Do We Get What We Deserve? The Truth About Fate—The Gita Weighs In
Riya Kumari | Mar 07, 2025, 23:57 IST
Let’s talk karma. No, not the Taylor Swift song (though, valid reference). The Gita lays it out: Karma is basically the universe’s Return to Sender policy. You send out good energy, good things eventually boomerang back. You ghost a friend, cheat on your taxes, or steal your roommate’s oat milk one too many times? Yeah… that energy’s coming for you, buddy.
What if life isn’t about what happens to us, but how we meet it. There’s a question we’ve all asked, in one form or another—maybe after a heartbreak, a lost job, or one of those days where the universe seems to be running a personal vendetta against you. Do we get what we deserve? It’s a dangerous question, isn’t it? Because if the answer is yes, then every misfortune feels like punishment. And if the answer is no, then life seems random, unfair, and completely out of our hands. Neither conclusion is particularly comforting. But what if there’s a third way to look at it? One that neither absolves us of responsibility nor burdens us with an unbearable weight of control. The Bhagavad Gita, one of the most profound texts on life’s deepest questions, offers just that.
1. Karma: Not Punishment, Not Reward—Just Consequence
We throw the word karma around all the time. Someone cuts you off in traffic, and you hope karma gets them. You hold the door open for a stranger and half-expect the universe to return the favor. But karma, as the Gita explains, is not some cosmic revenge system or a points-based reward program. It’s simply consequence. What we do creates ripples. Some come back to us immediately, some much later, and some in ways we don’t recognize. But karma is never personal. It doesn’t “get” people. It doesn’t punish or favor—it just unfolds.
And here’s where it gets interesting. The Gita doesn’t just tell us that our actions matter. It tells us why they matter. Not because they guarantee a specific outcome, but because our actions shape who we are. Every decision, every word spoken, every kindness or cruelty—it all builds something within us. And that is what meets us in the future. Not fate, not luck, but the person we have become through the choices we’ve made.
2. Fate vs. Free Will: The Balance We Don’t See
So if karma is real, does that mean our lives are predetermined? Are we just moving along a path set in motion long before we were born? The Gita offers a beautifully nuanced answer. Yes, the past influences us. Our circumstances, our tendencies, even the way we think—they are shaped by what has come before. But at every moment, we have choice. Fate is the road we find ourselves on. Free will is how we walk it.
You don’t control the family you were born into, the struggles you inherit, or the unexpected storms life throws at you. But you do control what you do with them. Two people can face the same hardship—one is broken by it, the other grows stronger. The difference isn’t fate. It’s choice.
3. Deserving Has Nothing to Do With It
Now we come back to the question: Do we get what we deserve? And the answer is this—deserving is the wrong question. Good people suffer. Dishonest people thrive. And life doesn’t keep score the way we wish it would. The Gita doesn’t promise fairness. It promises something better: clarity. Instead of obsessing over what we get, it asks us to focus on who we are becoming.
Your life is not a system of rewards and punishments. It’s a reflection of the inner world you build. You might not control every event, but you control how you meet it. And in the end, that is what determines the life you live. So maybe the question isn’t Do we get what we deserve? but Who do we become through what we experience? That is where real power lies. And that, as the Gita teaches, is the only thing we ever truly own.
1. Karma: Not Punishment, Not Reward—Just Consequence
Path
( Image credit : Pexels )
We throw the word karma around all the time. Someone cuts you off in traffic, and you hope karma gets them. You hold the door open for a stranger and half-expect the universe to return the favor. But karma, as the Gita explains, is not some cosmic revenge system or a points-based reward program. It’s simply consequence. What we do creates ripples. Some come back to us immediately, some much later, and some in ways we don’t recognize. But karma is never personal. It doesn’t “get” people. It doesn’t punish or favor—it just unfolds.
And here’s where it gets interesting. The Gita doesn’t just tell us that our actions matter. It tells us why they matter. Not because they guarantee a specific outcome, but because our actions shape who we are. Every decision, every word spoken, every kindness or cruelty—it all builds something within us. And that is what meets us in the future. Not fate, not luck, but the person we have become through the choices we’ve made.
2. Fate vs. Free Will: The Balance We Don’t See
Choice
( Image credit : Pexels )
So if karma is real, does that mean our lives are predetermined? Are we just moving along a path set in motion long before we were born? The Gita offers a beautifully nuanced answer. Yes, the past influences us. Our circumstances, our tendencies, even the way we think—they are shaped by what has come before. But at every moment, we have choice. Fate is the road we find ourselves on. Free will is how we walk it.
You don’t control the family you were born into, the struggles you inherit, or the unexpected storms life throws at you. But you do control what you do with them. Two people can face the same hardship—one is broken by it, the other grows stronger. The difference isn’t fate. It’s choice.
3. Deserving Has Nothing to Do With It
Travel
( Image credit : Pexels )
Now we come back to the question: Do we get what we deserve? And the answer is this—deserving is the wrong question. Good people suffer. Dishonest people thrive. And life doesn’t keep score the way we wish it would. The Gita doesn’t promise fairness. It promises something better: clarity. Instead of obsessing over what we get, it asks us to focus on who we are becoming.
Your life is not a system of rewards and punishments. It’s a reflection of the inner world you build. You might not control every event, but you control how you meet it. And in the end, that is what determines the life you live. So maybe the question isn’t Do we get what we deserve? but Who do we become through what we experience? That is where real power lies. And that, as the Gita teaches, is the only thing we ever truly own.