Destiny and karma
QUESTION: Masters, I want to know if everything is destiny. Whatever will be my destiny it will happen – then what role does karma play? If destiny is everything then either you do good karma or bad karma how does it matter? ~Vijay, Ghana
ANSWER: You are mixing a number of different belief systems to explain your current life and thinking. Destiny is the theory that everything that will occur within your life has already been determined and set in stone and will happen regardless of anything you do to change the future. It is a principle that some use to give up responsibility for the way they live their lives. They can do whatever they choose because it won’t make a difference, and it won’t be their fault if things go wrong because it was ordained.
Karma is part of most Eastern philosophies, which declare that there is a return for everything you do. Do good and your future will be good; do bad by society’s rules and you will be punished for your actions. All the possible happenings within karma remove your conscious decisions from playing a part in your life; if you have done “bad” in a prior life, you are doomed.
All of these possibilities can exist only in a world that judges, grades, and rates actions. If you understand that your trip to Earth is to experience life and make choices to understand your abilities, then you will see that it has to be changeable. If you are faced with a situation and you can see how to turn an event into a valuable lesson, then you have truly learned something.
We ask you to feel in your heart that you have the ability to create your own world. You are broken off from Source and have all the powers of which Source is made. You have freedom of choice as to how you want to experience each and every day of your life; nothing is absolute or predetermined.
Negative and positive, punishment, retribution, and destiny can exist only in your dualistic world. The soul exists in unconditional love, where it makes the choices for day-to-day activity.