How does a person fulfill his destiny?
He is born on earth from certain parents, in a certain country, of a certain gender. He has no choice here. This is his fate as the circumstances of life. It does not depend on us where and from whom we were born. These are God's destinies. But if in paganism this determines everything (being born in poverty is an unhappy fate, being born in a royal house is a happy fate), then in Orthodoxy all this is not of decisive importance. Quite the contrary. You can be virtuous and prosperous in poverty, or you can be a sinner in wealth. Christ even affirms greater happiness for the poor: blessed are the poor..., it is difficult for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The decisive moment in achieving one’s destiny, in fulfilling divine predestination, is something else: the free choice between good and evil.
But we are born sinners, with original sin, i.e. our will, mind and feelings are damaged, our body is at war with our soul, the law of sin lives in our members. It turns out that we cannot make the choice between good and evil so freely: from birth we choose sin; by our parents we are doomed to original sinfulness.
It is then that the good Providence of God comes into play, which decides to save us not when we have corrected ourselves, but when we were still enemies of God. Despite our enmity with God, our sins, God Himself saves us by various means: He sends His prevenient grace, enlightens our soul and awakens in us the desire for God. God, through the mouth of the prophet Isaiah, says: “I have revealed myself to those who did not ask about Me; Those who did not seek Me found Me” (Isaiah 65:1). Throughout life, God repeatedly turns to a person, gives him the opportunity to turn to Himself and increase the fruit of virtue: for some a hundredfold, for others sixty, for others thirty (Matthew 13:8). This is also a kind of fate: who pleases God in the world, who in the priesthood, and who in monasticism.
The image of God in man
First of all, it is necessary to turn to the concept of the image of God in man. At the beginning of Genesis we read: “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps.” on the ground. And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female he created them” (Gen. 1:26–27). The interpretations of the image of God by the holy fathers may differ, but they all do not contradict, but rather complement each other. One of these clarifications is the understanding of the “image” in the sense of free will, which the Lord has endowed with man. Here is how Saint Gregory the Theologian writes about this: “He who created man in the beginning made him free, limiting him to only one commandment. He made him rich among the sweets of paradise, and with him he was pleased to bestow these advantages on the entire human race in one first seed. Then freedom and wealth consisted in keeping the commandment, and true poverty and slavery consisted in breaking it” (2).
Orthodox doctrine of predestination (destination) to salvation
Orthodoxy has a doctrine of predestination. We are all predestined for salvation, teaches St. Apostle Paul: “For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. And those whom He predestined, those He also called, and those He called, them He also justified; and those whom he justified, he also glorified” (Rom. 8:29–30). Here the word “fate” is understood in the sense of destiny. In this sense, all people have the same destiny - to find themselves in the Kingdom of Heaven: “For God did not call us to uncleanness, but to holiness” (1 Thess. 4:7).
The teaching of the 12 Apostles begins with these words: “There are two ways: one of life and one of death.” In this sense, our life is also predetermined and everyone has their own destiny: either to end up in heaven or in hell. This is a static, so to speak, aspect of fate.
In addition to statics, there are also dynamics. In contrast to pagan or natural-scientific fatal determination, Orthodoxy gives the idea of freedom and the good providence of God. Personally, a person is free to choose between good and evil. Therefore, it depends only on him what his fate will be: good (eternal life and communication with God) or evil (eternal death and torment with demons). In addition, there is the good providence of God, which directs a person to salvation, helps a person make a choice in favor of good, pushes him towards the road leading to heaven.
A person realizes his destiny during his life. He grows, commits actions, learns to choose good, perform virtue and avoid evil. And finally reaches his destiny: the final and irrevocable fate: eternal life in paradise. This fate was inherited by holy and virtuous wives and husbands. Or another, terrible fate: irrevocable torment and a hopeless stay in fiery hell. In this case, we can talk about fate as the life path of every person from birth to immortality. In contrast to the single common fate of all people (heaven or hell), personal fate can be diverse: then fate is the realization of a common destiny by an individual, the result of the revelation of the image and likeness of God in oneself. And then we can talk about a bitter fate as a failed life, or a happy fate as a path completed in the Kingdom of Heaven.
God glorified those whom He foreknew. God has omniscience; for Him our earthly time does not exist. There are many examples of such foreknowledge: this is the prediction about the birth of St. John the Baptist (Luke 1:15), these are the words of the holy Apostle Paul about his chosenness even before birth (Gal. 1:15), this is an indication of God’s future election to the parents of St. Sergius of Radonezh... That is why God reveals to the prophets and apostles the fate of the future century: the Second Glorious Coming, the Day of the General Resurrection and the Last Judgment. As an omniscient God, all human destinies are open, and He knows in advance which path a person will choose: the path of life or the path of death. Therefore, the fate of a person is already known to God in advance, and this is the last aspect of the Orthodox understanding of fate. But only God knows this. Our fate depends entirely on our good will. And we choose our own destiny.
“Your righteousness is like the mountains of God, and Your destinies are like a great abyss! You protect men and animals, O Lord!” (Ps. 35:7)
“Oh, the depth of wealth and wisdom and knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are His destinies and unsearchable His ways!” (Rom. 11:33).
Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.
Fatal mistakes are grave sins
— They say that in order to make the right decision at some fateful moment, for example, before a major operation or on the eve of a move, you need to ask the priest for a blessing. If he gives a blessing, you can act, but if not, you should wait.
It is very important to make decisions not alone; doing it alone is somewhat arrogant. There are always parents who know more than we do. There are always wise mentors or friends. And church people always have a confessor - one who knows the inner world of a person more than the person himself.
The right thing to do is to make decisions collectively, taking into account advice, but not relying only on yourself.
“They once told me: in your youth you can make any mistakes, except fatal ones.” When I asked how they differ, they answered that the latter leave an imprint for the rest of their lives. How to avoid them?
Fatal mistakes [can] be understood as falling into some kind of sinful passion.
For example, falling under the passion of drug addiction is precisely scary because the imprint is left on the rest of your life. A person must understand that he is sick and remains so for life.
And other passions - alcoholism, fornication - having fallen into them once, a person must remember and not allow himself to repeat these mistakes again.
Law of Karma
The law of karma is the law of cause and effect, and this law is universal, valid regardless of whether we know about it or not.
I think that at one time everything connected with the most important laws of Life was emasculated from the Bible - the concept of karma and reincarnation. Therefore, we have to use terms borrowed from Eastern teachings, many of which are older than Christianity, to denote these concepts.
The fact that in Christianity a person is given only one earthly life can be interpreted in different ways, and I see in this not only a negative, but also a positive meaning. Knowing that God's Judgment awaits everyone after this one and only death, a person receives an incentive to live a righteous life.
However, in the Bible we also find texts confirming that people at the time of Jesus knew about cause-and-effect relationships. Therefore Christ reminded them:
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Many people believe that fate is something unchangeable, given to them once and for all from birth: they say that what is written in the family will happen, that will happen, and you can’t escape fate. Therefore, people often pronounce these words with a bitter smile: fate is like this, fate is unhappy, fate is unfair and bitter... And few people think that he himself builds his own destiny - with his actions, his deeds, even his thoughts, desires, feelings. After all, this is so! Fate has not planned the only possible course of events in your life. Each person has several possible options for fate, and each person chooses his own option, although most often he himself does not know that he is making a choice. And then he complains: fate failed! But you just need to look back into the past and see where, at what moment you turned onto the most unfortunate path, where you strayed from the right, happy path. Maybe it’s not too late to return there, to this treacherous crossroads, and take another path, a happier one. Perhaps, having abandoned true love in early youth and preferring a marriage of convenience, the woman thought that she was choosing a more prosperous path in life, but she chose only her own misfortune. Perhaps, having given up his favorite job and chasing big money, the man ultimately doomed himself to misfortune, illness and early death - while a long happy life was possible for him. Every moment, every step, every action you make a choice. Remember this - nothing will pass without a trace. Past thoughts, intentions, and actions cannot just be taken and erased: they give rise to a whole wave of subsequent events. If you are overwhelmed by a wave of misfortunes today, you yourself gave birth to it by a careless act, intention, even word, although perhaps it was a very long time ago and you yourself do not remember it. You don’t remember, but you complain: fate is to blame. It's not fate - you did it yourself. Live consciously, don’t be blind and deaf robots, be aware of what you do, how you act, what you think, because your actions and thoughts today are your destiny tomorrow. And it depends only on you whether she will be happy. You are freer than you think, you don’t have such a strict dependence on fate - you just don’t know how to use this freedom. You keep yourself captive of your wrong actions and false thoughts. The misfortunes brought by your fate are only a reason to think: am I acting this way, am I thinking correctly, am I bringing destruction to myself and others with my feelings, thoughts, and behavior? Misfortunes are not punishment, misfortunes are an attempt to return you to the true path of your happy destiny. Misfortunes tell you: come to your senses, it’s not too late to fix everything. WHY YOU CAN’T TRUST FORTUNE TELLERS Many people want to know their future, thinking that this future is predetermined once and for all. But there is no single path predetermined for you - there are several options, and the choice depends only on you. By turning to fortune tellers, people expose themselves to great danger. A fortune teller often sees only one of many possible options for your fate. Which option she sees depends not on yours, but on her personal qualities. If the fortune teller herself is not a very pure, bright person, incapable of good thoughts and deeds, she will see only the worst path for the development of your destiny - and will present it to you as the only possible one! An impressionable person can let this prediction deep into his soul and, without meaning to, begin to implement this very worst option in his life. He doesn’t know that other, happy paths were possible, and only the fortune teller, due to her spiritual darkness, was able to see only the worst course of events and convince you that this is your destiny. It is better not to turn to fortune tellers: fate is more multifaceted and more unpredictable than they think. NOTHING HAPPENS BY CHANCE Just because fate is difficult to predict, this does not mean that it is just a collection of accidents. No, there are no coincidences in life! There are reasons for everything that happens to you. But it would be wrong to think that God creates your life, that he controls your destiny. No, God does not create your destiny - God only watches over you. He helps those who turn to him, who ask for help, and only helps so that you can find your best destiny. God cannot undo the consequences of your own unreasonable actions and thoughts, for he cannot violate his own laws, according to which what you sow is what you reap. If you sow the seed of your misfortune, you must inevitably reap the harvest of your misfortune. God cannot undo your wrong actions. He can only reason with you, put you on the right path, so that in the future you do not commit such actions, do not sow the seeds of your own troubles. God cannot interfere in the course of your destiny, because every person is endowed with free will and to interfere with the course of his destiny means violating the law on his free will. God cannot do this. Every person has the right to live the way he wants. Only a person himself can control his own destiny. God, through his guardian angels, can only suggest how to do this, but he will only suggest to those who themselves ask about it. For if a person does not ask anything, it is assumed that he himself knows the answers, does not need God’s prompting, and God is silent. God treats people like a loving parent treats his children: he, of course, tries to warn them about dangers, protect them from harm, but if he wants them to grow up as independent, mature people, he must give them the opportunity to receive their own, including including negative ones, experience, making your own mistakes, building your life on your own. And if misfortunes and misfortunes happen to a person, this, oddly enough, is the result of his, this person’s, own choice. People often behave like foolish children who, despite adults' warnings about the danger, still stick their fingers in the fire and wonder why it hurt them so much. People choose this difficult, painful path of understanding themselves and the world themselves. This path could be much less painful, it could be pleasant and joyful if people listened to their inner voice - the voice of their guardian angel, if they more often turned to God with a request to enlighten them and give answers to pressing questions.
(With)
Series of messages “4.
Life Scenario": Part 1 - Is it true that children repeat the fate of their parents? Part 2 - the rule of the pit.. ... Part 10 - The female fate of the daughter depends on whether the girl’s mother was a real woman, and then her own daughter, etc. Part 11 - ..this is how children often repeat the fate of their parents.. Part 12 - God does not create your destiny - God only watches you. Part 13 - Marriage shows what is enough and what is missing.. Part 14 - Young men don’t believe it, but everyone over 55 agrees! ... Part 48 - Childhood under threat: harmful cartoons. Scheme of manipulation of consciousness.. What kind of children are raised by ideology through cartoons. "Mowgli" USA and USSR. Part 49 - “Food is a symbol of love” Part 50 - People choose to suffer and suffer..
Series of messages “SECRETS AND LAWS - 7”:
Part 1 - text found in an old church in Baltimore in 1962 Part 2 - Every life is a special mission.. ... Part 11 - How to stop the boomerang effect Part 12 - New Year - scary Truth. Children should not watch! A living Christmas tree in the house is no longer alive Part 13 - God does not create your destiny - God only watches you. Part 14 - Each of our choices matter! Part 15 - Man is the most reckless of all existing species.. ... Part 46 - “Tools” of the Devil Part 47 - THEY have consciousness and feelings... Part 48 - Signs along the way
Devotees should cultivate strong faith
The world is in turmoil due to divisive forces that are destroying human society for various irrational reasons. Whatever happens in the world, devotees should have unwavering faith. Those who have pure and selfless hearts remain firm in faith, like an iron ball that does not move even during a hurricane. But absorbed in worldly desires, they waver like dry leaves, carried away by even a light breeze. May your devotion be unwavering. It's good for you.
Think a little about where you are and why you came here. You have arrived at this ashram
in order to fill your hearts with holy thoughts.
Not only Ashramites
, but everyone else should develop a sense of brotherhood and banish hatred towards each other.
You must develop an equal attitude towards all situations and face them with dispassion and steadfastness. Anger, hatred, pride and the desire to show off are animal qualities. Love, kindness, temperance, compassion and sacrifice are natural human qualities. Spirituality is not simply about holding worship services and singing bhajans
.
It requires getting rid of animal qualities in a person and efforts to realize unity with God. “ Adveshta sarva bhootanam,”
Narasimhan said in his previous speech. Never show ill will.
The means to shorten or extend life are in your hands. Your life is prolonged when you are calm, full of happiness and pure thoughts. When you are filled with envy, anger, hatred and pride, your life is shortened. An envious person completely loses sleep. Insomnia destroys health much faster than lack of food. Envy torments a person, giving him no respite. These diseases shorten human life. Overcome by hatred, a person cannot even bear the sight of his enemy. He suffers from hallucinations that consume his body and destroy his spirit.
Abuse of freedom
At the very beginning of history, humanity had to realize the Divine gift and, through the implementation of its good will, through the fulfillment of the moral law inherent in it, to move from the earthly to the Heavenly, from the sensory world to its Creator: “He [God] imprinted good inclinations in his heart and placed among heaven, although in such a balance between good and evil that he [man] could, by his own choice, incline towards one or the other, but still pure from sin and free from all duplicity” (3).
However, everything went wrong, and the implementation of God-given freedom in a negative sense was precisely what allowed our first parents to fall into sin, which, although it aggravated the cause-and-effect relationship in human life, did not become the final and irrevocable mark leading everyone to predetermined destruction. Even the fact of the Fall is more than clear proof of human freedom, because in this event the will of the latter went contrary to the Divine, while the Lord did not take violent measures against His creation.
And God did not leave us to the mercy of sin and to be trampled underfoot by demons, but continued to provide for and take care of man. Figuratively, we can say that the achievement of the goal of human life, expressed in deification, has received its delay. What humanity had to realize in Adam now becomes achievable through Christ, through the Redemptive feat of the Savior. Man fell under the power of sin, reflected in the words of the Apostle Peter: “Whoever is overcome by someone is his slave” (2 Peter 2:19), but liberation from this slavery is connected precisely with the realization of the given freedom, the implementation of which we see in the Lord’s cry : “Know the Truth, and the Truth will make you free” (John 8:32). The call of Christ presupposes choice, which means that the preference for good over evil lies in the sphere of human free will. It should also be noted that it is impossible to know the Truth without knowing Revelation. Liberation from the power of sin is impossible for those who do not accept the Holy Spirit, the Apostle Paul makes it clear to us: “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Cor. 3:17). Vladimir Lossky, a famous theologian of the Russian diaspora, writes: “This freedom of the children of God, opposed to the slavery of the sons of this age, is expressed in that “boldness” (parresia) with which those who know Whom they worship can turn to God, for they worship the Father.” in Spirit and Truth (John 4:23.24)” (4).
The wicked will be caught in his wickedness
These days, one pastor from Russia told me how a thief repented in the church. Zealously, he went to his friends to preach the Gospel and said that they should tithe the church from the amount they collected to help those in prison and their families, the so-called common fund. The thieves were very surprised and said that they had not heard anything like this, but asked what would happen if they tithed. To this, the Christian convert to the Lord replied: “For all the evil you have committed, sooner or later you will go to prison again. But maybe God will have mercy on you and put you in a cell with a window facing the sun.” This is the fate of wicked people, which is the consequence of their unrighteous choice:
For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and He measures all his paths. The lawless one is caught by his own iniquities, and he is kept in the bonds of his sin: he dies without instruction, and is lost from the multitude of his madness . (Proverbs 5:21-23)
Peace, Truth and Self
Embodiments of divine love! What is the purpose of your coming to the ashram
? What is its inner meaning? You have come to live a peaceful, holy and blessed life dedicated to God. This peace cannot be found in the outside world. Peace is your very form. Truth is also your form. It is foolish to think that you need to look for truth anywhere. Truth is the knowledge of one's “I”. In order to feel the inner essence, you need peace. Anxiety is caused by involvement in external activity, neglect of the inner “I”.
Everything in the world, good and bad, is connected with human actions. Your well-being is based on your behavior. Your well-being depends on your actions. You will achieve peace and prosperity when your behavior becomes correct. This requires sahana
(excerpts).
In one prayer from the Upanishads there are the words: “Let us be patient with each other. Let's rejoice together. Let's work together." Patience is a powerful tool. Dharmaja (the eldest of the Pandavas) won many victories with the astra
(weapon) of patience. Restraint is not a sign of weakness or cowardice. There is no weapon more powerful. It should be used as more than just a personal tool. It should also be used collectively. For this reason, the scriptures recommended collective abstinence at the very beginning of the spiritual path. What is its inner meaning? “We will live and move in harmony. Let's grow together. Let us cultivate together the wisdom we have received. Let us live in complete harmony without a trace of misunderstanding.” Therefore, avoid misunderstandings among yourselves. You must live in friendship, like children of the same mother.
True devotees should always smile
Anger is the cause of the destruction of man's divine capabilities. Hatred undermines the cardiovascular system. Envy drives a person crazy, depriving him of sleep. Under these conditions, food also loses its charm for him. Thus, these three evil qualities - hatred, envy and anger - are debilitating diseases. If you consider yourself devotees of God, you must get rid of these bad qualities.
Live a peaceful and clean life. Calling yourself devotees and looking at others with envy is indecent. True devotees should smile all the time. Exude happiness. This happiness will manifest itself when you feel your unity with God within you. If you are unhappy, it is because you do not feel oneness with God.
Don't worry about what happened, is happening or might happen. Let events happen as they are meant to happen. You must, however, learn from what happened. “Tasmat Jagratha! Jagratha!
(So be vigilant! Be vigilant!). People are careless in many matters. Troubles happen from time to time to alarm us. Understand that everything that happens is for your good. Even what seems bad is done for your good. Even slander is a harbinger of glory. Praise grows next to blame, just as a mound appears next to a dug hole. Look for the good name that awaits you. Don't worry about the little things that happen. You should not blame or scold others. Be vigilant and take care of your good nature. Share your kindness with others and feel the happiness that comes from it.
Victory over slander proclaims the glory of God
Noble and pure people have been slandered since time immemorial. From ancient times to the present day, envious people have attacked the generous, whose lives are dedicated to serving others. Such unwanted events happen from time to time. It is only when such attacks are resisted that the glory of God is revealed. None of the greats came to glory until they overcame insults and slander, trials and tribulations. Gold gains more shine when heated in a crucible. A diamond becomes a diamond when it is processed to create more facets. Trials are steps to good glory.
Focus on commonalities rather than differences
The first task of man is to realize the unity hidden behind diversity. If a person begins to investigate the matter with a pure and selfless mind, he will see what is common to all beings. Birth and death are common to all people. Everyone experiences hunger and thirst. This applies to all people, whether they are poor or millionaires, learned or ignorant.
Every person has a body and a Spirit. Accordingly, everyone has a certain degree of freedom. This is called "free will". Not understanding the meaning of this freedom, a person tends to emphasize differences rather than unifying factors.
Man is a combination of two types of features. One is animal nature. The other is divine. By being influenced by evil qualities such as lust, anger, greed, deception, pride and selfishness (the six enemies of man), a person reduces himself to the level of an animal. On the other hand, one who correctly uses the good qualities given by God, such as intelligence, wisdom and virtue, follows the path of truth and righteousness, and devotes himself to holy works, he ultimately achieves the Divine. A person can choose between the path leading to the animal state and the path leading to divinity, since both abilities are present in him in equal measure. What matters is the choice he makes. “As the thoughts are, so is the end.” The mind determines the goal that a person pursues. Therefore, it is very important to set the mind on the right path and realize the true greatness of human existence. With the help of a knife, you can cut vegetables and prepare delicious food. With the same knife, having taken the demonic path and ceased to be a person, you can take the life of another person.
