Free will

[Guest guest]

Saadhanaa presupposes a saadhaka who puts in

efforts in order to get some specific result (liberation,

salvation, whatever...) Does it not mean s/he assumes

herself/himself to be free to will anything and act on

it?<br><br>Does someone have a clear idea of whether free will

really exists?<br><br>Regards,<br>Rajeev S Deshpande

[Guest guest]

dear Rajeev, if u kindly go through old messages

we had a long discussion on free will. some say

there is no free will, where as some opined we do have

a free will.<br><br> Perhps dear OMPREM and you

could also pen your thoughts on Free will.<br><br>Love

[Guest guest]

Swami Sivananda had this to say about freedom and

free will:<br><br>"Freedom is man's birthright.

Freedom is Sat-chid-ananda. Freedom is immortality.

Freedom is knowledge, peace and bliss. Consciously or

unconsciously, wittingly or unwittingly, all are attempting for

this freedom. Nations are fighting in the battlefield

for getting freedom. A robber robs for getting from

want. Every movement of your foot is towards freedom or

Sat-chid-ananda."<br><br>"Everybody want independence. There is an innate urge

in

everyone to become independent, not to serve under

another."<br><br>"The real cause is that there is in you the immortal,

self-effulgent Soul or Atman, which is one without a second,

which has no rival, which is the inner ruler, which is

the support for the whole universe. In reality, you

are this Atman. That is the reason why you have such

a feeling and desire."<br><br>"Loose life is not

perfect freedom. Liberty of speech is not freedom.

Material independence will not give you perfect happiness,

cannot give you perfection. These little things of the

world cannot give you eternal joy."<br><br>"Freedom is

in detachment. Freedom is in desirelessness. Freedom

is in mindfulness. Eradication and extinction of

desires lead to the sublime state of supreme bliss and

perfect freedom."<br><br>You have created your own

bondage through your desires, attachments, egoism, and

cravings; and you cry for emancipation."<br><br>"Mind is

the cause of the bondage and salvation of man. The

mind has two aspects: one is discriminative, and the

other is imaginative. Mind, in its aspect of

discrimination, releases itself from the bondage and attains

Moksha. In its aspect of imagination, it binds itself to

the world."<br><br>"On this side is matter. On the

othe side is pure Spirit or Atman or Brahman. Mind

forms a bridge between the two. Cross the bridge.

Control the mind. You will attain Brahman. You will gain

liberation."<br>_________________________________<br><br>So, we have free will

to do want we want and be what

we want. But the mind is always reminding us of

whether we are straying from Brahman or moving toward

Brahman. <br><br>We want the greatest Good for ourself. We

want to be who we truly are. But through ignorance we

make improper choices and have goals that are too

small or dead-ends. Those choices and goals have karmic

consequences that lead us to believe that we do not have free

will. We make the mistake of thinking that free will

means the ability to do what we want without any

negative consequences. We only want the positive

consequences. But free will only means that we can do what we

want to do. <br><br>Because we are Atman, we will

eventually do what is Atman and this is often in conflict

with our lower self. Both Atman and the lower self

have free will, but only Atman knows its Self as Self

and freely acts to maintain that awareness. The lower

self stumbles toward the same knowledge through trial

and error, still exercising free will to move toward

awareness of Self, but doing it in a circuitous and painful

manner.<br><br>Om and Prem