Dr. Vijai S Shankar MD.PhD. Published on www.acadun.com The Netherlands 15th October 2014
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Essence and Destiny
Destiny usually comes into focus when events that happen regularly are not helpful to man’s liking or desires. He tries to make the events favourable to his liking and desires and, if he is unable to and the events remain unfavourable, man attributes the events to his destiny.
Therefore, man is either grateful or condemns his destiny according to the way the events regularly happen to him in life. Man knows by experience that life is never favourable to his liking or desires all the time.
Life is either conducive to man’s liking or desires or they are not. Why is this? Why could events not be favourable to man all the time? If events were favourable to man every time, he or she would not be able to recognise that the events are favourable. This is because the mind functions in duality and, in order to be able to recognise and appreciate favourable events in the present, the unfavourable events need to happen to man in the present too. If unfavourable events do not happen in the present, man would neither recognise nor know what favourable events are. Now, what does destiny mean?
Destiny means the events that will necessarily happen to a particular person in the future. An event happens because of the essence in the event. An event just cannot happen out of nothing. Now, where does man recognise or is aware of an event?
Man recognises and is aware of an event only in the present. It is not possible for him to recognise an event in the future or be aware of it. He wishes, wants and also hopes for an event in the future only in the present again. It is impossible for man to wish, want or hope for an event in the future, because he is always in the present. What does future mean to man?
Future means to man that it is ‘not yet an actuality’. Because tomorrow is not yet an actuality, man believes tomorrow is the future. This would only mean that the next hour, minute, second or a moment in the day, which is not yet an actuality, has to be the future as well, just as tomorrow or the next day, which is not yet an actuality, is the future.
Man is able to recognise and is aware of only the present moment, and not even the next moment, let alone the next second, minute, hour or the next day. What does it imply?
This implies that man recognises and is aware of only the moment, because every second, minute, hour or a day is only made up of moments. So, when does man recognise and is aware of the moment?
Man recognises and is aware of the moment in the present only after the moment happens and never before the moment happens. This is obvious because a moment has to be present in the present to accommodate man, and therefore it is impossible for man to make the moment in the present, to be in it. What does this imply?
It implies that man cannot make an event in the present moment either, because every moment would be happening with nothing in it, and man would be in the moment with nothing in the moment, let alone an event.
So obviously, the moment and also the event happen, which man is able to recognise only after they happen and never before. This means that every moment is the future and future is not the next day as man believes the future to be.
The enlightened realise that destiny happens in the moment, every time an event happens, and never in the future as man believes where destiny necessarily happens. The enlightened lives his destiny and his future in the present moment as every moment is his destiny. So if understanding happens that every moment is destiny, man would not only live his destiny with love and compassion but also with the destiny of others who he; knows, lives with and meets.
Author: Dr. Vijai S. Shankar
Editor’s Note: There is no pot of gold waiting to be gifted, no sword of Damocles ready to strike in destiny’s portfolio. Just as the young child lives every moment, so does the wise man understand that the unfolding of life every moment is his destiny. Simply and beautifully that. This is such a lovely article if read carefully and patiently allowed to spread its understanding. A mysterious process. Julian Capper. UK.
German Translator’s Note: Man thinks he must take care of his destiny. Or he may think that he has to accept his destiny. That those statements are contradictory from time to time doesn’t seem to bother his logic and reasoning. However, it should make him ponder what destiny really could be. This article gives rise to an understanding of what is really happening to man in the Now instead of the mind. An eye-opener even to a philosopher’s mind! Marcus Stegmaier, Germany
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