeable. Destiny is not set, but is created and determined by ourselves.”
- Are our present actions completely determined by our past karma?is there something called free will?
- Hi. I commented a few days earlier about karma questions. They are kind of solved now. I really love your blog, and it is my only hope! Actually, I want to share with you my story! I think you are the only one who will understand. I actually read a lot of false spirituality stuff that made me believe that God is a maniac who has already fixed our destiny, and we cannot do anything about it. It also told that the Atman is a prisoner inside its own body and the body behaves of on its own, and we have to endure the effects of the karma that we didn't create in the first place. Through your blog, I understood that the Atman acts through the body!
"Did Agasthiar himself say that one is fated to read the nadi. if it is so then u r fated to change your fate. in short fate rules. this cant be right. and also in another writing on ur blog u mentioned that agasthiar told that 3 peoples karma was dissolved. and they would go to a temple as per fate. how is fate prevalent even after karma is dissolved? i m asking these questions with a sincere approach and humbly to know more about the siddhas. please reply dad."
Awakening—the beginning of enlightenment—is being able to detect our faults daily. To know our faults daily is to awaken daily. As we discover our faults daily, we need to correct them. This is cultivation. As practitioners who chant the Buddha’s name, if we are able to correct one fault daily and be mindful of Buddha Amitabha, then in three year’s time we will be reborn into either the high or middle levels of the Pure Land. If we were to find and correct one fault a day then we would become a sage or virtuous person in three years.This is the way to cultivate to become a Buddha. It is the true achievement in the cultivation of great sages and virtuous people, and is the key to changing our destinies, to leaving suffering behind, and to attaining happiness.
And so Agathiyar set us doing remedies with the thought initially that we shall rid us of the baggage of karma that has brought on us great sufferings. But in doing these remedies what happens is certain subtle changes take place within us. For instance, we begin to step into temples if we had not done so before that. Soon we learn about Sariyai or living in the world of Siva as a devotee and servant. The Muladhara chakra opens. A yearning to know more arises in him. The thought of God forever in him awakens the Svadishthana chakra. Our seeking should end there for soon Siva comes to us as a guru bringing us his teachings. A master-disciple relationship starts. With an initiation, his Manipura Chakra opens. The fire of initiation and the mantra burn and clear the path ahead. Along the way, compassion opens up in our hearts as we are told to look around and see all beings as Siva and serve all. The heart chakra or Anahata Chakra opens. The guru then leads us on to Yoga, that with practice opens the Vishudi Chakra, and eventually steps aside and watches us in bliss as we make progress and enter the kingdom of God at the Ajna Chakra. If we had taken several tools such as devotion and bakti as in sariyai, the mantras and rituals as in Kriyai, taking the breath as a tool now we make speedy progress bringing/ breaking all doors down. From Ajna we are led by the hand by the divine himself to explore the further frontiers of his kingdom. He immerses us in constant bliss and makes us revel in his creation. We begin to appreciate him and his work. We return from that state never to make a fuss of things ever. We accept all that is given and showered and are grateful. All seeking and hoarding stops. We return as a changed person. We have attained the state of Gnanam having seen the subtle and internal workings of God. We settle in silence and just begin to watch. For some selected souls they are permitted to bring this news to others. They go about as a guru bringing others to attain the same state.