Acharya Prashant addresses the common question of whether destiny (Prarabdha) is more important than hard work (Purusharth). He explains that both concepts are expressions of the ego. Purusharth is the ego's assertion, "I will make it happen," while destiny is the ego's excuse, "What can I do? Everything is already decided." Both destiny and hard work are for the ego. Destiny says, "I want to do it, but I can't," whereas hard work says, "I want to do it, and I will show you that I can." The one who believes in destiny says, "I want to do it, but what can I do, my fate is such." The one who believes in hard work says, "I will make it happen." Both these statements are of the ego. The speaker points out that when people ask which is more important, they are unknowingly asking about Prarabdha and Purusharth. When told that both are useless because they both involve doership, people often feel their question hasn't been answered directly. They seek a choice between the two, but the speaker asserts that both are flawed. The correct answer is neither destiny nor hard work. He distinguishes surrender from destiny, explaining that destiny is the belief that one is a machine, bound by pre-determined conditions like caste or gender. Shri Krishna, for instance, tells Arjun to act according to his Prarabdha, which as a Kshatriya, is to fight. Surrender, in contrast, is the understanding that what one considered "mine" was never truly theirs. It is not about giving something up but about the wisdom to not hold on to what is foolish to hold. Using an analogy, he says the fatalist holds a hot coal, believing it's their destiny. The believer in effort struggles for years to drop it. Surrender is simply dropping it. The one who understands both destiny and effort is free from both. This person will neither say, "It is destiny, what can I do?" nor "We can do a lot." This freedom comes from faith (Nishtha) and devotion (Bhakti), which precede and transcend the duality of destiny and effort. The speaker concludes by noting that poets often take a stand with either destiny or hard work, but both positions are a form of foolishness born from the ego.
