We all remain here, as slaves sold to Fate and Destiny, and we are deceived by their allurements…Destiny, the faithful and obedient wife of Fate, is naturally fickle on account of her being a female. She is always bent on mischief and disturbing patience. Everyone in this world is fond of affluence and pleasures, not knowing that these are only calculated to lead him to his ruin. All individual existences are liable to appear and disappear. All desires are chains to the world, and all worldly beings are constantly seen to be led away to where, necessarily, no one can tell. The duration of human life in this world is being decreased in each generation in proportion to the increase of wicked acts. The desire of pleasure is as vain as the expectation of reaping fruit from a vine growing in the sky. Yet I know not why men of reason would not understand this truth.

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Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 26
The Acts of Destiny
Book I, Chapter 26
The Acts of Destiny
Rama continued:
1Such being the all destructive conduct of time
and others, what confidence, O great sage, can
men like me have in them?
2We all remain here, as slaves sold to Fate and
Destiny, and we are deceived by their allurements
as beasts of the forest.
3This Fate whose conduct is so very inhuman is
ever eager to devour all beings. He is constantly
throwing men into the sea of troubles.
4He is moved by his malicious attempts to inflame
minds with excessive desires, as the fire raises its
flames to burn down a house.
5Destiny, the faithful and obedient wife of Fate, is
naturally fickle on account of her being a female.
She is always bent on mischief and disturbing
patience.
6As the heinous serpent feeds upon the air, so does cruel
Death ever swallow the living? He ripens the body
with old age to create his zest, and then devours
all animals warm with life.

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Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 26
The Acts of Destiny
7Death is called a relentless tyrant, having no pity
even for the sick and weak, nor any regard for
anyone in any state of life.
8Every one in this world is fond of affluence and
pleasures, not knowing that these are only
calculated to lead him to his ruin.
9Life is very unsteady. Death is very cruel. Youth
is very frail and fickle, and boyhood is full of
dullness and unconsciousness.
10Man is defiled by his worldliness, his friends are
ties to the world, his enjoyments are the greatest
of his diseases in life, and his greed and ambition
are his ever alluring mirage.
11Our very senses are our enemies, before which
even truth appears as falsehood. The mind is the
enemy of the mind and self is the enemy of self.
12Self-esteem is stained, intelligence is blamed for
its deception, our actions are attended with bad
results, and our pleasures tend only to effeminacy.
13All our desires are directed to enjoyments. Our
love of truth is lost, our women are the symbols of
vice, and all that was once so sweet has become
tasteless and vapid.

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Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 26
The Acts of Destiny
14Things that are not real are believed as real. They
have become the cause of our pride by hardening
us in untruth and keeping us from the light of
truth.
15My mind is at a loss to think what to do. It
regrets its increased appetite for pleasure, and for
its lack of self-denial.
16My sight is dimmed by the dust of sensuality.
The darkness of self-esteem prevails over me. I
am never able to reach purity of mind, and truth
is far away from me.
17Life has become uncertain and death is always
advancing near. My patience is disturbed, and there is
an increased appetite for whatever is false.
18The mind is soiled by dullness, and the body is filled
with overindulgence in eating and is ready to fall. Old
age exults over the body, and sins are conspicuous at
every step.
19Youth flies fast away despite all our care to preserve
it. The company of the good is at a distance. The light
of truth shines from nowhere, and I can have recourse
to nothing in this world.
20The mind is stupefied within itself, and its
contentment has fled. There is no rise of

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Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 26
The Acts of Destiny
enlightened sentiments in it, and meanness
makes the mind’s advance to enlightened
sentiments only more distant.
21Patience is converted into impatience. Man is
subject to the states of birth and death. Good
company is rare, but bad company is always
within everyone’s reach.
22All individual existences are liable to appear
and disappear. All desires are chains to the world,
and all worldly beings are constantly seen to be
led away to where, necessarily, no one can tell.
23What reliance can there be on human life when the
points of the compass become indistinct and
indiscernible, when countries and places change their
positions and names, and when even mountains are
liable to be dilapidated?
24What reliance can there be on man when the
heavens are swallowed in infinity, when this
world is absorbed in nothingness, and the very
earth loses her stability?
25What reliance can there be on men like ourselves
when the very seas are liable to be dried up, when the
stars are doomed to fade away and disappear, and
when the most perfect of beings are liable to
dissolution?

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Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 26
The Acts of Destiny
26What reliance can there be on men like us when
even the demigods are liable to destruction, when
the polar star is known to change its place, and
when the immortal gods are doomed to mortality?
27What reliance can there be on men like us when
Indra is doomed to be defeated by demons, when
even Death is hindered from his aim, and when
air currents cease to move?
28What reliance can there be on men like us when
the very moon is to vanish with the sky, when the
very sun is to be split into pieces, and when fire
itself is to become frigid and cold?
29What reliance can there be on men like us when
the very gods Hari and Brahma are to be absorbed
into the Great One, and when Shiva himself is to
be no more?
30What reliance can there be on men like us when
the duration of time comes to be counted, when
Destiny is destined to her final destiny, and when
all emptiness loses itself in infinity?
31That which is inaudible, unspeakable, invisible,
and unknowable in his real form, displays to us
these wonderful worlds by some fallacy.

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Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 26
The Acts of Destiny
32No one conscious of himself can disown his
subjection to that Being that dwells in the hearts
of every one.
33This sun, the lord of worlds, is compelled to run over
hills, rocks and fields, like an inert piece of stone,
hurled down from a mountain and carried away by a
current stream.
34This globe of earth, the seat of all the suras (gods) and
asuras (demons) and surrounded by a luminous sphere
like a walnut is covered by its hard shell, exists under
His command.
35The gods in the heavens, the men on earth, and
the serpents in the nether world are brought into
existence and led to decay by His will only.
36Kama Deva, who is arbitrarily powerful and has
forcibly overpowered the entire living world, derives
his unconquerable might from the Lord of worlds.
37As the heated elephant regales the air with his
spirituous flowing, so does the spring perfume the air
with his profusion of flowers, unsettling the minds of
men?
38So are the loose glances of loving maidens directed to
inflict deep wounds in the heart of man, which his best
efforts are unable to heal?

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Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 26
The Acts of Destiny
39One whose best endeavour is always to do good
to others, and who feels for others’ sorrows, is
really intelligent and happy under the influence
of his cool judgment.
40Who can count the number of beings resembling
the waves of the ocean, and on whom death has
been darting the undersea fire of destruction?
41All mankind is deluded to entrap themselves in
the snare of greed and be afflicted with all evils in
life, as the deer entangled in the thickets of a
jungle.
42The duration of human life in this world is being
decreased in each generation in proportion to the
increase of wicked acts. The desire of pleasure is
as vain as the expectation of reaping fruit from a
vine growing in the sky. Yet I know not why men
of reason would not understand this truth.
43“This is a day of festivity, a season of joy and a
time of procession. Here are our friends. Here are
the pleasures and here are a variety of our
entertainments.” Thus do men of vacant minds
amuse themselves with weaving the web of their
desires, until they become extinct?
*******

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Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 26
The Acts of Destiny
Recap
[Rama’s observations herein above are a lesson for all
seekers of Truth. “We all remain here, as slaves sold
to Fate and Destiny, and we are deceived by their
allurements…”
“Destiny, the faithful and obedient wife of Fate,
is naturally fickle on account of her being a
female. She is always bent on mischief and
disturbing patience.”
“Everyone in this world is fond of affluence and
pleasures, not knowing that these are only
calculated to lead him to his ruin.”
“Patience is converted into impatience. Man is
subject to the states of birth and death. Good
company is rare, but bad company is always
within everyone’s reach.”
“All individual existences are liable to appear and
disappear. All desires are chains to the world, and
all worldly beings are constantly seen to be led
away to where, necessarily, no one can tell.”
“What reliance can there be on men like us when
even the demigods are liable to destruction, when
the polar star is known to change its place, and

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Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 26
The Acts of Destiny
when the immortal gods are doomed to
mortality?”
“The duration of human life in this world is being
decreased in each generation in proportion to the
increase of wicked acts. The desire of pleasure is
as vain as the expectation of reaping fruit from a
vine growing in the sky. Yet I know not why men
of reason would not understand this truth.”
Rama is seeking help of two great sages of his time.
Time does not spare gods, demigods and even the three
principal gods (creator, preserver and destroyer) then
where do we stand as human being of limited intellect.
It is high time that we pause and reflect on this issue.
On our own we cannot stop the Wheel of Time. Imagine
the momentum the Time has in pushing us ‘down and
out’ to fulfil our desires.
We shall have to seek the help of realized persons now,
of our time, who have been successful in doing so.]
*******
Meaning
[Fate: It's out of our control; the preordained course of
our life that will occur because of or in spite of our
actions.

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Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 26
The Acts of Destiny
“Fate is represented by the three sisters, or Moirae, in
Greek mythology. Clotho spun the thread of your life,
Lachesis measured its length, and Atropos cut it when
you were to die. Variations of these supernatural sisters
are seen in Roman and Norse mythology as well. Fate
was seen as something supernaturally dictated and
beyond the control of mortals.”
Destiny: It's what you are meant to do; a set of
predetermined events within your life that you take an
active course in shaping.
“It implies an outcome predetermined by a set of events
which, once put into motion, move inexorably forward.
With this concept, humans have a hand in events, but
only to get the ball rolling.”
*******