If happiness & distress are destined

[jayesh]

Hare krishna!
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
If happiness & distress are destined then what is the fun in taking medicines when we fall sick because anyway we are suffering which is already destined to us & also,anyhow there is no any possibility to enhance our material condition because as we get material distress without hankering for it, so,simillary we will achieve material happiness without any effort.
Dasdasanudasa
Jayesh.

[anandcaitanyadasa]

Please accept my humble obeisances.

It is true that material happiness and distress are destined. Also, any action one takes to reduce distress creates another problem for him leading to even higher distressing situation as Prahlad Maharaj says. So one must keep in mind that as long as material body exists there is no permanent solution for diseases. Even if you take medicine and you get cured, you will still have to complete the quota of your misery destined to you in some other form. So the idea is that one must be very pessimistic about living always healthy life in this material world. This will never happen.

However, this does not mean that one should remain without activity thinking that anyway my happiness and distress is destined. Krishna says, "na hi kaschit kshanam api jatu tishthatyakarmakrit". No one can remain without activity even for a moment. Krishna also says, "shareer yatra api cha te na prasidhhyet akarmanah". If you do not work, you will not even be able to maintain yourself. The essence is that one should act only for self realization, that is for devotional service and as far as materialistic activity is concerned, he should only work that much which is sufficient to keep one's body and soul together. Priority wise, one should aspire only for serving the Lord. And for that purpose if one takes medicines to become healthy, his taking medicines also becomes a part of his devotional service. The outcome will of course depend on destiny and the mercy of the Lord.