To say that God is the prime cause of everything is true to a certain extent; but you are not thrust by Him into an iron cage of destiny from which there is no escape. He has endowed you with viveka and vairagya (discrimination and detachment) and, with a sense of awe and wonder, you have to use these for attaining Him. Though bound, you are not entirely incapacitated. A cow that is tethered to a post by means of a rope can walk around it and graze on all the area which the rope can traverse; when all the grass therein has been eaten, perhaps the master might loosen the knot and tether it to another post a little farther off. Graze freely as far as the rope allows, but do not stray far from the post and pull at the rope and inflict pain on your neck. On the land that belongs to you, you can grow the food you need or you can sit idle and allow it to lie fallow. You are the cause of your ruin or uplift. The tools are in your hands; you can learn the skills; you can break the shackles and escape; but if you grovel in slavery and bondage, who can save you?

Do not blame Fate or siro-likhitam (writing on the head), for your condition. The likhitam (writing) has been done by you yourself. You fail or pass and you are detained or promoted on the basis of your performance in the previous class, is it not? So also, the status in the present life is decided on the basis of the activities in previous lives. (SSS Vol.2)

The sport of destiny is full of contradictions and absurdities; they are as unpredictable as the wayward sport of children. (RKRV Part I, p. 461)

Be bold. Do not grieve over the past; such grief is useless. Strange things do happen when times are not propitious and circumstances so conspire. Of what benefit is to lay the fault on someone? No one should be found fault with. It is one’s destiny to live on with his load of sorrow. This cannot be avoided; it must be endured. (RKRV Part I, p. 403)

Man too has come for a great destiny, on a sacred mission, endowed with special skill and tendencies to help him on; but he fritters these precious gifts and crawls on earth from birth to death, worse than any animal. Exercises like Bhajan elevate the mind and exhort the individual to seek and find the source of eternal joy that lies within him. (SSS Vol.7, p. 444)

Manava (man) has to become Madhava (God); that is his destiny, the plan and purpose of his being armed, as no other animal is, with the sword of Viveka (discrimination) and the shield of Vairagya (renunciation). Man is the only animal that can picture a previous existence and existences in a series, with impression accumulating from one to the other. What you see and feel in a dream has some basis on what you have been and felt in the waking state; so too, what you see and feel in the present life has, as its basis, what you have seen and felt in other lives, previous lives. You can win the Grace of the Lord only by dharma. Dharma induces the spirit of self surrender and develops it. (SSS Vol.4, p. 3)

Rama and Lakshmana, though born of different mothers were drawn to each other by mysterious ties of fraternal reverence. When quite a baby, Lakshmana used to weep inconsolably while with his mother, Vashistha, the Court Preceptor, suggested that the child may be placed in the same cradle as Rama born a few days earlier and, when this was done, he slept sound and sweet. The two were found by the same destiny. Man too is bound to God (Rama) by the same destiny. He can get sound and sweet sleep, only in the lap of God. Separated from Him, he can only wail. (SSS Vol.7, p. 10)

When the Headmaster gives a character certificate on the basis of which you apply for a job, he frames the sentences with reference to your conduct in the past when you were in previous classes. You are responsible for the nature of the certificate. If your conduct was good, you get a good certificate and a good job; if it had been bad, you get a bad one and a poor job. It is you who write; it is you who wipe the writing on the head, or ‘destiny.’ (LDL, p. 61)

When the sun rises and shines, not all the lotus buds in the lakes and ponds bloom; only those that are ready, do. The rest have to bide their time. But all are destined to bloom; all have to fulfil that destiny. There is no need to despair. (OSSL)

It is the destiny of man to journey from human-ness to divinity, as he has already journeyed from animal-ness. In this pilgrimage he is bound to encounter various obstacles and trials. In order to smooth his path and help him overcome these troubles, sages, seers, realised souls, divine personalities and Incarnations of God appear among men and illumine the path. They move among the afflicted, the seekers who have lost their way or strayed into the desert, and lead them into confidence and courage. Certain personalities are born and live out their days for this very purpose. They assume birth for a cause. Such guides, exemplars, and leaders appear among all people and in all lands. They inspire faith in higher ideals, and teach, as if their voice is the voice of God, counselling from the heart. They teach that multiplicity is a delusion, that unity is the reality. (EL, pp. 69-70)