Are we destined to do good yet we are free to do bad also and in this way our choices are separate than our destiny?

 Our destiny is shaped by our previous choices. We can’t directly choose to do good or bad exactly, but we have some choice over the influences that result in us doing good or bad.

There was a case in the news recently about a young girl who said unpleasant things about Narendra Modi. She claims she became influenced by others, which may or may not be true, but even if it’s true, she chose to associate with the ‘influencers’ and didn’t resist their influence, so she is not entirely innocent.

We aren’t automatically destined to do good once we are in a material body. Each body comes with a set of senses and corresponding sense objects, and depending on the configuration of the senses we will be attracted to the corresponding sense objects. Whether we will do good or not is determined by the mixture of sattva, raja, and tama gunas that we have acquired up till now.

That mixture is not random but the result of influences we have been susceptible to previously. Our choice lies in what influences we allow to influence us and those choices result in actions which shape our destiny.

A person in the mode of goodness will be inclined to do good, but others dominated by passion and ignorance will be inclined towards less good activities.

The modes of nature force us to act, so what modes of nature we associate with, and become influenced by, is where we have some choice. Seeking the association of ‘bad elements’ is likely to result in us being involved in bad activities, and seeking the association of saintly people gives a better chance of us being involved in good activities. Our preferences are largely determined by our nature inherited from our previous birth, but we can change that in this life by better association.

Ultimately the goal of life is transcend the influences of the modes of nature and become free from continuing versions of destiny life after life and attain the same spiritual nature as Krishna.

This Sri Krishna explains in Bhagavad Gita.

Bg 14.19 - When one properly sees that in all activities no other performer is at work than these modes of nature and he knows the Supreme Lord, who is transcendental to all these modes, he attains My spiritual nature.

Bg 14.20 - When the embodied being is able to transcend these three modes associated with the material body, he can become free from birth, death, old age and their distresses and can enjoy nectar even in this life.

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