Page 161 - Courage Redifined

inner strength. The soul is independent to go to his opponents
place for some work and when he isinvited for lunch, if he
does not wish to have food there, he will flatly refuse. But if
the opposite person insists and he is a little hungry, he will
not take the efforts to avoid having a meal there.

Q. : But it is his opponent who tempts him to have food,
cannot it be said that karma led him to do purushartha
in this direction ?
A. : No. Karma tempted him but getting tempted and
accepting the invitation for lunch can happen only if an
individual does purushartha in that direction. This proves
that purushartha is an individual factor. If one does not
wish to get tempted, then he will take all possible efforts
to avoid it.

From this we can deduce that,

Those who do not want to exercise religion, give the excuse
that, “It is not in our destiny.” This is absolutely wrong
because they do not wish to accelerate their efforts in the
field of religion. They are just interested in working for the
sake of gaining material benefits.
The decision to exercise religion is also dependent on
purushartha and not karma Howcome ?

The desire to commit some sins arises due to the Mohaniya
Karmas. This karma leads to negative traits like hatred, ego,
anger, etc. but engaging the mind in these sinful thoughts
and taking the decision to commit sins is possible only if
the soul makes efforts in that direction. Just as one has to
make efforts for speech and action, similar is the case for
thoughts. Hence, due to some previous karmas if a religious
soul happens to develop a sinful thought, he will not let his
thoughts dwell on it. Instead, he will immediately switch over
Harmony of the 5 Causes 151