Free will - Does it even exist?
Hello all,
Namaste! Hope all of you had a great week where you took another step towards your goal in life. Last week we discussed the consequence of sometimes caught between deluge and inferno. In that, we discussed a person should find a way to come out of it. Then another question arises. Does a soul or a person really have a free will? Or are our fate and destiny fully written in stone? As I mentioned before I also answer questions on the platform Quora as 'Jayasree Padmanabhan' (my name). In that a few times, I have been asked whether a soul really has a free will or is everything totally predetermined. So, thought today let us take a stab at the domain of free will and how much a person can have his/her free will.
Just before proceeding, most of the things I write here are many times from my intuition and inner voice. So, I cannot many times prove a point as they come from a place of knowing or experience. So, what is free will? According to Wikipedia, 'free will' "is the ability to choose between different possible courses of action unimpeded." But really how much free will as a being we have? Do we really have it? Or is it just a mirage while everything works out as it is supposed to be in one's life?
Karma: Before discussing free will there is another concept that we have to discuss. 'The law of Karma.' What is Karma? Again according to Wikipedia, Karma "means action, work or deed; it also refers to the spiritual principle of cause and effect where intent and actions of an individual (cause) influence the future of that individual (effect)". We have discussed the law of cause and effect in many of our previous posts. It basically means, if you are in any way part of a cause, you are sure to become part of the effect as well.
In very simple terms for example, if we take a metal rod and stick it into one of the plug points, we have almost hundred percent chance of getting electrocuted. We decided to stick a metal rod-cause and electrocution-effect. But when Karma theory comes into effect, we know most of the things we did in this life, as we remember it. But what about the things we don't remember? What about the many lifetimes (maybe millions?) most probably we have taken? What about all the Karma accumulated through all those deeds we have done, about which we have absolutely no knowledge?
So in that space, should we leave everything to destiny or should we still believe in free will? Here with that aspect when we talk about free will, it may not be as simple as we presume.
According to Hinduism, there are three types of Karma, first one, 'Sanchitha karma', all the Karma (cause and then effect) we have totally accumulated as a soul. Then there is the 'Prarabda karma', the part of the Sanchit, we bring into this current life to work on. Lastly there is the 'Kriyaman karma', that karma, which we accumulate in this lifetime, through our actions we took during this lifetime.
So, in the current life, we are only able to work on a part of the Sanchita, the Prarabda and then concentrate on Kriyaman. So with all that Sanchitha we have hanging heavy on each one of our shoulders, does it even matter to at least try to work on our Karma, in case it is there? When we think from that space, what a depressing place to be. We would be unendingly trying to figure out how to reduce the Sanchitha. In the banking terms, we are only paying the interest (Kriyaman and Prarabda), while the Principal (Sanchitha) is sitting there, without an iota reducing from it.
So, does it even matter whether we have free will? What is the point of free will? This is one scenario. Now let us discuss another scenario.
How much free will? Now, think we have free will. How much can we really use it? To elaborate on this point, let us take a few examples. Let us take the case of three kids, who are born, one in a rich family, one in a middle-class family, and one in a poor family.
The kid in the rich family has all the luxuries he/she can get. The parents of this particular family come from a very influential background. So they have much more than enough money to go around for food, necessities, shelter, and education. So with this kid, he/she can pursue whatever they want in their life. Going to a private, elite school, done! Going to an Ivy league college, done! Going to an elite law firm, elite private medical practice or an elite business firm, done! If the kid doesn't want to do anything, take a guitar and go backpacking the world that also is possible, as long as the parents are on board (unfortunately many times they may not be, and then the kid doesn't have free will.) So, here this kid gets all the options he/she can choose, more of his/her will is at play here.
Now let us take the middle income kid. His/her parents are doing well, in a middle-class neighborhood, with adequate facilities for food, shelter, and education of the kid. This kid would go to a good school, a decent college and get into a great job. He/She may not have the fantastic options the other kid gets. Here this kid may have to take a student loan to go to college, then once he/she is out of college, they definitely have to find a job to start paying back their student loan. This kid cannot dream of doing, backpacking around the world as long as the student loan gets paid or the parents help in paying that. Many times they cannot do that part as they have to look after the food, and shelter needs. So here for this adult, the option to do what they really want to do with life becomes lesser than the rich kid.
The kid who was born into poverty has almost no options. many times the parents may be working two jobs. The kid may not get a chance to finish even school, as another working person may be needed to feed the family. Without finishing high school, how can he/she think about college? So for them, the door to high and great positions become totally closed. They may not have money to go to a trade or technical school. Thus to work at a decent paying job and earn a money becomes even less.
So, is there really a free will? Can we really, truly do something we want from our heart. All of these three scenarios, we discussed during peace times. But then there are external forces many times act in our life. Natural disasters like hurricanes, floods, volcanoes, landslides and more. So a family going through such a disaster has even more reduced options as many times it is very difficult to build something up again a second time around after midlife. Above this, there are man-made atrocities like civil wars, wars between countries, terrorism, and evil crimes one human does to another.
Think how much options a Jewish kid had during the time of the Holocaust. Instead of thinking about going to school, they have to think with their family how to survive, not get caught and put in a concentration camp. The same nowadays think how much a kid growing up in Syria have. So as humans do we really have options?
Due to our eternal bind, how have we become tied to this Karma bonds always? Do we really indeed have a free will as a soul? Is there any way out? Two years back I was thinking about this question very deeply. I was pondering if we are indeed in this bind of Karma what is really the point of doing anything in this life. Whatever we do, we are going to incur some Karma, sometimes good, sometimes bad, and go through lifetimes again and again and again. What is the point in doing anything?
How to come out of this bind? How to transcend this dilemma of karma and free will. I was thinking a lot about this aspect. Then one day a passage in the Bhagavad Gita caught my eye. (Disclaimer: I have not fully read the Bhagavad Gita. It is there on my bucket list. One day eventually I will.) Chapter 2, verse 50 reads like this:
Buddhi yukto jahatiha
Ubhe sukrta dushkrte |
Tasmad yogaya yujyasva
Yogah karmasu kausalam ||
Meaning: Someone who is wise, who is engaged in the service of the divine, gets rid of both good and bad deeds (Karma) in this very life itself. For them, involved in the divine service itself is what is smart (Kausalam).
Now, according to the literal meaning we as humans think,"Oh! divine service." I cannot go and do divine/spiritual service leaving all family and friends behind and volunteer in the temple or go to the mountain tops. True! Absolutely true! Yes, we indeed cannot leave everything and go. And we should not as well, if we don't have a desire from our heart. But then that is the literal meaning.What about the esoteric meaning?
Now let me explain the esoteric meaning as I have understood. Yes, the divine is outside in the temples, mountain tops, and in heavens. But the same divine is also within us isn't it? As the Soul, our inner divine. Many times the verses in the Bhagavad Gita, we take as the divine outside. But almost always it talks about the divine within and Arjuna as ourselves in esoteric terms. For this verse, let us take it as the divine within - our Soul/ the InnerSelf.
So according to this verse, if you do divine service, you come out of the good and bad Karma. In other words, if we live our life exactly as our inner soul says, that is indeed listening to the divine and doing the divine service. So this verse is asking us to go within, find what our soul says and pursue that exact purpose. The soul almost always guides us to look at our talents, passions, and interest, which we already possess, either in an under-developed or a developed stage.
So going deep into this stanza, we realize we already have everything we need. We only many times may need to develop our talents. So, the stanza says, without thinking what the mind says, listen to what your heart (soul) says. Look at your talents and passions. Pursue it to bring in your authentic life purpose.
So the stanza really means,'when you stand strong on your core from the soul, take actions towards what you are supposed to do in this life, you come out of the good and bad Karma cycle.' The perfect solution for everyone. Surrendering totally to our higher self and working from that realm. Now here the one criteria needed is inner trust. Most of the times we struggle with this concept. We trust every other person we see in our lives, except for ourselves. But that is the major criteria we need for this type of living and coming out of the Karma cycle.
Back to the kids: Now back to the three kids we were discussing. In every scenario, even the kid who is in the poorest of the condition, if starts to take actions from his/her within and walk that path with faith, even that poorest kid would find himself/herself in the best opportunities life can give them. In other words, the life opens up with opportunities when we walk the path of inner-trust. This is what every sacred book talks to us about, whether it is Bhagavad Gita, Bible or Kuran. But we humans not realizing this, wander, stagger, and saunter through life.
So, now do we have free will? Yes! But only when we walk the path of the inner trust. Only in that path most of the times we are allowed to take the best decisions for ourselves, that brings the best of opportunities first for ourselves and by virtue of that for others. That is the path of least resistance life provides us, but very much a path of inner trust! But in this path also there are trials, tribulations, and tests many times. This is the Universe or the divine verifying whether we have the trust or not. And sometimes it is difficult for us to pass these tests if we don't have inner faith as each step has to be taken only from the guidance within.
Not an easy path for the weak hearted. But then which soul is weak hearted? No one is. Only many times we have never realized that we are very strong at the core of our heart. So, in that path, one gets to have all the free will one wants, of course always within the limits of the Universal or Spiritual laws.
Now whether to walk that path of inner trust and free will? That is always one's free will and choice!
I wish you a good weekend and I'll see you next Friday! 😉
Next week: Fear - Our nemesis!
Note: Images from Wikimedia Commons and Pixabay.com.
Ralph Waldo Emerson writes, "There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance ; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better for worse as his portion that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried".
All rights reserved to the author (SwaroopaStargazer) and SwaroopaBlog.
To my Blog readers: As all of you know, the European Union has passed laws regarding the collection of the user data. This is just to inform all my EU blog readers, I just use Google Analytics, which Google provides, to look at from where readers are reading my blogs. I also use Specific feeds to use their service for subscription list. I don't collect or intend to collect user data to sell or provide to third-party applications. Regards,
SwaroopaBlog.
Namaste! Hope all of you had a great week where you took another step towards your goal in life. Last week we discussed the consequence of sometimes caught between deluge and inferno. In that, we discussed a person should find a way to come out of it. Then another question arises. Does a soul or a person really have a free will? Or are our fate and destiny fully written in stone? As I mentioned before I also answer questions on the platform Quora as 'Jayasree Padmanabhan' (my name). In that a few times, I have been asked whether a soul really has a free will or is everything totally predetermined. So, thought today let us take a stab at the domain of free will and how much a person can have his/her free will.
Just before proceeding, most of the things I write here are many times from my intuition and inner voice. So, I cannot many times prove a point as they come from a place of knowing or experience. So, what is free will? According to Wikipedia, 'free will' "is the ability to choose between different possible courses of action unimpeded." But really how much free will as a being we have? Do we really have it? Or is it just a mirage while everything works out as it is supposed to be in one's life?
Karma: Before discussing free will there is another concept that we have to discuss. 'The law of Karma.' What is Karma? Again according to Wikipedia, Karma "means action, work or deed; it also refers to the spiritual principle of cause and effect where intent and actions of an individual (cause) influence the future of that individual (effect)". We have discussed the law of cause and effect in many of our previous posts. It basically means, if you are in any way part of a cause, you are sure to become part of the effect as well.
In very simple terms for example, if we take a metal rod and stick it into one of the plug points, we have almost hundred percent chance of getting electrocuted. We decided to stick a metal rod-cause and electrocution-effect. But when Karma theory comes into effect, we know most of the things we did in this life, as we remember it. But what about the things we don't remember? What about the many lifetimes (maybe millions?) most probably we have taken? What about all the Karma accumulated through all those deeds we have done, about which we have absolutely no knowledge?
 |
| Karma depicted as an endless knot! By en:User:Rickjpelleg, [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons |
So in that space, should we leave everything to destiny or should we still believe in free will? Here with that aspect when we talk about free will, it may not be as simple as we presume.
According to Hinduism, there are three types of Karma, first one, 'Sanchitha karma', all the Karma (cause and then effect) we have totally accumulated as a soul. Then there is the 'Prarabda karma', the part of the Sanchit, we bring into this current life to work on. Lastly there is the 'Kriyaman karma', that karma, which we accumulate in this lifetime, through our actions we took during this lifetime.
So, in the current life, we are only able to work on a part of the Sanchita, the Prarabda and then concentrate on Kriyaman. So with all that Sanchitha we have hanging heavy on each one of our shoulders, does it even matter to at least try to work on our Karma, in case it is there? When we think from that space, what a depressing place to be. We would be unendingly trying to figure out how to reduce the Sanchitha. In the banking terms, we are only paying the interest (Kriyaman and Prarabda), while the Principal (Sanchitha) is sitting there, without an iota reducing from it.
So, does it even matter whether we have free will? What is the point of free will? This is one scenario. Now let us discuss another scenario.
How much free will? Now, think we have free will. How much can we really use it? To elaborate on this point, let us take a few examples. Let us take the case of three kids, who are born, one in a rich family, one in a middle-class family, and one in a poor family.
The kid in the rich family has all the luxuries he/she can get. The parents of this particular family come from a very influential background. So they have much more than enough money to go around for food, necessities, shelter, and education. So with this kid, he/she can pursue whatever they want in their life. Going to a private, elite school, done! Going to an Ivy league college, done! Going to an elite law firm, elite private medical practice or an elite business firm, done! If the kid doesn't want to do anything, take a guitar and go backpacking the world that also is possible, as long as the parents are on board (unfortunately many times they may not be, and then the kid doesn't have free will.) So, here this kid gets all the options he/she can choose, more of his/her will is at play here.
Now let us take the middle income kid. His/her parents are doing well, in a middle-class neighborhood, with adequate facilities for food, shelter, and education of the kid. This kid would go to a good school, a decent college and get into a great job. He/She may not have the fantastic options the other kid gets. Here this kid may have to take a student loan to go to college, then once he/she is out of college, they definitely have to find a job to start paying back their student loan. This kid cannot dream of doing, backpacking around the world as long as the student loan gets paid or the parents help in paying that. Many times they cannot do that part as they have to look after the food, and shelter needs. So here for this adult, the option to do what they really want to do with life becomes lesser than the rich kid.
 | |
| Kids of the world! Image courtesy - Pixabay.com |
The kid who was born into poverty has almost no options. many times the parents may be working two jobs. The kid may not get a chance to finish even school, as another working person may be needed to feed the family. Without finishing high school, how can he/she think about college? So for them, the door to high and great positions become totally closed. They may not have money to go to a trade or technical school. Thus to work at a decent paying job and earn a money becomes even less.
So, is there really a free will? Can we really, truly do something we want from our heart. All of these three scenarios, we discussed during peace times. But then there are external forces many times act in our life. Natural disasters like hurricanes, floods, volcanoes, landslides and more. So a family going through such a disaster has even more reduced options as many times it is very difficult to build something up again a second time around after midlife. Above this, there are man-made atrocities like civil wars, wars between countries, terrorism, and evil crimes one human does to another.
Think how much options a Jewish kid had during the time of the Holocaust. Instead of thinking about going to school, they have to think with their family how to survive, not get caught and put in a concentration camp. The same nowadays think how much a kid growing up in Syria have. So as humans do we really have options?
Due to our eternal bind, how have we become tied to this Karma bonds always? Do we really indeed have a free will as a soul? Is there any way out? Two years back I was thinking about this question very deeply. I was pondering if we are indeed in this bind of Karma what is really the point of doing anything in this life. Whatever we do, we are going to incur some Karma, sometimes good, sometimes bad, and go through lifetimes again and again and again. What is the point in doing anything?
How to come out of this bind? How to transcend this dilemma of karma and free will. I was thinking a lot about this aspect. Then one day a passage in the Bhagavad Gita caught my eye. (Disclaimer: I have not fully read the Bhagavad Gita. It is there on my bucket list. One day eventually I will.) Chapter 2, verse 50 reads like this:
Buddhi yukto jahatiha
Ubhe sukrta dushkrte |
Tasmad yogaya yujyasva
Yogah karmasu kausalam ||
Meaning: Someone who is wise, who is engaged in the service of the divine, gets rid of both good and bad deeds (Karma) in this very life itself. For them, involved in the divine service itself is what is smart (Kausalam).
 |
| Bhagavad Gita, Krishna advising Arjuna! By His Holiness Bhaktiratna Sadhu Swami Gaurangapada (originally posted to Flickr as Lord Parthasarthi)[CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons |
Now, according to the literal meaning we as humans think,"Oh! divine service." I cannot go and do divine/spiritual service leaving all family and friends behind and volunteer in the temple or go to the mountain tops. True! Absolutely true! Yes, we indeed cannot leave everything and go. And we should not as well, if we don't have a desire from our heart. But then that is the literal meaning.What about the esoteric meaning?
Now let me explain the esoteric meaning as I have understood. Yes, the divine is outside in the temples, mountain tops, and in heavens. But the same divine is also within us isn't it? As the Soul, our inner divine. Many times the verses in the Bhagavad Gita, we take as the divine outside. But almost always it talks about the divine within and Arjuna as ourselves in esoteric terms. For this verse, let us take it as the divine within - our Soul/ the InnerSelf.
So according to this verse, if you do divine service, you come out of the good and bad Karma. In other words, if we live our life exactly as our inner soul says, that is indeed listening to the divine and doing the divine service. So this verse is asking us to go within, find what our soul says and pursue that exact purpose. The soul almost always guides us to look at our talents, passions, and interest, which we already possess, either in an under-developed or a developed stage.
So going deep into this stanza, we realize we already have everything we need. We only many times may need to develop our talents. So, the stanza says, without thinking what the mind says, listen to what your heart (soul) says. Look at your talents and passions. Pursue it to bring in your authentic life purpose.
So the stanza really means,'when you stand strong on your core from the soul, take actions towards what you are supposed to do in this life, you come out of the good and bad Karma cycle.' The perfect solution for everyone. Surrendering totally to our higher self and working from that realm. Now here the one criteria needed is inner trust. Most of the times we struggle with this concept. We trust every other person we see in our lives, except for ourselves. But that is the major criteria we need for this type of living and coming out of the Karma cycle.
Back to the kids: Now back to the three kids we were discussing. In every scenario, even the kid who is in the poorest of the condition, if starts to take actions from his/her within and walk that path with faith, even that poorest kid would find himself/herself in the best opportunities life can give them. In other words, the life opens up with opportunities when we walk the path of inner-trust. This is what every sacred book talks to us about, whether it is Bhagavad Gita, Bible or Kuran. But we humans not realizing this, wander, stagger, and saunter through life.
So, now do we have free will? Yes! But only when we walk the path of the inner trust. Only in that path most of the times we are allowed to take the best decisions for ourselves, that brings the best of opportunities first for ourselves and by virtue of that for others. That is the path of least resistance life provides us, but very much a path of inner trust! But in this path also there are trials, tribulations, and tests many times. This is the Universe or the divine verifying whether we have the trust or not. And sometimes it is difficult for us to pass these tests if we don't have inner faith as each step has to be taken only from the guidance within.
Not an easy path for the weak hearted. But then which soul is weak hearted? No one is. Only many times we have never realized that we are very strong at the core of our heart. So, in that path, one gets to have all the free will one wants, of course always within the limits of the Universal or Spiritual laws.
Now whether to walk that path of inner trust and free will? That is always one's free will and choice!
I wish you a good weekend and I'll see you next Friday! 😉
Next week: Fear - Our nemesis!
Note: Images from Wikimedia Commons and Pixabay.com.
Ralph Waldo Emerson writes, "There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance ; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better for worse as his portion that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried".
All rights reserved to the author (SwaroopaStargazer) and SwaroopaBlog.
To my Blog readers: As all of you know, the European Union has passed laws regarding the collection of the user data. This is just to inform all my EU blog readers, I just use Google Analytics, which Google provides, to look at from where readers are reading my blogs. I also use Specific feeds to use their service for subscription list. I don't collect or intend to collect user data to sell or provide to third-party applications. Regards,
SwaroopaBlog.
Disclaimer: This is a personal blog. The opinions and viewpoints shared here are that of the author/owner only. Even though the author/owner will try to research well before posting the information, the author/owner of this blog does not make any portrayal of the accuracy or correctness of the content on this blog or the links provided. The author/owner will not be liable for any omissions or inaccuracies occurred. The author/owner will not be liable for any damages or losses due to the use or display of this blog. These terms and conditions can change at any time. This blog is purely for informational purposes only.
©SwaroopaStargazer and Swaroopa, 2017- Eternity.
©SwaroopaStargazer and Swaroopa, 2017- Eternity.
![By en:User:Rickjpelleg, [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:EndlessKnot03d.png){kind=link}
![By His Holiness Bhaktiratna Sadhu Swami Gaurangapada (originally posted to Flickr as Lord Parthasarthi)[CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bhagvad_Gita.jpg){kind=link}
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