In this informative question and answer session, Swami Prakashanand Saraswati addresses the belief that meditation can influence the destiny of the earth. He sheds light on how personal destinies can be affected by devotion but clarifies that the larger cosmic destiny remains unaffected by individual meditation practices.
Question & Answer with Prakashanand Saraswati:
Question: Many people believe we can influence the destiny of the earth with meditation practices. Is this true?
Answer: You can believe anything you want, it doesn’t mean that it is true. If you have a precious family heirloom, you may think it to be very valuable. But in a time of need when you take it to the jeweler, he may tell you it’s only worth $100; it’s not a real stone.
The question of your faith has no concern. Faith has to be coordinated with the teachings of our scriptures. There is a destiny of a person, planet, anything – it cannot be removed. Destiny is destiny. It could be reduced, or increased, but not removed. Suppose you have a bad destiny, you become a true devotee of Krishn, your bad destiny is reduced to a certain degree. If you have a bad destiny, and you do wrong things, then your bad destiny could become greater. Destiny remains destiny. Through becoming a devotee of God you can increase your good destiny, decrease your bad destiny, but only your personal destiny.
A planet is a big thing, the consciousness of the people of the world has to be considered. Devotees cannot change the destiny of the earth planet. It is impossible.
One blind man cannot read a regular book. If he is joined by another blind man, or millions of blind men they still cannot read the book. You need one who can see; the one with Divine vision is the Saint. He can change the world, but he follows the rules. The destiny of the planet is based on the consciousness of the people of the world.
Suppose there is a great number of devotees in the world and they are worshipping a form of God; they could indirectly influence the destiny of the planet. This is why we sometimes say that if we improve divine-love-consciousness in the world, it could affect the entire world. But simply by saying or doing any kind of meditation technique, it won’t do anything.
Conclusion
Swami Prakashanand Saraswati explained that while personal destiny can be influenced through devotion to God, the destiny of the earth is shaped by the collective consciousness of its people. Meditation alone cannot alter planetary destiny, but increasing divine-love-consciousness can have a positive, indirect impact on the world.