Fate (adrsta) and Self-effort (prayatna)

 Namaste.

I have been reading a wonderful article on fate (adrshta) and self-effort (prayatna or saadhana) written by Sw, Advayananda in one of the past issues of Tapovan Prasad magazine of Chinmaya Mission.  In it, the Swami clarifies the difference in these two word meanings, though people generally mix and match these two words.

Fate (adrshta) or otherwise also called destiny,  is the external situation and may be caused due to a person's (or group of people, country etc.) past activities.  They are like the result of the action (karmic phala), whether good or bad.  These results could be immediate or it could be many months/years later.  They are generated through the actions from the vasanas of the person  (or group/country etc.) .  If the vasanas are good, the actions and the results are good. Reverse is true as well.

Self effort (prayatna or saadhana) on the other hand, is the 'persistent'  (good) effort from the individual to continue doing his/her ethical and responsible (dharmic) responsibilities, irrespective of the external situations due to the fate (adrshta) or other results of past actions (karmic phala).  This comes out of the mind and intellect layers of the personality.  It is based on the basic belief in the divinity of life, goodness of the environment and overall evolution of the mankind towards a higher maturity and progress.

The important point on the above two is where and how it impacts our human personality layers.  As Swami Advayananda says in his article, the destiny only expresses in the realm of the external world as situations that are productive of pleasure (sukha) and pain (dukha). It impacts our gross body level activities only, and does not have access to the realm of emotions or control the intellect whereby it can overwhelm the individual's very capacity to feel, think, decide or function.  Self effort on the other hand is driven mainly from the mind and intellect layers of the individual.

Hence fate (or destiny) is definitely very different from that which individuals could claim is the power that forces them to do something (bad or good).   We may not be able to control our destiny or fate, as it is the result of the past actions, but we could definitely control and direct our self-effort to better, ethical and responsible (dharmic) activities and work.

Hari Om.