Page 180 - Courage Redifined

Here nothing occurs according to an individual’s expectations.
Though karma results in joys and sorrows, it is destiny which
creates specific kind of circumstances.

If we keep this in mind, then we can console our mind in
case of some unexpected sorrow or distress by thinking that,
“The sorrow has come to me because of my own negative
karmas and my powerful destiny played a significant role in
creating such unwanted circumstances.”

This understanding and accepting the contribution of destiny
is extremely useful in consoling the mind and avoiding mental
disturbances.

There are short-tempered people who get aggressive over little
issues. Noone wishes to have them around. Everyone thinks,
“It is good that he is not at home.” What a pitiful state! He
may be the one who craves for the entire family. In spite of
this, he is not liked by all. Why ? Due to his angry nature.
In such a case if he understands that the unexpected turn of
events is a result of destiny, that destiny is responsible for a
certain nature of his son or mother and that their intentions
are not mean then he can overcome his angry nature.

If one can find solutions with the help of destiny, then anger
can be taken into control.

Here the weird situation that arose was that shepherdess
Kamlata herself did not recognize her son and narrated her
story to him. As she commenced her story and proceeded
ahead, the scholar got doubtful that this was his own mother’s
story. But the shepherdess was completely unaware of the fact
that she was narrating her story to her own son. She saw him
as a learned man and started narrating, the sins committed by
her to lighten her heart and mind.

170 Courage Redefined