Is everything ordained?

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Is Everything Ordained?

By Devaraja Mudaliar

ONE summer afternoon I was sitting opposite Bhagavan in the Old Hall with a fan

in my hand and said to him: "I can understand that the outstanding events in a

man's life, such as his country, nationality, family, career or profession,

marriage, death, etc. are all predestined by his karma, but can it be that all

the details of his life, down to the minutest, have already been determined?

Now, for instance, I put this fan that is in my hand down on the floor here. Can

it be that it was already decided that on such and such a day, at such and a

such an hour, I shall move the fan like this and put it down here?"

 

Bhagavan replied "Certainly." He continued: "Whatever this body is to do and

whatever experiences it is to pass through was already decided when it came into

existence."

 

Thereupon I naturally exclaimed: "What becomes then of man's freedom and

responsibility for his actions?"

 

Bhagavan explained: "The only freedom man has is to strive for and acquire the

jnana which will enable him not to identify himself with the body. The body will

go through the actions rendered inevitable by prarabdha (destiny based on the

balance sheet of past lives) and a man is free either to identify himself with

the body and be attached to the fruits of its actions, or to be detached from it

and be a mere witness of its activities."

 

This may not be acceptable to many learned people or philosophers, but I am sure

I have made no error in transmitting as above the gist of the conversation that

took place between Bhagavan and me. Though this answer of Bhagavan may upset the

apple cart of our careful reasonings and conclusions, I am satisfied that what

Bhagavan said must be the truth. I also recall in this connection the following

lines that Bhagavan once quoted to me from Thayumanavar on another occasion:

"This is not to be taught to all. Even if we tell them, it will only lead to

endless discussion."

 

It may be well to remind readers that Bhagavan has given his classic answer to

the age-old question "Can freewill conquer fate?" as follows in his Forty

Verses. "Such questions worry only those who have not found the source of both

freewill and fate. Those who have found this source have left all such

discussions behind." The usual reaction of Bhagavan to any such question would

be to retort: "Who is it that has this fate or freewill? Find that out and then

this question will not arise."

 

- First appeared in the Call Divine, December 1, 1959

 

 

The mind is a bundle of thoughts. The thoughts arise because there is the

thinker. The thinker is the ego. The ego, if sought, will automatically vanish.

The ego and the mind are the same. The ego is the root-thought from which all

other thoughts arise.

 

- Sri Ramana Maharshi

 

 

 

 

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