As a consequence of the
recent events in the world, we had received a large number of questions
raising several issues ranging over many topics. Out of these we
had chosen 9 questions as our questions of the month.
Questions 1 to 8 were
taken up in October and November. This month we take up question
9. Though it has its origin in the recent happenings, it has very
wide implications and arises in the mind of each one of us, at some
time or other, in our lives.
The question deals with
fate, destiny and free-will. Put simply the question is,
Are things and events
predetermined? If so to what extent? Can we influence the outcome
in some way and change their course? How is it that some times a
person is saved miraculously?
We will not enter into
the philosophical aspect of the question of fate and free-will.
We will confine ourselves here to a very practical understanding
of this important issue which can have a direct relevance to our
lives and actions. For this we present here excerpt from two talks
of the Mother given to the children of the Ashram.
"There are events
appertaining to a universal necessity and those one cannot change.
There are events still in the balance which can be decided either
way. The whole thing is to have a perception that's not only clear-sighted
but also quite impartial and impersonal, without even the shadow
of a shadow of preference. Then, when one is in that perfect state
- it can't be said, of neutrality, it is not neutrality: it is
a state of consciousness which is immobile like a mirror - then
one can see within it the quality of the thing that's happening,
one can see the things that have been decided so that they cannot
be altered and those that are still in the balance and can be
changed.
To tell the truth,
for each event the situation is different. There are some that
can be changed completely, reversed altogether; there are some
that are capable of undergoing quite a considerable change; there
are others that can suffer only a slight modification - a slight
modification but one that has a considerable consequence; and
there are some that are inescapable; they are so because they
are so; if you tried to oppose, you would break your head against
a wall and that would serve no purpose. The whole thing is to
have this perspicacity, to know to which domain the event belongs
and not will any other thing than what must be.
I could give hundreds
of instances of different cases….
A thing seems to have
been completely determined: it is going to be so. But you have
within you a will that surges up, a flame that is kindled, a great
aspiration that is in harmony with a higher Will and you force
it upon the event. And then a kind of combination takes place:
what had to happen will happen, but along with something else
which comes at the same time and changes the nature of the former.
For events of importance to the earth, this happens very often.
For example, when an entire set of movements, circumstances, combinations
of forces bring about an absolute necessity of war, one can, by
calling in another force, change the extent and the consequences,
and sometimes even the nature of the war, but one is not able
to avert it."
*
"What I would
like to bring home to you is that the problem is extremely complicated
and subtle, and that at times the direction of the movement can
be altered a little; at other times, the movement can be reversed;
and at still others just the consequences and the inner attitude
with regard to the movement alone can be changed. And naturally
men see all these things in a too simplified way and translate
all this by their prayer to God: they say, in one case, "God
has given me what I asked from him", in another case, "He
has refused me." And so, that's that. That is how they understand…
To know how it happens,
you must have a general, collective consciousness, at least as
wide as the earth. That is the minimum. To understand truly one
must have a universal consciousness. Then you can understand.
For, I have said it somewhere in what I was reading today; I have
said that all things are interdependent and there is neither any
"beginning" nor any "end". Where do you put
the beginning?… To understand that, you have to go beyond
the earth-bound consciousness, you have to enter a universal consciousness.
Then you will be able to understand."
But then is it possible
to be forewarned about a coming catastrophe and by one's effort
to change it? The Mother says that sometimes a hint is given,
sometimes we can change the event and sometimes we can change
only our attitude so that we derive the maximum benefit from it.
"That depends
upon the nature of the event. There are many things…. That
depends also upon the level from which one sees. There is a plane
where there are all the possibilities, and on that level, as there
are all the possibilities, there is the possibility also of changing
these possibilities. If a catastrophe is foreseen in that plane,
one can have the power of preventing it also. In other cases,
even though one is forewarned, one has no action upon the event.
And yet there, it depends on the level from where one sees.
A case of this kind
was reported to me once where the very seeing of a thing prevented
it from happening. An American gentleman had arrived at one of
those big American hotels where there are lifts (you do not go
down a staircase, you take a lift to go up or come down); now,
early in the morning just before getting up, he had a dream which
he remembered well: he had seen a boy dressed as a lift-boy and
making the same movement a lift-boy makes directing you to get
in. He was there. And then, at the end of the movement, instead
of a lift, there was a hearse! - that is to say, that kind of
carriage… oh! you must have seen some here now and then,
to carry the dead to the cemetery; when they are not burnt, they
are carried on a bier with black draperies, etc. So there was
such a carriage, a hearse for carrying the dead. And the boy was
signing to him to get into the carriage. When he came out of his
room, the boy was there with the lift to take him down: exactly
the same boy, the same face, the same dress, the same gesture.
He remembered the hearse - he did not get into the lift. He said:
"No, no!" and he walked down. And before he reached
the groundfloor, he heard a terrible noise and the lift had crashed
down to the ground and all who were in it were killed. It was
because of the dream that he had not got in, for he had understood.
Therefore in such a
case when you have the vision, you can avert the catastrophe.
There are other cases,
as I said, when you are simply forewarned. You are forewarned.
In reality, it is to help you to prepare within for what must
come, so that you may take the right inner attitude to face the
event. It is like a lesson telling you: "This is what it
must teach you." You cannot change the thing, but you can
change your attitude and your inner reaction. Instead of having
a bad reaction, a wrong attitude towards the experience that occurs,
you have a good reaction, a good attitude, and you derive as much
benefit as possible out of what has happened.
In either case, it
depends absolutely on the plane on which you see. When you have
control over your nights and are conscious of your sleep and your
dreams or of your visions, you also see the difference between
the two; you can distinguish the difference: what is given to
you as a warning so that you may intervene and what is given to
you as an intimation so that you may take the right attitude towards
what is going to happen. It is always a lesson, but it is not
always the same lesson. At times you can act with your will; at
times you must learn the inner lesson which the incident is about
to give you so that you may be ready for the event to have a fully
favourable consequence. The same thing holds for everything that
you see, there are hundreds of different varieties of visions
and dreams and each one brings you the lesson it has to bring."
Finally even if one cannot
change entirely the course of certain events in the world, what
can one do so that at least for oneself personally the best may
happen? The Mother answers:
"The art of living
would consist in maintaining oneself in one's highest state of
consciousness and thus allowing one's highest destiny to dominate
the other [parts] in life and action. So one can say without any
fear of making a mistake: be always at the summit of your consciousness
and the best will always happen to you. But that is a maximum
which is not easy to reach. If this ideal condition turns out
to be unrealisable, the individual can at least, when he is confronted
by a danger or a critical situation, call upon his highest destiny
by aspiration, prayer and trustful surrender to the divine will.
Then, in proportion to the sincerity of his call, this higher
destiny intervenes favourably in the normal destiny of the being
and changes the course of events insofar as they concern him personally.
It is events of this kind that appear to the outer consciousness
as miracles, as divine interventions."
- The
Mother
