Fwd: "Fate and Free-will" - an article

[Guest guest]

tiruvengadam, "Sudarshan M.K." <sampathkumar_2000>

wrote:

 

Dear friends,

 

I came across the following article in the Times of India today. It is

very interesting from the point of view of our ongoing discussions on

"fate and free-will" as described in the religious literature of

India.

 

Hope it is useful to all of you.

Regards,

dAsan,

Sudarshan

 

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Where Fate Ends and Free Will Begins

 

By Sudhanshu Ranjan

 

IS man the master of his own destiny? The debate has gone on

for ages, the one between fate and free will, and it at once

determines the difference between the 'exoteric' and the 'esoteric'

astrologer.

 

The former is a confirmed fatalist who believes that his life has been

mapped out before him, something over which he has no control. But the

esoteric astrologer believes that as a man sows, so he must reap

because he is of the view that although 'the stars condition, they do

not compel.'

 

There are numerous instances where predictions have proved true

despite all efforts to disprove them. David, son of Jesse, was once

the favourite of Saul, King of Israel. But Saul, knowing that it was

decreed that David, and not one of his sons would succeed him, sought

to kill him, and David fled. Then in a great battle against the

Philistines on the slopes of Giloba, the three sons of Saul were

killed and a shattered Saul killed himself.

 

In the Yoga Vasishta the sage explains karma or action and phala or

result to Rama and Lakshmana. Vasishta says that man gets the result

of his own action and the result is the final outcome of reaction

between one's action and one's environs. He finally says that if one

doesn't get the proper result of one's action it is because of his

actions in the previous life.

 

In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna elucidates upon fate and free will

when He admonishes Arjuna that he, Arjuna, should not shy away from

killing his adversaries as he was only an agent and would be killing

those already killed, which He could see but Arjuna could not.

 

He further explains that not even a leaf moves without His will. Then

how is the man responsible for his deeds and misdeeds? Sages would

argue that this logic can be adduced only when one surrenders oneself

completely to God.

 

It is said that Ved Vyasa had himself made the horoscope of Duryodhana

and predicted that Duryodhana would be a great and invincible monarch,

and have a long life. When Duryodhana was killed people asked Ved

Vyasa why his prediction did not come true. Ved Vyasa replied that it

was because of his unbecoming actions, which negated that beneficial

impact of stars.

 

The early sixteenth century Europe witnessed a fierce debate on the

whole issue of fate versus free will with Martin Luther publishing his

work on predestination and Desiderius Erasmus writing a book on free

will against Luther's doctrine. Erasmus's critics replied in

vituperative pamphlet, but later acknowledged ''the freedom of will in

all men who have the use of reason''. Erasmus answered with an equally

vitriolic pen and Luther confessed that he prayed for a curse upon

Erasmus.

 

In the seventeenth century, witchcraft and astrology were completely

banned in Britain. When William Lily Rose's prediction in 1646 that

London would be razed by a devastating fire in 1661 came true he was

tried by the House of Commons. People thought that Rose would be

executed but that was not to be. He gave such a convincing reply that

he was discharged with ''utmost civility''. Almost all the predictions

done by Nostradamus long back in the sixteenth century have proved

correct.

 

The great astrological savant, Dr B V Raman's world predictions made

Hindu astrology popular in the West. He had predicted World War II a

year or two in advance. His famous book World Prospects in 1938- 1939

was highly acclaimed. Dr Raman opined that astrology was a science of

tendencies. Free will played an important role in human destiny which

was entirely conditioned by past karma.

 

Destiny could be broadly divided with two categories -the essentials

and the non-essentials. Life events covered by the essentials were

birth, death, marriage, career, parentage and status in life while the

rest were non-essentials. Free will played its part on non-essential

events when one would get the feeling of achievement. But no amount of

human effort could prevent death. Its time, place and manner were

pre-determined on the day one was born.

 

Alan Leo has summarised this conflict between fate and free will:

 

''Man is a spirit or to speak more correctly a soul, with a body. His

'spirit' is free, immortal, undying and permanent, but his soul is

imprisoned in the 'matter' or bodies, through which it manifests on

the lower planes. Matter is ever changing, impermanent, limited and

circumscribed, hence matter is fated while the spirit is free. Between

motive and act, the spirit and the body (or 'matter') man's soul is at

some times bound, at other times free -never wholly free, nor wholly

bound, but linked to both states of existence by subtle bonds and thus

ever harnessed to the circle or 'wheel' of necessity.''

 

(The Speaking Tree)

 

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--- End forwarded message ---