Desire & Destiny : Hindu Lore
In Hindu mythology, nature is governed by two principles: desire and destiny. Desire propels action, action results in a reaction and reaction creates the circumstances we experience and from which we cannot escape. In other words, desire eventually creates destiny. If desire is represented by the bow, then destiny is represented by the noose (pasha) that binds us to our own desires. This is karma.
People often confuse karma with fatalism. However, that is an incomplete understanding of karma. Karma is both action and reaction. Action includes both voluntary actions and involuntary action. Reactions manifest as the circumstances that we experience. All that happens to us in life is karma; how we react or respond to the events of our life is also karma.
Pasha is visualized as a lasso or a knot; it is the noose of Yama, the god of death and rebirth. He maintains the record of all our actions: the debts we incur in our life, through desire, which we must repay in a future life. Only when we repay all our debts will the noose liberate us and we will attain what is called moksha or mukti: freedom from hunger, fear, attachment and the circle of life and death.
The Goddess embodies nature. She carries the twin qualities of both desire and destiny, therefore she is often known as both Kamini and Yamini. As Kamini, she carries the sugarcane bow with the flower-tipped arrows of Kama. As Yamini, she carries the noose of Yama that binds us to our destiny. As Kamini, she is the day. As Yamini, she is the night. She completes the world.
Hindu Mythology speaks of rebirth, a cycle wherein God does not play the role of a judge. They say, we pay for our actions through the reactions that are created by our actions. And they say these reactions create either good or bad circumstances of our life, which we are obliged to endure in our future lives. When it is our time to die, Yama hurls the noose and pulls the life-breath out of our bodies. He keeps us tied to this noose until we’ve repaid our debts, which are essentially the reactions of past actions. So, we can say, that at one level, Yama’s noose embodies the fate that is in store for us, while Kama’s bow and arrow hold a potential of actions that we choose in response to the destiny we encounter. But just as past desires through actions establish current destiny, current desires through actions establish future destiny. Thus, we shape our past as well as our future. We cannot blame anyone; we alone are responsible for our lives. This is the complete explanation of karma in Hindu mythology.
Source: Yoga Mythology by Devout Pattanaik with Matthew Rulli