Is Destiny Trash or Pre-Written?
Questioner: I'm Kanak, and my question is not related to anybody, but my question is that it is related to destiny. When we say that everything is destined, aur sab kuch likha hua hota hai. So, how is suicide not a part of destiny? How do we consider suicide as a sin? And is destiny the universal truth, or is it just that people are made to believe in destiny just to keep them within the personal boundaries?
Acharya Prashant: This should have been the first part of the question. What is destiny? Is there any truth in it? That should have been the first part. And then you say, “If destiny holds some truth, then how is suicide a crime?” That's how you structure the question.
What do you think of destiny?
Questioner: At least as of how we are told about destiny — everything is written, even before you're born. You are here, everything that happens in your life, the events that happen in your lives, they are all written, they are going to happen as...
Acharya Prashant: Then there is no point in me answering this question because it would make no difference whatsoever whether or not I answer.
Questioner: No, I don't believe that is so.
Acharya Prashant: Then the question is answered — destiny is trash. Because if destiny means there is nothing called free will, not even as a possibility, not even as a remote possibility, if there is nothing called free will, then there is no point exerting ourselves in this discussion, because nothing would change anyway. Everything is pre-written, why am I assaulting my throat? Hoga wahi jo likha hai.
Questioner: But then why can't we change destiny? For example, if I'm going to my grandmother and I'm talking to her about destiny, she's going to be like, “No, everything is written. There’s nothing that is going to happen with your will.” But for me, it is like, why can’t I change it if there is something?
Acharya Prashant: Do you understand inertia? Inertia is a basic concept in physics. Inertia means a thing will continue to be in its state if an external force is not applied. Something that is rolling will keep rolling. Something that is stationary will remain stationary. That’s physics, and we are physical. So we are lazy. If something sits here, it will keep sitting because we are lazy. That’s called inner inertia. So it’s all messy around you, and it will continue to be messy because you are simply lazy and you are a status quoist, and you know that change requires effort. You know change requires boldness, so you’ll continue to let things rot as they are.
But how to justify this in action? You say, “You see, anyway nothing is going to happen. What is written is written. So what is the point of acting? Let me just sleep and rot.” So all this concept of destiny is a dirty trick to justify your laziness and cowardice. Because when you set out to change, you expose yourself to harm, don’t you? You expose yourself to harm. And when you set out to clean, you expose yourself to the filth, don’t you?
So we don’t want to change anything. We don’t want to own an agency. We would rather believe there is an all-powerful agency out there somewhere, and he is pulling all the strings, and that we call devotion, that we call religiosity, whereas it is sheer cunningness. Because you don’t want to take ownership, because you don’t want to tolerate pain, because you are just a little petty coward.
So you say, “You know what is the point? It was in the stars.” There’s nothing called destiny. However, there is something called randomness. The universe as it affects you is a random place. It has its own laws, but the way it affects you is a very random thing. You will never know the real causal chain behind anything that is happening on the outside. This tile can fall on your head at this moment, right? That’s not destiny, that’s randomness. That’s the randomness of the physical world.
Even as we all sit here, if each single one of us gets herself tested, some unknown disease might be revealed, and you didn’t know, and you’re living with it. That’s not destiny. That’s randomness. It’s there in your genes. The air is dirty. The water is dirty. And you might be aging, or you ate something bad, and now you’re diseased, and you don’t even know it. All that is randomness. Even birth is a random occurrence. Forget death, even birth is so random. Nobody decides to be born. You are randomly born, and you decide, where have I come?
So there is randomness, and that randomness you cannot control. But that randomness is not destiny. You have the agency to respond rightly to that randomness. Yes, you cannot control what is happening on the outside, but you can always control your response to it. Always. You always have a choice. And if you don’t have a choice, you are dead. No point living.
You always have a choice in responding to external random events. Outside even after your utmost effort, randomness will still remain. Life is unpredictable. You cannot control it. But how to respond to whatever happens is your own fiefdom.
Never surrender your agency. Never say, “I am a mere fallen leaf at the mercy of the winds.” Never. Even in your darkest moment, you still have a choice.
And sometimes that choice is to give up your life, and that is all right. You can confine my body; you cannot confine me. Sometimes the right response is this.
You know how the saints have talked of it, they have said, look at the fish as a symbol. Not really the thing called fish, but as a symbol. Look at the fish, and you will know what love means. The fish is in love with the sea. You have all the power to bring the fish out of the sea, but the fish has all the power to give up its life. You can forcefully bring the fish out of the sea, but you cannot forcefully make it live. That is the last declaration of its agency. It says, “Yes, you can pull me out of the water, but then I decide not to live.” And one should always be ready for that, because that is the last bondage, the body.
If one is prepared to give up even the body for the sake of freedom, for the sake of truth, then you can never be controlled. Then you can never be enslaved. But that should be the last resort. Please, sometimes I speak and then I wonder about the consequences.
Questioner: But you’re saying that it is basically all right?
Acharya Prashant: No, I’m not saying all right. No, no. You remember what I told him? For the right cause, I can lay down my life at this moment. For the right cause, if I’m needed to live a thousand years, I should live.
Questioner: But then why do people see suicide as a sin or consider it so wrongly?
Acharaya Prashant: Because you see, if you do not demonize it or criticize it or criminalize it, then life is such a hell for most people that you will have a huge wave of suicides. Because most people are somehow dragging their feet through life. They don't want to live, but they are somehow living. And if you start glorifying suicide, they'll find a way to end their misery. They'll say, “Fine, suicide is fine, so I'm now going to hang myself.” That's the reason suicide must never be endorsed. And that's the reason it is actually criminalized. You'll be arrested if you attempt suicide.
Questioner: Sir, if one day we are going to die, then what's the point of living?
Acharya Prahant: Because you are still not dead, that's the point. Even death is something you imagine as a living person. Ask this question once you are dead. Can you? That’s the beauty of living. Even death is to the living one. The dead ones, so miserable they are, they can’t even die anymore. The beauty of life is that there is death still possible. So,
Choose the right death, that’s the beauty of life.
