what do people really call god, fate or daivam*.
VASISTHA* replied:
The fruition of self-effort by which one experiences the good and evil results of past action is called fate or daivam* by people. People also regard that as fate or daivam* which characterises the good and evil nature of such results. When you see that 'this plant grows out of this seed', it is regarded as an act of this daivam*. But
I feel that fate is nothing but the culmination of one's own action.
In the mind of man are numerous latent tendencies, and these tendencies give rise to various actions — phy verbal and mental. Surely, one's actions are in strict accordance with these tendencies, it cannot be otherwise. Such is the course of action: action is non- different from the most potent among latent tendencies, and these
tendencies are non- different from the mind and the man is non- different from the mind! One cannot definitely determine whether categories like mind, latent tendencies,
action and fate (daivam*) are real or unreal: hence, the men of wisdom have alluded to them symbolically.
RAMA* asked again:
Holy sir, if the latent tendencies brought forward from the previous birth impel me to act in the present, where is freedom of action?
VASISTHA* said:
Rama*, the tendencies brought forward from past incarnations are of two kinds — pure and impure. The pure ones lead you towards liberation, and the impure ones invite trouble.
You are indeed consciousness itself, not inert physical matter. You are not impelled to action by anything other than yourself. Hence you are free to strengthen the pure latent tendencies in preference to the impure ones. The impure ones have to be abandoned gradually and the mind turned away from them little by
little, lest there should be violent reaction.
By encouraging the good tendencies to act repeatedly, strengthen them. The impure ones will weaken by disuse. You will
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soon become absorbed in the expression of the good tendencies, in good actions. When thus you have overcome the force of the evil tendencies then you will have to
abandon even the good ones. You will then experience the supreme truth with the intelligence that rises from the good tendencies.
elf-effort, Rama*, is that mental, verbal and physical action which is in accordance with the instructions of a holy person well versed in the scriptures. It is only by such effort that Indra became king of heaven, that Brahma* became the creator, and the other deities earned their place.
Self-effort is of two categories: that of past births and that of this birth. The latter effectively counteracts the former. Fate is none other than self-effort of a past incarnation. There is constant conflict between these two in this incarnation; and that which is more powerful triumphs.
Self-effort which is not in accord with the scriptures is motivated by delusion. When there is obstruction in the fruition of self-effort one should examine it to see if there
is such deluded action, and if there is it should be immediately corrected. There is no power greater than right action in the present. Hence, one should take recourse
to self- effort, grinding one's teeth, and one should
overcome evil by good and fate by present effort.
The lazy man is worse than a donkey. One should never yield to laziness but strive to attain liberation, seeing that life is ebbing away every moment. One should not revel in the filth known as sense-pleasures as a worm revels in pus.
One who says "Fate is directing me to do this" is brainless, and the goddess of fortune abandons him. Hence, by self- effort acquire wisdom and then realise that this
self- effort is not without its own end, in the direct realisation of the truth.
If this dreadful source of evil named laziness is not found on earth, who will ever be illiterate and poor? It is because laziness is found on earth that people live tire life
of animals, miserable and poverty-stricken.