Outwitting the Stars

Dadi**: Guddu beta, do you think our future is written in the stars?

Guddu**: Some people say so, Dadi. Horoscopes and all that.

Dadi**: Tonight's story is about Paramhansa Yogananda and his guru, who taught him a surprising lesson about astrology - that the stars influence us, but they don't control us!

Guddu**: What's the difference?

Dadi**: Let me tell you. Yogananda's guru was Sri Yukteswar, a very wise man who actually knew a lot about astrology. One day, he told Yogananda something alarming.

Guddu**: What did he say?

Dadi**: "The stars are about to take an unfriendly interest in you." Sri Yukteswar predicted that in about one month, Yogananda would develop a serious liver problem, and the illness would last for six months.

Guddu**: Six months of being sick?! That's terrible!

Dadi**: Yogananda was worried too. But then his guru said something interesting: "However, if you wear a special bangle made of silver and lead, the illness will last only twenty-four days instead of six months."

Guddu**: A bangle can change your fate?

Dadi**: That was the lesson! Sri Yukteswar explained that the stars show us our karma - the results of our past actions. But we're not helpless against them. There are ways to reduce their negative effects.

Guddu**: So what happened?

Dadi**: Yogananda got the bangle made and wore it. Exactly one month later, just as predicted, he developed a terrible liver illness. He was in great pain.

Guddu**: The prediction came true!

Dadi**: But here's the amazing part. After exactly twenty-four days - not six months, but twenty-four days - his guru came to see him. Sri Yukteswar asked, "Let me see, you have been ill for twenty-four days, haven't you?"

Guddu**: He knew the exact number of days?

Dadi**: To the day! And then he simply declared, "The illness is finished now." At that very moment, Yogananda's pain vanished. Completely gone!

Guddu**: That's incredible! So the bangle and the guru's power changed the stars?

Dadi**: Sri Yukteswar taught that the stars don't create our fate - they just reflect our karma. And karma can be changed through spiritual practice, through wearing protective items, through the blessing of an enlightened master.

Guddu**: So horoscopes aren't useless, but they're not final either?

Dadi**: Exactly, beta! Yogananda once had a very bad horoscope that predicted he would marry three times. He was determined to be a monk, so he burned that horoscope! And you know what? He never married even once.

Guddu**: He burned his horoscope? Can you do that?

Dadi**: Sri Yukteswar said the planets influence us like wind influences a boat. A small boat with no sailor is completely at the wind's mercy. But a boat with an experienced captain can navigate even through storms.

Guddu**: So we're the captains of our own boats?

Dadi**: Yes! The winds still blow - the planetary influences are real. But how much they affect us depends on our inner strength, our spiritual practice, our willpower. A strong soul can resist what a weak soul cannot.

Guddu**: That's empowering, Dadi!

Dadi**: Sri Yukteswar said people shouldn't be fatalistic about astrology. If someone tells you bad things will happen, that's not a death sentence - it's a warning to be careful and to strengthen yourself!

Guddu**: What can strengthen us against bad planetary influences?

Dadi**: Prayer, meditation, good deeds, living with integrity, wearing protective symbols or gems, and most of all - receiving the blessing of spiritual teachers. These are all ways to "outwit the stars."

Guddu**: So I shouldn't worry too much about my horoscope?

Dadi**: Know it, but don't be enslaved by it. Your choices, your actions, your character - these matter more than any planetary position. The universe gave you free will for a reason!

Guddu**: Thanks, Dadi! I feel more in control of my life now!

Dadi**: That was the whole point, beta. Goodnight, captain of your own ship!

Guddu**: Goodnight, Dadi!