Ramesh Balsekar on Free Will with a Ramana quote

[Guest guest]

--

 

 

(...)Chapter 4: God's Will and Man's Free Will.

 

My experience has been that most visitors are able to accept the concept of

God's will prevailing most of the time because they not only see the logic of it

but, more importantly, they experience a feeling of tremendous relief and

freedom: freedom from guilt and responsibility. But the problem arises because

the concept of personal doership and the corresponding responsibility for their

actions is so deeply ingrained that they feel that the spirit of relief and

freedom which they have felt may not be practical.

 

What the problem boils down to is this: 'Thy will be done is a very fine

concept, but I have to live my life in a society which in practice does not

accept this concept and holds me responsible for my actions. How do I live my

life? What do I do every moment that I have to make a decision?'

 

This is a very valid argument. My answer to this problem is simple: do whatever

you feel like doing; do whatever you think you should do according to your own

standards of what is right and wrong. In other words, you have the free will to

do whatever you choose to decide. Having decided to do whatever you choose to

do, thereafter what is your own personal experience? Have all your decisions

turned into actual actions? Supposing some of your decisions have indeed turned

into actions, have all those actions always produced the results that you have

anticipated and for which you have held yourself responsible? The answer is

obvious: some of your decisions have turned into actions, some have not; some of

your actions have produced the anticipated results, some have not; indeed quite

a few of 'your' actions have produced results quite contrary to your

expectations. Therefore, it is your own experience that your free will extends

merely to making a decision. What happens thereafter is, from your own

experience, not in your control because various other factors come into play

over which you have no control.

 

Now, let us investigate the supposed free will you have to make a decision. What

is 'your' decision based on? If you investigate this point you will find out

that you always base your decision on your 'programming', i.e. the genes or DNA

and your conditioning which includes your education and practical experience,

over which you truly have had no control. Recent research has brought out the

fact that many of your actions - both good and bad, positive and negative - can

be traced to your genes. So consider for yourself: how genuine is my 'free

will'?! (...)

 

(...) The final question that remains at this stage is: How does one acquire

this total unconditional acceptance that all action is a divine happening and

not the action of any individual person? The obvious answer is that no one can

acquire or achieve this kind of acceptance about God's Will unless that itself

is God's will! But one can take considerable solace from the fact that seeking

this peace of mind has already happened in one's case through God's grace and it

is truly God's responsibility to further promote the process. In the words of

Ramana Maharshi, 'Your head is already in the tiger's mouth, and there is no

escape.' But, as has been said before, this fact that nothing can happen unless

it is God's will does not prevent you from doing whatever you think you should

do. You do have that apparent free will.

 

The only spiritual practice I usually recommend for the intellectual acceptance

to go deeper into its finality is to experience the truth of this concept from

personal experience. The ego may accept this concept of God's will

intellectually, but the acceptance cannot reach the stage of finality unless the

ego finds from its own investigation of its own personal experience that this

concept is the truth as far as he or she is concerned. If only one thinks of

one's own past experience, one is bound to come to the conclusion that all of

the more significant events in one's life were not one's own actions, but

happenings over which one had hardly any control and which were the result of

circumstances over which one had no control. But that is not enough to convert

the concept into actual fact. This must be proved from personal experience from

day to day.

 

There must be an honest and thorough investigation into what you think are

'your' actions from day to day. This investigation is really one step further

from Ramana Maharshi's famous 'Who am I?'. This investigation that I suggest is

based on theory: 'Am I the doer of what I think are my actions?' (...)

 

 

 

For those interested in more text about free will see the books by Ramesh

Balsekar, especially SIN & GUILT (monstrosity of mind) with answers by Ramesh,

(ZEN Publications). Hereunder a choice of chapter 4:

 

Actions happen - there's no individual doer thereof. Actions happen

because it is God's will; the relevant consequences affect those concerned also

according to God's will. 'God's will' can be substituted by the words 'Cosmic

Law' or 'Universal Law'.