Thirukkural-On Virtue-On Fate-Kural 377

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The divine ordination, of all this on earth, has been extremely well brought out in this couplet, which could be translated as below:

Except as ordained by the Lord, who measures out each man"s meet,
Even the millionaire cannot enjoy his hoards.

Even a millionaire cannot enjoy his wealth except as ordained by Fate. This is exactly what Shakespeare meant when he said in Hamlet,

'There is a Divinity that shapes our ends,
rough-hew them how we will"

Most philosophers, religious as well as rational, accept this idea to differing degrees.

The Old Testament of The Bible has the following relevant passage in the Proverbs.

'The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing
thereof is of the Lord".
(Proverbs 16:13)
The current version of it is: 'Man proposes and God disposes".

The Holy Koran is quite explicit –

'That which God writes on they forehead;
thou wilt come to it".
(Chapter 7, Rukoo 16)

The poets so widely separated as Homer and Marlowe, not only by time and space as by religion and ideologies, have recorded similar sentiments on the subject of Destiny.

'No man or woman born,
Coward or brave, can shun his destiny".
-Homer.

'It lies not in our power to love or hate,
for will in us is over-ruled by Fate"
Marlowe.

In Tamil literature Thiruthakka Thevar has said very much the same in his Jeevakachinthamani,

Alandhuthaang kondu kaatha arundhavamudaiya neeraark
Alandhana pogamelaam avaravark katrai naalae
Alandhana vaalu naalum
(Jeevakachinthaamani)

All this should not be taken to mean that there is no place in human affairs for the exercise of will, enthusiasm or effort. On the contrary, these have everything to do with the success and failure of any human undertaking. The point here is only that, according to one"s Karma in the previous birth, a base is laid and predilections are ordained.

The choice for the human being is either to take the line of least resistance and let it go at that or make his own decisions as he thinks fit and pursue them vigorously with all-out effort. Even in such a process, problems may arise out of the pre-determined context but for a person, who sincerely, industriously and persistently works at it, success may come as a result of overcoming these obstacles. When it does come that way, it will be all the more valuable. This, to my mind, is Valluvar"s message as we glean it, when we read this chapter against the background of chapter 60, 61 & 62. the Gita endorses this stand when it speaks of 'true knowledge reducing Karma to ashes".
(Gita: 4:37)