Growing up in the land of superstitions and astrological readings, I have had my share of beliefs ranging from walking through a street crossed by a black cat can bring ill fortune to trying to change one’s destiny through the use of certain gemstones which hold the power to alter future life events. I even developed a pseudo-scientific theory to explain away why I would follow the practice of wearing multiple gemstones in specific fingers and set in rings made of suitably correlated metals to derive outcomes like “vanquish one’s adversaries” to more mundane ones like preserving good health and amassing a fortune. As I tasted the nectar of objectively observing my mind and body through Vipassana, I quickly concluded that my destiny wasn’t beholden to astrological charts or apparent omens that were simple and naturally occurring physical phenomena.
What I now believe, however for a very different reason, is that everything happens for a reason and that there are no random coincidences in the world. What are the possible reasons for these occurrences?
In short, it is our karma (based on our prior actions) that fuels the processes, connections and outcomes in our lives. While we may not be able to comprehend or fathom the rationale at the moment given the limitations of our mind to perfectly process the multitude of dominos that may have fallen (whether from within this life or also including prior lifetimes) to cause the butterfly effect in that moment for a situation to manifest in a certain seemingly inexplicable way. So, when things start to happen that we can’t explain – whether sublime or dark in their appeal – they are happening in a perfectly orderly manner from the standpoint of the laws of the universe.
For instance, people come into our lives at the perfect (or seemingly inopportune) moment, whether to give us joy or when it may seem to challenge us, is really to help us learn something from (or through) them or allow us to serve them and earn karmic merit. I also no longer feel surprised or remark as coincidence now when something that’s been weighing on my mind for a long time resolves itself spontaneously and then in hindsight was the perfect moment for it. Any sooner or any later wouldn’t have been any better and a mathematician couldn’t have come up with a more precisely timed solution!
I have stopped over-analyzing the “why” and the “when” aspects of these karmic connections as I now understand that the rationale behind them is too profound and has manifested from too many possibilities that must have had to live up perfectly for things to occur in a certain way.
It has become clear through closer examination and direct experience that some higher order processes guide the aspects of our life that we don’t control directly. And yet, these higher order processes don’t randomly occur, they are in turn guided by the quantum of our previous and current actions. While I can’t go back in time to reverse misdeeds from the past, what I do think about more is my current and future actions and how they constitute the input that I am contributing into the universe and how these mini-karma seeds that I am sowing – good, bad, or neutral – will be the generators of the future that I may enjoy or suffer.