Swami Vivekananda on Free Will

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Namaste

 

I'm reposting these quotes which I sent to the list a year ago. Have fun.

:-)

> As long as you are in the network of time, space and causation, to say you

> are free is nonsense, because in that network all is under rigorous law,

> sequence, and consequence. Every thought that you think is caused, every

> feeling has been caused; to say that that the will is free is sheer

> nonsense. It is only when the infinite existence comes, as it were, into

> this network of Maya that it takes the form of will. Will is a portion of

> that being, caught in the network of Maya, and therefore "free will" is a

> misnomer. It means nothing-sheer nonsense. So is all this talk about

> freedom. There is no freedom in Maya. - Complete works of Swami

> Vivekananda Vol 3, 'The Free Soul'

>

> The real self is free, yet when mixed with mind and body, It is not free.

> The will is the first manifestation of the real self; the first limitation

> therefore of this real self is the will. Will is a compound of Self and

> mind. Now, no compound can be permanent, so that when we will to live, we

> must die. - Complete works of Swami Vivekananda Vol 6, 'Introduction to

> Jnana Yoga'

>

> When we speak of free will, we mean the will is not caused by anything.

> But that cannot be true, the will is caused; and since it is caused, it

> cannot be free-it is bound by law. - Complete works of Swami Vivekananda

> Vol 8, 'I am that I am'

>

> The question does not arise whether I have free will or not; I am beyond

> any will at all. Wherever there is will, it is never free. There is no

> freedom of will whatever. There is freedom of that which becomes will

> when name and form get hold of it, making it their slave. That

> substance-the soul-as it were moulds itself, as it were throws itself into

> the cast of name and form, and immediately becomes bound, whereas it was

> free before. And yet its original nature is still there. That is why it

> says, "I am free; in spite of all this bondage, I am free." And it never

> forgets this. - Complete works of Swami Vivekananda Vol 8, 'I am that I

> am'

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