A Conversation between Divine Will and Free Will

[Guest guest]

Namaste.

 

(Continued from where we left in Post no. 16174

http://www.escribe.com/religion/advaita/m16174.html )

 

DDW: You (TD) are saying that the other Power within us is

our own PrakRti, i.e., our own svabhAva, nature. I have

never heard of this concept of ‘individualised prakRti’

that you are using.

 

TD: In Gita Ch.3, shloka No.33 the Lord says that even the

wise man does work according to his prakRti. Acharya

Shankara, in commenting on this, writes: ‘Prakriti is

nothing but the accumulated samskAras of our past lives

individualised and earmarked for this life of ours’. The

sanskrit word ‘prakRta’ (from which ‘prakRti’ is derived)

means ‘currently in vogue’.

 

DDW: But why is God causing people to behave the way they

do in these times? How can you account for the fact that

the world is in such a mess? Why is everyone now immersed

in thinking only of themselves and not the greater good?

Why is this play?

 

DFW: You said it right. It all looks like a deliberate

play. In fact, I would say that if the theory of play is

right, then God must be a sadist!

 

TD: No, no. Not that way. It is a play alright, but that

is what is termed in the Puranas as God’s LeelA. That

requires a lot of faith to go in that direction. Let us

pursue the trend of our conversation in the way we started

it. First God is not causing people to behave the way they

do. It is the people who behave that way. That itself

tells you that people have the freewill to do what they

want to do. This free will God has granted man.

 

DFW: At last you are veering to my viewpoint!

 

TD: Don’t be too assured. Of course God has granted

freewill to us both to obey His orders like satyam vada and

dharmam cara and also to disobey them.

 

DDW: That is what I call the play of the Divine.

 

DFW: But then God must be foolish to play that dangerous

game.

 

DDW: Your choice of words ‘dangerous game’ reminds me of

what Sathya Sai Baba once replied to a devotee. The

devotee asked him, while they were walking along the shores

of the Arabian Sea, ‘Lord, if you are capable of doing all

those miracles for which you are known, why don’t you

change this entire sea into a sea of petrol and thus solve

the problem of scarcity of oil-fuel in the world?’. Sathya

Sai Baba immediately replied: ‘But then I cannot guarantee

that no crazy human being like you would not throw a

lighted cigarette into that sea!’.

 

TD: The moral of the story is: Even God cannot guarantee

that man will not behave in an animal way. And that proves

that Man has free will!

 

DFW: Oh Good! Daniel come to judgement!

 

DDW: But then where does all this lead us?

 

TD: It leads to our starting point. It is not all black

and white. It is a spectrum of colours. The answer to the

dilemma depends upon three factors. 1. The situation or the

action that we are talking about. 2. Level of spiritual

evolution of the individual concerned. 3. Degree of

willingness to stand apart and surrender the ego.

 

DDW. I am sure on the third factor the generality of us

may be taken to be at the base level.

 

TD. To simplify the discussion I am willing to assume, for

the present, that with respect to the second factor also –

spiritual evolution also – we are almost at the base level.

Once we do that, we come back to the child level of

spiritual evolution, which we have already discussed. At

this level, it is Free will that is considered to be

dominant in the psychology of the individual concerned.

But this is only the beginning. When we start moving up

the ladder of spiritual evolution, our factor levels get a

gradual relaxation.

 

DFW. I think this is too much for me today. Why not we

continue tomorrow?

 

DDW and TD: OK.

 

(To be continued)

 

PraNAms to all seekers of Truth.

profvk

 

 

Prof. V. Krishnamurthy

 

You are welcome to have a look at any of the following books on my website:

http://www.geocities.com/profvk

 

1. Gems from the Ocean of Hindu Thought Vision & Practice

2. Live Happily, the Gita Way

3. Advaita Dialogue for beginners.

4. Discourses of the Paramacharya on Soundaryalahari.