Dr Venganoor Balakrishnan

There are many people who complain that failure is their fate. They do work hard, sweat over a variety of missions, but invariably end up with failure. They now come to the conclusion that there is no God. Because, if He existed, their long and hard exertion would have had a result.
They grieve that all their prayers were in vain. If God existed, prayers would have been heard and pleas granted. These people however, never care to analyse what, in fact, cause their failure.

There are three factors that affect karma. First is the limitation imposed on it by nature. Man is exposed to natural phenomena like heat and cold, rain and wind etc. We cannot endure hunger or thirst for long. We cannot remain awake for more than a day in the normal course. Man is slave to nature in these respects. But at the same time, man is endowed with many faculties that help him overcome his limitations, except perhaps a few.
The presence of a universal power, if we choose to call it by name God or Almighty, is always there to guide and aid man. It is logical enough to infer that it is God who hears our prayer and grants us our wishes, of course, subject to conditions! He gave us clothes to clad our nakedness, water to quench our thirst and fruits and meat to satisfy our hunger. He gave us caves and other shelters to live in safety. Later, as we started making use of our brain, the greatest of God’s gifts, we progressed gradually and steadily and reached sky-high leaving behind milestones of different stages of civilisation.
The third and most important factor binding karma is complete submission for the cause. Here is the explanation for success and failure of karma observed by man. Very often man renders karma indiscriminately. Doing action somehow will not lead to a desired end. It is the submission in doing it that yields the right outcome.
Before we engage ourselves in a deed, we have to reflect on its pros and cons. There are instances of failures of exertions in puranas, epics and history, solely for lack of complete submission. Gallant heroes lost battles, epoch-making love affairs failed, freedom struggles subdued and empires lost their glory, all because of the lack of this one factor.

Ka:Kala:Kani Mithrani
Ko Desa: Kau Vyayagama:
Kaschaham Ka cha me sakthi
Riti Chinthyam Muhoormuhu:
says the dictum in Sanskrit. It puts forth the pre-requisites of any endeavour we begin to undertake. As we start working on a cause, we have to take into consideration the situations that exist, the right time for its execution, the favourable pros and cons implied, the possible after-effects, the place of its functioning, the number of kin and kith who associate with us etc. But prior to all, we have to identify who we are and what our power is.
The success of an attempt depends on submission to the cause coupled with fulfilment of the factors discussed here.
God’s grace falls on anybody who resorts to devoted work. One can count on commitment and focused effort in carrying out any task successfully. No karma fails to yield result so long as we make use of our discretionary power and treat it with devotion and wisdom. We can put to control the limitations posed by the nature and win the grace of God in fulfilling our task if we resort to the right approach in our endeavours.

— Dr Venganoor Balakrishnan is the author of Thaliyola, a book on Hindu beliefs and rituals.
He has also written books on the Vedas and Upanishads. The author can be reached at drvenganoor@yahoo.com