Destiny and Self-Effort

The ethical aspect of Karma with the concept of transmigration in the Upaniṣads seemingly created an offshoot to the doctrine of Karma which shifted its meaning from active actions to passive responsibility. Every creation or else every expression carried its own destiny which intervened in the future of that particular creation. The word destiny coming from the Latin verb stare ‘to stand’ in its Indian counterpart as daiva carried the sense of divine will to be faced or to be suffered. It is not totally equivalent with Karma as it is the fruition of the Karma performed in the past and occurs as a mechanical law operating in and by the cosmos. In this sense it defines fatalism expressing that which cannot be changed or is beyond human control.

In the later period the culture makes an effort to understand daiva or past actions by means of Jyotiṣa. The remains of work appear as divinations in the Upaniṣads which relate objects in the dreams as impressions of the past experiences. Cosmic moment is considered a witness to the past and the inevitable future of a certain manifesting activity though stars rather incline than compel is a belief and to this extent Varāha mentions about horoscopes indicating only the tendencies regarding the present birth considered as an outcome of past lives therefore active Karma retains its importance.

Karma as self-effort or Puruṣakāra is also a part of the Correlation which connects proper time with cultural activities performed for wish fulfillments related to future. Karma is remedial in this sense performed for a betterment in future life and preferably a concern with the next life perhaps for which the intervention of the intention of the gods became essential and for which the order of Ṛta is transformed into the order of truth and the order of sacrifice. Auspicious cosmic time for ritual actions is in regular usage and is an essential ingredient for Puruṣakāra.

Destiny and self-effort are equally a topic of consideration in the literature though self-effort appears to be rendered superior. Actively performed actions on specific times appear in the Vedic period whereas the reading of destiny is prevalent in the post-Vedic period. Cosmos and its activity is an intervention for a verifiable relationship between human Karma and its consequences. Destiny or Daiva operating as a cosmic law is considered as an effect, the cause being human action performed in some distant past. Ātman is considered as an independent element its binding leading to transmigration in various names and forms on account of the impulse of desire which create the concept of destiny. Human form though tied down to the world of activity in the form of Prakṛti which itself is perishable and carries an element of slavery and thereby confinement with the proper use of equipments can lead to the Self-form or Knowledge form of Ātman is a notion for which the self-effort is directed. Destiny effectuating by the mechanical cosmic actions working as an effect account for the slavery of man the vision of which perhaps can give a better understanding about future could be the reason of the growth and the treatment of and for Daiva in the culture in the post-Vedic period. Karma in the form of self-effort or Puruṣakāra on the other hand is an all time topic under consideration and appears as a law of personal responsibility. Independence is a known trait of the Ātman and self effort directed towards higher planes or release with cosmic activity as a means appears the role behind the concept of Puruṣakāra in the culture. Fashioning of human destiny through the combination of human actions on specific cosmic time appears to be the idea behind the Correlation and vision of the past actions are to be for a glance in the past journey of the soul and not the sole idea behind the Correlation.