Once in Parthi a person asked Swami "It is mentioned that we are bound by acts of our past karma, the so called fate. Is there any way for us to escape from this fate, especially by the Grace of Divine personalities like Baba?"
Swami smiled at the person who had asked this question and started explaining. Indeed it became a fulfilling discourse lasting about an hour. "Yes, not only man, by all the creations in the universe take birth again and again based on their past karmas. The evolution takes place on the merits of their karma. From birth to birth, man very often indulges in dushkarma (bad deeds) and he will have necessarily to pay for it by way of retribution some time or other. There is no way of escape at all from the effects of such bad Karmas, which act as the preordained fate or destiny, deciding the births, the pain, the sufferings etc. If there have been good deeds to his credit, he will get good rewards of such good karmas. In short man is the author of his own destiny, from which he can not escape" "God may choose to influence or soften the destiny of a man but in some extreme situations. He himself decides how far He can come to the rescue of the devoted calls of a man who sincerely repents and engages in Sathkarmas. Or sometimes God can also make things easier for him to pass through the sufferings, which he has to undergo as a result of past bad karmas. Much depends on the efforts of the incumbent." Swami illustrated this with an example: "In a vast slush green field, a cow is tied to a peg, with a rope of about 100 meter long. The fate of the cow is now fixed. It can choose to graze in a circular area of 100-meter diameter. By a foolish act, if the cow chooses to go round, round very often, the length of the rope gets reduced, and it cannot even enjoy the allotted area of grazing. On the contrary, if the cow uses its own strength to uproot the very peg to which it is tied down; it can reach out a much larger area without any limitation. Thus many options are available for the cow. The cow's specific choice of the option and the effects of such option becomes it fate. By using its intelligence and making efforts, it can overcome the so called fate, or the limitations enforced upon it." "Likewise, man can also over come the effects of the fate destined for him. By leading a pure spiritual life, he can cleanse his chitha, his intellect. He will then engage himself in "Nishkama Karma" Seva activities, which will go beyond his self-interests and benefit people beyond him or his family. The rewards of those good acclivities will start accruing to his account, which will slowly erase the effects of past misdeeds". Always engage in 'sath' karmas, engage in service activities, live a life useful to the humanity at large, and then pray to Him. In such cases, God will definitely hear your prayers and will show compassion and reward you with His merciful Grace to mitigate or overcome the so called fate, to which the human beings are bound in bondage" Sai Ram
