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There are frequent references to daiva and purusakara in the Yogavasistha. In the very beginning of the work from canto V to canto X of the Mumuksuprakarana there is a fervent praise of purusakara or human efforts. The idea of fate is presented there from a different angle. Daiva is paurusa itself, paurusa of earlier births. In the present life, therefore, a constant struggle is going on between the paurusa of the earlier births and the paurusa of this birth. The author of the Yogavasishtha compares the struggle between the two paurusas to a close neck-to-neck fight between rams. Says he: dvau hudav ivu yudhyete purusarthau samasamaui' He repeats the ram-simile at least thrice in these six cantos. The author is definitely of the opinion that there is no fate. If there exists anything it is paurusa only. Just as any wrong done the other day can be rectified the following day, similarly the offset of the deeds done in previous births can be affected by the good deeds done in the present birth. Out of the two paurusas, the earlier and the present, the present paurusa is more powerful and can easily conquer the earlier just as a young man can overpower a child. The author is very forthright when he says: Fie upon those fools who believe in destiny, although it is a matter of their experience that it is their own efforts that accomplish things for them.

Concept of Fate in the Yogavasistha 97 We see virtues are acquired by us if we put in efforts to read the scriptures and keep company with the good. It is pointed out further that unlike fate, paurusa is a matter of our direct experience. Daiva or fate is merely a figment, a product of the imagination of the unwise . There is no such thing as fate. Whenever some one desires a thing and puts in adequate efforts for its realization he does obtain it, provided he does not stop half way because of exhaustion.² The Yogavasishtha very lucidly puts forth its view about daiva and purusakara. It compares daiva with the sky; daivam akasarupam hi...........3 which is nothing, a mere void, but still is given the name akasa. Daiva is merely a name given to a phenomenon which really does not exist. The author of the Yogavasistha does not mince matters when he declares unequivocally that fate is something substantial and active only to the unenlightened and that to the enlightened it verily does not exist: nanu raghava lokasya kasyacit kincid eva hi daivam akasarupam hi karoti na karoti cair It is a fact or facts, a thought, a resolution about doing an act or an act itself done in a previous birth which offers the muchneeded explanations as to why an act accomplished in this life yields good or bad results. Or fate is nothing but a word of consolation said when one is faced with the good or bad results of a present-day act and is told that they are all due to the influence of some act done in a previous birth: purusarthasya siddhasya subhasubhaphalodaye! idamittham sthitam iti yoktis tad daivam ucyatell istanistaphalapraptav idam ityasya vacakami asvasanamatravaco daivam ity eva kathyatell In these definitions and the other pronouncements of the Yoga-vasistha there appears an apparent contradiction. Daiva or fate is the good or the bad effect of the earlier actions. If it be so, how can fate be said to be nothing or non-existing. The Yogvasistha itself notices this contradiction and tries to resolve

it. Daiva, according to it, is merely a synonym of the action done in previous births with intense resolve: yad eva tivrasamvegad drdham karma krtam pura! tad eva daivasabadena paryayeneha kathyate if Behind each activity there lies the vasana, the impressions of the earlier births. Vasana is nothing but the mind and the mind is nothing but person. So when it is said that daiva is action, it actually means the mind. Now, the mind is non-distinct from the person. Hence the conclusion that daiva does not exist. The person in the form of the mind tries for this or that thing and comes to obtain it on account of his own efforts which are said to be daiva. And so it is the definite mental resolve of a person which is at the back of all activity. The advice of the Yogavasistha, therefore, is that one should engage oneself in good activities, for that will surely off-set the evil effect of bad deeds done in previous births. But here it must be remembered that the individual effort in the present must be powerful enough to contend adequately with the effort put forth in earlier births. Otherwise it is possible that the present effort may be thwarted and may just remain devoid of any fruit. Just as food is crushed by the teeth when it is put under them, similarly if one of the two, the daiva and the purusarthas, is more powerful than the other, it can destroy the other. Daiva or destiny is nothing else than one's own actions in previous births, the view enunciated by the Yogavasistha in a number of places. The Yogavasistha clearly propounds the principle that of the two purusarthas, one of this birth and the other of previous births, whichever is more powerful wins and overpowers the other: jayaty atibalas tayoh.' The Yogavasistha further advises that if, one's efforts directed to the achievement of a desired object come to naught, one should console oneself by this feeling alone that the efforts were too feeble to lead to the desired results. It may also be possible that occasionally proper efforts too may not yield proper results. But that should not dissuade a person from putting in more and more strenuous efforts. In any case whether one's efforts succeed or

Concept of Fate in the Yogavasistha 8 99 not one should not feel aggrieved. All the objects of the world thrive on such factors as time , space, action and substances. If in one set of circumstances one's efforts do not succeed, it is just possible that in another , they may. Under these conditions it will be simply unwise to feel sorry for one's wasted efforts. What is required is that one should have recourse to paurusa, join the company of the good, read the sastras and cross the ocean of this samsara by purging one's mind of all impurities by conscious and sustained efforts. As and as one's efforts would go on multiplying, the results would begin to appear quicker and quicker. In the ultimate analysis it is an individual effort alone that is real. It is that alone which is termed fate. Just as a person stricken with sorrow cries out ha kastam, how sad, similarly does he exclaim , ha daivam, oh fate. The expression ha kastam, and ha daivam are synonyms. By ha kastam, one means the painful results of one's actions. This is precisely the meaning of ha daivam , too. From this it will be clear, as has been remarked earlier, that fate or daiva is nothing else than one's own previous actions. It is nothing different from them. It has no independent existence, no separate entity which the ignorant alone assume for it. If one's efforts go waste, it may be due to the comparatively increased forcefulness or effectiveness of daiva, viz., one's own actions performed earlier. But then there is all the more reason that the present effort should be intensified so as to become more forceful than the action performed earlier. Those who assume fate or destiny as an independent force at work to frustrate one's present efforts do not grasp its reality and consequently do not put forth effort to conquer it. They must be pronounced as wretched fools deserving of pity. They think that whatever is seen by them, experienced by them or done by them, is all due to fate. They are really perverted minds. By ascribing things directly seen or experienced by them to an outside agency called destiny they land themselves nowhere. What is required is that one may give oneself over to efforts with a singleness of purpose. Such efforts alone, when regulated by sastraic injunctions, can deliver the goods. The Yogvasistha clearly declares:

arthaprapakakaryaikaprayatnaparata budhaihi prokta paurusasabdena............. What is paurusa according to the Yogvasistha? The definition as given above is arthaprapakakaryaikaprayatnaparata. 10 But the efforts should not be absolute, but should be put forward, the Yogavasishtha clearly points out, within the framework of the sastraic injunctions, the checks and balances put down by the sastras (sastrayantrita), lest the consequences be disastrous. It is necessary that efforts made are noble, are for good and not for evil. That is the refrain in the Yogavasistha. Its author is never tired of enjoining proper efforts which should yield good results. His entire approach is characterized by ideal of Dharma. The good efforts would yield good results which would banish sorrow and suffering which are necessarily the result of misdeeds done previously, and that is precisely the aim which the author has in view. Not only is it in the beginning of the work, but elsewhere also that we find that the individual effort is extolled while what goes by the name of fate or destiny is denounced to the point of its being called non-existent and its equation with paurusa itself. So in the balance what remains is paurusa only. Elsewhere, too, in the Yogavasistha we meet with many passages which echo the same idea. Thus in IV. 32 we come across the verse: paramam paurusam yatnam asthayadaya sudyamam i yathasastram anudvegam acaran ko na siddhibhak 11 11 "Who is there who cannot achieve his ultimate goal by putting in supreme efforts according to the sastras without any feeling of fear"? Further in IV. 62 the author comes out very forcefully in support of paurusa. Among the many verses found there is one that deserves quotation here for it spells out the author's belief which in all probability is born of inner conviction. The verse in question reads: na tad asti prthivyam va divi devesu va kvacit I paurusena prayatnena yan napnoti gunanvitah1112

Concept of Fate in the Yogavasistha 101 "There is no such thing on the earth, in the heaven, and among the gods and elsewhere which a person endowed with qualities cannot attain by individual efforts." There can be no more forthright enunciation of the importance of paurusa and its implied superiority over daiva. In V. 13. 8. too, the fatalists are denounced in no uncertain terms while purusakara is praised. The verse reads: na daivam na ca karmani na dhanani na bandhavah 1 saranam bhavabhitanam svaprayatnad rte nrnam 11 13 "Apart from one's own efforts nothing can save the people who are afraid of this world; not even fate, actions (mere physical movements), wealth or relations." In V. 24 too, a lengthy discussion about daiva and purusakara is introduced in the Yogavasistha. There too, the superiority of purusakara over daiva is enunciated in clearest possible terms. The reason for so much of emphasis that the Yoga-vasishtha puts on purusakara can be traced to its philosophy. The central theme of the Yogavasistha philosophy is sankalpakalana of the citta. The moment the citta is deadened (rendered absolutely inactive) by various methods (yuktis) which are detailed in different parts of the work and constant practice (abhyasa), the world outside ceases to exist. There is no happiness or sorrow then. And that is the state of salvation (moksa) which is the ultimate goal. The work in V. 92 (verses 27-33) describes the various stages in the conquest of the citta. First, the regulating of breath (pranarodhana) by means of pranayama, continued practice (cirabhyasa), the way shown by the guru (yuktya ca gurudattaya) and the control exercised on sitting and eating (asanasanayogena) and then the appearance of the true knowledge (jnana) by which one comes to know the real form of a thing as it obtained in the beginning and as it stood at the end, which results in the disappearance of the vasana and ultimately leads to that state when the citta becomes extinct, just as the dust remains still in the sky when there is no movement in the air. What is actually the movement of the breath is the movement of the citta. A wise man should

try his utmost to achieve a conquest of pranaspanda, the movement of the breath, by concentration. Or one may directly put the citta under control and not follow the above-mentioned sequence of various practices. It requires constant practice spread over a long period. However, whichever way the conquest of the mind is sought to be achieved, one thing that can definitely be said about it is that the mind can never be conquered without the proper devices (yuktis) and these devices may be listed as: adhyatmavidyadhigamah sadhusangama eva ca 1 vasanasamparityagah pranaspandanirodhanam I etas ta yuktayah pustah santi cittajaye kila yabhis taj jiyate ksipram........14 "Attainment of spiritual knowledge, association with the god people, giving up of the vasana, the stopping of the movement of breath; these are said to be the devices effective for the conquest of the citta. The disappearance of the vasana (vasanaksaya) leads to the extinction of the citta (cittanasa) and vice versa. These two again lead to tattvajnana which may again be said to be the cause of these two. These three, the tattvajnana, the attainment of true knowledge, the manonasa, the extinction of the mind and the vasanaksaya, the disappearance of the vasana are, therefore, each the cause and the effect of the other and are difficult of accomplishment as the Vasistha Ramayana says: tattvajnanam manonaso vasanaksaya eva cal mithah karanatam gatva duhsadhyani sthitany atahn¹s What is required, therefore, is conscious effort; tasmad raghava yatnena paurusena vivekina.........trayam etat samasrayet. 16 As a matter of fact, the achievement of vasanasamparityaga, the giving up of the vasana, which is at once the cause and the effect of the manonasa, the extinction of the mind, is very difficult, more difficult perhaps than even the uprooting of the Mount Meru; duhsadhyo vasanatyagah sumerunmulanad api¹7 but there is no reason why it should not be attempted. By constant abhyasa, practice, and the various devices detailed above conscious efforts are to be put forth to achieve the disappearance

Concept of Fate in the Yogavasistha 103 of the vasana (vasanaksaya), the extinction of the mind (manonasa) and the ultimate knowledge (tattvajnana). Here then comes the need for purusakara, the conscious effort. Hence there is so much of emphasis on it in the Yogavasistha whose author is never tired of repeating the value of purusakara and bringing out its importance even at the risk of being repetitive. For his pet theory is 'just as you think and do so will it take shape.' So in the ultimate analysis what remains of this world is one's own sankalpa, one's own purusartha: purusarthad rte putra na kincid iha vidyate 118 If that purusartha is directed properly and with discrimination, it may well lead to the disappearance of the vasana (vasanaksaya), the extinction of the mind (manonasa) and the dawn of the true knowledge (tattvajnana). Now, if one more entity, the daiva is postulated here it will then be a clear reversal of the philosophy preached by the Yogavasistha. For the author of the Yogavasistha there is no daiva. In one of his many forthright utterances he says that one should put in one's efforts and leave the fate far behind: paurusam yatnam asritya daivam krtva suduratahi bhogan vigarhayet prajnah....19 There is talk of daiva (fate) among the ordinary folk but it (fate) is nothing concrete, nothing corporeal: daivam ity ucyate loke na daivam dehavat kvacit Po In V. 24. the Yogavasistha mentions a number of words for fate like daiva, bhavitavyata (avasyambhavitavya) and niyati and attempts an interesting interpretation of them to fit in well with its philosophy. The Yogavasistha's interpretation of niyati, for example, is: karta no mana eveha yat kalpayati tat tatha || niyatim yadrsim etat sankalpayti tat tatha i niyataniyatan kanscid arthan aniyatan api II karoti cittam tenaitac cittam niyatiyojakam niyatyam niyatim kurvan kadacit svarthanamikamul

sphuraty asmin jagatkose jivo vyomniva marutahi niyatya vihitam kurvan kadacin niyatimcarahi samjnartham rudhaniyatisabdah sphurati sanuvati tasmad yan manas tavan na daivam niyatir na ca 1121 "For us it is here the mind which is an agent. Just as it conceives things, so do they take shape. The way it thinks of the niyati so does it become. It is the mind which creates things of our experience (the empirical world) which ordinarily yield fruit but in exceptional circumstances may not, and things which are illusory only and have no invariability of effects. Hence it is the mind that is responsible for the niyati." In this way when an object is real it must have fruit invariably and hence no variability of fruit which we have in the case of daiva or karma. Sometimes the individual soul (jiva) called the citta (mind) in a birth fit for emancipation has its niyati, the nirvikalpasamadhi,22 or niyati, the supreme self which is ever immutable. In that state like the air in the sky it continues to exist in its real state free from all association and attachment. But when on leaving sastraic injunctions, it occupies itself with activities suitable for various stages of life for the purpose of instructing the ignorant then the word niyati comes to be popularly used for it. It begins to behave like the peak of a mountain which appears to be moving when the leaves on the trees growing on it are shaken by the wind, and appears still when the wind does not blow. Hence the conclusion that so long as there is the mind there is no daiva or niyati or fate or destiny. The reason for this is that it is the individual self which assumes the form of a human being and whatever it conceives, it becomes. Fate or destiny or daiva or niyati, as the two words are understood popularly, simply does not exist. From the above dissertation it follows that samkalpa being fiva's (or citta's) own doing independent of outside help, one ought to acquire by self-effort such means as vairagya to conceive oneness with Brahman and not conceive oneself as samsarin. The above discussion helps us grasp properly the various senses in which the word niyati has been used in the Yogavasistha. In the text quoted above at one place it means the supreme self

Concept of Fate in the Yogavasistha 105 (paramatman), at another it means the nirvikalpasamadhi (the exclusive concentration) where all forms of consciousness of the known etc. disappear, and at still another it means the sastraic injunctions. The etymology of the word niyati is probably at the back of all these different meanings in which it has been used in the text. Etymologically niyati means control (ni+yam+ti) or the invariableness. Niyati is called the supreme self because it is invariable, it is always found in its one state of sameness. Nirvikalpakasamadhi is called niyati, for here too there is the sameness, all cognition having vanished.23 The sastraic injunctions are called niyati for they control (regulate) the life of an individual. To attempt a connection between these seemingly different meanings of the word niyati, we may say that it is the citta or the individual self which when in a state of nirvikalpakasamadhi, as when it is emancipated is identical with, and has its existence in the supreme soul (paramatman) who is changeless or niyati or is niyati changelesssness itself. It engages itself in different activities enjoined by the sastras when it bestirs itself. It is the activized state of the mind or the individual soul only which is called niyati popularly. Niyati actually is phalaniyati, the regularity about the effect. 24 The various samkalpas have the various effects invariably. It is, therefore, the samkalpas which control the effects. Now these samkalpas arise in the mind. So it is the mind which really controls the effects of the samkalpas or the niyati or the invariable nature of the effects. When no samkalpas arise in the mind, there is no niyati which is in the form of the direct perception of the internal reality (pratyakparamarthagocarasaksatkararupa), the state of equilibrium called the 'nirvikalpakasamadhi' but this niyati is different from the phalaniyati which has its appearance only when the mind bestirs itself (vyutthanakale). When the mind or the citta becomes active it begins to weave different patterns and draw different images. It is these images, good or bad, which yield good or bad effects. As these images are the creations of the mind, it is the mind which is real and not these images which owe their existence to it (mind). When the mind is brought under control,

the various samkalpas of the mind which give rise to 'phalaniyati' too are brought under control. So it is that the Yogvasistha enjoins supreme efforts for the control of the mind or the citta. Hence the value of purusakara in its philosophy. It is perfectly in accord with this philosophy of purusakara that at another place, too, the Yoga-vasishtha points out that all aims and objects which ordinarily appear impossible of attainment are obtained by means of adhyavasaya, conscious effort: sarvam adhyavasayena dusprapam api labhyate.25 In V. 57 the verses 37- 38 extol purusakara and present it as essential for the achievement of even the most difficult things. In V.61, however, the word niyati is used in an altogether different sense, viz., the desire of the Supreme Lord. We have the verse there: tathaitasv atidirghasu dasasv anyatvam agatahi bhuyo vayam api slistas citro hi niyater vidhih 126 "So having separated from each other for all these long periods we have come together. The way of niyati (isvarechha) is strange indeed". That the use of niyati is here in the sense of isvareccha, the desire of Isvara, may be seen from another verse occurring in that very canto wherein niyati is qualified by the word daiviki thereby meaning the daiviki niyati or the desire of the deva or isvara. The verse in question reads: bhagavan niyater asyah gatim sarpagater iva i daivikyah ko hi janati gambhiram vismayapradam 127 "My Lord who knows the way of niyati, the playful desire of the Supreme Being (deva) which is mysterious as the movement of a serpent and which is wonderful." It is the isvareccharupavidhi or niyati which is of course conditioned by one's actions, good or bad, which is spoken of here as well as elsewhere in the Yogavasistha as very powerful, as for example, in kim asadhyam aho vidheh. Now, it may be observed that here Isvara does not signify God as we use the word in ordinary parlance. The word means the internal self

Concept of Fate in the Yogavasistha 107 (pratyakcetana atman).The words vidhi, daiva and niyati too which ordinarily mean destiny or fate mean here the internal self only. In support of it, we may quote the following verse from the Yogavasistha: vidhir daivm vidhir dhata sarvesah siva isvarah i iti namabhir atma nah pratyakcetana ucyate 1128 "Our internal self is called by various names like vidhi, daiva, dhatr, sarvesa, siva and isvara." Vidhi or niyati in other words, therefore, would mean the internal self or the jivatman, not in its absolute state but in its state of activity (vyutthana) when it performs good or bad actions and can have any samkalpa and in this way is capable of achieving the most impossible things. It is for this vidhi or niyati in its state of vyutthana that it is said in the Yogavasistha that it is such a thing for which there is nothing difficult of achievement. That is why the niyati, the set course, (here the word niyati has been used not in the sense noted above, viz., pratyakcetana atman, the internal self, but in a different sense of fixed, set of vidhi the internal self is said to be strange and is said to be slow-moving on account of its endless exertions. As this pratyakcetana atman, or the internal self is capable of endless samkalpas (anantarambha) so it is that conscious efforts are enjoined in the Yoga-vasistha to keep it under control. These efforts are the paurusa, which is very much essential for achieving anything. Without it nothing can be achieved or as the Yogavasistha says: paurusena na yat praptam na tat kvacana labhyate?29 Under this circumstances, the advice of the Yogavasistha is: daivaikaparatam tyaktva balabodhopakalpitam 11 nijam prayatnam asritya cittam adau nirodhayet 130 "One should give up one's sole dependence on fate which is an entity assumed for the purpose of instructing the ignorant. One should have recourse to one's own efforts and first control the mind." More explicit is the following statement:

praktani vasanadyapi paurusenavajiyate I hyah kukarmadya yatnena prayati hi sukarmatam 131 "Even today the earlier vasanas, the impressions left on the mind by earlier actions, good or bad, which are responsible for all feelings of pleasure or pain can be conquered by present efforts. A bad deed done yesterday can be converted into a good one by paurusa or yatna, the present effort. Further in VI(i).14 it is said that this is the decision of niyati: niyater esa niscayah and further, durlanghya esa niyater vilasah, "that the way of niyati is the pre-determined and cannot be transgressed." Niyati here is pre-determined course of event conditioned by good or bad actions performed by an individual in earlier births. REFERENCES 1. II.5.5. II.6.10 has the reading parasparam in place of samasamau of II.5.5 2. avasyam tad avapnoti na cec cchranto nivartatel 3. II. 9.7 4. ibid. 5. II. 9.8 & 10. 6. II. 9.16 7. II.5.7. 8. II. 6.3. 9. II. 7. 24. 10. II.7. 24; II. 6. 32. 11. IV. 62. 18-19. 12. V. 13.8. 13. V. 92. 35-37. 14. V. 92.14. 15. V. 92.15. 17. V. 92.10. 18. V. 24.36. 19. V. 24.60. 20. V. 24.26. 21. V. 24.30-34.

Concept of Fate in the Yogavasishtha 109 22. The exclusive concentration without the consciousness of the knower or the known or even without self-consciousness and where there is perfect equilibrium. 23. Yet not a trance or a stupor or senselessness. 24. since a given cause must produce an effect. 25. V. 47. 38. 26. V. 61. 42. 27. V. 61. 43. 28. V. 75. 35. 29. VI.(i) 29. 9. 30. VI.(i) 29.9-10. 31. VI. (i) 51. 47.