The following quote, by Swami Sri Yukteswar, gives the best
explanation of karma, fate, and free will that I’ve seen:
"A child is born on that day and at that hour when
the celestial rays are in mathematical harmony with one's
individual karma. His horoscope is a challenging portrait,
revealing his unalterable past and it's probable future results…The
message boldly blazoned across the heavens at the moment of
birth is not meant to emphasize fate—the result of past
good and evil—but to arouse man's will to escape from
his universal thralldom. What he has done, he can undo. None
other than himself was the instigator of the causes of whatever
effects are now prevalent in his life. He can overcome any
limitation, because he created it by his own actions in the
first place, and because he has spiritual resources which
are not subject to planetary pressure."
– Swami Sri Yukteswar (guru of Paramahansa Yogananda,
author of Autobiography of a Yogi - from chapter
16 "Outwitting the Stars")
Read an online
version of Autobiography of a Yogi.
Copyright 2006. Vaughn Paul
Manley. All Rights Reserved.
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