Most of us get confused with the meaning of the word Destiny and presume that since everything in our lives is pre-destined, no need to work afresh. This is a misconception. In fact, to understand this aspect, we will have to understand the word Karm (i.e. Actions) in its totality. Karm, as per Hindu thoughts, are of three kinds: (1) Sanchit Karm, (2) Praarabdh Karm, (3) Aagaamee Karm.

Sanchit Karm
The Sanchit Karm is the storehouse of our accumulated actions of present and past lives which are not fructified. So such Karm, from hundreds of births back, are just in store, and not yet touched for reaction.

Praarabdh Karm
When these Karm start bearing the fruits, they become Praarabdh. Praarabdh are those Karm which have already been performed in the present or previous lives and now we are enjoying or suffering because of those Karm. They are commonly known as destiny, luck, fate, fortune etc. Therefore, the Karm which are in fruit, which are fructified, and on which our present existence is based are called Praarabdh or Destiny. First, we have got the man-body. That is the result of very high Karm, good Karm. Now also we are bound within certain limits unless those reactions of our earlier actions are paid off, and the seeds of no further actions are sown. So, Praarabdh (destiny or fate) is the Karm on which our present life is based. Praarabdha Karm, can not be altered, because over them we have no control. They have to react. No exception to the rule because this happens strictly as per the "Law of Karm" where action & reaction; cause & effect and efforts and destiny, are all equal and opposite.

Aagaamee Karm
The third type of Karm is Agaamee (future) Karm. Aagamee Karm are the actions being done in our present life. Agaamee Karm are referred to those Karm whose fruits we will enjoy or suffer in our future lives. Aagaamee are the actions that we do daily. It means an action done at the spur of a moment or time in the present tense which instantaneously bears fruit and results in reaction then and there. For example: (1) You drink water and at once your thirst is quenched, you got the fruit of your action of drinking and finished with it.

So, man is free within certain limits and bound within certain limits. Just a boy who is flying the kite in the air. He may have, for instance, two or three hundred yards of thread with which he is flying the kite. But his father is at the back, keeping two hundred yards of thread in his control. He has allowed only a hundred yards of thread to his son; enough to enable him to fly the kite. So he can fly the kite only up to a hundred yards, not more.

Therefore, in short, keeping the above in mind, we can say that we are born with our Destiny (i.e. Praarabdh) which is the fructified Karm or the outcomes or the reactions or the fruits of our earlier lives' actions and we make our future destiny through our Aagaamee Karm (actions) that we do in our present lives.
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Jyotish, Destiny and Free Will
Events and circumstances which we face in this life time are a result of our Karm's and are by and large predestined. This is however only part of the story. How each and every one of us react to the predestined events or circumstances is by and large free will. Different individuals faced with relatively similar events or circumstances will react differently. One person may react in a positive way and mitigate the adverse effect of the situation on oneself. On the other hand another person may react negatively and further complicate the situation. We react differently to similar circumstances, based in part on our capabilities, emotional maturity (or lack thereof), values and many other attributes. These attributes are to a very large extent predestined and learned ancestors (Rishi's) had through meditation, observation etc. created the craft of Jyotish to help identify these attributes and probabilities of events. Since we are body centric, the planets affect how we will react to circumstances and various combinations of the planets also have predictive value of the probability of certain events affecting us.

Learned individuals have attempted to explain complex ideas through stories and parables. The planets and their impact on us (attributes) and circumstances (predictive impact) has also been similarly explained. They described the attributes as well as circumstances various planets impart on the human being based on the relative position of plants to one another at the time of birth (the craft of Jyotish). Jyotish therefore can provide very important information related to both our predictive circumstances and reactive ability.

Faith also plays a big role. Without faith , it is harder to improve our reactive capabilities and without strong reactive capabilities it will be much harder to reduce the impact of destined circumstances. Jyotish remedies can help the individuals to react in a manner that the negative impact of the predestined circumstances are reduced and in some cases mitigated.