Not everything is Karma - there is also free will

July 3, 1999

Antardwip wrote:

> I usually agree with you, but this time I differ. I think you

> are not free to hit him - the desire to do or not to do so is

> due to your past karma. For the opportunity to be there for you

> to hit him is also due to past karma, and having a man's body

> big enough to do so is also karma, and for having a reason is

> also! And you get the karma for that - that is how the web of

> karma entangles us further. Our freedom is (I think - I am

> guessing) at a very deep level when we sense these activities

> are not really in our self-interest.

You are of course right. I am just taking it one step at a time

for the sake of our friend Ananta pr., who seems to be 'not quite

clear about the law of karma.'

> But even the activities we are "held responsible for" by the

> laws of nature are also impelled upon us by karma, unless we

> surrender to the big K. So "free will" is really not free will

> to choose our activities as we are impelled 100% by material

> nature, but the ability to petition God. How about that?

Yes. That is true. Therefore karma cannot be understood fully

without also understanding reincarnation and the three modes of

material nature. For instance a person in the mode of goodness is

more free to choose his activities than a person in the mode of

ignorance.

The more one gravitates towards the mode of goodness the more

he'll have free will, and the more we are in ignorance the more

limited we'll be in the exercise of our free will. Srila

Prabhupada gives the example of the prison cell: A person in the

mode of ignorance may find himself in solitary confinement, and a

person in the mode of goodness may be in a cell with a color TV

and weekly leave. They are both confined but one is more free to

choose his activities than the other. Ultimately free will means

the will to control the material senses and become free from

their dictations. Otherwise there is not much of a choice other

than to chew the chewed.

Ys, Jahnu das

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