A boy was born in a family who had great faith in stars, etc. For every important step, astrology in some form was used. As the boy grew, he had mixed feelings abut this practice.

After passing school, he got admission to a famous medical college. He had to travel by a certain date. Since this was a very important step in the boy’s life, astrological charts were consulted. The family discovered to their horror that this period was not at all auspicious for the boy. However, this boy had exposure to other people who were not so superstitious. He decided to go. His family was very apprehensive but couldn’t do much except to pray for his well-being.

College over, the topic of marriage took center stage. Some girls were shortlisted and their horoscopes matched. Again, there was a serious problem. The girl this boy fancied was not as suitable as the one which the family chose. Despite stiff opposition from his family, he married the girl of his choice.

Immediately after the so called mismatched marriage, trouble surfaced. Stars decreed that the newly married couple not have children till after the fourth year of the marriage, but the couple decided otherwise and they were blessed with a boy after a year. Differences persisted and life went on, though the boy wasn’t any worse off due to the non-compliance to the dictates of his family.

What is the truth? Are things predestined? To understand this, one needs to understand the theory of ‘karmaphala’. All our acts by mind, body and words bear fruits at their appointed time. The position of someone’s stars give some idea about deeds done by him in his or her previous life. Also one’s nature, which determines all one’s actions, has a lot to do with one’s pervious life.

Are we then robots with our past being everything? No! One can change one’s destiny by changing one’s nature. This can be understood by an example of a bank deposit. The bank shall continue to pay interest at a fixed rate till we decide to reinvest our money some other way. That freedom we all possess. Yes! We are mostly predestined if we don’t make a serious attempt to change our natures. Stars give a fair idea, but we don’t have to be prisoners of such inertia. We can make a break from our past as the boy in our story did. Notwithstanding any fruits both good and bad which inevitably come we can make our future.