Episode Details

Speaker A [00:00:00]:

Do we control our destinies, or is our destiny predetermined? This is a question that will come to each one of us at some point in time during our lives. Do we actually have any control over our lives, and do we control the situations and things that we do in life or is everything predetermined, and is everything fixed in our lives? This is an important question for each and every one of us. So let us find an answer to this. Now this is a very tricky question, and the answer to this is not straightforward, and I myself have had this question for a very long time. Now before we go ahead with this topic, first, we need to understand the concept of karma because the concept of destiny is very much linked with karma. Karma is a concept which is talked about in the eastern twin teachings in Vedanta and in various instances of Vedas and Upanishads, karma is a concept that is elaborately described. So let us understand karma. Karma in Sanskrit means action.

Speaker A [00:01:19]:

So every kind of action that you perform is karma. The physical action that you do through your body, the mental action that you do through your thoughts, feelings, and emotions, and energy action that happens at a subtle level. All of these constitute karma. So let us talk about what exactly karma is and how does it work. Now, basically, you have a mind, and the nature of your mind is that it remembers every action it performs and every impression that it takes in, and your mind has various levels to it. You're only familiar with the surface level of mind, which is your conscious mind, and there are different deep levels to your mind. There is subconscious mind, there is something called as the unconscious mind, and there are various layers to your mind. Now what happens is whenever you perform an action or you think a thought or you feel a feeling, there is a subtle residue of that action that goes into your mind, and it is impressed at the deepest levels of the mind.

Speaker A [00:02:34]:

And in this way, your mind remembers everything. Your mind in itself has the evolutionary memory from when it was a plant and an animal and then an ape. And also as per the teachings of Hinduism, we live different lives as different people. We are all familiar with the concept of rebirths and incarnation, which sees that this mind goes through various cycles of life and death. We are born and reborn again and again in different physical bodies, and whatever actions that we perform during those lives is also impressed upon the mind at the deepest level. Now within this karma, there is something called as the sanchita karma, prarabdha karma, and agami karma. So we will make a future episode talking just about karma. But for the sake of this video, we will keep it simple.

Speaker A [00:03:29]:

Basically every impression that you have taken from all of your lifetimes is all present right here, right now, and it is at a deep level, and it has formed a karmic memory, which lies deep within your unconscious mind, this memory is responsible for the way you are right now and this memory that you have within your system has resulted in a certain kind of a personality which you have right now. Your personality is nothing but your thoughts, feelings, emotions, and your belief systems. So all of these things constitute your personality, and your personality is a result of your past karmic memory. Because of your personality, you behave in a certain way. You take different kinds of actions, and all of these things bring a certain kind of results in your life. And this is how your life has been going on. So the way you are right now is because of the karmic memory that you have, and the personality that you have right now is because of your karmic memory. And because of your personality, you take certain actions, and you respond to life in a certain way because of which you create certain results in your life in t