When we face a difficult situation, to what extent do we accept that situation as destiny and to what extent do we take responsibility for fixing the situation? This is a question that has tormented the human mind throughout history and may torment our minds as well.
The key to answering this question is to consider what happens when we go to either extreme. If we consider destiny alone as the sole deciding factor in determining results, then we are abdicating the opportunity and the responsibility that we have to do things properly. For example, if we consider life to be like a war, then how are we facing our present difficulties? Essentially, we are not even fighting the battles that we should be fighting and the battles that we could be winning. For example, if we are facing health issues like being overweight due to inappropriate or excessive eating, then to say that our body size is just due to destiny and not taking responsibility, is incorrect. With better diet management, we can decrease our weight, improve our health and fitness, and thereby be more functional and effective during the course of our future life. If we don’t fight the battles that we can and should be fighting, then we won’t be winning them at all, and we will subject ourselves to unnecessary suffering.
On the other hand, if we let the pendulum go to the other extreme and fixate on things that we have no control over at all, then we may end up fighting battles that were lost long ago. For example, if we have some incurable health condition because of which our body blows up and we gain weight, then regulating our diet can help, but fixating over not just our body size but also on why we have the disease will simply waste our emotional energy which could otherwise have been used to create a better life even with that health condition. If we’re constantly resenting the situation we find ourselves in when there’s nothing that can be done to change that particular situation, then we are fighting a battle that is not just lost, but already lost long ago, with no chance of winning or changing that result, at least with respect to that specific issue. Accepting that certain conditions may be inevitable and inescapable can free our mental energy to fight other more productive battles.
The negative mentalities that are associated with either extreme are associated with a perverse determination in the mode of ignorance (18.35) — which is something Gita wisdom strongly urges us to avoid.
Summary:
The refusal to accept destiny keeps us fighting battles that were lost long ago, refusal to accept responsibility stops us from fighting battles that can and should be fought and can and should be won.
Think it over:
- What is the dilemma that has perplexed the human mind since time immemorial?
- What happens when we deny the role of human responsibility?
- What happens when we deny the reality of destiny?
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18.35: And that determination which cannot go beyond dreaming, fearfulness, lamentation, moroseness and illusion – such unintelligent determination, O son of Prutha, is in the mode of darkness.
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