Is EVERYTHING ordained? - by Devaraja Mudaliar

[Guest guest]

Is Everything Ordained?

 

By Devaraja Mudaliar

 

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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."

 

- Call Divine, December 1, 1959