Mea Culpa
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The poem title in Latin acts as an admission of guilt, but by the end of the sonnet it transforms into an empowerment statement: If it is my fault, then it is also within my power to change it. The sonnet was inspired by the Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad (IV.4.5). It establishes a causal chain (human desire, freewill, action, and destiny) that shows destiny is not arbitrary like a random script written by the stars. It is a direct crop grown from the ‘karmic seed called deed’.
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The scriptures warn: beware of destiny,
But deep within I am my wildest wish,
Desires shape how my will’s resolve will be,
Which guides the deeds my soul loves to unleash---
My fortune’s fertile ground, and greenest lea.
I still rejoice should fate fetch me fair cheers,
For ‘tis not fate, man alone is mighty,
Yet, I bemoan if it should bring me tears.
Let me then know how should my life I lead,
Not by the stars whose own fate rests unknown,
If fate favours the karmic seed called deed,
Then all things boil down to my rigid bone.
All of my destined moments born as now,
To my own thoughts and acts of the past bow.
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Introspection | 01.05.2014, revised September 2026|deed, destiny/fate, desire, spiritual, Sonnet
Note: The Roman transliteration and translation of the verse quoted are:
...sa yatha kamo bhavati tat kratur bhavati |
yat kratur bhavati tat karma kurute |
yat karma kurute tad abhi-sampadyate ||
You are what your deep, driving desire is.
As your desire is, so is your will.
As your will is, so is your deed.
As your deed is, so is your destiny.
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