Hindu Views On Fate

[mythtrav16]

I'm writing a story with a major character who is Hindu, and I want to get the details right in terms of her mindset.

Long story short, she and some other people's lives are permanently effected by an unlikely turn of fate; a "just in the right place at the right time" sort of deal.

If it were a devout Christian in this position, they would make their peace with their situation by chalking it up to "all being part of God's plan." Essentially, I'm after the Hindu equivalent of that outlook.

From my research thus far, I understand that Hindus base their concept of fate upon Karma? Good deeds = good turns of fortune; bad deeds = bad turns of fortune, etc. Yet there also seems to be a divine intervention aspect to it, as well?

Because Karma is a force, not a consciousness, it can't actually measure the virtue of a person's conduct, nor bend the occurrences within the world to deliver the appropriate rewards/punishments. So it relies on the sentient gods to 'do the heavy lifting', as it were. Essentially, Karma is the law, and the gods are the judges who must execute the sentence.

Stop me if I'm getting any of this wrong.

But even if I understand all of that correctly, it still leaves me with a lot of gaps, in terms of trying to understand my character's mindset.

For one thing, the new trajectory that she and the other characters' lives have been thrown into is neither entirely good, nor entirely bad. It has some wonderful promise, but there are also significant downsides. Their futures have become complicated and uncertain, and they are well aware that there will need to be some difficult decisions and sacrifices made in the future. Although my Hindu character is largely optimistic about how it will ultimately play out, deep down she harbors anxieties that it may all end in tears.

A Christian in that sort of situation would comfort themselves by putting their faith in God's wisdom and love. Where does a Hindu go with similar anxieties?

Also problematic in terms of how my character would reconcile her situation with Karma is that neither she, nor any of the other characters effected have really done anything, good or bad, that would warrant such a massive disruption to their lives. They're all mostly kind, moral people, but like anybody, they've each made the odd mistake here and there.

In mentally auditing her own Karmic account, my Hindu character wouldn't see any major rewards due to her, nor massive debt that she needs to repay. So I would imagine that she would be left quite mystified as to whether to interpret this major life change as a Karmic reward, or a Karmic punishment. As I've said, it has both upsides and downsides. Likewise, how would this confusion influence the outlook she has for her future? I would imagine it would only heighten her anxieties - not being able to tell whether Karma set these wheels in motion to ultimately reward her or hurt her.

The primary reason I need to understand her mindset is because of a particular conversation where she and the others who have been affected are discussing their situation and the remarkable unlikeliness of the inciting event. A devout Christian in that situation would say, "It was just God's will." My inclination is to have my Hindu respond, "It must've been the will of the gods." But I'd love to know beforehand whether or not that is a realistic response from a Hindu?

If any of you are practicing Hindus, from a Hindu background, or otherwise knowledgeable about Hinduism, I would very much appreciate your insight!

 

[HeyAll]

I've never heard a Hindu mention "God's will" in regards to day to day actions, in a way that Christians and Muslims often do.

I think Hindu's are more on the side of Karma and the universe like Buddhists (as stated).

But I think any answer would suffice except for "God's will."

I think a good, generic answer could be that it was your "good fortune."

 

[mythtrav16]

I think a good, generic answer could be that it was your "good fortune."

Well, as I explained, it isn't entirely "good" fortune, and at the point in the story where this conversation happens, I feel like my character's optimism is waning a bit. So she'd be more inclined, I think, to simply regard it as "fortune" or "fate"; something with an ambiguous desirability.

 

[RocketLauncher]

Don't know if this is helpful. It seems there are specific Gods in the Hindu faith responsible for delivering karma to it's intended recipient.

Sambandar of the Shaiva Siddhanta school, in the 7th century C.E., writes about karma in his outline of Shaivism. He explains the concept of karma in Hinduism by distinguishing it from that of Buddhism and Jainism, which do not require the existence of an external being like God. In their beliefs, just as a calf among a large number of cows can find its mother at suckling time, so also does karma find the specific individual it needs to attach to and come to fruition.[36] However, theistic Hindus posit that karma, unlike the calf, is an unintelligent entity.[36] Hence, karma cannot locate the appropriate person by itself. Sambantha concludes that an intelligent Supreme Being with perfect wisdom and power (Shiva, for example) is necessary to make karma attach to the appropriate individual.[36] In such sense, God is the Divine Accountant.[36]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karma_in_Hinduism

 

[Polyacrylate]

Don't forget that with over a billion people who are practicing or non-practicing Hindus, there's a lot of room for variation. There are some who regard Brahma or Vishnu as basically as a supreme godhead, some who consider one of them first among equals, and others still who think less of the Trimurti then other specific gods, or still others who ignore the gods entirely and focus more on the karmic end of things.

In my teenage years, I had a Hindu friend whose parents had grown up in the US. We didn't live anywhere near any temples, and so when my friend's father was struck by a spiritual mood, they would occasionally attend a Christian (Catholic, I think) church service. My friend's father's understanding of Christian theology was limited, but he basically saw God as Brahma, Jesus as an avatar of Vishnu, and the devil (like I said, limited grasp of Christian theology) as Shiva. They would try to inconspicuously leave an offering for Vishnu around the church grounds, too. I could certainly see this friend saying that a meeting like you describe was "God's will," but not in a literal sense. He would say so because it was a turn of phrase he had grown up hearing that spoke closely enough to his somewhat limited faith.

So, if you haven't already, consider where your characters live and what kind of upbringing they had. In my own experience, that will inform a lot about this situation. Research various strains of modern Hinduism (Wikipedia is always a great place to start, but rarely the place for definitive answers).

 

[BelleCanzuto]

I don't know if this will be helpful either. One of the doctors I work with is pretty devout Hindu; definitely practicing. She talks about their house shrine, but I'm not sure what god it's for. She prays and leaves offerings at the shrine every morning. So that might be an angle to look at. Do Hindu households all have the same shrine? or how do they decide which god is their house god? Whichever god it is will have attributes and a mythology that might inform your character's understanding of what's happening to her.

Then there's Ganesh, who she might pray to to remove the difficulties and looking more specifically into what's done to venerate Ganesh might give you a handle on how she'd express herself to her friends.

But I also think Polyacrylate's advice to consider your character's upbringing is good too. A character raised in the US or another polythesitic society will probably be a little more fluid or loose in how she expresses herself than one brought up in a mostly Hindu country.

 

[mythtrav16]

Thanks, everybody.

So, if you haven't already, consider where your characters live and what kind of upbringing they had. In my own experience, that will inform a lot about this situation.

Well my character's background is fairly complex. She's a born US citizen, but never established any roots here. From day one of school, she was always an outlier; the "weird loner" with no friends. And things weren't helped any by her home life. Though stopping short of being outright abusive, it certainly wasn't a happy or loving household.

You might think this would cultivate a resentment towards her upbringing - including the Hindu belief system she was born into - and therefore an inclination to reject Hinduism for another belief system. But for various reasons, she is convinced of the existence of the Hindu gods, and the rest of the Hindu belief system.

Wikipedia is always a great place to start, but rarely the place for definitive answers.

I always have trouble trying to educate myself on subjects like Hinduism with Wikipedia. The trouble is that the articles are, understandably, written in the vocabulary of the pertinent culture. They are peppered with words I am unfamiliar with, leading to me having to open a dozen new tabs to try to understand those words, and frequently the articles explaining those words are themselves peppered with unfamiliar words. So on and on it goes...

I usually get so lost I end up giving up.

What I really need is a "Hinduism Encyclopaedia" that phrases everything in Western terminology. Of course, Western concepts like gods, demigods, angels, demons, spirits, heaven, hell, etc. mightn't accurately translate into the Eastern mindset. But it would be helpful if I could get a foothold understanding of the belief system and its narratives, in my own language, before advancing into the foreign terminology. Articles that bombard you with the foreign vocabulary all at once may be more accurate; but for me, they are just too much too soon.

 

[Hypoxia]

Have you tried gargling introduction to Hinduism? Some hits look promising.