Manki Gita: First Part
Yudhishthira to Bheeshma “If any person, desiring to accomplish acts (of charity and sacrifices), fails to find (the necessary) wealth, and thirst of wealth overwhelms him, what is that which he must do for obtaining happiness?”.
Bheeshma replies “He that regards everything (viz., joy and sorrow, honor and insult, etc.,) with an equal eye, that never exerts himself (for gratifying his desire for earthly possessions), that practices truthfulness of speech, that is freed from all kinds of attachment, and that has no desire for action, is, O Bharata, a happy man”. Bheeshma narrates the story of Manki.
Listen to it, O Yudhishthira! Desirous of wealth, Manki found that he was repeatedly doomed to disappointments. At last with a little remnant of his property he purchased a couple of young bulls with a yoke for training them (to agricultural labor). One day the two bulls properly tied to the yoke, were taken out for training (in the fields). Shying at the sight of a camel that was lying down on the road, the animals suddenly ran towards the camel, and fell upon its neck. Enraged at finding the bulls fall upon its neck, the camel, endued with great speed, rose up and ran at a quick pace, bearing away the two helpless creatures dangling on either side of its neck. Beholding his two bulls thus borne away by that strong camel, and seeing that they were at the point of death, Manki began to say, ‘If wealth be not ordained by destiny, it can never be acquired by even a clever man exerting himself with attention and confidence and accomplishing with skill all that is necessary towards that end. I had, before this, endeavored by diverse means and devotion to earn wealth. Behold this misfortune brought about by destiny to the property I had! My bulls are borne away, rising and falling, as the camel is running in an uneven course. This occurrence seems to be an accident. 1 Alas, those dear bulls of mine are dangling on the camel’s neck like a couple of gems!
Manki contemplates on his loss and recovers gracefully. I have documented a few points after listing to Swami Tadatmanda’s lecture.
Concept of destiny is a foreign thought, it is not a Hindu Philosophy. Perhaps. destiny is influenced by the Islamic idea “Kismat”. Hindu Dharma is not a doctrine of Fate.
Karma is a factor, not the only factor. Your decisions also affect the outcome. When you cross the river towards your destination, you are also working against or towards the water current. So there are 2 factors involved, one is “our effort”, and the other is “Ishvara’s Grace”. Result is a vector dot product of both.
That which is established(designed) by Ishvara is Daivam, we may call it Natural Laws; That which is chosen by you (Body/Mind/Intellect — BMI) is Pourusham. There is no word called “fate” in Vedantic Dictionary.
How did I (BMI) get my free will? Freewill is naturally given to us, just like any natural law like gravity on earth, so it is also of the nature of Daivam. Even though it looks there are 2 (our effort, Ishvara’s Will), what remains is Daivam.
Don’t fight about the existence or non-existence of freewill. Go with your simple gut experience. However strong my mental conditions are, I also see the ability to drop and go beyond it. This is simply enough to understand that there is freewill, given by Ishvara, as Laws of Nature.
Law of Nature include my freewill. This freewill is part of Ishvara’s Will (laws of Nature), akin to a part-whole model.
I (as Body, Mind, Intellect) have power, is it more powerful than the Tsunami or the powerful earth quake? Our freewill is limited and operates within Ishvara’s Will, like a subset of a Universal set.
If you choose to use your freewill not confirming to the laws of Nature, you are bound to suffer, just like attaching the wings of the bird onto your shoulder and jumping of a building, aiming to fly !!!
When I say “I am surrendering to my Karma”, I am in trouble. Follow Dharma, surrender to Ishvara, never surrender to Karma.
Surrendering means “do what you can and refrain from things you cannot do”. Use your intelligence.
A man free from attachments, who does not cherish wealth/fame, sleeps well.
If you are dependent on the favorable outcome of your action, you set yourself for suffering.
The more you have at stake, the more you are vulnerable to loss. The most secure are the one’s who don’t own anything. If you don’t own anything, what can you lose? Perhaps that is why a Sadhu walks away from everything and is highly secure.
Who is happier? Someone who has accomplished so much in life and fulfilled all their desires or the one who has renounced everything? The latter is happier because (1) he has nothing to lose and the former has lot to lose (2) the former creates more and more desires only to toil hard to satisfy them, creating endless desires and perish.
There is never been a person who has become desire-less through fulfilling desires. The fire of desire (Kama Agni) burns within and the fuel is the fulfillment. This is an endless and futile game.
Fire in Sanskrit is called “analam” meaning “not enough” because fire keeps asking for fuel to keep going.
Contentment is being desire-less.
