Fate versus Karma

A friend tries hard to succeed by taking a big risk in his career by quitting his current job and trying to win a better job, at the end all his plans are foiled and he loses the job he was seeking for to someone else, along with the earlier semi-stable job. Meets his friends and relatives and shares his agony with them – about how unfortunate he is and how fate is playing a big role in his life – and something doesn’t allow him to move past a particular point in life. He also loses faith in all the temples and gods he visited and the numerous Guruji’s & prophets who had promised him success. I have seen many people start hating God and denying that there is no such thing called god existing.
In the past - I have encountered similar situations in my own life – I try hard to correct a problem – it backfires or just doesn’t work no matter what I try. On some days it seems like a very smooth sail, on other days no matter how hard I work the storm just keeps getting worse.
Here is the answer for such questions from my gurudeva: Consistency is the key to the conquest of Karma. Whatever happens to us in life is not due to fate. There is no such thing called fate. Whatever happens to us – good or bad is a result of ones own making – ones own beliefs, lifestyles, past grooming, the way one lived life since childhood, past lives etc. We alone are responsible for the good or bad decisions as well which we make as we sail through the river of life.
I heard Vivekananda’s saying once which says : Arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached. Another guy called Randy Pausch – a very famous professor from the Carnegie Mellon University - said the same thing. The stumbling blocks that come to stop you from reaching the goal come for a reason. They want to know how badly you want your goal ! They are there to stop the others who don’t want the goal as badly as you want ! The famous Japanese guru (Pai Mei) from the movie “Kill Bill” screams at Uma Thurman -- during the Kung-Fu training when she cries in pain while hitting the wooden blocks with her bare fist - ‘Hit  it harder, The wood should be afraid of your fist !”
To summarize – consistency and willpower are the keys to the conquest of karma. There is nothing called fate. We make our own fate through setting positive or negative patterns in life.
This inspiring story of Abraham Lincoln portrays one such example:
A common list of the failures of Abraham Lincoln (along with a few successes) is:

• 1831 - Lost his job
• 1832 - Defeated in run for Illinois State Legislature
• 1833 - Failed in business
• 1834 - Elected to Illinois State Legislature (success)
• 1835 - Sweetheart died
• 1836 - Had nervous breakdown
• 1838 - Defeated in run for Illinois House Speaker
• 1843 - Defeated in run for nomination for U.S. Congress
• 1846 - Elected to Congress (success)
• 1848 - Lost re-nomination
• 1849 - Rejected for land officer position
• 1854 - Defeated in run for U.S. Senate
• 1856 - Defeated in run for nomination for Vice President
• 1858 - Again defeated in run for U.S. Senate
• 1860 - Elected President of the United States (success)

Here is the famous Pai Mei training scene from Kill Bill