Niyati, the play of destiny

It is a fascinating and challenging subject to explain, but we'll explore this nevertheless.

We will first define what Niyati means and then try to explain this concept with simple examples. However, before we define what it means, it would be appropriate for us to understand the other law of nature called gravity. Assuming we did not understand the law of gravity like most children under the age of 5, we would do some crazy things, such as falling from a building. Most people don't do such crazy things because we inherently understand we don't know the art of falling.

However, people who have learned this art and are comfortable doing it are working within the realm of the law and only occasionally get hurt if they aren't careful. Similarly, it is wise for us to know and understand this law of nature called "Niyati".

Niyati is a Sanskrit word; in Shaivism, it means "Chit Shakti of Shiva", and in Buddhism, they attribute this force that leads or carries forward something.

In the modern English dictionary, it means fate or destiny, and a few years back, an author called it the "law of attraction". But the author did not mention two more attributes of the law of attraction, without which we cannot fully understand how it works.

We'll call this law — Niyati or destiny because it is simple to understand and also the best way to describe the working of this law.

Let us understand how this law works with a simple example.

Take a bucket of water and start dropping water droplets; we'll see the ripple waves forming, and these ripples will return to their origin at a certain period of time. It will dissolve slowly but surely depending on variables such as strength and the frequency of the droplets, and this is how Niyati works.

Remember I mentioned Niyati is incomplete without its two attributes. These attributes are (One) the Law of Karma and (Two) the Law of Rebirth. We might ask how these two attributes are interconnected with Niyati; remember the water droplet in the example; the droplets are nothing but our karmas. I have explained karma in chapter two titled "What is Karma and Suffering".

And the other is the law of rebirth. To understand rebirth or after-life, kindly read chapter three titled
"Is there an afterlife".

Let me explain briefly: our mind is the storage of desires and impressions, which makes us take birth depending on our quality of mind. Impressions are formed by us doing deeds. We do deeds depending on our past beliefs and new influences.

So, how do we make sense of all of these concepts?

The law of karma and rebirth propels Niyati or Destiny, which aids in fulfilling the destiny of that karma or deed. To understand the workings of Niyati, the Rishis of ancient India discovered mystical science called "Jyotish or Vedic astrology", as we call it in modern times. It is named Jyotish because its job is to "throw light" or find insights from the planets and Nakshatras (constellations) that influence a person and their destiny.

Prediction is a human sport to satisfy the ego of oneself. But the true purpose of the Jyotish is to throw light on "what is" and not "what will be".

"What will be" — is in the hands of an individual. What this means is — we are the creator of our destiny, and if we believe "we can do it", our mind will find ways to get to the solution. So cultivating a strong mind is necessary; even lord Krishna said so.

"What we believe becomes our belief and our beliefs determine our destiny".

When one has the right insights into our own birth chart, one can figure out a way to overcome by doing and taking the right actions. For example, let's say, I am focusing on becoming an actor and have a strong desire to become a star actor.

But my birth charts show i may be good at teaching. So there is a mismatch between my aspiration to be a star actor and what is seen in my birth chart. Does it mean i should not pursue acting or be an actor?

Perhaps, when i struggle with being an actor, i learn so much; in the process, i may eventually become a teacher or a guide for aspiring actors. I may even start an acting school later after many years of experience and struggle in the field; perhaps i may not become a star actor, but still, with constant efforts and the power of my will, i may do many roles as an actor and become a good actor.

"Success is a relative term. We are not born to become successful. Instead, we are born to fulfill our strong desires."

But there is a good problem, our desire(s) change(s) in the present lifetime, and with every new birth because of our environment, influences, and unique experiences.

The goal is to know oneself well to understand what one really wants, and what one truly desires, and train the mind to listen to it and not get influenced by new and exciting things happening around us; that's where control over the mind is essential. In the Bhagavad Gita, lord Krishna takes over Arjuna's mind so he can do what he is destined to do.

Coming back to the earlier example. Because one has struggled to become an actor in this life and gained significant experience, suppose the desire to be a star actor is still burning bright in my consciousness till the end of my lifetime.

This strong desire will continue in the next life. Why you ask; Because only the body dies, not desires (because desires are stored in the mind); if I have done good deeds in my life as a struggling actor, in the next birth, I might be born in favorable circumstances allowing me to fulfill my desire unless I decide to do something else in the new birth.

On the other hand, if I did evil deeds in my struggling actor life, in the new birth, I would face challenging situations wherein more troubles will come my way to fulfill my desire to become a star actor.

Do you see how Niyati or Destiny plays out in this example? As soon as one dies, the law — "Niyati" takes over and decides how and when we take next birth, what life circumstances we'll face, the kind of parents, spouse, children, and relations we'll have in life, and the type of person we'll become, it keeps account and balances all the deeds that are done by us and reward us accordingly at a certain period in time. Since we don't remember all the deeds we have done we aren't able to correlate when we are rewarded and for which deed.

There are no punishments; a reward is either amiable or unamiable. When we face unamiable life circumstances, the wish men of the Indus civilization (the rishis) had advised us to contemplate and act in the right ways, not react but act.

These circumstances are coming to teach us something, help us realize something, and move forward, it is indeed very difficult to flow, and if we learn to flow, these experiences will only uplift us.

The wise men of ancient India always gave an example of the "tree of life" and "sowing of seed" — We reap what we sow. It is the simplest and most profound statement to understand the working of Niyati or Destiny.

There is, unfortunately, no escaping from the law. Whether we believe in the law of gravity or not, gravity is a Sanatan (universal) reality. Likewise, whether we believe in Niyati/Destiny or not, the fact is this universal law exists. Therefore, it is wise for us to understand its working to lead a balanced life.

The foundation of Indus civilization is based on the Sanatana Dharma - A way of life-based on Universal laws.

When we observe closely, the Puranas and the Itihas of the Indian philosophical science are trying to explain to us the working of Niyati or Destiny in the form of stories of deeds of Rishis, Devas, Asuras, and even Gods and how they live, die and take rebirth to face the consequence of their deeds again and again and the wheel of time keep moving forward.

To understand how Niyati works at the level of a family unit, community unit, society unit, nation unit, and world unit, we must simply correlate and compound deeds at each unit level.

Example One — Individual pollution leads to collective pollution, and when collective pollution reaches a certain threshold, it comes back to us in the form of climate change or air pollution, and the consequence is we suffer collectively. But remember, Niyati keeps very accurate records of everyone's deeds; we'll only suffer or get rewarded to the extent of our contribution to the collective wave. The bigger the contribution, the bigger the consequence we'll face either in this lifetime or multiple lifetimes. During these COVID-19 times, many people died; we can say these people suffered their Niyati or Destiny. And for many people, COVID-19 did not affect them as much.

Example Two — Businesses or Entrepreneurs, either out of greed or lack of understanding and wisdom, create products and systems that harm nature, animals, and humanity. They have set in motion a wave, and if more people encourage this wave with the influence of money, policies, regulations, and media; over time, this wave will come back and hit us in the form of flu, climate change, or pollution, or unknown diseases, or it could be something else.

Imagine a millionaire/billionaire who wishes to change the world and is looking for a problem to solve; the data shows the world is running out of fresh water, and he fancies cutting-edge technology can help him make an impact on this world and on humanity as a whole by providing fresh water for everyone from the atmosphere and it will surely solve humanity's freshwater problem.

Do you see how one man's ambition could impact everyone else in the value chain; unless this billionaire stops looking through the lens of making a dent in the universe and starts listening to his common sense as well as heart, and asks the right questions, such as would this cutting edge technology of extracting fresh water from atmosphere leave the atmosphere dry, what are the chances that it could change the atmospheric composition, what other consequences which we are not aware right now could harm us in the future, do we really need such cutting edge technology to solve this problem of fresh water and aren't there any other simple solutions to depollute rivers.

About 200 years back, when coal, petroleum, and plastics were first made and used, these entrepreneurs never answered fundamental questions, and humanity as a whole supported these mindless actions; the fact is we are seeing the Niyati or Destiny at play for the consequence of mindless actions of few entrepreneurs which were strengthened collectively.

People and nations who are higher up in the hierarchy of influence should especially be extra mindful of their deeds in the form of policies, regulations, stories, news, innovation, ideas, and ambitions, the wave(s) they set in motion will have a far more significant impact on lives of every being on this planet.

Does it mean we should stop doing deeds and innovation? Yes and No, we should focus on doing Mindful deeds individually and collectively, and this is only possible when we have purified our minds enough.

That's why every spiritual master — be it Krishna, Buddha, Adi Shankaracharya, Jesus, Shridi Sai Baba, and many more have acted and given importance to right mindful karmas or right mindful deeds.

Because when we develop self-awareness, we perform good deeds and get strength in facing unamiable life situations due to past deeds done with less developed awareness.

Yes, because of a less developed mind, the deeds we do may not be suitable for us and others, and as per the law of Niyati, one will have to face the consequence of those deeds. It is okay to experiment at an individual unit level, but at a greater unit level, experimentation can impact many lives, and hence developing a beautiful mind is a prerequisite to experimentation.

For example, a child does not know if the fire is harmful but goes straight into it. Only when it experiences the heat of fire does it realize I should not have touched it. This is experience and learning at an individual unit level. Next time, the child will know this is fire and won't touch it.

When a parent or someone else protects the child from the fire, they are like God/Guru for the child.

Grace is essential, but there is a catch; if we want grace, we need to be worthy of it. The more beautiful the mind becomes, the more grace one receives.

Our Niyati / destiny is determined by our deeds (karma), and like the ripples in the wave, it will come back again and again. Therefore, by purifying our minds of six impurities, we can purify our deeds and lessen the effect of the ripples that form waves. I have explained these six main impurities in chapter four titled "Adding positive karma points in life".

Speaking in the context of world unit and the six impurities — The times we live in, the majority of humanity is creating and experiencing the world at the grossest level of the Gamma mind frequencies; these waves are noisy and sharp. The six impurities we have unleashed on ourselves cause the creation of the Gamma pattern, which in turn impacts everyone, including the environment, and the outcome is so much suffering; As humanity, our goal should be to reach the level of Alpha or Theta mind pattern by our individual and collective deeds.

Parting Thoughts

Krishna in Bhagavad Gita said — "Do your Karma without expectation of the reward". Do we see why he said so? He said so in the context of the law of nature — Niyati. The game is designed in a certain way that it is impossible for us humans to understand the working of Niyati, let alone keep track of all the waves that are being formed continually by oneself and many other units. We can only ride the waves if we are aware of our own Karmas and if we follow the path of Dharma.

Dharma — In the context of individual beings, it is doing the right thing even when no one is looking.

Dharma literally means Innate Quality/Nature. Let's understand it with an example. What is the dharma of Fire - It is Heat. Water - Binding. Earth - Sustain. Ether - Expansion. Air - Flow.

Nature created dharma to create Order in this Universe and we call this order as Universal Law of Nature. When we align ourselves with the law we experience stability both inside of us and outside. When we misalign ourselves we experience instability.

Modern scientists should focus on understanding the dharma i.e. order of things that leads to the law of nature instead of focusing on dissecting and creating man-made laws. Ancient sages discovered this truth and created a natural system aligned with the law of Nature and called it Ayurved - Health System aligned with the law of Nature.

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