When I write this, I do not speak for all but for the questions that I have had and the answers that I have received. It is not to say that if you disagree with me, you seem to have either the right or the right answer. It plausibly means that the way you have explored the world around yourself is different than the way that I have explored it.

In my last post, The Quest of Questioning, I talked about how the quest of genuine questioning is the one ultimate quest of human existence and how it can bring you close to who you were, are and will become. This quest will eventually lead you closer to your potential as an individual and to all the possibilities that life can expect out of you. Since the time I was a child, I have had thousands of genuine questions and I would always be seeking answers to them. Most of the times these answers eluded me and as I became older, the answers seem to have forgotten their way towards me.

One of the most pertinent questions that I have had in my childhood came when my father expired. I was six years old and at that time I did not understand what had happened and how it would shape me as a person in the future. I had thousands of questions which I wanted to seek; one of them being, ‘Out of everyone, why only him and why only me?’ People around me gave answers which could not satisfy me. They said that it is the God’s will and that no one could stop what is already destined. This particular statement intrigued me and I began to ask more. “What is destiny?” “Can we ever change it?” “Who decided what is my destiny?” As a kid when I would ask these questions I would either not be taken seriously or given answers which took me back to the God.

I also went to the temples to look for my answers. I did all my rituals which were told to me by my family. By the time, I got into an adult phase, the worldly attachments had started to take over. My genuine quest of asking questions was replaced with my quest of being visible in this world. And then, one day, everything was defined.

Once, I got my hands on a piece of paper which had all my life written over it. It had mentioned all the subjects that I would be interested in, the time when I would get married, and so on. In India, astrology is a revered science and every news channel in the morning becomes a horoscope predicting machine. In the Hindu traditions even today, many events are decided based on the horoscope with marriage being on this list. After so many years, finally I had found answers to my questions. At the time of my birth, based on the position of the stars and planets, my life was decided and it continues to decide my fate even today. I could see some relevance of it in my current life too, at that time. Yes, I was an angry kid! Yes, my birth had an impact on the health of my father! Yes, I would be interested in subjects such as administration and education! With all these correlations coming true, it became an eternal truth for me. My fate was sealed. And, I had accepted it.

Recently, I arrived at crossroads where this eternal truth started to take over my whole life. My thoughts instead of focusing on my actions started to focus on my stars. My past started to come into my present and it started to empower both my present and my future. Something was not right. Is my destiny really sealed for good by the stars? I decided then that it was time to seek again and to find more answers. My quest lead me to some days where I would just find myself completely overpowered by the intensity of this search.

After days of search, I finally found some answers. These answers blew my mind. The stars and the planets actually do play a significant role in our lives until we let them do so. All of this can be controlled if we take life into our own hands and change the course of our own destiny. Such a powerful realisation to have! The Hindu philosophy which believes in astrology also says that you can chalk out your own life by taking control of your actions. I have heard all of this a million times in motivational quotes and books. But when I found its existence on my own, through my work and research, it has become much more striking.

The people that you meet daily who advice you and give suggestions on how to shape your life through the movement of the stars and planets are not wrong.  However, they aren’t right either. Indian spiritual guru, Sadhguru, in one of his conversations said that when people who have decided to take on a spiritual path go and meet people who are the ‘star-tellers’ are mostly categorically told that now since you have taken life into your own hands, no one will predict your future but yourself. This understanding of taking life into our own hands is both powerful and scary at the same time. How wonderful it is if you become the master of your own fate? You can be anyone. Who will you be?