Outcome is not in our hands

Oasis

Recently, the name Elizabeth Holmes sprang up in the media, but inside the dock; surely an insult to the legendary Sherlock Holmes! The founder of Theranos, Elizabeth Holmes, was convicted on account of four charges including fraud. A small phrase caught my attention. Among the many rules that she established at her company, she had one that read, “I know the outcome of every encounter.” This sounded conceited, as nobody knows how exactly a day may pan out, let alone the consequence of every action.

It can only be surmised that the fraudster knew the outcomes because she had stage-managed each one of them. She gloated in the applause earned all around for her supposed prodigy-like insight and skills. Well, these were the generous paybacks of her single noble thought of saving people from multiple needle jabs for different diagnoses, which, as I know, is a terrible experience for a patient. Therein her reward ended.

“Karmanye vadhikaraste ma phaleshu kadachana” — you have a right to action but not to the fruits of your actions or deeds, says Lord Krishna in the Gita. It goes without saying that she could never have expected the latest outcomes of her immoral deed cloaked in the guise of humanity. They followed on their own.

The scriptures state that the consequences of our actions could be faced either in this birth itself or in succeeding births as fruits of accumulated karma. There is no escape from this whether one believes in the sacred texts or is an atheist. A subhashita declares,

“Shayaanam chaanushethe hi thishtanthi chaanuthishtathi

Anudhaavanthi dhaavantham karma poorvakrutham naram”

It means that whatever a human does — whether he sleeps, stands or runs - his past karma follows him like a shadow and there is no escape. This explains why we hear of people at the pinnacle of success falling down to the depths, or surprising rags-to-riches stories. Yet again we see good things happening to people who are selfish, mean or hurtful, whereas bad happens to good people. Every person should try to understand this vedic truth, and foster a strong belief in the power of sincere prayer to ward off the effects of past karma, along with endeavours to be and do good.