Free-will vs Pre-determination - poser- 3

[Guest guest]

SRIMATHE RAMANUJAYA NAMAHA.

 

And the discussion continues..

 

The Q-3 raised:-

 

# If brahman resides in all things (both chetana and

achetana) and controls

them , how can there be free will?( BG _15-15)

(avanandri voraNuvum asaiyAthu)

 

 

The answer given :-

 

The concept of God being the antaryAmin or the

in-dweller of all things -

animate or inanimate - refers to the relationship

between the individual

souls and the Supreme Being. The Lord's role as a

"Creator-Controller" does

not preclude jIvA's freewill. He is the cause for the

jIvAs/and everything

else. The rules are transparent. How and whether the

jIvAs want to play it

fair is upto them. For the record, the Lord likes

those who play fair and

prefers their company.

 

The poser:-

 

Is it free-will of the jiva or the grand –will of the

lord (an euphemism for predetermination)?

Can we afford to ignore the following, picked from Sri

Bhashya

“The two unborn, the intelligent and the

non-intelligent (are) the Lord and the non-Lord” (svet

up.vi 13)

“Another (viz., the Lord) also is seen to be the cause

of their association with the qualities of the ‘works’

(which lead to samsara)and the qualities of the self

(which lead to beatific release)” (svet up. V 12)

“ He is the cause , the Lord of what is the lord of

the senses (i.e., the jiva or the individual

soul)(svet up. Vi 9)

 

This answers the question who is the doer, the lord or

the jiva.

If lord is the doer, how can the jiva be said to

possess free will?

In the explanation of body-soul relationship, as

explained by ghataka sruti, approved by

Visishtadvaitha –--

When we say Rama, this refers grammatically to

1. Rama’s body,

2. 2. Rama’s soul,

3. 3. Rama’s soul’s soul i.e., Brahman.

When we say Rama does something, who actually does? –

the first case or the 3rd case?

 

Another way of looking at this:-

 

Let us just touch upon the dream status as propounded

by Sri Ramanuja. According to him, the dreams that

occur to an individual could only be those that the

Lord wills him to experience through his own psychic

apparatus (of which also He is the lord). The

individual’s capacity being utterly limited, and the

dream –experiences being avowedly far beyond his

awakened and waking capacities, it is necessary to

affirm that the supreme lord alone can grant him such

visions.

The same must hold good for the actions at waking

state too. There is no cause to assume why the lord’s

writ should not run high at the waking stage of the

jiva. If it is said that the writ / will(of the lord)

is applicable only during one stage, say the dream

stage, it does not preclude the existence of a will

only as an extension of the grand-will. For, the jiva

shrouded in the I-ness notion conferred by freewill,

is indeed in a non-waking or dream state and the

awakened jiva would already have been permeated by the

osmotic current of grand-will.

 

This is what has been indicted by the lord in BG when

He says why he was necessitated to preach Gita. (BG

4-1&2)

 

The Gita was an evolutionary necessity because this

doership was forgotten and the lord was required to

remind mankind that it is not the person who does.

This has been said in so many ways as to safe guard

the jiva from the accumulating ‘limitations’ on

account of feigning, nay, believing in the doership.

 

Jayasree sarnathan

 

Food for thought :-

 

“ The disciple asks,” Sir, teach me the saving

knowledge”

 

The preceptor says, “Austerity, restraint and

dedicated work – these are the foundations of IT – the

saving knowledge of the upanishads. The vedas are its

limbs and Truth is its Abode”

 

-KENOPANISHAD.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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