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tual resources at the present moment. It is said to be a decree of heaven (VIDHĀTRVIHITAM), and it is not possible for a man to avert it or transgress it in any way. As a matter of fact, existence or non-existence, happiness or misery-all are based upon the decree of Kāla or time spirit. It is also the dispensation of God (VIDHĀTRVIHITAM ) and cannot be averted. The Vanaparya of the Mahābhārata fully bear out the truth of the above statement,
From this passage of Vanaparva, one thing seems to be clear. It is that what is designated as the decree of fate, otherwise known as Daiva or the will of the Lord ( VIDHĀTRVIHITAM). . is the dispensation of the Lord of Karma.
. In another passage in the Mahābhārata, we find an instance of a beautiful virgin bitten by a snake. It is said that the snake under the activation as it were of Kāla or time spirit had bitten the damsel.2 :
In the same work we find a statement of Dhịtarăstra that the playing of dice was not at all to his liking and yet he approved of it, having been influenced, as it were, by the decree of heaven.3 • In another - passage of the same works we find stated that the present dispositions ( Vștti ) of all creatures are due to their past actions ( Karma ).4
In this passage the word Karma is used instead of Daiva or Kāla showing that all the three conveyed the same sense.
When Damayanti was suffering from the separation from her hushand, she thought that it was due to her own misdeeds in a previous birth. The passage forming a part of Damayanti's lamentation gives a clear statement of the conception that any evil done in a previous life bears fruit corresponding to its itensity in the present life,
1. Mahabharata, Ādi Parva Chapter I, 246-247 2. Mahabharata, Ādi Parya, VIII. 18-19 3. Mahabharata, Vana Parva, IX. I 4. Mahabharata, Vana Parva, XXXIII. 4
