The Deepest Truth of Fate, p. 458

Opening Remarks
Narad now reveals the yet deeper truth about Fate seen from the deepest soul vision.

It is decreed
It is decreed and Satyavan must die;
The hour is fixed, chosen the fatal stroke.

Narad confirms the decree of Fate that his prevision has seen. Satyavan is destined to die and the hour of the fatal stroke is fixed.

Fateful script
What else shall be is written in her soul
But till the hour reveals the fateful script,
The writing waits illegible and mute.

What else may happen is written in the soul of Savitri but that is yet to reveal itself until the destined moment arrives.

Truth working out in Ignorance
Fate is Truth working out in Ignorance.

Fate is essentially the working out of a deeper Truth in and through the fields of Ignorance.

Foreseeing arbiter
O King, thy fate is a transaction done
At every hour between Nature and thy soul
With God for its foreseeing arbiter.

Fate is the result of a transaction at every moment between Nature and soul in the presence of the All-Witnessing eye of God.

Destiny’s book
Fate is a balance drawn in Destiny’s book.

It is the result of a balance between the various forces working upon us and through us recorded in Destiny’s book.

Man can accept or refuse
Man can accept his fate, he can refuse.

Man can accept or refuse his fate by the choices he makes in the face of circumstances.

Doom is not a close
Even if the One maintains the unseen decree
He writes thy refusal in thy credit page:
For doom is not a close, a mystic seal.

Even if our refusal is not accepted for now it yet goes into the sum of our efforts and is written in the book of destiny to our credit page. For doom is not an end or a final destiny but only a passage.

Mightier by defeat
Arisen from the tragic crash of life,
Arisen from the body’s torture and death,
The spirit rises mightier by defeat;
Its godlike wings grow wider with each fall.
Its splendid failures sum to victory.

The spirit rises from the tragic crashes of life. It rises from the body’s torture and death. It grows mightier with each defeat and its godlike wings grow wider with each fall. Its greatest failures yet pave the way to victory.

Thy goal, the road thou choosest
O man, the events that meet thee on thy road,
Though they smite thy body and soul with joy and grief,
Are not thy fate, — they touch thee awhile and pass;
Even death can cut not short thy spirit’s walk:
Thy goal, the road thou choosest are thy fate.

We often think of fate in terms of outer events and circumstances. But these are only passing scenes that trouble us for a while with joy and grief. They are not our fate. Even death cannot cut short the road souls have chosen. It is this road and the goal that we chose that are our fate since everything outer hangs its value on the inner.

Closing Remarks
A profound truth has been revealed to us about the soul’s choice and the workings of fate.