Within Ajivika thought, fate (niyati) is not merely an influence but the absolute and all-encompassing principle that governs existence. Everything that occurs—cosmic events, natural processes, social conditions, and the entire range of human experience—is held to be strictly predetermined by this impersonal cosmic order. Nothing arises from chance, personal effort, or genuine choice; even what appears as decision or striving is itself an expression of fate. In this vision, the universe unfolds like a fixed script, and every being moves through it according to a pattern that cannot be altered.

This radical determinism extends to the moral and spiritual domains. Ajivika teachers denied the effective role of karma as a causal force shaped by intentional action, contrasting sharply with other Indian traditions that see karma as morally operative. Actions, whether virtuous or harmful, do not change what is destined to occur; they are simply part of the predetermined sequence. Ethical conduct, ritual observance, and ascetic discipline therefore have no power to redirect the course of one’s life or future births, however meaningful they might appear from a conventional standpoint.

Ajivika doctrine also portrays each soul as bound to a fixed trajectory of transmigration and spiritual evolution. The number and nature of births, the experiences of joy and sorrow, and the eventual attainment of liberation are all set in advance and unfold according to an unalterable schedule. Liberation (moksha) comes not as a reward for effort but as the inevitable culmination of this predetermined cycle, arriving automatically when the destined course has been fully traversed. From this perspective, human agency and spiritual striving do not function as instruments of change; they are woven into the fabric of niyati, which alone is the true determinant of all outcomes.