Guest guest Posted November 3, 2008 Report Share Posted November 3, 2008 Narayana Narayana In English It is said that not a leaf can move without Bhagwaan's will (wishes), then how is man independent in performing actions? Ramchandra In Hindi Bhagwan ki marji ke bina pataa bhi nahin hiltaa, phir manushya karam karne mein kaise swatantra hai? Ramchandra - GITA TALK GROUP GUIDELINES: 1. Purpose of the group is to help Sadhakas clarify their doubts related to Gitaji shalokas. Therefore, responses which further clarify the understanding of Gitaji, will only be posted. 2. Wherever possible, please quote Gitaji or other scriptures to substantiate your response. 3. Kindly limit personal feelings, opinions, beliefs etc. to the extent that they further help in understanding the Gita shlokas 4. Please be as concise and to the point as possible, respecting sadhaka's time. 5. Kindly focus your writing to the subject at hand only. 6. Please do not include links to the other sites or other organizations. 7. Kindly do not include your personal information such as phone number, address etc. 8. Please do not address the response to a particular individual since the message is going to the entire group. 9. Due to the large readership, all responses may not be posted. 10. Moderator at his discretion, may modify the posting, if content is unclear or not appropriate for distribution to the group. 11. Please respond taking into consideration the novices, youth, westerners, non-sectarian audience. Kindly limit the use to Sanskrit words only, rather provide the English word with Sanskrit bracketed wherever possible. MODERATOR Ram Ram ------------------------ Post message: Subscribe: - Un: - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 4, 2008 Report Share Posted November 4, 2008 Narayana Narayana In English It is said that not a leaf can move without Bhagwaan's will (wishes), then how is man independent in performing actions? Ramchandra In Hindi Bhagwan ki marji ke bina pataa bhi nahin hiltaa, phir manushya karam karne mein kaise swatantra hai? Ramchandra Dear Sadhakas, Namaste! Man or woman is not independent in performing actions as long as one takes oneself to be body identified person. This body identification provides a stage to function in the world-stage for playing one's roles to serve. Unfortunately this identification provides plateform on which " individuality " in terms of desires, fears, likes/dislikes constitute subtle body-mind-stuff, which takes control of his/her life. This is what he/she calls " I " or " me " , and thus 'mineness " is born. ( " Mineness " is born only after " me " is born first). When one such a one acts, it is only this " me " , disguised as desires/fears really act, and always attempts to protect " imagined him/her " or what is perceived to be of his/hers. So there is no independent actions out of such a one, always reacting to situations in self-defense not knowing his true SELF-Atman-true independence to act. When one acquires the knowledge of one's true Self, through whatever means prescribed in Gita or other Scriptures, one is aware of " me " in its true colors just as it arises and stays away from acting to protect it. There is a total freedom to act out of That which we truly are, Love, Compassion ourselves in the abscense of " me " ! Actions are then seen as coming from Totality of Being and not personal. Such a one can truly say " Let Thy Will be done " as Jesus said. When a leaf moves, it is God's will through nature, and when we act, it is God as our Will acts, whatever be the act! Namaskar........ Pratap Bhatt What we are today is the result of our past karmas. What we will become in our next birth will be the result of our present karmas. The goal of every soul is to become one with God ultimately, that is for the atma to become one with Parmatma. This is called attaining moksh or liberation from the endless and painful cycle of birth and death. Since everything in this world is an illusion, it is upto us to first connect with our soul through meditation and through good karmas, then to attain moksh from 8.4 million births. So we do have a choice. Not everything is pre-ordained. Hari Shanker Deo Dear Sadhaks, It is true that nothing moves without HIS will. But Bhagavan has created and designed the whole creation that nothing goes missing without HIS knowledge is the meaning. This is very large subject to go in detail. But an example can be given. Human has 5 pranas, governed by 5 boothas and 5 layers Auras (which can be photographed by Kerlion Camara). So any smallest Thought or action or both are independent to humans. Every action or thought is recorded by the one`s own Aura resulting in cause and effect. The action done by body is called Kayaka Karma. Finding mistake on anything is also wrong Karma as one forgets the Eswara Sarvaboothanam. The thought is called Maanisha Karma. So when one does good or bad it is automatically rewarded. This means the actions does not go unrewarded. This again means that Bhagavan is under knowledge of all. So it means that nothing moves without HIS knowledge. One has to understand that to come to Human form from lower births is with HIS grace. Human is given independence to do Karmas. This independence (By way of intellect) to Human is given by Bhagavan to elevate to Divinity B.Sathyanarayan - GITA TALK GROUP GUIDELINES: 1. Purpose of the group is to help Sadhakas clarify their doubts related to Gitaji shalokas. Therefore, responses which further clarify the understanding of Gitaji, will only be posted. 2. Wherever possible, please quote Gitaji or other scriptures to substantiate your response. 3. Kindly limit personal feelings, opinions, beliefs etc. to the extent that they further help in understanding the Gita shlokas 4. Please be as concise and to the point as possible, respecting sadhaka's time. 5. Kindly focus your writing to the subject at hand only. 6. Please do not include links to the other sites or other organizations. 7. Kindly do not include your personal information such as phone number, address etc. 8. Please do not address the response to a particular individual since the message is going to the entire group. 9. Due to the large readership, all responses may not be posted. 10. Moderator at his discretion, may modify the posting, if content is unclear or not appropriate for distribution to the group. 11. Please respond taking into consideration the novices, youth, westerners, non-sectarian audience. Kindly limit the use to Sanskrit words only, rather provide the English word with Sanskrit bracketed wherever possible. MODERATOR Ram Ram ------------------------ Post message: Subscribe: - Un: - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 5, 2008 Report Share Posted November 5, 2008 Narayana Narayana In English It is said that not a leaf can move without Bhagwaan's will (wishes), then how is man independent in performing actions? Ramchandra In Hindi Bhagwan ki marji ke bina pataa bhi nahin hiltaa, phir manushya karam karne mein kaise swatantra hai? Ramchandra NEW POSTING Hari Om Not a leaf " moves " is the result. Sure! It is in God's hands only. What is stated is that " not a leaf moves " . It is not stated that " no effort to move a leaf " is possible by a human being. Question of free will arises in making efforts - not in results thereof. Hence you can always make an effort to move the leaf. You are independent in that. After you do your karma say to " move the leaf " , whether the leaf moves or not is not in your hands. As simple as that! " Karmanye vaadhikaraste, ma phaleshu kadchan " - you are entitled to make efforts, you have no role to play in consequential results ! Jai Shree Krishna Vyas N B ------------------------------- Priy pratap ji you let or dont let BUT Thy will be done. thats for sure. Raja Gurdasani ------------------------------- namasthe all, Everything happens (eacha nd every small and minute action, whatever it may be), only with the GRACE/POWER/DIVINITY of that SUPREME divinity. Regards, Bharathi -------------------------------- PRIOR POSTING Dear Sadhakas, Namaste! Man or woman is not independent in performing actions as long as one takes oneself to be body identified person. This body identification provides a stage to function in the world-stage for playing one's roles to serve. Unfortunately this identification provides plateform on which " individuality " in terms of desires, fears, likes/dislikes constitute subtle body-mind-stuff, which takes control of his/her life. This is what he/she calls " I " or " me " , and thus 'mineness " is born. ( " Mineness " is born only after " me " is born first). When one such a one acts, it is only this " me " , disguised as desires/fears really act, and always attempts to protect " imagined him/her " or what is perceived to be of his/hers. So there is no independent actions out of such a one, always reacting to situations in self-defense not knowing his true SELF-Atman-true independence to act. When one acquires the knowledge of one's true Self, through whatever means prescribed in Gita or other Scriptures, one is aware of " me " in its true colors just as it arises and stays away from acting to protect it. There is a total freedom to act out of That which we truly are, Love, Compassion ourselves in the abscense of " me " ! Actions are then seen as coming from Totality of Being and not personal. Such a one can truly say " Let Thy Will be done " as Jesus said. When a leaf moves, it is God's will through nature, and when we act, it is God as our Will acts, whatever be the act! Namaskar........ Pratap Bhatt What we are today is the result of our past karmas. What we will become in our next birth will be the result of our present karmas. The goal of every soul is to become one with God ultimately, that is for the atma to become one with Parmatma. This is called attaining moksh or liberation from the endless and painful cycle of birth and death. Since everything in this world is an illusion, it is upto us to first connect with our soul through meditation and through good karmas, then to attain moksh from 8.4 million births. So we do have a choice. Not everything is pre-ordained. Hari Shanker Deo Dear Sadhaks, It is true that nothing moves without HIS will. But Bhagavan has created and designed the whole creation that nothing goes missing without HIS knowledge is the meaning. This is very large subject to go in detail. But an example can be given. Human has 5 pranas, governed by 5 boothas and 5 layers Auras (which can be photographed by Kerlion Camara). So any smallest Thought or action or both are independent to humans. Every action or thought is recorded by the one`s own Aura resulting in cause and effect. The action done by body is called Kayaka Karma. Finding mistake on anything is also wrong Karma as one forgets the Eswara Sarvaboothanam. The thought is called Maanisha Karma. So when one does good or bad it is automatically rewarded. This means the actions does not go unrewarded. This again means that Bhagavan is under knowledge of all. So it means that nothing moves without HIS knowledge. One has to understand that to come to Human form from lower births is with HIS grace. Human is given independence to do Karmas. This independence (By way of intellect) to Human is given by Bhagavan to elevate to Divinity B.Sathyanarayan - GITA TALK GROUP GUIDELINES: 1. Purpose of the group is to help Sadhakas clarify their doubts related to Gitaji shalokas. Therefore, responses which further clarify the understanding of Gitaji, will only be posted. 2. Wherever possible, please quote Gitaji or other scriptures to substantiate your response. 3. Kindly limit personal feelings, opinions, beliefs etc. to the extent that they further help in understanding the Gita shlokas 4. Please be as concise and to the point as possible, respecting sadhaka's time. 5. Kindly focus your writing to the subject at hand only. 6. Please do not include links to the other sites or other organizations. 7. Kindly do not include your personal information such as phone number, address etc. 8. Please do not address the response to a particular individual since the message is going to the entire group. 9. Due to the large readership, all responses may not be posted. 10. Moderator at his discretion, may modify the posting, if content is unclear or not appropriate for distribution to the group. 11. Please respond taking into consideration the novices, youth, westerners, non-sectarian audience. Kindly limit the use to Sanskrit words only, rather provide the English word with Sanskrit bracketed wherever possible. MODERATOR Ram Ram ------------------------ Post message: Subscribe: - Un: - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 5, 2008 Report Share Posted November 5, 2008 Narayana Narayana In English It is said that not a leaf can move without Bhagwaan's will (wishes), then how is man independent in performing actions? Ramchandra In Hindi Bhagwan ki marji ke bina pataa bhi nahin hiltaa, phir manushya karam karne mein kaise swatantra hai? Ramchandra NEW POSTING Shree Hari Ram Ram In English Brother Ramji, Your asking the question, and this written response is also happening as per Paramatma's Will. By such acceptance, it will make you contented, that what happened was Paramatma's will, and that which did not happen was our desire (which was apart from Paramatma's will) . That is it ! The work is done, and once again we become engaged in meditating on that Paramatma. Ram Ram Ram Vineet, Sarvottam IN HINDI Bhaiyyaa Ramji, Aapkaa prashna poochnaa aur yeh utter likhnaa bhi usee Paramaatmaaki icchaa (sweekruti) ke anusaar ho rahaa hai. Isse aise sweekaar karnaa aapko santushta karegaa ki jo huaa wah toh thi Paramaatmaa ki icchaa aur jo kuch bhi nahin huaa wah thi humaari (Paramaatmaatmaa se alag) icchaa. Bas kaam ban gayaa aur lag gaye usi Paramaatmaa ke dhyaan mein. Ram Ram Ram. Vineet, Sarvottam ------------------------------- Jai Hanuman Pratap Bhaiyya! Read again your first sentence ! Frankly I did not read afterwards! There is no question of there being any doubt whatsoever in a person " not having a free will/independence in performing an action " ! One always has a free will there !! Come what may !!! Similarly there is no question or doubt of there " being any kind of free will or independence in the results of an action " made by a person - come what may !! Efforts/performance is always in your hands. Results is always beyond your hands ! There are subtle principles Jee - in the above laws , too !! They appear juxtaposing but in reality they indeed are crystal clear! I can also argue that the results ultimately are chosen/ determined by the " doer " ! Come on !! That also is equally true - but in long term and in reality ! How incomprehensible and contradictory that reality appears ? But still true !! Truth prevails in whatever way you see that, from whatever angle you perceive that, in whichever position you are positioned !! Afterall it is truth ! Pratap Bhaiyya !! I am also aware of the fact that " karmanusarini buddhih " ( Intellect changes as per prior deeds) - but Dear Brother, I also know that " Purushartha " (capacity of humans to do karmas- free will / independence ) prevails over waves of " sphuranas " ( thoughts arising due to prior deeds- Prarabdha )caused by altered intellect due to past karmas , Jee ! All said and done- " Anhonee hoti nahin, honi hai so hoi " ( What is not to 'happen' shall not, what is to 'happen' shall ) - at the same time - in 'doing' you always remain free/independent ! That is law !! Namaste Jee Jee Jee Shashikala -------------------------------- ------------------------------- PRIOR POSTING Hari Om Not a leaf " moves " is the result. Sure! It is in God's hands only. What is stated is that " not a leaf moves " . It is not stated that " no effort to move a leaf " is possible by a human being. Question of free will arises in making efforts - not in results thereof. Hence you can always make an effort to move the leaf. You are independent in that. After you do your karma say to " move the leaf " , whether the leaf moves or not is not in your hands. As simple as that! " Karmanye vaadhikaraste, ma phaleshu kadchan " - you are entitled to make efforts, you have no role to play in consequential results ! Jai Shree Krishna Vyas N B ------------------------------- Priy pratap ji you let or dont let BUT Thy will be done. thats for sure. Raja Gurdasani ------------------------------- namasthe all, Everything happens (eacha nd every small and minute action, whatever it may be), only with the GRACE/POWER/DIVINITY of that SUPREME divinity. Regards, Bharathi -------------------------------- PRIOR POSTING Dear Sadhakas, Namaste! Man or woman is not independent in performing actions as long as one takes oneself to be body identified person. This body identification provides a stage to function in the world-stage for playing one's roles to serve. Unfortunately this identification provides plateform on which " individuality " in terms of desires, fears, likes/dislikes constitute subtle body-mind-stuff, which takes control of his/her life. This is what he/she calls " I " or " me " , and thus 'mineness " is born. ( " Mineness " is born only after " me " is born first). When one such a one acts, it is only this " me " , disguised as desires/fears really act, and always attempts to protect " imagined him/her " or what is perceived to be of his/hers. So there is no independent actions out of such a one, always reacting to situations in self-defense not knowing his true SELF-Atman-true independence to act. When one acquires the knowledge of one's true Self, through whatever means prescribed in Gita or other Scriptures, one is aware of " me " in its true colors just as it arises and stays away from acting to protect it. There is a total freedom to act out of That which we truly are, Love, Compassion ourselves in the abscense of " me " ! Actions are then seen as coming from Totality of Being and not personal. Such a one can truly say " Let Thy Will be done " as Jesus said. When a leaf moves, it is God's will through nature, and when we act, it is God as our Will acts, whatever be the act! Namaskar........ Pratap Bhatt What we are today is the result of our past karmas. What we will become in our next birth will be the result of our present karmas. The goal of every soul is to become one with God ultimately, that is for the atma to become one with Parmatma. This is called attaining moksh or liberation from the endless and painful cycle of birth and death. Since everything in this world is an illusion, it is upto us to first connect with our soul through meditation and through good karmas, then to attain moksh from 8.4 million births. So we do have a choice. Not everything is pre-ordained. Hari Shanker Deo Dear Sadhaks, It is true that nothing moves without HIS will. But Bhagavan has created and designed the whole creation that nothing goes missing without HIS knowledge is the meaning. This is very large subject to go in detail. But an example can be given. Human has 5 pranas, governed by 5 boothas and 5 layers Auras (which can be photographed by Kerlion Camara). So any smallest Thought or action or both are independent to humans. Every action or thought is recorded by the one`s own Aura resulting in cause and effect. The action done by body is called Kayaka Karma. Finding mistake on anything is also wrong Karma as one forgets the Eswara Sarvaboothanam. The thought is called Maanisha Karma. So when one does good or bad it is automatically rewarded. This means the actions does not go unrewarded. This again means that Bhagavan is under knowledge of all. So it means that nothing moves without HIS knowledge. One has to understand that to come to Human form from lower births is with HIS grace. Human is given independence to do Karmas. This independence (By way of intellect) to Human is given by Bhagavan to elevate to Divinity B.Sathyanarayan - GITA TALK GROUP GUIDELINES: 1. Purpose of the group is to help Sadhakas clarify their doubts related to Gitaji shalokas. Therefore, responses which further clarify the understanding of Gitaji, will only be posted. 2. Wherever possible, please quote Gitaji or other scriptures to substantiate your response. 3. Kindly limit personal feelings, opinions, beliefs etc. to the extent that they further help in understanding the Gita shlokas 4. Please be as concise and to the point as possible, respecting sadhaka's time. 5. Kindly focus your writing to the subject at hand only. 6. Please do not include links to the other sites or other organizations. 7. Kindly do not include your personal information such as phone number, address etc. 8. Please do not address the response to a particular individual since the message is going to the entire group. 9. Due to the large readership, all responses may not be posted. 10. Moderator at his discretion, may modify the posting, if content is unclear or not appropriate for distribution to the group. 11. Please respond taking into consideration the novices, youth, westerners, non-sectarian audience. Kindly limit the use to Sanskrit words only, rather provide the English word with Sanskrit bracketed wherever possible. MODERATOR Ram Ram ------------------------ Post message: Subscribe: - Un: - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 6, 2008 Report Share Posted November 6, 2008 Narayana Narayana In English It is said that not a leaf can move without Bhagwaan's will (wishes), then how is man independent in performing actions? Ramchandra In Hindi Bhagwan ki marji ke bina pataa bhi nahin hiltaa, phir manushya karam karne mein kaise swatantra hai? Ramchandra NEW POSTING Hari Om I think the following principle brought out by Vineetji must be reconsidered by him for it defies all logics : " that what happened was Paramatma's will, and that which did not happen was our desire (which was apart from Paramatma's will) .That is it! " All happennings are His will . Where is question of any distinction of the type " which did not happen was our desire (which was apart from His will) " ??? How what does not happen is our desire? What can happen which is apart from His will ? Translation from Hindi to English has not contributed to this. Please clarify. Principle as grasped by me from Swamiji and Gitaji is- " In every doing we are independent, in any happenning, we are not independent " That is law. No happenning is capable enough to force a reaction from us. No doing can be forced. Moreover, to say that even asking the question by Sadhak Ramji writing the answer by you is due to divine will is a faulty concept. It snatches away capacity of human being of " karmanye vaadhikaraste " ! God does not like us to attribute our independence of doing karmas too to His divine will. How can He? You can't remain without doing Karma even for a fraction of a second - this means you are responsible for the same. God is not responsible for the same. He only gave us independence. He is a disinterested friend. We reap as we sow ! Even if you are totally " surrendered " soul or even if you are " liberated " - " in doing " you have complete independence so long you live in a human body. Just imagine, if some sadhak stretches this concept a bit further and says " I did this deed , because God willed that " . That deed can be any deed - why not? Jai Shree Krishna Vyas N B - Dear all, Bhagawaan has given us the intellect to discriminate what we should do and what we should desist from doing as being not spiritually good. He has also allowed His Maaya to have its sway on us to see if we heed to the intellect or come under the sway of ignorance. A spiritually oriented man does what is good or Shreyas and desists from the pleasurable or Preyas. Here is man's independance. Also allowing us to do what we choose to is Bhagawaan's will. Jai Shree Krishna! Prof ( Major ) Ramanujam Dear Sadaks, We know that we are single Advaitham (No you and me) as it says " Aham Bramasmi " . You are part of Braman and have the indipencence of thought and action. But you have NO indipendence over death, birth, place of birth, caste, to whom born, whether in rich or poor family, the type of Karma (cart puller, car driver, train driver, house maid, luxurious life, handicapped, beautiful or ugly, one time popper another face of life rich, rich becoming poor ETC ETc). For the action and thought one does one is responsible. Valmiki Rishi was a thief earlier until Sage Nararad told that robbing other will yield sins that affects only him NOT to his family members though they are enjoying the gain from theft. Realization took place and he became Valmiki. Here one can note why Sage Narad chose this perticular thief to impart knowledge though there were 100 of thieves. Karma Pala of earlier birth brings Guru to rescue. " Karmanye vaadhikaraste, ma phaleshu kadchan " - I feel that this means one is indipendant of performing action, but NOT indipendant to decide the fruit of Action. Scripts say that Sri Vishnu is giver of Karma Pala. Kans could have been killed along with other demons. Time factor. Sank is the sound of Warning and Chakra is time factor of Sri Vishnu. Garuda is symbol of speed as Sri Vishnu is sustainer which is required fast enough to keep life going. Bagavan Shiva destructor-- Buffelow is time factor (slow and steady the time and aging takes place without one` s knowledge), small drum on HIS hand is death knell, thrishulam takes the soul from body. Vibhuti (Sacred ashes of Bagavan Shiva) is that one becomes ashes after death. Many do wrong things like murdering, raping, robbing, insulting Etc. This is because of independence given to human. Animals have no intellect and they behave as they are. So animals do not do anything independently (They remain silent even if they are killed and the animal from that herd does not revenge- Like father got killed son revenges) That is why animals raise from lower birth to human level. So I feel that, " HUMAN IS INDEPENDENT OF ACTION BUT NOT INDEPENDENT OF THE FRUITS OF ACTION " . " Karmanye vaadhikaraste, ma phaleshu kadchan " PARDON ME IF I AM WRONG B.Sathyanarayan PRIOR POSTING Shree Hari Ram Ram In English Brother Ramji, Your asking the question, and this written response is also happening as per Paramatma's Will. By such acceptance, it will make you contented, that what happened was Paramatma's will, and that which did not happen was our desire (which was apart from Paramatma's will) . That is it ! The work is done, and once again we become engaged in meditating on that Paramatma. Ram Ram Ram Vineet, Sarvottam IN HINDI Bhaiyyaa Ramji, Aapkaa prashna poochnaa aur yeh utter likhnaa bhi usee Paramaatmaaki icchaa (sweekruti) ke anusaar ho rahaa hai. Isse aise sweekaar karnaa aapko santushta karegaa ki jo huaa wah toh thi Paramaatmaa ki icchaa aur jo kuch bhi nahin huaa wah thi humaari (Paramaatmaatmaa se alag) icchaa. Bas kaam ban gayaa aur lag gaye usi Paramaatmaa ke dhyaan mein. Ram Ram Ram. Vineet, Sarvottam ------------------------------- Jai Hanuman Pratap Bhaiyya! Read again your first sentence ! Frankly I did not read afterwards! There is no question of there being any doubt whatsoever in a person " not having a free will/independence in performing an action " ! One always has a free will there !! Come what may !!! Similarly there is no question or doubt of there " being any kind of free will or independence in the results of an action " made by a person - come what may !! Efforts/performance is always in your hands. Results is always beyond your hands ! There are subtle principles Jee - in the above laws , too !! They appear juxtaposing but in reality they indeed are crystal clear! I can also argue that the results ultimately are chosen/ determined by the " doer " ! Come on !! That also is equally true - but in long term and in reality ! How incomprehensible and contradictory that reality appears ? But still true !! Truth prevails in whatever way you see that, from whatever angle you perceive that, in whichever position you are positioned !! Afterall it is truth ! Pratap Bhaiyya !! I am also aware of the fact that " karmanusarini buddhih " ( Intellect changes as per prior deeds) - but Dear Brother, I also know that " Purushartha " (capacity of humans to do karmas- free will / independence ) prevails over waves of " sphuranas " ( thoughts arising due to prior deeds- Prarabdha )caused by altered intellect due to past karmas , Jee ! All said and done- " Anhonee hoti nahin, honi hai so hoi " ( What is not to 'happen' shall not, what is to 'happen' shall ) - at the same time - in 'doing' you always remain free/independent ! That is law !! Namaste Jee Jee Jee Shashikala -------------------------------- ------------------------------- PRIOR POSTING Hari Om Not a leaf " moves " is the result. Sure! It is in God's hands only. What is stated is that " not a leaf moves " . It is not stated that " no effort to move a leaf " is possible by a human being. Question of free will arises in making efforts - not in results thereof. Hence you can always make an effort to move the leaf. You are independent in that. After you do your karma say to " move the leaf " , whether the leaf moves or not is not in your hands. As simple as that! " Karmanye vaadhikaraste, ma phaleshu kadchan " - you are entitled to make efforts, you have no role to play in consequential results ! Jai Shree Krishna Vyas N B ------------------------------- Priy pratap ji you let or dont let BUT Thy will be done. thats for sure. Raja Gurdasani ------------------------------- namasthe all, Everything happens (eacha nd every small and minute action, whatever it may be), only with the GRACE/POWER/DIVINITY of that SUPREME divinity. Regards, Bharathi -------------------------------- PRIOR POSTING Dear Sadhakas, Namaste! Man or woman is not independent in performing actions as long as one takes oneself to be body identified person. This body identification provides a stage to function in the world-stage for playing one's roles to serve. Unfortunately this identification provides plateform on which " individuality " in terms of desires, fears, likes/dislikes constitute subtle body-mind-stuff, which takes control of his/her life. This is what he/she calls " I " or " me " , and thus 'mineness " is born. ( " Mineness " is born only after " me " is born first). When one such a one acts, it is only this " me " , disguised as desires/fears really act, and always attempts to protect " imagined him/her " or what is perceived to be of his/hers. So there is no independent actions out of such a one, always reacting to situations in self-defense not knowing his true SELF-Atman-true independence to act. When one acquires the knowledge of one's true Self, through whatever means prescribed in Gita or other Scriptures, one is aware of " me " in its true colors just as it arises and stays away from acting to protect it. There is a total freedom to act out of That which we truly are, Love, Compassion ourselves in the abscense of " me " ! Actions are then seen as coming from Totality of Being and not personal. Such a one can truly say " Let Thy Will be done " as Jesus said. When a leaf moves, it is God's will through nature, and when we act, it is God as our Will acts, whatever be the act! Namaskar........ Pratap Bhatt What we are today is the result of our past karmas. What we will become in our next birth will be the result of our present karmas. The goal of every soul is to become one with God ultimately, that is for the atma to become one with Parmatma. This is called attaining moksh or liberation from the endless and painful cycle of birth and death. Since everything in this world is an illusion, it is upto us to first connect with our soul through meditation and through good karmas, then to attain moksh from 8.4 million births. So we do have a choice. Not everything is pre-ordained. Hari Shanker Deo Dear Sadhaks, It is true that nothing moves without HIS will. But Bhagavan has created and designed the whole creation that nothing goes missing without HIS knowledge is the meaning. This is very large subject to go in detail. But an example can be given. Human has 5 pranas, governed by 5 boothas and 5 layers Auras (which can be photographed by Kerlion Camara). So any smallest Thought or action or both are independent to humans. Every action or thought is recorded by the one`s own Aura resulting in cause and effect. The action done by body is called Kayaka Karma. Finding mistake on anything is also wrong Karma as one forgets the Eswara Sarvaboothanam. The thought is called Maanisha Karma. So when one does good or bad it is automatically rewarded. This means the actions does not go unrewarded. This again means that Bhagavan is under knowledge of all. So it means that nothing moves without HIS knowledge. One has to understand that to come to Human form from lower births is with HIS grace. Human is given independence to do Karmas. This independence (By way of intellect) to Human is given by Bhagavan to elevate to Divinity B.Sathyanarayan - GITA TALK GROUP GUIDELINES: 1. Purpose of the group is to help Sadhakas clarify their doubts related to Gitaji shalokas. Therefore, responses which further clarify the understanding of Gitaji, will only be posted. 2. Wherever possible, please quote Gitaji or other scriptures to substantiate your response. 3. Kindly limit personal feelings, opinions, beliefs etc. to the extent that they further help in understanding the Gita shlokas 4. Please be as concise and to the point as possible, respecting sadhaka's time. 5. Kindly focus your writing to the subject at hand only. 6. Please do not include links to the other sites or other organizations. 7. Kindly do not include your personal information such as phone number, address etc. 8. Please do not address the response to a particular individual since the message is going to the entire group. 9. Due to the large readership, all responses may not be posted. 10. Moderator at his discretion, may modify the posting, if content is unclear or not appropriate for distribution to the group. 11. Please respond taking into consideration the novices, youth, westerners, non-sectarian audience. Kindly limit the use to Sanskrit words only, rather provide the English word with Sanskrit bracketed wherever possible. MODERATOR Ram Ram ------------------------ Post message: Subscribe: - Un: - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 6, 2008 Report Share Posted November 6, 2008 Narayana Narayana In English It is said that not a leaf can move without Bhagwaan's will (wishes), then how is man independent in performing actions? Ramchandra In Hindi Bhagwan ki marji ke bina pataa bhi nahin hiltaa, phir manushya karam karne mein kaise swatantra hai? Ramchandra NEW POSTING Hari Om One can't cease to admire the talent accumulated in this GT Group. Indeed it is a divine group. How humble are real Satsangis !! One such humble Satsangi is B Sathyanarainji. In every posting of him, you will find history, names and references of great souls !! He invariably remembers realised souls, great characters of past, great events stated in our Holy Scriptures !. No Sir. You can never be wrong ! Jai Shree Krishna Vyas N B ------------------------------- The following may kindly be added to the response given by Sadak Vyas N B " After you do your karma say to " move the leaf " , whether the leaf moves or not is not in your hands. " + and very interestingly no sincere and honest effort goes waste. The leaf moves. For more, one needs to understand " Who am I " by self enquiry...... Best wishes... Sushil Jain ------------------------------- Dear Sadhakas, Namaste! This refers to Shashikalaji's observations on my previous post. With all respects, I may point out that I wish, Shashikalaji, you had read entire post, instead of stopping after the first sentence as you say you did. If asked what does " person " who is supposed to have free-will mean, what would be the answer? For me, it means a sense of " I-me " rooted in desires, fears, and likes/dislikes. This sense of " I-me " becomes so strong in the absence of questioning, " it " becomes person himself/herself. " It " (insentient) becomes " me " , so to speak. This " I " is the superimposed sense on Reality of Being(Is-ness as Swamiji calls). All actions, ordinarily, are decided/driven by desires/fears, likes/dislike(raagas/dwesha), pleasurable/painful experiences of the past memories. And unfortunately, the person thinks " he " is acting as if " me-doer " is different than " his " (assumed only) desires or fears or likes/dislikes! Isn't this strange, come to think of it? Is there such a thing as Person with free-will, if this is his story? It is as if he/she is programmed by such conditioning which controls his/her entire life. Where is the freedom to act in such a programmed person? Person itself is fictitious entity and so is the free-will of such a person. (please see this crucial point, that which acts is conditioning, not a person entity, then it is easy to see no free-will in conditioning). Even when he pretends to have free-will it is only out of knowns, sum total of conditioning, karmas, called mind or ignorance-Jeeva or subtle/causal body. Free-will is limited in scope, whereas Freedom/Independence we are talking here, is Freedom from conditioning/karmas, freedom even from demand for freedom. (If Shiva wants play jeeva, who can stop?) So even when he decides to act differently in the name of purushartha to overpower karmas, the actions are still based on different sets of knowns (this is the extent of his free-will). All Knowns being limited, it cannot bring freedom that comes from taking true stand as Atman! Thus, as I understand, either through self-knowledge, or through self-surrender or selfless karmas, person(doership-Karta) disappears into Atman-Consciousness which IS all Impersonal Intelligence(not personal intellect), divine intimation(conscience) speaks to an apparant " person " as His instrument to act for greater good. This is what Arjuna did. OF course, no body can deny that result of action is what it would be according to many variables, only one of which is this supposed person with free-will. In " karmanyevadikaraste " verse of Gita, my understanding is that person has choice in acting only, not on the result. But the acts that come from him/her is not necessarily from freedom, unless one takes stand as Atman! No one can remain without doing karma(Gita) suggests that " personal " freedom is not given because it may be in conflict with Divine Will. In another context, I can say that person has just one free-will, and that is that he/she can choose to remain body-mind identified individual or be Atman(by knowing/surrendering). If he/she doesn't exercise this one freedom given to all, then that is the last freedom he had, and he remains bound essentially! Thus, as I understand, it is better to act as if God as Will in " me " is acting through " me " , the instrument. THEN, all actions are going to be Divine and can never be evil even if they seem like evil (mahabharat war). Try this perspective, and see what happens! Namaskar...............Pratap JAI SITARAMJIKI. No doubt not even a leaf moves without God's will; In a billionth of a second the whole universe, each atom, is being destroyed and remade. When I started writing and at this moment now I am not the same person, just like you cannot take a second dip in the same water of a river; it is always a new water which has come along. I, each atom of me, has been destroyed and remade. This is how the universe is working which gives each one of us a chance to inject our karma, whether good or bad, but then do not forget that we have accumulated so much of the past karma in our millions of previous births (we are carrying a heavy load of our past karma) that that tendency or sanskars motivate us to decide whether we act for the good of all, or selfishly for our own good only; and therefore we ourselves are the only one responsible for whatever we do or do not do. If you pray hard enough and do NAAM JAP all the time, and surrender your will to God, God will help you to make only the right decisions henceforth thus changing your destiny for the better. BHAJ RE MANA SITARAM SITARAM SITARAM. Sher Agrawal Dear Sadaks, Many desires are full filled in practical life and many remain unfull filled. The root for desire is our own Prarabdha Karma. What one desires other hates- How? Karma. The thoughts of desires arises from within designed by Bagavan. It is we feel by Maya that unfulfilled or fulfilled. B.Sathyanarayan How is Man independent in performing actions ? It depends on our perception – our beleifs – of what is action and what is man. Any change in matter-energy patterns perpetuated through one's body, mind and senses is normally conceived as action. Generally speaking, an idividual calling himself man believes to be independent in performing several actions because he knows how he depends on many for the actualising the same. In other words, independence is claimed only with the dependence in the background. Any action perceived is a conjugation between an individual and its environment. The individual, the environment, as well as the medium of interaction between the two are equal particpants in any perceived action. I can't call any of these as even partners because I do not think any of these are independently or collectively capable of precipitating an action on their own. All the actions perceived are fragments of images of the monolithic Action Supreme as sensed by the cognitive cluster of senses the individual is blessed with. The perception is apparently in individual's hand and hence one often utters that a man (and a woman, an animal, a plant, and anything as such) is independent to perceive … incapable of distingushing a perception from an action, one may try to claim an indepednece of performing action as well. Truly speaking, even perception examined carefully reveals the fact that so many elements of one's system are involved even to perceive the thoughts … let alone act upon the physical world. Na hi kashchit kshanamapi jaatu tishthatyakarmakrit | Kaaryate hyavashah karma sarvah prakritijairgunaih || Nothing in this universe is capable of negating The Action and transcend the mode of action. Everything is optionless but to follow the course of action dictated by the individual nature. Bhayadasyaagnistapati bhayaattapati suryah | Bhayaadindrashch vaayushcha Mrityurdhaavati panchamah || Everything, let alone perishable beings like a man, even cosmic forces such as sun, fire, matter, death, and knowledge follow the locus of action with absolute obedience. Karma bramhodbhavam viddhi bramhaakshara samudbhavam | Tasmaatsarvagatam bramha nityam yagnye pratishthitam || The Action is verily rooted in The Absolute being The Invariant as such. The Absolute is inherent in everything through The Action as such being the Invariant in all the variance that could be perceived in this universe. If it all anything is independent only The Action is independent. Probably, man who has identified one with The Action could also be independent in performing actions. But the difficulty here is there is nothing left to act upon in such as state! There is no plurality of actions in such a unified state!! On the other hand, the notion of independence is stemms out of our belief in dependence on the elements of life to conduct our own lives. From spiritual stand point, when every element in this universe is just participating in the action as per its own nature, how can anything depend on anything at all? If we examine carefully, the very notion of dependence becomes a myth. Therefore, the imagination built upon such a myth – independence – is just an illusion. Therefore, the statement " a man is independent of performing actions " does not make sense to me from spiritual perspective wherein the concepts such as independence, performance, plurality of action, etc. disperse into the oblivion once the bliefs that support their legetimacy is rattled with absolute persistence. Respects. Naga Narayana PRIOR POSTING Hari Om I think the following principle brought out by Vineetji must be reconsidered by him for it defies all logics : " that what happened was Paramatma's will, and that which did not happen was our desire (which was apart from Paramatma's will) .That is it! " All happennings are His will . Where is question of any distinction of the type " which did not happen was our desire (which was apart from His will) " ??? How what does not happen is our desire? What can happen which is apart from His will ? Translation from Hindi to English has not contributed to this. Please clarify. Principle as grasped by me from Swamiji and Gitaji is- " In every doing we are independent, in any happenning, we are not independent " That is law. No happenning is capable enough to force a reaction from us. No doing can be forced. Moreover, to say that even asking the question by Sadhak Ramji writing the answer by you is due to divine will is a faulty concept. It snatches away capacity of human being of " karmanye vaadhikaraste " ! God does not like us to attribute our independence of doing karmas too to His divine will. How can He? You can't remain without doing Karma even for a fraction of a second - this means you are responsible for the same. God is not responsible for the same. He only gave us independence. He is a disinterested friend. We reap as we sow ! Even if you are totally " surrendered " soul or even if you are " liberated " - " in doing " you have complete independence so long you live in a human body. Just imagine, if some sadhak stretches this concept a bit further and says " I did this deed , because God willed that " . That deed can be any deed - why not? Jai Shree Krishna Vyas N B - Dear all, Bhagawaan has given us the intellect to discriminate what we should do and what we should desist from doing as being not spiritually good. He has also allowed His Maaya to have its sway on us to see if we heed to the intellect or come under the sway of ignorance. A spiritually oriented man does what is good or Shreyas and desists from the pleasurable or Preyas. Here is man's independance. Also allowing us to do what we choose to is Bhagawaan's will. Jai Shree Krishna! Prof ( Major ) Ramanujam Dear Sadaks, We know that we are single Advaitham (No you and me) as it says " Aham Bramasmi " . You are part of Braman and have the indipencence of thought and action. But you have NO indipendence over death, birth, place of birth, caste, to whom born, whether in rich or poor family, the type of Karma (cart puller, car driver, train driver, house maid, luxurious life, handicapped, beautiful or ugly, one time popper another face of life rich, rich becoming poor ETC ETc). For the action and thought one does one is responsible. Valmiki Rishi was a thief earlier until Sage Nararad told that robbing other will yield sins that affects only him NOT to his family members though they are enjoying the gain from theft. Realization took place and he became Valmiki. Here one can note why Sage Narad chose this perticular thief to impart knowledge though there were 100 of thieves. Karma Pala of earlier birth brings Guru to rescue. " Karmanye vaadhikaraste, ma phaleshu kadchan " - I feel that this means one is indipendant of performing action, but NOT indipendant to decide the fruit of Action. Scripts say that Sri Vishnu is giver of Karma Pala. Kans could have been killed along with other demons. Time factor. Sank is the sound of Warning and Chakra is time factor of Sri Vishnu. Garuda is symbol of speed as Sri Vishnu is sustainer which is required fast enough to keep life going. Bagavan Shiva destructor-- Buffelow is time factor (slow and steady the time and aging takes place without one` s knowledge), small drum on HIS hand is death knell, thrishulam takes the soul from body. Vibhuti (Sacred ashes of Bagavan Shiva) is that one becomes ashes after death. Many do wrong things like murdering, raping, robbing, insulting Etc. This is because of independence given to human. Animals have no intellect and they behave as they are. So animals do not do anything independently (They remain silent even if they are killed and the animal from that herd does not revenge- Like father got killed son revenges) That is why animals raise from lower birth to human level. So I feel that, " HUMAN IS INDEPENDENT OF ACTION BUT NOT INDEPENDENT OF THE FRUITS OF ACTION " . " Karmanye vaadhikaraste, ma phaleshu kadchan " PARDON ME IF I AM WRONG B.Sathyanarayan PRIOR POSTING Shree Hari Ram Ram In English Brother Ramji, Your asking the question, and this written response is also happening as per Paramatma's Will. By such acceptance, it will make you contented, that what happened was Paramatma's will, and that which did not happen was our desire (which was apart from Paramatma's will) . That is it ! The work is done, and once again we become engaged in meditating on that Paramatma. Ram Ram Ram Vineet, Sarvottam IN HINDI Bhaiyyaa Ramji, Aapkaa prashna poochnaa aur yeh utter likhnaa bhi usee Paramaatmaaki icchaa (sweekruti) ke anusaar ho rahaa hai. Isse aise sweekaar karnaa aapko santushta karegaa ki jo huaa wah toh thi Paramaatmaa ki icchaa aur jo kuch bhi nahin huaa wah thi humaari (Paramaatmaatmaa se alag) icchaa. Bas kaam ban gayaa aur lag gaye usi Paramaatmaa ke dhyaan mein. Ram Ram Ram. Vineet, Sarvottam ------------------------------- Jai Hanuman Pratap Bhaiyya! Read again your first sentence ! Frankly I did not read afterwards! There is no question of there being any doubt whatsoever in a person " not having a free will/independence in performing an action " ! One always has a free will there !! Come what may !!! Similarly there is no question or doubt of there " being any kind of free will or independence in the results of an action " made by a person - come what may !! Efforts/performance is always in your hands. Results is always beyond your hands ! There are subtle principles Jee - in the above laws , too !! They appear juxtaposing but in reality they indeed are crystal clear! I can also argue that the results ultimately are chosen/ determined by the " doer " ! Come on !! That also is equally true - but in long term and in reality ! How incomprehensible and contradictory that reality appears ? But still true !! Truth prevails in whatever way you see that, from whatever angle you perceive that, in whichever position you are positioned !! Afterall it is truth ! Pratap Bhaiyya !! I am also aware of the fact that " karmanusarini buddhih " ( Intellect changes as per prior deeds) - but Dear Brother, I also know that " Purushartha " (capacity of humans to do karmas- free will / independence ) prevails over waves of " sphuranas " ( thoughts arising due to prior deeds- Prarabdha )caused by altered intellect due to past karmas , Jee ! All said and done- " Anhonee hoti nahin, honi hai so hoi " ( What is not to 'happen' shall not, what is to 'happen' shall ) - at the same time - in 'doing' you always remain free/independent ! That is law !! Namaste Jee Jee Jee Shashikala -------------------------------- ------------------------------- PRIOR POSTING Hari Om Not a leaf " moves " is the result. Sure! It is in God's hands only. What is stated is that " not a leaf moves " . It is not stated that " no effort to move a leaf " is possible by a human being. Question of free will arises in making efforts - not in results thereof. Hence you can always make an effort to move the leaf. You are independent in that. After you do your karma say to " move the leaf " , whether the leaf moves or not is not in your hands. As simple as that! " Karmanye vaadhikaraste, ma phaleshu kadchan " - you are entitled to make efforts, you have no role to play in consequential results ! Jai Shree Krishna Vyas N B ------------------------------- Priy pratap ji you let or dont let BUT Thy will be done. thats for sure. Raja Gurdasani ------------------------------- namasthe all, Everything happens (eacha nd every small and minute action, whatever it may be), only with the GRACE/POWER/DIVINITY of that SUPREME divinity. Regards, Bharathi -------------------------------- PRIOR POSTING Dear Sadhakas, Namaste! Man or woman is not independent in performing actions as long as one takes oneself to be body identified person. This body identification provides a stage to function in the world-stage for playing one's roles to serve. Unfortunately this identification provides plateform on which " individuality " in terms of desires, fears, likes/dislikes constitute subtle body-mind-stuff, which takes control of his/her life. This is what he/she calls " I " or " me " , and thus 'mineness " is born. ( " Mineness " is born only after " me " is born first). When one such a one acts, it is only this " me " , disguised as desires/fears really act, and always attempts to protect " imagined him/her " or what is perceived to be of his/hers. So there is no independent actions out of such a one, always reacting to situations in self-defense not knowing his true SELF-Atman-true independence to act. When one acquires the knowledge of one's true Self, through whatever means prescribed in Gita or other Scriptures, one is aware of " me " in its true colors just as it arises and stays away from acting to protect it. There is a total freedom to act out of That which we truly are, Love, Compassion ourselves in the abscense of " me " ! Actions are then seen as coming from Totality of Being and not personal. Such a one can truly say " Let Thy Will be done " as Jesus said. When a leaf moves, it is God's will through nature, and when we act, it is God as our Will acts, whatever be the act! Namaskar........ Pratap Bhatt What we are today is the result of our past karmas. What we will become in our next birth will be the result of our present karmas. The goal of every soul is to become one with God ultimately, that is for the atma to become one with Parmatma. This is called attaining moksh or liberation from the endless and painful cycle of birth and death. Since everything in this world is an illusion, it is upto us to first connect with our soul through meditation and through good karmas, then to attain moksh from 8.4 million births. So we do have a choice. Not everything is pre-ordained. Hari Shanker Deo Dear Sadhaks, It is true that nothing moves without HIS will. But Bhagavan has created and designed the whole creation that nothing goes missing without HIS knowledge is the meaning. This is very large subject to go in detail. But an example can be given. Human has 5 pranas, governed by 5 boothas and 5 layers Auras (which can be photographed by Kerlion Camara). So any smallest Thought or action or both are independent to humans. Every action or thought is recorded by the one`s own Aura resulting in cause and effect. The action done by body is called Kayaka Karma. Finding mistake on anything is also wrong Karma as one forgets the Eswara Sarvaboothanam. The thought is called Maanisha Karma. So when one does good or bad it is automatically rewarded. This means the actions does not go unrewarded. This again means that Bhagavan is under knowledge of all. So it means that nothing moves without HIS knowledge. One has to understand that to come to Human form from lower births is with HIS grace. Human is given independence to do Karmas. This independence (By way of intellect) to Human is given by Bhagavan to elevate to Divinity B.Sathyanarayan - GITA TALK GROUP GUIDELINES: 1. Purpose of the group is to help Sadhakas clarify their doubts related to Gitaji shalokas. Therefore, responses which further clarify the understanding of Gitaji, will only be posted. 2. Wherever possible, please quote Gitaji or other scriptures to substantiate your response. 3. Kindly limit personal feelings, opinions, beliefs etc. to the extent that they further help in understanding the Gita shlokas 4. Please be as concise and to the point as possible, respecting sadhaka's time. 5. Kindly focus your writing to the subject at hand only. 6. Please do not include links to the other sites or other organizations. 7. Kindly do not include your personal information such as phone number, address etc. 8. Please do not address the response to a particular individual since the message is going to the entire group. 9. Due to the large readership, all responses may not be posted. 10. Moderator at his discretion, may modify the posting, if content is unclear or not appropriate for distribution to the group. 11. Please respond taking into consideration the novices, youth, westerners, non-sectarian audience. Kindly limit the use to Sanskrit words only, rather provide the English word with Sanskrit bracketed wherever possible. MODERATOR Ram Ram ------------------------ Post message: Subscribe: - Un: - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 6, 2008 Report Share Posted November 6, 2008 Narayana Narayana In English It is said that not a leaf can move without Bhagwaan's will (wishes), then how is man independent in performing actions? Ramchandra In Hindi Bhagwan ki marji ke bina pataa bhi nahin hiltaa, phir manushya karam karne mein kaise swatantra hai? Ramchandra NEW POSTING -Shree Hari- Vyasji I am so glad that you mentioned B Sathyanarainji, I always read his comments to the best of my abilities, and realise there is wise council in his revelations. Even though we may be at the oposite ends of the divine rainbow, we are linked by this sacred Satsang. Sathyanarainji you have my greatest respect, I bow to you. Paramatma is; in all down to the smallest sub atomic particle,(and beyond that), in 'The Supreme', is, as it were the 'Supreme Intelligence', the 'Divine Will' holds all in existence. If a leaf trembles in the wind, it is free to do so, if a person does good or bad he/she is free to do so,(not withstanding Karma). Remember good, bad, are opposites that exist in the illusion of duality. In Gitaji 10: Of what value is it for you To know all this, O Arjuna? I ever support this whole world By just one portion of Myself. (42) To me B.G. 10 as a whole is worth a read I believe when dealing with this subject. With Respect and Divine Love, Mike Keenor ------------------------------- Jai Shri Krishna, Pratapji may please note that ONLY in human life a person has privilege of " Free will " . Human life is adored by Scriptures because of that only. Use your " conscience " , change your path ! If human life is " programmed " then what makes this life superior to animals or Devatas? Is God that cruel ? God or Shiva referred by you did not make the players in this Lila - dependent/helpless ! In order to " play " , a " player " must have independence! You have free will / independence always, at all times in human life, upto the last breath. Human life is the greatest form of life- undoubtedly ! If in this life, one presumes that one is " programmed " - then in which life he will get " unprogrammed " ? Narayan Narayan Rajendra J Bohra Jai Hanuman Ok Pratap Bhaiyya ! Now I have read it fully Jee ! Twice, Jee !! But what is the theme ? Why did you lose independence? Why did you get bound? Why other person is not as accurately and precisely bound by the same " programmed action " ? Who fell into the well of desires, me/mine notion? How? Exercise of " free will " , misutilisation thereof !! I quote you only here Pratapji : " All actions, ordinarily, are decided/driven by desires/fears, likes/dislike(raagas/dwesha), pleasurable/painful experiences of the past memories. " Now tell me - desires/fears/likes/dislikes of whom? Could you not have chosen to be otherwise? Yes !! Can't you even today choose not to be swayed by them? Yes !! You have free will even when you are completely in " bondage " state. Else how a sinner most person like Valmiki/Angulimaal became Dharmatma? What is sanctity of Gita 9:31? Free will !! Correct choice !! That choice is action !! Let us Read again what you wrote: " And unfortunately, the person thinks " he " is acting as if " me-doer " is different than " his " (assumed only) desires or fears or likes/dislikes! Isn't this strange, come to think of it? Is there such a thing as Person with free-will, if this is his story? " Is thinking or not thinking that " me/doer " is different or same or whatever, not arising out of " free will " ? Do not you have choice/option there ?? Tell me categorically what prevents you from applying conscience and changing your perception? Free will is still there with you! Bondage lies in mind only. Change the mind ! Who prevents? There after you stated : " It is as if he/she is programmed by such conditioning which controls his/her entire life. Where is the freedom to act in such a programmed person? Person itself is fictitious entity and so is the free-will of such a person. Funny argument, isn't it- Pratap Bhaiyya ? Why did he fall into that shape at first place? Misutilisation of free will ! Has he/she referred by you become optionless now? No ! No !! If he/she is programmed, doesn't that mean he/she can't realise God, or change for better? Gone for ever ! Worse than even an animal ! No, it can't be so ! Rather it is certainly not so !! Is every human being is exactly what is described here ? No! No !! Difference in degree/intensity/circumstances/positioning/ etc between two individuals is due to what ? Exercise of that free will !! Your statements convert great human birth into a slave birth, programmed by God as punishment !! Wrong! Wrong ! You went on to state : In another context, I can say that person has just one free-will, and that is that he/she can choose to remain body-mind identified individual or be Atman(by knowing/surrendering). If he/she doesn't exercise this one freedom given to all, then that is the last freedom he had, and he remains bound essentially! So in stroke, you concluded that " this one is the last freedom he had and he remains bound essentially " !! Very Good Jee ! Now where is need for Saints and Sages/Gitaji? Where is any scope left for him/her to make amends? Free will destroyed for ever!! He/she is gone for ever, Jee !! Isn't it? Now there are no options available !! Human birth got wasted long back! Now cry and live as a puppet! Animals then become far better than humans !! Isn't that the conclusion? No I don't agree with you, once again , Pratap Bhaiyya ! You have " free will " alive in you at all times, in all places, in all circumstances, so long as you are in human body !! Even in most " bondaged state " - you have " free will " in you- ready for use !! You can make amends anytime during the course of human life ! Come On , Pratap Bhaiyya !! Human birth is sought even by Demi Gods! Why ? Free Will available at all times, Jee ! Isn't it ?? Please also note Pratap Bhaiyya- Both Karma Yoga and Jnana Yoga are only practiced by a human being by remaining identified with body/mind etc. Realisation comes later on. Free will remains always- at the beginning, in the middle and in the end. Human life is " karma yoni " ! There is a provision of conversion of " karmas " into " akarmas " ( Karma yoga) not cessation of karmas. There is provision of " assuming non doership " (Jnana Yoga) not cessation of doing. There is provision of surrendering/offerring whatever you do to God ( Bhakti Yoga- " yatkaroshi " BG 9:26) and not " na-karoshi " - not doing. " Not doing " is impossible in human birth. However, " Assumptions " / " Acceptances " of all sorts viz " I am doer " , " I am not doer " , " I am of God " , " I am of world " etc are possible. Those assumptions are examples again of FREE WILL available to Self. Hope you are crystal clear now. Namaste Jee Jee Jee Shashikala -------------------------------- ------------------------------ PRIOR POSTING Hari Om One can't cease to admire the talent accumulated in this GT Group. Indeed it is a divine group. How humble are real Satsangis !! One such humble Satsangi is B Sathyanarainji. In every posting of him, you will find history, names and references of great souls !! He invariably remembers realised souls, great characters of past, great events stated in our Holy Scriptures !. No Sir. You can never be wrong ! Jai Shree Krishna Vyas N B ------------------------------- The following may kindly be added to the response given by Sadak Vyas N B " After you do your karma say to " move the leaf " , whether the leaf moves or not is not in your hands. " + and very interestingly no sincere and honest effort goes waste. The leaf moves. For more, one needs to understand " Who am I " by self enquiry...... Best wishes... Sushil Jain ------------------------------- Dear Sadhakas, Namaste! This refers to Shashikalaji's observations on my previous post. With all respects, I may point out that I wish, Shashikalaji, you had read entire post, instead of stopping after the first sentence as you say you did. If asked what does " person " who is supposed to have free-will mean, what would be the answer? For me, it means a sense of " I-me " rooted in desires, fears, and likes/dislikes. This sense of " I-me " becomes so strong in the absence of questioning, " it " becomes person himself/herself. " It " (insentient) becomes " me " , so to speak. This " I " is the superimposed sense on Reality of Being(Is-ness as Swamiji calls). All actions, ordinarily, are decided/driven by desires/fears, likes/dislike(raagas/dwesha), pleasurable/painful experiences of the past memories. And unfortunately, the person thinks " he " is acting as if " me-doer " is different than " his " (assumed only) desires or fears or likes/dislikes! Isn't this strange, come to think of it? Is there such a thing as Person with free-will, if this is his story? It is as if he/she is programmed by such conditioning which controls his/her entire life. Where is the freedom to act in such a programmed person? Person itself is fictitious entity and so is the free-will of such a person. (please see this crucial point, that which acts is conditioning, not a person entity, then it is easy to see no free-will in conditioning). Even when he pretends to have free-will it is only out of knowns, sum total of conditioning, karmas, called mind or ignorance-Jeeva or subtle/causal body. Free-will is limited in scope, whereas Freedom/Independence we are talking here, is Freedom from conditioning/karmas, freedom even from demand for freedom. (If Shiva wants play jeeva, who can stop?) So even when he decides to act differently in the name of purushartha to overpower karmas, the actions are still based on different sets of knowns (this is the extent of his free-will). All Knowns being limited, it cannot bring freedom that comes from taking true stand as Atman! Thus, as I understand, either through self-knowledge, or through self-surrender or selfless karmas, person(doership-Karta) disappears into Atman-Consciousness which IS all Impersonal Intelligence(not personal intellect), divine intimation(conscience) speaks to an apparant " person " as His instrument to act for greater good. This is what Arjuna did. OF course, no body can deny that result of action is what it would be according to many variables, only one of which is this supposed person with free-will. In " karmanyevadikaraste " verse of Gita, my understanding is that person has choice in acting only, not on the result. But the acts that come from him/her is not necessarily from freedom, unless one takes stand as Atman! No one can remain without doing karma(Gita) suggests that " personal " freedom is not given because it may be in conflict with Divine Will. In another context, I can say that person has just one free-will, and that is that he/she can choose to remain body-mind identified individual or be Atman(by knowing/surrendering). If he/she doesn't exercise this one freedom given to all, then that is the last freedom he had, and he remains bound essentially! Thus, as I understand, it is better to act as if God as Will in " me " is acting through " me " , the instrument. THEN, all actions are going to be Divine and can never be evil even if they seem like evil (mahabharat war). Try this perspective, and see what happens! Namaskar...............Pratap JAI SITARAMJIKI. No doubt not even a leaf moves without God's will; In a billionth of a second the whole universe, each atom, is being destroyed and remade. When I started writing and at this moment now I am not the same person, just like you cannot take a second dip in the same water of a river; it is always a new water which has come along. I, each atom of me, has been destroyed and remade. This is how the universe is working which gives each one of us a chance to inject our karma, whether good or bad, but then do not forget that we have accumulated so much of the past karma in our millions of previous births (we are carrying a heavy load of our past karma) that that tendency or sanskars motivate us to decide whether we act for the good of all, or selfishly for our own good only; and therefore we ourselves are the only one responsible for whatever we do or do not do. If you pray hard enough and do NAAM JAP all the time, and surrender your will to God, God will help you to make only the right decisions henceforth thus changing your destiny for the better. BHAJ RE MANA SITARAM SITARAM SITARAM. Sher Agrawal Dear Sadaks, Many desires are full filled in practical life and many remain unfull filled. The root for desire is our own Prarabdha Karma. What one desires other hates- How? Karma. The thoughts of desires arises from within designed by Bagavan. It is we feel by Maya that unfulfilled or fulfilled. B.Sathyanarayan How is Man independent in performing actions ? It depends on our perception – our beleifs – of what is action and what is man. Any change in matter-energy patterns perpetuated through one's body, mind and senses is normally conceived as action. Generally speaking, an idividual calling himself man believes to be independent in performing several actions because he knows how he depends on many for the actualising the same. In other words, independence is claimed only with the dependence in the background. Any action perceived is a conjugation between an individual and its environment. The individual, the environment, as well as the medium of interaction between the two are equal particpants in any perceived action. I can't call any of these as even partners because I do not think any of these are independently or collectively capable of precipitating an action on their own. All the actions perceived are fragments of images of the monolithic Action Supreme as sensed by the cognitive cluster of senses the individual is blessed with. The perception is apparently in individual's hand and hence one often utters that a man (and a woman, an animal, a plant, and anything as such) is independent to perceive … incapable of distingushing a perception from an action, one may try to claim an indepednece of performing action as well. Truly speaking, even perception examined carefully reveals the fact that so many elements of one's system are involved even to perceive the thoughts … let alone act upon the physical world. Na hi kashchit kshanamapi jaatu tishthatyakarmakrit | Kaaryate hyavashah karma sarvah prakritijairgunaih || Nothing in this universe is capable of negating The Action and transcend the mode of action. Everything is optionless but to follow the course of action dictated by the individual nature. Bhayadasyaagnistapati bhayaattapati suryah | Bhayaadindrashch vaayushcha Mrityurdhaavati panchamah || Everything, let alone perishable beings like a man, even cosmic forces such as sun, fire, matter, death, and knowledge follow the locus of action with absolute obedience. Karma bramhodbhavam viddhi bramhaakshara samudbhavam | Tasmaatsarvagatam bramha nityam yagnye pratishthitam || The Action is verily rooted in The Absolute being The Invariant as such. The Absolute is inherent in everything through The Action as such being the Invariant in all the variance that could be perceived in this universe. If it all anything is independent only The Action is independent. Probably, man who has identified one with The Action could also be independent in performing actions. But the difficulty here is there is nothing left to act upon in such as state! There is no plurality of actions in such a unified state!! On the other hand, the notion of independence is stemms out of our belief in dependence on the elements of life to conduct our own lives. From spiritual stand point, when every element in this universe is just participating in the action as per its own nature, how can anything depend on anything at all? If we examine carefully, the very notion of dependence becomes a myth. Therefore, the imagination built upon such a myth – independence – is just an illusion. Therefore, the statement " a man is independent of performing actions " does not make sense to me from spiritual perspective wherein the concepts such as independence, performance, plurality of action, etc. disperse into the oblivion once the bliefs that support their legetimacy is rattled with absolute persistence. Respects. Naga Narayana PRIOR POSTING Hari Om I think the following principle brought out by Vineetji must be reconsidered by him for it defies all logics : " that what happened was Paramatma's will, and that which did not happen was our desire (which was apart from Paramatma's will) .That is it! " All happennings are His will . Where is question of any distinction of the type " which did not happen was our desire (which was apart from His will) " ??? How what does not happen is our desire? What can happen which is apart from His will ? Translation from Hindi to English has not contributed to this. Please clarify. Principle as grasped by me from Swamiji and Gitaji is- " In every doing we are independent, in any happenning, we are not independent " That is law. No happenning is capable enough to force a reaction from us. No doing can be forced. Moreover, to say that even asking the question by Sadhak Ramji writing the answer by you is due to divine will is a faulty concept. It snatches away capacity of human being of " karmanye vaadhikaraste " ! God does not like us to attribute our independence of doing karmas too to His divine will. How can He? You can't remain without doing Karma even for a fraction of a second - this means you are responsible for the same. God is not responsible for the same. He only gave us independence. He is a disinterested friend. We reap as we sow ! Even if you are totally " surrendered " soul or even if you are " liberated " - " in doing " you have complete independence so long you live in a human body. Just imagine, if some sadhak stretches this concept a bit further and says " I did this deed , because God willed that " . That deed can be any deed - why not? Jai Shree Krishna Vyas N B - Dear all, Bhagawaan has given us the intellect to discriminate what we should do and what we should desist from doing as being not spiritually good. He has also allowed His Maaya to have its sway on us to see if we heed to the intellect or come under the sway of ignorance. A spiritually oriented man does what is good or Shreyas and desists from the pleasurable or Preyas. Here is man's independance. Also allowing us to do what we choose to is Bhagawaan's will. Jai Shree Krishna! Prof ( Major ) Ramanujam Dear Sadaks, We know that we are single Advaitham (No you and me) as it says " Aham Bramasmi " . You are part of Braman and have the indipencence of thought and action. But you have NO indipendence over death, birth, place of birth, caste, to whom born, whether in rich or poor family, the type of Karma (cart puller, car driver, train driver, house maid, luxurious life, handicapped, beautiful or ugly, one time popper another face of life rich, rich becoming poor ETC ETc). For the action and thought one does one is responsible. Valmiki Rishi was a thief earlier until Sage Nararad told that robbing other will yield sins that affects only him NOT to his family members though they are enjoying the gain from theft. Realization took place and he became Valmiki. Here one can note why Sage Narad chose this perticular thief to impart knowledge though there were 100 of thieves. Karma Pala of earlier birth brings Guru to rescue. " Karmanye vaadhikaraste, ma phaleshu kadchan " - I feel that this means one is indipendant of performing action, but NOT indipendant to decide the fruit of Action. Scripts say that Sri Vishnu is giver of Karma Pala. Kans could have been killed along with other demons. Time factor. Sank is the sound of Warning and Chakra is time factor of Sri Vishnu. Garuda is symbol of speed as Sri Vishnu is sustainer which is required fast enough to keep life going. Bagavan Shiva destructor-- Buffelow is time factor (slow and steady the time and aging takes place without one` s knowledge), small drum on HIS hand is death knell, thrishulam takes the soul from body. Vibhuti (Sacred ashes of Bagavan Shiva) is that one becomes ashes after death. Many do wrong things like murdering, raping, robbing, insulting Etc. This is because of independence given to human. Animals have no intellect and they behave as they are. So animals do not do anything independently (They remain silent even if they are killed and the animal from that herd does not revenge- Like father got killed son revenges) That is why animals raise from lower birth to human level. So I feel that, " HUMAN IS INDEPENDENT OF ACTION BUT NOT INDEPENDENT OF THE FRUITS OF ACTION " . " Karmanye vaadhikaraste, ma phaleshu kadchan " PARDON ME IF I AM WRONG B.Sathyanarayan PRIOR POSTING Shree Hari Ram Ram In English Brother Ramji, Your asking the question, and this written response is also happening as per Paramatma's Will. By such acceptance, it will make you contented, that what happened was Paramatma's will, and that which did not happen was our desire (which was apart from Paramatma's will) . That is it ! The work is done, and once again we become engaged in meditating on that Paramatma. Ram Ram Ram Vineet, Sarvottam IN HINDI Bhaiyyaa Ramji, Aapkaa prashna poochnaa aur yeh utter likhnaa bhi usee Paramaatmaaki icchaa (sweekruti) ke anusaar ho rahaa hai. Isse aise sweekaar karnaa aapko santushta karegaa ki jo huaa wah toh thi Paramaatmaa ki icchaa aur jo kuch bhi nahin huaa wah thi humaari (Paramaatmaatmaa se alag) icchaa. Bas kaam ban gayaa aur lag gaye usi Paramaatmaa ke dhyaan mein. Ram Ram Ram. Vineet, Sarvottam ------------------------------- Jai Hanuman Pratap Bhaiyya! Read again your first sentence ! Frankly I did not read afterwards! There is no question of there being any doubt whatsoever in a person " not having a free will/independence in performing an action " ! One always has a free will there !! Come what may !!! Similarly there is no question or doubt of there " being any kind of free will or independence in the results of an action " made by a person - come what may !! Efforts/performance is always in your hands. Results is always beyond your hands ! There are subtle principles Jee - in the above laws , too !! They appear juxtaposing but in reality they indeed are crystal clear! I can also argue that the results ultimately are chosen/ determined by the " doer " ! Come on !! That also is equally true - but in long term and in reality ! How incomprehensible and contradictory that reality appears ? But still true !! Truth prevails in whatever way you see that, from whatever angle you perceive that, in whichever position you are positioned !! Afterall it is truth ! Pratap Bhaiyya !! I am also aware of the fact that " karmanusarini buddhih " ( Intellect changes as per prior deeds) - but Dear Brother, I also know that " Purushartha " (capacity of humans to do karmas- free will / independence ) prevails over waves of " sphuranas " ( thoughts arising due to prior deeds- Prarabdha )caused by altered intellect due to past karmas , Jee ! All said and done- " Anhonee hoti nahin, honi hai so hoi " ( What is not to 'happen' shall not, what is to 'happen' shall ) - at the same time - in 'doing' you always remain free/independent ! That is law !! Namaste Jee Jee Jee Shashikala -------------------------------- ------------------------------- PRIOR POSTING Hari Om Not a leaf " moves " is the result. Sure! It is in God's hands only. What is stated is that " not a leaf moves " . It is not stated that " no effort to move a leaf " is possible by a human being. Question of free will arises in making efforts - not in results thereof. Hence you can always make an effort to move the leaf. You are independent in that. After you do your karma say to " move the leaf " , whether the leaf moves or not is not in your hands. As simple as that! " Karmanye vaadhikaraste, ma phaleshu kadchan " - you are entitled to make efforts, you have no role to play in consequential results ! Jai Shree Krishna Vyas N B ------------------------------- Priy pratap ji you let or dont let BUT Thy will be done. thats for sure. Raja Gurdasani ------------------------------- namasthe all, Everything happens (eacha nd every small and minute action, whatever it may be), only with the GRACE/POWER/DIVINITY of that SUPREME divinity. Regards, Bharathi -------------------------------- PRIOR POSTING Dear Sadhakas, Namaste! Man or woman is not independent in performing actions as long as one takes oneself to be body identified person. This body identification provides a stage to function in the world-stage for playing one's roles to serve. Unfortunately this identification provides plateform on which " individuality " in terms of desires, fears, likes/dislikes constitute subtle body-mind-stuff, which takes control of his/her life. This is what he/she calls " I " or " me " , and thus 'mineness " is born. ( " Mineness " is born only after " me " is born first). When one such a one acts, it is only this " me " , disguised as desires/fears really act, and always attempts to protect " imagined him/her " or what is perceived to be of his/hers. So there is no independent actions out of such a one, always reacting to situations in self-defense not knowing his true SELF-Atman-true independence to act. When one acquires the knowledge of one's true Self, through whatever means prescribed in Gita or other Scriptures, one is aware of " me " in its true colors just as it arises and stays away from acting to protect it. There is a total freedom to act out of That which we truly are, Love, Compassion ourselves in the abscense of " me " ! Actions are then seen as coming from Totality of Being and not personal. Such a one can truly say " Let Thy Will be done " as Jesus said. When a leaf moves, it is God's will through nature, and when we act, it is God as our Will acts, whatever be the act! Namaskar........ Pratap Bhatt What we are today is the result of our past karmas. What we will become in our next birth will be the result of our present karmas. The goal of every soul is to become one with God ultimately, that is for the atma to become one with Parmatma. This is called attaining moksh or liberation from the endless and painful cycle of birth and death. Since everything in this world is an illusion, it is upto us to first connect with our soul through meditation and through good karmas, then to attain moksh from 8.4 million births. So we do have a choice. Not everything is pre-ordained. Hari Shanker Deo Dear Sadhaks, It is true that nothing moves without HIS will. But Bhagavan has created and designed the whole creation that nothing goes missing without HIS knowledge is the meaning. This is very large subject to go in detail. But an example can be given. Human has 5 pranas, governed by 5 boothas and 5 layers Auras (which can be photographed by Kerlion Camara). So any smallest Thought or action or both are independent to humans. Every action or thought is recorded by the one`s own Aura resulting in cause and effect. The action done by body is called Kayaka Karma. Finding mistake on anything is also wrong Karma as one forgets the Eswara Sarvaboothanam. The thought is called Maanisha Karma. So when one does good or bad it is automatically rewarded. This means the actions does not go unrewarded. This again means that Bhagavan is under knowledge of all. So it means that nothing moves without HIS knowledge. One has to understand that to come to Human form from lower births is with HIS grace. Human is given independence to do Karmas. This independence (By way of intellect) to Human is given by Bhagavan to elevate to Divinity B.Sathyanarayan - GITA TALK GROUP GUIDELINES: 1. Purpose of the group is to help Sadhakas clarify their doubts related to Gitaji shalokas. Therefore, responses which further clarify the understanding of Gitaji, will only be posted. 2. Wherever possible, please quote Gitaji or other scriptures to substantiate your response. 3. Kindly limit personal feelings, opinions, beliefs etc. to the extent that they further help in understanding the Gita shlokas 4. Please be as concise and to the point as possible, respecting sadhaka's time. 5. Kindly focus your writing to the subject at hand only. 6. Please do not include links to the other sites or other organizations. 7. Kindly do not include your personal information such as phone number, address etc. 8. Please do not address the response to a particular individual since the message is going to the entire group. 9. Due to the large readership, all responses may not be posted. 10. Moderator at his discretion, may modify the posting, if content is unclear or not appropriate for distribution to the group. 11. Please respond taking into consideration the novices, youth, westerners, non-sectarian audience. Kindly limit the use to Sanskrit words only, rather provide the English word with Sanskrit bracketed wherever possible. MODERATOR Ram Ram ------------------------ Post message: Subscribe: - Un: - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 8, 2008 Report Share Posted November 8, 2008 Narayana Narayana In English It is said that not a leaf can move without Bhagwaan's will (wishes), then how is man independent in performing actions? Ramchandra In Hindi Bhagwan ki marji ke bina pataa bhi nahin hiltaa, phir manushya karam karne mein kaise swatantra hai? Ramchandra NEW POSTING Dear Sadhakas, Namaste! I also want to offer my appreciation for B. Sathyanarainji for bringing timely messages of all Great Realized Sages. One such sage is Ramana Maharshi, spiritual giant! His Quote is relevant in this context of independence/free-will satsang! " There is neither creation, nor destruction, Neither Destiny, nor Free-will; Neither path, nor acheivement; This is the final truth! " And is consistent with Gita's teaching between the lines! Namaskar...........Pratap Bhatt -- Independent will action etc is more wishful thinking, your actions are governed by you brain biochemistry and that by your genes. independence in action is something which has to be gained through realisation of the self. it is a right to be earned as buddhahood, anyway think about it as a model. Ravi Bakhsi Hari Om Very right you are Dear Mike .You are not only right but accurate and 'divine' too ! I will tell you how! I doubt if you had with you Swamiji's Sadhak Sanjeevani when you wrote your last note. You used the words 'atomic particles' , 'supreme intelligence' and 'divine will' while reflecting upon BG 10:42! Even Swamiji in his purport to the same verse explained using the same theme ! That is satsanga. That is wave length to which one gets tuned in Satsanga ! That is how 'divine' pervades the universe. Swamiji said in His purport that in one part/fragment/particle of God entire universe is held. Inspite of there being uncountable and endless universes existing in His that small particle still that is not full, there is still space for endless more universes. Just as- a very small part of nature is our 'intelligence' , but inspite of there being knowledge of many languages, syllables, arts etc we can't say that there is no space left now more knowledge, more languages, more syllables etc in the 'intelligence'. There is always space left in the intellect for more knowledge. When a small part of nature can be so limitless and still spacious, then how limitless shall be the 'supreme divine intelligence' , the small particle of God Himself who is 'beyond' nature, supreme, transcendental, endless, limitless, and bottomless Himself. There in that 'supreme divine intelligence' , space for more universes is specially vacant. That fragment is still empty. Note also Brother that till BG 10:41, Paramatma was answering Arjuna's specific questions. Here in 18:42, Krishna Himself of His own accord and. ' divine will ' is telling Arjuna that once you look at Me , nothing will remain to be looked at. Why Arjuna should any more be interested in knowing more 'vibhutis' of Him? Here Krishna is giving the 'essence/juice/nectar " of an answer to Arjuna's question- after giving detailed reply to his question upto 18:41 ! By the way the following is translation of BG 18:42 in Swamiji's Sadhak Sanjeevani treatise on BG: Link: Having answered Arjuna's question, in the next verse, the Lord Himself reveals an important fact. " Or what need is there, for you O Arjuna, of detailed knowledge? I stand supporting the entire universe, with a single fragment, of Myself " Jai Shree Krishna Vyas N B Dear Sadhakas, Namaste! I respect views expressed here on " my " (?) observations on Free- will/Independence/Freedom. As I take it, this satsang is about sharing our understanding by putting it on the table what we have understood, to be examined by us all. I don't insist on saying this is the only truth! Or we may be saying same thing in our different words! As I see, Understanding/Truth alone acts, not an individual! I had similar observations about person having free-will, independence, choice. I was led to think deeply what lies behind those words we use everyday. As a limited body-mind identified person, we have limited free-will, which is different than Freedom I(?) am referring to here. Freedom is Total freedom from bondage of a false sense of " me " , the person. Limited free-will is not a free-will as I understand. To be able to do whatever we like is not a freedom we are talking about here, I suppose. Choices may suggest confusion versus clarity. Clarity comes from Totality! Some can say limited free-will is still free-will, I don't. Purpose here is to see free-will of a person versus Total Freedom when limitations vanish! " Person " is perceived object and is limited as such, while " we " are All Perceiving Consciousness, Impersonal! Sure, there is first and foremost, and always available free-will or freedom to Realize we are not such a limited person afterall! If not exercised, obviously we continue to live from limitations of pairs of opposites, makeup of " a person " . As a matter of fact, we are never ever " bound " ! If we are not free, we remain as if programmed entity, always choosing what we think is good for " us " regardless of so called " others " . We are not doomed to remain as such as interpreted by some. To see the falsehood and step out of such a " person(limitations) " to take true stand as Atman is the purpose of Human life. IF Vasudevah Sarvam is true, then we cannot be Vasudeva as individual person with limited free-will is what I meant to share. Swamiji says " All are ONE, and ONE is all " . Even when I act as seemingly individual, only God or total intelligence acts! I have to knowingly act as such! We only have right over actions, but independence in acting is limited, if remain limited! To me, as Jesus says, Will is always God's Will, never " mine " , because there is no " I " , the individual except in ignorance, or dream from which we need to wake up! Individual jeeva has no reality apart from Ishwara! If Jeeva is enlightened, Jeevahood is merged in Ishwara. In Yagna of True knowledge, Devotion, and Selfless karmas, individuality is the sacred offering! Namaskar............Pratap Bhatt ------------------------------- PRIOR POSTING -Shree Hari- Vyasji I am so glad that you mentioned B Sathyanarainji, I always read his comments to the best of my abilities, and realise there is wise council in his revelations. Even though we may be at the oposite ends of the divine rainbow, we are linked by this sacred Satsang. Sathyanarainji you have my greatest respect, I bow to you. Paramatma is; in all down to the smallest sub atomic particle,(and beyond that), in 'The Supreme', is, as it were the 'Supreme Intelligence', the 'Divine Will' holds all in existence. If a leaf trembles in the wind, it is free to do so, if a person does good or bad he/she is free to do so,(not withstanding Karma). Remember good, bad, are opposites that exist in the illusion of duality. In Gitaji 10: Of what value is it for you To know all this, O Arjuna? I ever support this whole world By just one portion of Myself. (42) To me B.G. 10 as a whole is worth a read I believe when dealing with this subject. With Respect and Divine Love, Mike Keenor ------------------------------- Jai Shri Krishna, Pratapji may please note that ONLY in human life a person has privilege of " Free will " . Human life is adored by Scriptures because of that only. Use your " conscience " , change your path ! If human life is " programmed " then what makes this life superior to animals or Devatas? Is God that cruel ? God or Shiva referred by you did not make the players in this Lila - dependent/helpless ! In order to " play " , a " player " must have independence! You have free will / independence always, at all times in human life, upto the last breath. Human life is the greatest form of life- undoubtedly ! If in this life, one presumes that one is " programmed " - then in which life he will get " unprogrammed " ? Narayan Narayan Rajendra J Bohra Jai Hanuman Ok Pratap Bhaiyya ! Now I have read it fully Jee ! Twice, Jee !! But what is the theme ? Why did you lose independence? Why did you get bound? Why other person is not as accurately and precisely bound by the same " programmed action " ? Who fell into the well of desires, me/mine notion? How? Exercise of " free will " , misutilisation thereof !! I quote you only here Pratapji : " All actions, ordinarily, are decided/driven by desires/fears, likes/dislike(raagas/dwesha), pleasurable/painful experiences of the past memories. " Now tell me - desires/fears/likes/dislikes of whom? Could you not have chosen to be otherwise? Yes !! Can't you even today choose not to be swayed by them? Yes !! You have free will even when you are completely in " bondage " state. Else how a sinner most person like Valmiki/Angulimaal became Dharmatma? What is sanctity of Gita 9:31? Free will !! Correct choice !! That choice is action !! Let us Read again what you wrote: " And unfortunately, the person thinks " he " is acting as if " me-doer " is different than " his " (assumed only) desires or fears or likes/dislikes! Isn't this strange, come to think of it? Is there such a thing as Person with free-will, if this is his story? " Is thinking or not thinking that " me/doer " is different or same or whatever, not arising out of " free will " ? Do not you have choice/option there ?? Tell me categorically what prevents you from applying conscience and changing your perception? Free will is still there with you! Bondage lies in mind only. Change the mind ! Who prevents? There after you stated : " It is as if he/she is programmed by such conditioning which controls his/her entire life. Where is the freedom to act in such a programmed person? Person itself is fictitious entity and so is the free-will of such a person. Funny argument, isn't it- Pratap Bhaiyya ? Why did he fall into that shape at first place? Misutilisation of free will ! Has he/she referred by you become optionless now? No ! No !! If he/she is programmed, doesn't that mean he/she can't realise God, or change for better? Gone for ever ! Worse than even an animal ! No, it can't be so ! Rather it is certainly not so !! Is every human being is exactly what is described here ? No! No !! Difference in degree/intensity/circumstances/positioning/ etc between two individuals is due to what ? Exercise of that free will !! Your statements convert great human birth into a slave birth, programmed by God as punishment !! Wrong! Wrong ! You went on to state : In another context, I can say that person has just one free-will, and that is that he/she can choose to remain body-mind identified individual or be Atman(by knowing/surrendering). If he/she doesn't exercise this one freedom given to all, then that is the last freedom he had, and he remains bound essentially! So in stroke, you concluded that " this one is the last freedom he had and he remains bound essentially " !! Very Good Jee ! Now where is need for Saints and Sages/Gitaji? Where is any scope left for him/her to make amends? Free will destroyed for ever!! He/she is gone for ever, Jee !! Isn't it? Now there are no options available !! Human birth got wasted long back! Now cry and live as a puppet! Animals then become far better than humans !! Isn't that the conclusion? No I don't agree with you, once again , Pratap Bhaiyya ! You have " free will " alive in you at all times, in all places, in all circumstances, so long as you are in human body !! Even in most " bondaged state " - you have " free will " in you- ready for use !! You can make amends anytime during the course of human life ! Come On , Pratap Bhaiyya !! Human birth is sought even by Demi Gods! Why ? Free Will available at all times, Jee ! Isn't it ?? Please also note Pratap Bhaiyya- Both Karma Yoga and Jnana Yoga are only practiced by a human being by remaining identified with body/mind etc. Realisation comes later on. Free will remains always- at the beginning, in the middle and in the end. Human life is " karma yoni " ! There is a provision of conversion of " karmas " into " akarmas " ( Karma yoga) not cessation of karmas. There is provision of " assuming non doership " (Jnana Yoga) not cessation of doing. There is provision of surrendering/offerring whatever you do to God ( Bhakti Yoga- " yatkaroshi " BG 9:26) and not " na-karoshi " - not doing. " Not doing " is impossible in human birth. However, " Assumptions " / " Acceptances " of all sorts viz " I am doer " , " I am not doer " , " I am of God " , " I am of world " etc are possible. Those assumptions are examples again of FREE WILL available to Self. Hope you are crystal clear now. Namaste Jee Jee Jee Shashikala -------------------------------- ------------------------------ PRIOR POSTING Hari Om One can't cease to admire the talent accumulated in this GT Group. Indeed it is a divine group. How humble are real Satsangis !! One such humble Satsangi is B Sathyanarainji. In every posting of him, you will find history, names and references of great souls !! He invariably remembers realised souls, great characters of past, great events stated in our Holy Scriptures !. No Sir. You can never be wrong ! Jai Shree Krishna Vyas N B ------------------------------- The following may kindly be added to the response given by Sadak Vyas N B " After you do your karma say to " move the leaf " , whether the leaf moves or not is not in your hands. " + and very interestingly no sincere and honest effort goes waste. The leaf moves. For more, one needs to understand " Who am I " by self enquiry...... Best wishes... Sushil Jain ------------------------------- Dear Sadhakas, Namaste! This refers to Shashikalaji's observations on my previous post. With all respects, I may point out that I wish, Shashikalaji, you had read entire post, instead of stopping after the first sentence as you say you did. If asked what does " person " who is supposed to have free-will mean, what would be the answer? For me, it means a sense of " I-me " rooted in desires, fears, and likes/dislikes. This sense of " I-me " becomes so strong in the absence of questioning, " it " becomes person himself/herself. " It " (insentient) becomes " me " , so to speak. This " I " is the superimposed sense on Reality of Being(Is-ness as Swamiji calls). All actions, ordinarily, are decided/driven by desires/fears, likes/dislike(raagas/dwesha), pleasurable/painful experiences of the past memories. And unfortunately, the person thinks " he " is acting as if " me-doer " is different than " his " (assumed only) desires or fears or likes/dislikes! Isn't this strange, come to think of it? Is there such a thing as Person with free-will, if this is his story? It is as if he/she is programmed by such conditioning which controls his/her entire life. Where is the freedom to act in such a programmed person? Person itself is fictitious entity and so is the free-will of such a person. (please see this crucial point, that which acts is conditioning, not a person entity, then it is easy to see no free-will in conditioning). Even when he pretends to have free-will it is only out of knowns, sum total of conditioning, karmas, called mind or ignorance-Jeeva or subtle/causal body. Free-will is limited in scope, whereas Freedom/Independence we are talking here, is Freedom from conditioning/karmas, freedom even from demand for freedom. (If Shiva wants play jeeva, who can stop?) So even when he decides to act differently in the name of purushartha to overpower karmas, the actions are still based on different sets of knowns (this is the extent of his free-will). All Knowns being limited, it cannot bring freedom that comes from taking true stand as Atman! Thus, as I understand, either through self-knowledge, or through self-surrender or selfless karmas, person(doership-Karta) disappears into Atman-Consciousness which IS all Impersonal Intelligence(not personal intellect), divine intimation(conscience) speaks to an apparant " person " as His instrument to act for greater good. This is what Arjuna did. OF course, no body can deny that result of action is what it would be according to many variables, only one of which is this supposed person with free-will. In " karmanyevadikaraste " verse of Gita, my understanding is that person has choice in acting only, not on the result. But the acts that come from him/her is not necessarily from freedom, unless one takes stand as Atman! No one can remain without doing karma(Gita) suggests that " personal " freedom is not given because it may be in conflict with Divine Will. In another context, I can say that person has just one free-will, and that is that he/she can choose to remain body-mind identified individual or be Atman(by knowing/surrendering). If he/she doesn't exercise this one freedom given to all, then that is the last freedom he had, and he remains bound essentially! Thus, as I understand, it is better to act as if God as Will in " me " is acting through " me " , the instrument. THEN, all actions are going to be Divine and can never be evil even if they seem like evil (mahabharat war). Try this perspective, and see what happens! Namaskar...............Pratap JAI SITARAMJIKI. No doubt not even a leaf moves without God's will; In a billionth of a second the whole universe, each atom, is being destroyed and remade. When I started writing and at this moment now I am not the same person, just like you cannot take a second dip in the same water of a river; it is always a new water which has come along. I, each atom of me, has been destroyed and remade. This is how the universe is working which gives each one of us a chance to inject our karma, whether good or bad, but then do not forget that we have accumulated so much of the past karma in our millions of previous births (we are carrying a heavy load of our past karma) that that tendency or sanskars motivate us to decide whether we act for the good of all, or selfishly for our own good only; and therefore we ourselves are the only one responsible for whatever we do or do not do. If you pray hard enough and do NAAM JAP all the time, and surrender your will to God, God will help you to make only the right decisions henceforth thus changing your destiny for the better. BHAJ RE MANA SITARAM SITARAM SITARAM. Sher Agrawal Dear Sadaks, Many desires are full filled in practical life and many remain unfull filled. The root for desire is our own Prarabdha Karma. What one desires other hates- How? Karma. The thoughts of desires arises from within designed by Bagavan. It is we feel by Maya that unfulfilled or fulfilled. B.Sathyanarayan How is Man independent in performing actions ? It depends on our perception – our beleifs – of what is action and what is man. Any change in matter-energy patterns perpetuated through one's body, mind and senses is normally conceived as action. Generally speaking, an idividual calling himself man believes to be independent in performing several actions because he knows how he depends on many for the actualising the same. In other words, independence is claimed only with the dependence in the background. Any action perceived is a conjugation between an individual and its environment. The individual, the environment, as well as the medium of interaction between the two are equal particpants in any perceived action. I can't call any of these as even partners because I do not think any of these are independently or collectively capable of precipitating an action on their own. All the actions perceived are fragments of images of the monolithic Action Supreme as sensed by the cognitive cluster of senses the individual is blessed with. The perception is apparently in individual's hand and hence one often utters that a man (and a woman, an animal, a plant, and anything as such) is independent to perceive … incapable of distingushing a perception from an action, one may try to claim an indepednece of performing action as well. Truly speaking, even perception examined carefully reveals the fact that so many elements of one's system are involved even to perceive the thoughts … let alone act upon the physical world. Na hi kashchit kshanamapi jaatu tishthatyakarmakrit | Kaaryate hyavashah karma sarvah prakritijairgunaih || Nothing in this universe is capable of negating The Action and transcend the mode of action. Everything is optionless but to follow the course of action dictated by the individual nature. Bhayadasyaagnistapati bhayaattapati suryah | Bhayaadindrashch vaayushcha Mrityurdhaavati panchamah || Everything, let alone perishable beings like a man, even cosmic forces such as sun, fire, matter, death, and knowledge follow the locus of action with absolute obedience. Karma bramhodbhavam viddhi bramhaakshara samudbhavam | Tasmaatsarvagatam bramha nityam yagnye pratishthitam || The Action is verily rooted in The Absolute being The Invariant as such. The Absolute is inherent in everything through The Action as such being the Invariant in all the variance that could be perceived in this universe. If it all anything is independent only The Action is independent. Probably, man who has identified one with The Action could also be independent in performing actions. But the difficulty here is there is nothing left to act upon in such as state! There is no plurality of actions in such a unified state!! On the other hand, the notion of independence is stemms out of our belief in dependence on the elements of life to conduct our own lives. From spiritual stand point, when every element in this universe is just participating in the action as per its own nature, how can anything depend on anything at all? If we examine carefully, the very notion of dependence becomes a myth. Therefore, the imagination built upon such a myth – independence – is just an illusion. Therefore, the statement " a man is independent of performing actions " does not make sense to me from spiritual perspective wherein the concepts such as independence, performance, plurality of action, etc. disperse into the oblivion once the bliefs that support their legetimacy is rattled with absolute persistence. Respects. Naga Narayana PRIOR POSTING Hari Om I think the following principle brought out by Vineetji must be reconsidered by him for it defies all logics : " that what happened was Paramatma's will, and that which did not happen was our desire (which was apart from Paramatma's will) .That is it! " All happennings are His will . Where is question of any distinction of the type " which did not happen was our desire (which was apart from His will) " ??? How what does not happen is our desire? What can happen which is apart from His will ? Translation from Hindi to English has not contributed to this. Please clarify. Principle as grasped by me from Swamiji and Gitaji is- " In every doing we are independent, in any happenning, we are not independent " That is law. No happenning is capable enough to force a reaction from us. No doing can be forced. Moreover, to say that even asking the question by Sadhak Ramji writing the answer by you is due to divine will is a faulty concept. It snatches away capacity of human being of " karmanye vaadhikaraste " ! God does not like us to attribute our independence of doing karmas too to His divine will. How can He? You can't remain without doing Karma even for a fraction of a second - this means you are responsible for the same. God is not responsible for the same. He only gave us independence. He is a disinterested friend. We reap as we sow ! Even if you are totally " surrendered " soul or even if you are " liberated " - " in doing " you have complete independence so long you live in a human body. Just imagine, if some sadhak stretches this concept a bit further and says " I did this deed , because God willed that " . That deed can be any deed - why not? Jai Shree Krishna Vyas N B - Dear all, Bhagawaan has given us the intellect to discriminate what we should do and what we should desist from doing as being not spiritually good. He has also allowed His Maaya to have its sway on us to see if we heed to the intellect or come under the sway of ignorance. A spiritually oriented man does what is good or Shreyas and desists from the pleasurable or Preyas. Here is man's independance. Also allowing us to do what we choose to is Bhagawaan's will. Jai Shree Krishna! Prof ( Major ) Ramanujam Dear Sadaks, We know that we are single Advaitham (No you and me) as it says " Aham Bramasmi " . You are part of Braman and have the indipencence of thought and action. But you have NO indipendence over death, birth, place of birth, caste, to whom born, whether in rich or poor family, the type of Karma (cart puller, car driver, train driver, house maid, luxurious life, handicapped, beautiful or ugly, one time popper another face of life rich, rich becoming poor ETC ETc). For the action and thought one does one is responsible. Valmiki Rishi was a thief earlier until Sage Nararad told that robbing other will yield sins that affects only him NOT to his family members though they are enjoying the gain from theft. Realization took place and he became Valmiki. Here one can note why Sage Narad chose this perticular thief to impart knowledge though there were 100 of thieves. Karma Pala of earlier birth brings Guru to rescue. " Karmanye vaadhikaraste, ma phaleshu kadchan " - I feel that this means one is indipendant of performing action, but NOT indipendant to decide the fruit of Action. Scripts say that Sri Vishnu is giver of Karma Pala. Kans could have been killed along with other demons. Time factor. Sank is the sound of Warning and Chakra is time factor of Sri Vishnu. Garuda is symbol of speed as Sri Vishnu is sustainer which is required fast enough to keep life going. Bagavan Shiva destructor-- Buffelow is time factor (slow and steady the time and aging takes place without one` s knowledge), small drum on HIS hand is death knell, thrishulam takes the soul from body. Vibhuti (Sacred ashes of Bagavan Shiva) is that one becomes ashes after death. Many do wrong things like murdering, raping, robbing, insulting Etc. This is because of independence given to human. Animals have no intellect and they behave as they are. So animals do not do anything independently (They remain silent even if they are killed and the animal from that herd does not revenge- Like father got killed son revenges) That is why animals raise from lower birth to human level. So I feel that, " HUMAN IS INDEPENDENT OF ACTION BUT NOT INDEPENDENT OF THE FRUITS OF ACTION " . " Karmanye vaadhikaraste, ma phaleshu kadchan " PARDON ME IF I AM WRONG B.Sathyanarayan PRIOR POSTING Shree Hari Ram Ram In English Brother Ramji, Your asking the question, and this written response is also happening as per Paramatma's Will. By such acceptance, it will make you contented, that what happened was Paramatma's will, and that which did not happen was our desire (which was apart from Paramatma's will) . That is it ! The work is done, and once again we become engaged in meditating on that Paramatma. Ram Ram Ram Vineet, Sarvottam IN HINDI Bhaiyyaa Ramji, Aapkaa prashna poochnaa aur yeh utter likhnaa bhi usee Paramaatmaaki icchaa (sweekruti) ke anusaar ho rahaa hai. Isse aise sweekaar karnaa aapko santushta karegaa ki jo huaa wah toh thi Paramaatmaa ki icchaa aur jo kuch bhi nahin huaa wah thi humaari (Paramaatmaatmaa se alag) icchaa. Bas kaam ban gayaa aur lag gaye usi Paramaatmaa ke dhyaan mein. Ram Ram Ram. Vineet, Sarvottam ------------------------------- Jai Hanuman Pratap Bhaiyya! Read again your first sentence ! Frankly I did not read afterwards! There is no question of there being any doubt whatsoever in a person " not having a free will/independence in performing an action " ! One always has a free will there !! Come what may !!! Similarly there is no question or doubt of there " being any kind of free will or independence in the results of an action " made by a person - come what may !! Efforts/performance is always in your hands. Results is always beyond your hands ! There are subtle principles Jee - in the above laws , too !! They appear juxtaposing but in reality they indeed are crystal clear! I can also argue that the results ultimately are chosen/ determined by the " doer " ! Come on !! That also is equally true - but in long term and in reality ! How incomprehensible and contradictory that reality appears ? But still true !! Truth prevails in whatever way you see that, from whatever angle you perceive that, in whichever position you are positioned !! Afterall it is truth ! Pratap Bhaiyya !! I am also aware of the fact that " karmanusarini buddhih " ( Intellect changes as per prior deeds) - but Dear Brother, I also know that " Purushartha " (capacity of humans to do karmas- free will / independence ) prevails over waves of " sphuranas " ( thoughts arising due to prior deeds- Prarabdha )caused by altered intellect due to past karmas , Jee ! All said and done- " Anhonee hoti nahin, honi hai so hoi " ( What is not to 'happen' shall not, what is to 'happen' shall ) - at the same time - in 'doing' you always remain free/independent ! That is law !! Namaste Jee Jee Jee Shashikala -------------------------------- ------------------------------- PRIOR POSTING Hari Om Not a leaf " moves " is the result. Sure! It is in God's hands only. What is stated is that " not a leaf moves " . It is not stated that " no effort to move a leaf " is possible by a human being. Question of free will arises in making efforts - not in results thereof. Hence you can always make an effort to move the leaf. You are independent in that. After you do your karma say to " move the leaf " , whether the leaf moves or not is not in your hands. As simple as that! " Karmanye vaadhikaraste, ma phaleshu kadchan " - you are entitled to make efforts, you have no role to play in consequential results ! Jai Shree Krishna Vyas N B ------------------------------- Priy pratap ji you let or dont let BUT Thy will be done. thats for sure. Raja Gurdasani ------------------------------- namasthe all, Everything happens (eacha nd every small and minute action, whatever it may be), only with the GRACE/POWER/DIVINITY of that SUPREME divinity. Regards, Bharathi -------------------------------- PRIOR POSTING Dear Sadhakas, Namaste! Man or woman is not independent in performing actions as long as one takes oneself to be body identified person. This body identification provides a stage to function in the world-stage for playing one's roles to serve. Unfortunately this identification provides plateform on which " individuality " in terms of desires, fears, likes/dislikes constitute subtle body-mind-stuff, which takes control of his/her life. This is what he/she calls " I " or " me " , and thus 'mineness " is born. ( " Mineness " is born only after " me " is born first). When one such a one acts, it is only this " me " , disguised as desires/fears really act, and always attempts to protect " imagined him/her " or what is perceived to be of his/hers. So there is no independent actions out of such a one, always reacting to situations in self-defense not knowing his true SELF-Atman-true independence to act. When one acquires the knowledge of one's true Self, through whatever means prescribed in Gita or other Scriptures, one is aware of " me " in its true colors just as it arises and stays away from acting to protect it. There is a total freedom to act out of That which we truly are, Love, Compassion ourselves in the abscense of " me " ! Actions are then seen as coming from Totality of Being and not personal. Such a one can truly say " Let Thy Will be done " as Jesus said. When a leaf moves, it is God's will through nature, and when we act, it is God as our Will acts, whatever be the act! Namaskar........ Pratap Bhatt What we are today is the result of our past karmas. What we will become in our next birth will be the result of our present karmas. The goal of every soul is to become one with God ultimately, that is for the atma to become one with Parmatma. This is called attaining moksh or liberation from the endless and painful cycle of birth and death. Since everything in this world is an illusion, it is upto us to first connect with our soul through meditation and through good karmas, then to attain moksh from 8.4 million births. So we do have a choice. Not everything is pre-ordained. Hari Shanker Deo Dear Sadhaks, It is true that nothing moves without HIS will. But Bhagavan has created and designed the whole creation that nothing goes missing without HIS knowledge is the meaning. This is very large subject to go in detail. But an example can be given. Human has 5 pranas, governed by 5 boothas and 5 layers Auras (which can be photographed by Kerlion Camara). So any smallest Thought or action or both are independent to humans. Every action or thought is recorded by the one`s own Aura resulting in cause and effect. The action done by body is called Kayaka Karma. Finding mistake on anything is also wrong Karma as one forgets the Eswara Sarvaboothanam. The thought is called Maanisha Karma. So when one does good or bad it is automatically rewarded. This means the actions does not go unrewarded. This again means that Bhagavan is under knowledge of all. So it means that nothing moves without HIS knowledge. One has to understand that to come to Human form from lower births is with HIS grace. Human is given independence to do Karmas. This independence (By way of intellect) to Human is given by Bhagavan to elevate to Divinity B.Sathyanarayan - GITA TALK GROUP GUIDELINES: 1. Purpose of the group is to help Sadhakas clarify their doubts related to Gitaji shalokas. Therefore, responses which further clarify the understanding of Gitaji, will only be posted. 2. Wherever possible, please quote Gitaji or other scriptures to substantiate your response. 3. Kindly limit personal feelings, opinions, beliefs etc. to the extent that they further help in understanding the Gita shlokas 4. Please be as concise and to the point as possible, respecting sadhaka's time. 5. Kindly focus your writing to the subject at hand only. 6. Please do not include links to the other sites or other organizations. 7. Kindly do not include your personal information such as phone number, address etc. 8. Please do not address the response to a particular individual since the message is going to the entire group. 9. Due to the large readership, all responses may not be posted. 10. Moderator at his discretion, may modify the posting, if content is unclear or not appropriate for distribution to the group. 11. Please respond taking into consideration the novices, youth, westerners, non-sectarian audience. Kindly limit the use to Sanskrit words only, rather provide the English word with Sanskrit bracketed wherever possible. MODERATOR Ram Ram ------------------------ Post message: Subscribe: - Un: - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 9, 2008 Report Share Posted November 9, 2008 Narayana Narayana In English It is said that not a leaf can move without Bhagwaan's will (wishes), then how is man independent in performing actions? Ramchandra In Hindi Bhagwan ki marji ke bina pataa bhi nahin hiltaa, phir manushya karam karne mein kaise swatantra hai? Ramchandra NEW POSTING Man himself is an action, his whole body/mind is action only. How then is it possible in a universe that is One unbroken consciousness for an apparent part to be other than interdependant? IT IS NOT! Man has no free will, all his actions are done by the Whole. Once it is seen (by no-one) that there is no inner being within the form, nobody, then all actions are seen to be just ripples arising from the stillness of Being. Your very question is an action of the Whole as is this reply for there is only One. In Love Avasa (Adrien Meyer) -------------------------------- You. The manifestation that is called Life is an unavoidable experience once the birth of the form has taken place. This experience in itself is neither good nor bad, it is simply experience. Within this experience there arises the idea that there is an experiencer of this and the judgement of events gets then categorised as negative and positive. What is witnessing all of the experiences is something, which has no something-ness about it, that is neutral. It is out of this neutrality that the play of Life is manifesting. This neutrality is witness to what takes place, including the arising of judgment, to this one all is simply arising. This one is all that there actually is, the One manifesting as the apparent many. Right now in this very moment and in every moment what is witnessing the play of life and all the reactions and responses to it is this neutrality that is the source of all that appears. It is this that is experiencing its own creation right now as the one that you imagine yourself to be, a separate individual being. You are not what you imagine yourself to be, what you actually are can never be put into the framework of the imagination for you have no image, you are void. What you are is what IS when the activity of the mind ceases to draw images upon what you are. You are not a thing, you are the absence of thing-ness, you are no-thing-ness. This that you actually are is also what all is. All form is the manifestation of this no-thing-ness and through this manifestation this no-thing-ness experiences Life. This is the Truth of you, this is what is actually factually true. You are not an object of time as you have been supposing but the subject of all objectivity. Right now this is true of you, it has and is and always will be true of you for Truth never changes. You are the Source itself manifesting as all that is and experiencing your manifestation. This cannot be attained because it is what you already are. This is not in a becoming process for it is always utterly complete. This cannot be reached for it is not elsewhere, neither in time nor in space. This cannot be experienced for as this you are the subject of all experiences, a non-experience in yourself. There is therefore nothing that needs to be done to get to this, it is simply what IS. It is all that IS. Right now this is the fact of what you are and whether the seeing of this is happening or not does not in any way change the fact of what you are. The body is your creation, right now, the arising of the thoughts and feeling that make up the play of the mind are your creation, right now, and the manifestation of what appears to be a world 'out there' is the reflection of this, right now. All that is appearing is appearing within this presence that knows of its appearance, this presence is what you are and as this you are unborn, therefore undying, the eternal itself. You go nowhere for you are the now of here, you are being, simply Being. Being this with you always, Love Avasa. (Adrien Meyer) ------------------------------- Jai Hanuman I would not have given my views had I too perceived the discussion purpose to be below as perceived by some : " Purpose here is to see free-will of a person versus Total Freedom when limitations vanish! " No ! As I understood the question of Ramji (so did the questioner himself ) - there the purpose is free will/independence of karma and control of a human being over the same vis a vis the results meted out by 'divine will' to him ! Free will has nothing to do with 'liberation' or 'freedom' or 'emancipation'. Even liberated souls are free to do karmas and Gita suggests karma for them. Even God does karma and so does a bonded soul. In doing karma/efforts all human beings have free will irrespective of their present status . In results only 'divine will' operates irrespective of their present status ! Vasudevah Sarvam referred by some is a different principle altogether. Consider the below quote made by some : IF Vasudevah Sarvam is true, then we cannot be Vasudeva as individual person with limited free-will is what I meant to share. Again I must disagree with above statement Jee ! Whether you are " individual person with limited free will " or you are an otherwise person or you are a 'person' in whatever way you perceive that, whether you are 'programmed' or otherwise - Vasudevah Sarvam is still true irrespective of the above or any perceivable distinctions of any sort. The very concept of Vasudevah Sarvam is that " He is real as well as unreal " - 'sadsachaham Arjun " (BG 9:19). Nothing escapes that. No distinctions or divisions impact that ! " Sarvam " means " sarvam " !! No state however gross or subtle it may be, however real or unreal it may be, however disllusioned or clear it may be, however liberated or bound it may be- no state can ever be beyond " Vasudevah " ! In any case how that state is reached by a human, is certainly beyond the scope of this question. If following statement is true then what I have stated herein above and before is also true. " Individual jeeva has no reality apart from Ishwara! " Sure Truth prevails and it prevails as under : Since Ishwara has free will hence Jeeva being fragment of Him, must always have the same. If one goes deeper then he finds out that in long run and in reality, in results ( " effect " ) too you have freedom, because you had freedom in karma ( " cause " ). You choose the results invariably when you choose to act. This is really deep dive. God metes out " results' to us of our own karmas only and that of no body else. By that yardstick- you enjoy free will both in efforts and in results. " Freedom " is natural and automatic, our birth right. " Bondage " is artificial and created, falsely perceived. Beneath there is " freedom " not " limitations or bondage " ! Freedom hence prevails everywhere in the basis/roots ! Freedom is automatic. Freedom is programmed. As simple as that Jee ! Jee Jee Shashikala Dear Sadaks, Sri Pratapji statement is stricking SAT. King Janaka once had a dream that he was a begger on streets. He announced to all saints to clarify that, " Whether he begger dreaming as a king OR whether he king dreaming as a begger " . No one could clarify this. Then came an eight-fold deformed saint and said to the king that both are not Sat. This is in detail in Asthavakra Geetha which nearly means Sri Pratabji statement. One is independant to say there is NO God. But that does not mean the statement is accepted by the listeners at large. Besides the listeners think that he is shouting of something that has NO meaning. So such independent statement becomes Nil value. But if someone says GOD is benevalent. This is accepted at large, and that independence has value. B.Sathyanarayan PRIOR POSTING Dear Sadhakas, Namaste! I also want to offer my appreciation for B. Sathyanarainji for bringing timely messages of all Great Realized Sages. One such sage is Ramana Maharshi, spiritual giant! His Quote is relevant in this context of independence/free-will satsang! " There is neither creation, nor destruction, Neither Destiny, nor Free-will; Neither path, nor acheivement; This is the final truth! " And is consistent with Gita's teaching between the lines! Namaskar...........Pratap Bhatt -- Independent will action etc is more wishful thinking, your actions are governed by you brain biochemistry and that by your genes. independence in action is something which has to be gained through realisation of the self. it is a right to be earned as buddhahood, anyway think about it as a model. Ravi Bakhsi Hari Om Very right you are Dear Mike .You are not only right but accurate and 'divine' too ! I will tell you how! I doubt if you had with you Swamiji's Sadhak Sanjeevani when you wrote your last note. You used the words 'atomic particles' , 'supreme intelligence' and 'divine will' while reflecting upon BG 10:42! Even Swamiji in his purport to the same verse explained using the same theme ! That is satsanga. That is wave length to which one gets tuned in Satsanga ! That is how 'divine' pervades the universe. Swamiji said in His purport that in one part/fragment/particle of God entire universe is held. Inspite of there being uncountable and endless universes existing in His that small particle still that is not full, there is still space for endless more universes. Just as- a very small part of nature is our 'intelligence' , but inspite of there being knowledge of many languages, syllables, arts etc we can't say that there is no space left now more knowledge, more languages, more syllables etc in the 'intelligence'. There is always space left in the intellect for more knowledge. When a small part of nature can be so limitless and still spacious, then how limitless shall be the 'supreme divine intelligence' , the small particle of God Himself who is 'beyond' nature, supreme, transcendental, endless, limitless, and bottomless Himself. There in that 'supreme divine intelligence' , space for more universes is specially vacant. That fragment is still empty. Note also Brother that till BG 10:41, Paramatma was answering Arjuna's specific questions. Here in 18:42, Krishna Himself of His own accord and. ' divine will ' is telling Arjuna that once you look at Me , nothing will remain to be looked at. Why Arjuna should any more be interested in knowing more 'vibhutis' of Him? Here Krishna is giving the 'essence/juice/nectar " of an answer to Arjuna's question- after giving detailed reply to his question upto 18:41 ! By the way the following is translation of BG 18:42 in Swamiji's Sadhak Sanjeevani treatise on BG: Link: Having answered Arjuna's question, in the next verse, the Lord Himself reveals an important fact. " Or what need is there, for you O Arjuna, of detailed knowledge? I stand supporting the entire universe, with a single fragment, of Myself " Jai Shree Krishna Vyas N B Dear Sadhakas, Namaste! I respect views expressed here on " my " (?) observations on Free- will/Independence/Freedom. As I take it, this satsang is about sharing our understanding by putting it on the table what we have understood, to be examined by us all. I don't insist on saying this is the only truth! Or we may be saying same thing in our different words! As I see, Understanding/Truth alone acts, not an individual! I had similar observations about person having free-will, independence, choice. I was led to think deeply what lies behind those words we use everyday. As a limited body-mind identified person, we have limited free-will, which is different than Freedom I(?) am referring to here. Freedom is Total freedom from bondage of a false sense of " me " , the person. Limited free-will is not a free-will as I understand. To be able to do whatever we like is not a freedom we are talking about here, I suppose. Choices may suggest confusion versus clarity. Clarity comes from Totality! Some can say limited free-will is still free-will, I don't. Purpose here is to see free-will of a person versus Total Freedom when limitations vanish! " Person " is perceived object and is limited as such, while " we " are All Perceiving Consciousness, Impersonal! Sure, there is first and foremost, and always available free-will or freedom to Realize we are not such a limited person afterall! If not exercised, obviously we continue to live from limitations of pairs of opposites, makeup of " a person " . As a matter of fact, we are never ever " bound " ! If we are not free, we remain as if programmed entity, always choosing what we think is good for " us " regardless of so called " others " . We are not doomed to remain as such as interpreted by some. To see the falsehood and step out of such a " person(limitations) " to take true stand as Atman is the purpose of Human life. IF Vasudevah Sarvam is true, then we cannot be Vasudeva as individual person with limited free-will is what I meant to share. Swamiji says " All are ONE, and ONE is all " . Even when I act as seemingly individual, only God or total intelligence acts! I have to knowingly act as such! We only have right over actions, but independence in acting is limited, if remain limited! To me, as Jesus says, Will is always God's Will, never " mine " , because there is no " I " , the individual except in ignorance, or dream from which we need to wake up! Individual jeeva has no reality apart from Ishwara! If Jeeva is enlightened, Jeevahood is merged in Ishwara. In Yagna of True knowledge, Devotion, and Selfless karmas, individuality is the sacred offering! Namaskar............Pratap Bhatt ------------------------------- PRIOR POSTING -Shree Hari- Vyasji I am so glad that you mentioned B Sathyanarainji, I always read his comments to the best of my abilities, and realise there is wise council in his revelations. Even though we may be at the oposite ends of the divine rainbow, we are linked by this sacred Satsang. Sathyanarainji you have my greatest respect, I bow to you. Paramatma is; in all down to the smallest sub atomic particle,(and beyond that), in 'The Supreme', is, as it were the 'Supreme Intelligence', the 'Divine Will' holds all in existence. If a leaf trembles in the wind, it is free to do so, if a person does good or bad he/she is free to do so,(not withstanding Karma). Remember good, bad, are opposites that exist in the illusion of duality. In Gitaji 10: Of what value is it for you To know all this, O Arjuna? I ever support this whole world By just one portion of Myself. (42) To me B.G. 10 as a whole is worth a read I believe when dealing with this subject. With Respect and Divine Love, Mike Keenor ------------------------------- Jai Shri Krishna, Pratapji may please note that ONLY in human life a person has privilege of " Free will " . Human life is adored by Scriptures because of that only. Use your " conscience " , change your path ! If human life is " programmed " then what makes this life superior to animals or Devatas? Is God that cruel ? God or Shiva referred by you did not make the players in this Lila - dependent/helpless ! In order to " play " , a " player " must have independence! You have free will / independence always, at all times in human life, upto the last breath. Human life is the greatest form of life- undoubtedly ! If in this life, one presumes that one is " programmed " - then in which life he will get " unprogrammed " ? Narayan Narayan Rajendra J Bohra Jai Hanuman Ok Pratap Bhaiyya ! Now I have read it fully Jee ! Twice, Jee !! But what is the theme ? Why did you lose independence? Why did you get bound? Why other person is not as accurately and precisely bound by the same " programmed action " ? Who fell into the well of desires, me/mine notion? How? Exercise of " free will " , misutilisation thereof !! I quote you only here Pratapji : " All actions, ordinarily, are decided/driven by desires/fears, likes/dislike(raagas/dwesha), pleasurable/painful experiences of the past memories. " Now tell me - desires/fears/likes/dislikes of whom? Could you not have chosen to be otherwise? Yes !! Can't you even today choose not to be swayed by them? Yes !! You have free will even when you are completely in " bondage " state. Else how a sinner most person like Valmiki/Angulimaal became Dharmatma? What is sanctity of Gita 9:31? Free will !! Correct choice !! That choice is action !! Let us Read again what you wrote: " And unfortunately, the person thinks " he " is acting as if " me-doer " is different than " his " (assumed only) desires or fears or likes/dislikes! Isn't this strange, come to think of it? Is there such a thing as Person with free-will, if this is his story? " Is thinking or not thinking that " me/doer " is different or same or whatever, not arising out of " free will " ? Do not you have choice/option there ?? Tell me categorically what prevents you from applying conscience and changing your perception? Free will is still there with you! Bondage lies in mind only. Change the mind ! Who prevents? There after you stated : " It is as if he/she is programmed by such conditioning which controls his/her entire life. Where is the freedom to act in such a programmed person? Person itself is fictitious entity and so is the free-will of such a person. Funny argument, isn't it- Pratap Bhaiyya ? Why did he fall into that shape at first place? Misutilisation of free will ! Has he/she referred by you become optionless now? No ! No !! If he/she is programmed, doesn't that mean he/she can't realise God, or change for better? Gone for ever ! Worse than even an animal ! No, it can't be so ! Rather it is certainly not so !! Is every human being is exactly what is described here ? No! No !! Difference in degree/intensity/circumstances/positioning/ etc between two individuals is due to what ? Exercise of that free will !! Your statements convert great human birth into a slave birth, programmed by God as punishment !! Wrong! Wrong ! You went on to state : In another context, I can say that person has just one free-will, and that is that he/she can choose to remain body-mind identified individual or be Atman(by knowing/surrendering). If he/she doesn't exercise this one freedom given to all, then that is the last freedom he had, and he remains bound essentially! So in stroke, you concluded that " this one is the last freedom he had and he remains bound essentially " !! Very Good Jee ! Now where is need for Saints and Sages/Gitaji? Where is any scope left for him/her to make amends? Free will destroyed for ever!! He/she is gone for ever, Jee !! Isn't it? Now there are no options available !! Human birth got wasted long back! Now cry and live as a puppet! Animals then become far better than humans !! Isn't that the conclusion? No I don't agree with you, once again , Pratap Bhaiyya ! You have " free will " alive in you at all times, in all places, in all circumstances, so long as you are in human body !! Even in most " bondaged state " - you have " free will " in you- ready for use !! You can make amends anytime during the course of human life ! Come On , Pratap Bhaiyya !! Human birth is sought even by Demi Gods! Why ? Free Will available at all times, Jee ! Isn't it ?? Please also note Pratap Bhaiyya- Both Karma Yoga and Jnana Yoga are only practiced by a human being by remaining identified with body/mind etc. Realisation comes later on. Free will remains always- at the beginning, in the middle and in the end. Human life is " karma yoni " ! There is a provision of conversion of " karmas " into " akarmas " ( Karma yoga) not cessation of karmas. There is provision of " assuming non doership " (Jnana Yoga) not cessation of doing. There is provision of surrendering/offerring whatever you do to God ( Bhakti Yoga- " yatkaroshi " BG 9:26) and not " na-karoshi " - not doing. " Not doing " is impossible in human birth. However, " Assumptions " / " Acceptances " of all sorts viz " I am doer " , " I am not doer " , " I am of God " , " I am of world " etc are possible. Those assumptions are examples again of FREE WILL available to Self. Hope you are crystal clear now. Namaste Jee Jee Jee Shashikala -------------------------------- ------------------------------ PRIOR POSTING Hari Om One can't cease to admire the talent accumulated in this GT Group. Indeed it is a divine group. How humble are real Satsangis !! One such humble Satsangi is B Sathyanarainji. In every posting of him, you will find history, names and references of great souls !! He invariably remembers realised souls, great characters of past, great events stated in our Holy Scriptures !. No Sir. You can never be wrong ! Jai Shree Krishna Vyas N B ------------------------------- The following may kindly be added to the response given by Sadak Vyas N B " After you do your karma say to " move the leaf " , whether the leaf moves or not is not in your hands. " + and very interestingly no sincere and honest effort goes waste. The leaf moves. For more, one needs to understand " Who am I " by self enquiry...... Best wishes... Sushil Jain ------------------------------- Dear Sadhakas, Namaste! This refers to Shashikalaji's observations on my previous post. With all respects, I may point out that I wish, Shashikalaji, you had read entire post, instead of stopping after the first sentence as you say you did. If asked what does " person " who is supposed to have free-will mean, what would be the answer? For me, it means a sense of " I-me " rooted in desires, fears, and likes/dislikes. This sense of " I-me " becomes so strong in the absence of questioning, " it " becomes person himself/herself. " It " (insentient) becomes " me " , so to speak. This " I " is the superimposed sense on Reality of Being(Is-ness as Swamiji calls). All actions, ordinarily, are decided/driven by desires/fears, likes/dislike(raagas/dwesha), pleasurable/painful experiences of the past memories. And unfortunately, the person thinks " he " is acting as if " me-doer " is different than " his " (assumed only) desires or fears or likes/dislikes! Isn't this strange, come to think of it? Is there such a thing as Person with free-will, if this is his story? It is as if he/she is programmed by such conditioning which controls his/her entire life. Where is the freedom to act in such a programmed person? Person itself is fictitious entity and so is the free-will of such a person. (please see this crucial point, that which acts is conditioning, not a person entity, then it is easy to see no free-will in conditioning). Even when he pretends to have free-will it is only out of knowns, sum total of conditioning, karmas, called mind or ignorance-Jeeva or subtle/causal body. Free-will is limited in scope, whereas Freedom/Independence we are talking here, is Freedom from conditioning/karmas, freedom even from demand for freedom. (If Shiva wants play jeeva, who can stop?) So even when he decides to act differently in the name of purushartha to overpower karmas, the actions are still based on different sets of knowns (this is the extent of his free-will). All Knowns being limited, it cannot bring freedom that comes from taking true stand as Atman! Thus, as I understand, either through self-knowledge, or through self-surrender or selfless karmas, person(doership-Karta) disappears into Atman-Consciousness which IS all Impersonal Intelligence(not personal intellect), divine intimation(conscience) speaks to an apparant " person " as His instrument to act for greater good. This is what Arjuna did. OF course, no body can deny that result of action is what it would be according to many variables, only one of which is this supposed person with free-will. In " karmanyevadikaraste " verse of Gita, my understanding is that person has choice in acting only, not on the result. But the acts that come from him/her is not necessarily from freedom, unless one takes stand as Atman! No one can remain without doing karma(Gita) suggests that " personal " freedom is not given because it may be in conflict with Divine Will. In another context, I can say that person has just one free-will, and that is that he/she can choose to remain body-mind identified individual or be Atman(by knowing/surrendering). If he/she doesn't exercise this one freedom given to all, then that is the last freedom he had, and he remains bound essentially! Thus, as I understand, it is better to act as if God as Will in " me " is acting through " me " , the instrument. THEN, all actions are going to be Divine and can never be evil even if they seem like evil (mahabharat war). Try this perspective, and see what happens! Namaskar...............Pratap JAI SITARAMJIKI. No doubt not even a leaf moves without God's will; In a billionth of a second the whole universe, each atom, is being destroyed and remade. When I started writing and at this moment now I am not the same person, just like you cannot take a second dip in the same water of a river; it is always a new water which has come along. I, each atom of me, has been destroyed and remade. This is how the universe is working which gives each one of us a chance to inject our karma, whether good or bad, but then do not forget that we have accumulated so much of the past karma in our millions of previous births (we are carrying a heavy load of our past karma) that that tendency or sanskars motivate us to decide whether we act for the good of all, or selfishly for our own good only; and therefore we ourselves are the only one responsible for whatever we do or do not do. If you pray hard enough and do NAAM JAP all the time, and surrender your will to God, God will help you to make only the right decisions henceforth thus changing your destiny for the better. BHAJ RE MANA SITARAM SITARAM SITARAM. Sher Agrawal Dear Sadaks, Many desires are full filled in practical life and many remain unfull filled. The root for desire is our own Prarabdha Karma. What one desires other hates- How? Karma. The thoughts of desires arises from within designed by Bagavan. It is we feel by Maya that unfulfilled or fulfilled. B.Sathyanarayan How is Man independent in performing actions ? It depends on our perception – our beleifs – of what is action and what is man. Any change in matter-energy patterns perpetuated through one's body, mind and senses is normally conceived as action. Generally speaking, an idividual calling himself man believes to be independent in performing several actions because he knows how he depends on many for the actualising the same. In other words, independence is claimed only with the dependence in the background. Any action perceived is a conjugation between an individual and its environment. The individual, the environment, as well as the medium of interaction between the two are equal particpants in any perceived action. I can't call any of these as even partners because I do not think any of these are independently or collectively capable of precipitating an action on their own. All the actions perceived are fragments of images of the monolithic Action Supreme as sensed by the cognitive cluster of senses the individual is blessed with. The perception is apparently in individual's hand and hence one often utters that a man (and a woman, an animal, a plant, and anything as such) is independent to perceive … incapable of distingushing a perception from an action, one may try to claim an indepednece of performing action as well. Truly speaking, even perception examined carefully reveals the fact that so many elements of one's system are involved even to perceive the thoughts … let alone act upon the physical world. Na hi kashchit kshanamapi jaatu tishthatyakarmakrit | Kaaryate hyavashah karma sarvah prakritijairgunaih || Nothing in this universe is capable of negating The Action and transcend the mode of action. Everything is optionless but to follow the course of action dictated by the individual nature. Bhayadasyaagnistapati bhayaattapati suryah | Bhayaadindrashch vaayushcha Mrityurdhaavati panchamah || Everything, let alone perishable beings like a man, even cosmic forces such as sun, fire, matter, death, and knowledge follow the locus of action with absolute obedience. Karma bramhodbhavam viddhi bramhaakshara samudbhavam | Tasmaatsarvagatam bramha nityam yagnye pratishthitam || The Action is verily rooted in The Absolute being The Invariant as such. The Absolute is inherent in everything through The Action as such being the Invariant in all the variance that could be perceived in this universe. If it all anything is independent only The Action is independent. Probably, man who has identified one with The Action could also be independent in performing actions. But the difficulty here is there is nothing left to act upon in such as state! There is no plurality of actions in such a unified state!! On the other hand, the notion of independence is stemms out of our belief in dependence on the elements of life to conduct our own lives. From spiritual stand point, when every element in this universe is just participating in the action as per its own nature, how can anything depend on anything at all? If we examine carefully, the very notion of dependence becomes a myth. Therefore, the imagination built upon such a myth – independence – is just an illusion. Therefore, the statement " a man is independent of performing actions " does not make sense to me from spiritual perspective wherein the concepts such as independence, performance, plurality of action, etc. disperse into the oblivion once the bliefs that support their legetimacy is rattled with absolute persistence. Respects. Naga Narayana PRIOR POSTING Hari Om I think the following principle brought out by Vineetji must be reconsidered by him for it defies all logics : " that what happened was Paramatma's will, and that which did not happen was our desire (which was apart from Paramatma's will) .That is it! " All happennings are His will . Where is question of any distinction of the type " which did not happen was our desire (which was apart from His will) " ??? How what does not happen is our desire? What can happen which is apart from His will ? Translation from Hindi to English has not contributed to this. Please clarify. Principle as grasped by me from Swamiji and Gitaji is- " In every doing we are independent, in any happenning, we are not independent " That is law. No happenning is capable enough to force a reaction from us. No doing can be forced. Moreover, to say that even asking the question by Sadhak Ramji writing the answer by you is due to divine will is a faulty concept. It snatches away capacity of human being of " karmanye vaadhikaraste " ! God does not like us to attribute our independence of doing karmas too to His divine will. How can He? You can't remain without doing Karma even for a fraction of a second - this means you are responsible for the same. God is not responsible for the same. He only gave us independence. He is a disinterested friend. We reap as we sow ! Even if you are totally " surrendered " soul or even if you are " liberated " - " in doing " you have complete independence so long you live in a human body. Just imagine, if some sadhak stretches this concept a bit further and says " I did this deed , because God willed that " . That deed can be any deed - why not? Jai Shree Krishna Vyas N B - Dear all, Bhagawaan has given us the intellect to discriminate what we should do and what we should desist from doing as being not spiritually good. He has also allowed His Maaya to have its sway on us to see if we heed to the intellect or come under the sway of ignorance. A spiritually oriented man does what is good or Shreyas and desists from the pleasurable or Preyas. Here is man's independance. Also allowing us to do what we choose to is Bhagawaan's will. Jai Shree Krishna! Prof ( Major ) Ramanujam Dear Sadaks, We know that we are single Advaitham (No you and me) as it says " Aham Bramasmi " . You are part of Braman and have the indipencence of thought and action. But you have NO indipendence over death, birth, place of birth, caste, to whom born, whether in rich or poor family, the type of Karma (cart puller, car driver, train driver, house maid, luxurious life, handicapped, beautiful or ugly, one time popper another face of life rich, rich becoming poor ETC ETc). For the action and thought one does one is responsible. Valmiki Rishi was a thief earlier until Sage Nararad told that robbing other will yield sins that affects only him NOT to his family members though they are enjoying the gain from theft. Realization took place and he became Valmiki. Here one can note why Sage Narad chose this perticular thief to impart knowledge though there were 100 of thieves. Karma Pala of earlier birth brings Guru to rescue. " Karmanye vaadhikaraste, ma phaleshu kadchan " - I feel that this means one is indipendant of performing action, but NOT indipendant to decide the fruit of Action. Scripts say that Sri Vishnu is giver of Karma Pala. Kans could have been killed along with other demons. Time factor. Sank is the sound of Warning and Chakra is time factor of Sri Vishnu. Garuda is symbol of speed as Sri Vishnu is sustainer which is required fast enough to keep life going. Bagavan Shiva destructor-- Buffelow is time factor (slow and steady the time and aging takes place without one` s knowledge), small drum on HIS hand is death knell, thrishulam takes the soul from body. Vibhuti (Sacred ashes of Bagavan Shiva) is that one becomes ashes after death. Many do wrong things like murdering, raping, robbing, insulting Etc. This is because of independence given to human. Animals have no intellect and they behave as they are. So animals do not do anything independently (They remain silent even if they are killed and the animal from that herd does not revenge- Like father got killed son revenges) That is why animals raise from lower birth to human level. So I feel that, " HUMAN IS INDEPENDENT OF ACTION BUT NOT INDEPENDENT OF THE FRUITS OF ACTION " . " Karmanye vaadhikaraste, ma phaleshu kadchan " PARDON ME IF I AM WRONG B.Sathyanarayan PRIOR POSTING Shree Hari Ram Ram In English Brother Ramji, Your asking the question, and this written response is also happening as per Paramatma's Will. By such acceptance, it will make you contented, that what happened was Paramatma's will, and that which did not happen was our desire (which was apart from Paramatma's will) . That is it ! The work is done, and once again we become engaged in meditating on that Paramatma. Ram Ram Ram Vineet, Sarvottam IN HINDI Bhaiyyaa Ramji, Aapkaa prashna poochnaa aur yeh utter likhnaa bhi usee Paramaatmaaki icchaa (sweekruti) ke anusaar ho rahaa hai. Isse aise sweekaar karnaa aapko santushta karegaa ki jo huaa wah toh thi Paramaatmaa ki icchaa aur jo kuch bhi nahin huaa wah thi humaari (Paramaatmaatmaa se alag) icchaa. Bas kaam ban gayaa aur lag gaye usi Paramaatmaa ke dhyaan mein. Ram Ram Ram. Vineet, Sarvottam ------------------------------- Jai Hanuman Pratap Bhaiyya! Read again your first sentence ! Frankly I did not read afterwards! There is no question of there being any doubt whatsoever in a person " not having a free will/independence in performing an action " ! One always has a free will there !! Come what may !!! Similarly there is no question or doubt of there " being any kind of free will or independence in the results of an action " made by a person - come what may !! Efforts/performance is always in your hands. Results is always beyond your hands ! There are subtle principles Jee - in the above laws , too !! They appear juxtaposing but in reality they indeed are crystal clear! I can also argue that the results ultimately are chosen/ determined by the " doer " ! Come on !! That also is equally true - but in long term and in reality ! How incomprehensible and contradictory that reality appears ? But still true !! Truth prevails in whatever way you see that, from whatever angle you perceive that, in whichever position you are positioned !! Afterall it is truth ! Pratap Bhaiyya !! I am also aware of the fact that " karmanusarini buddhih " ( Intellect changes as per prior deeds) - but Dear Brother, I also know that " Purushartha " (capacity of humans to do karmas- free will / independence ) prevails over waves of " sphuranas " ( thoughts arising due to prior deeds- Prarabdha )caused by altered intellect due to past karmas , Jee ! All said and done- " Anhonee hoti nahin, honi hai so hoi " ( What is not to 'happen' shall not, what is to 'happen' shall ) - at the same time - in 'doing' you always remain free/independent ! That is law !! Namaste Jee Jee Jee Shashikala -------------------------------- ------------------------------- PRIOR POSTING Hari Om Not a leaf " moves " is the result. Sure! It is in God's hands only. What is stated is that " not a leaf moves " . It is not stated that " no effort to move a leaf " is possible by a human being. Question of free will arises in making efforts - not in results thereof. Hence you can always make an effort to move the leaf. You are independent in that. After you do your karma say to " move the leaf " , whether the leaf moves or not is not in your hands. As simple as that! " Karmanye vaadhikaraste, ma phaleshu kadchan " - you are entitled to make efforts, you have no role to play in consequential results ! Jai Shree Krishna Vyas N B ------------------------------- Priy pratap ji you let or dont let BUT Thy will be done. thats for sure. Raja Gurdasani ------------------------------- namasthe all, Everything happens (eacha nd every small and minute action, whatever it may be), only with the GRACE/POWER/DIVINITY of that SUPREME divinity. Regards, Bharathi -------------------------------- PRIOR POSTING Dear Sadhakas, Namaste! Man or woman is not independent in performing actions as long as one takes oneself to be body identified person. This body identification provides a stage to function in the world-stage for playing one's roles to serve. Unfortunately this identification provides plateform on which " individuality " in terms of desires, fears, likes/dislikes constitute subtle body-mind-stuff, which takes control of his/her life. This is what he/she calls " I " or " me " , and thus 'mineness " is born. ( " Mineness " is born only after " me " is born first). When one such a one acts, it is only this " me " , disguised as desires/fears really act, and always attempts to protect " imagined him/her " or what is perceived to be of his/hers. So there is no independent actions out of such a one, always reacting to situations in self-defense not knowing his true SELF-Atman-true independence to act. When one acquires the knowledge of one's true Self, through whatever means prescribed in Gita or other Scriptures, one is aware of " me " in its true colors just as it arises and stays away from acting to protect it. There is a total freedom to act out of That which we truly are, Love, Compassion ourselves in the abscense of " me " ! Actions are then seen as coming from Totality of Being and not personal. Such a one can truly say " Let Thy Will be done " as Jesus said. When a leaf moves, it is God's will through nature, and when we act, it is God as our Will acts, whatever be the act! Namaskar........ Pratap Bhatt What we are today is the result of our past karmas. What we will become in our next birth will be the result of our present karmas. The goal of every soul is to become one with God ultimately, that is for the atma to become one with Parmatma. This is called attaining moksh or liberation from the endless and painful cycle of birth and death. Since everything in this world is an illusion, it is upto us to first connect with our soul through meditation and through good karmas, then to attain moksh from 8.4 million births. So we do have a choice. Not everything is pre-ordained. Hari Shanker Deo Dear Sadhaks, It is true that nothing moves without HIS will. But Bhagavan has created and designed the whole creation that nothing goes missing without HIS knowledge is the meaning. This is very large subject to go in detail. But an example can be given. Human has 5 pranas, governed by 5 boothas and 5 layers Auras (which can be photographed by Kerlion Camara). So any smallest Thought or action or both are independent to humans. Every action or thought is recorded by the one`s own Aura resulting in cause and effect. The action done by body is called Kayaka Karma. Finding mistake on anything is also wrong Karma as one forgets the Eswara Sarvaboothanam. The thought is called Maanisha Karma. So when one does good or bad it is automatically rewarded. This means the actions does not go unrewarded. This again means that Bhagavan is under knowledge of all. So it means that nothing moves without HIS knowledge. One has to understand that to come to Human form from lower births is with HIS grace. Human is given independence to do Karmas. This independence (By way of intellect) to Human is given by Bhagavan to elevate to Divinity B.Sathyanarayan - GITA TALK GROUP GUIDELINES: 1. Purpose of the group is to help Sadhakas clarify their doubts related to Gitaji shalokas. Therefore, responses which further clarify the understanding of Gitaji, will only be posted. 2. Wherever possible, please quote Gitaji or other scriptures to substantiate your response. 3. Kindly limit personal feelings, opinions, beliefs etc. to the extent that they further help in understanding the Gita shlokas 4. Please be as concise and to the point as possible, respecting sadhaka's time. 5. Kindly focus your writing to the subject at hand only. 6. Please do not include links to the other sites or other organizations. 7. Kindly do not include your personal information such as phone number, address etc. 8. Please do not address the response to a particular individual since the message is going to the entire group. 9. Due to the large readership, all responses may not be posted. 10. Moderator at his discretion, may modify the posting, if content is unclear or not appropriate for distribution to the group. 11. Please respond taking into consideration the novices, youth, westerners, non-sectarian audience. Kindly limit the use to Sanskrit words only, rather provide the English word with Sanskrit bracketed wherever possible. MODERATOR Ram Ram ------------------------ Post message: Subscribe: - Un: - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 9, 2008 Report Share Posted November 9, 2008 Narayana Narayana In English It is said that not a leaf can move without Bhagwaan's will (wishes), then how is man independent in performing actions? Ramchandra In Hindi Bhagwan ki marji ke bina pataa bhi nahin hiltaa, phir manushya karam karne mein kaise swatantra hai? Ramchandra NEW POSTING -Shree Hari- A few points have come up recently: Vyasji, I too have considered for quite some time now, that there is space for affectively an infinite number of universes within the domain of what is referred to as existence. Adrian, there are experiential insights to what is often called reality, everything a person considers to be a fact can be cast asunder, the very paradigm that a jiva finds to be true, through all its existences, can suddenly be found to be of no value. To borrow from Bede Griffiths, one finds, 'A New vision of Reality'. Now the point is, one Lives this new reality, now if one Lives this new reality, then one understands that this New Vision is transitory. Thus the deeper, (for want of a better expression), 'Reality' takes one, then the more one looks towards 'Fana' (inhalation). In this changed vision of reality, of course one is not an object in time. But one has to Live this reality. (Actually there is nothing els one can do). Thus Adrien I agree in what you are saying, I suppose there is an intellectual understanding, and experiential knowing, step by step, some truly blessed souls a quantum leap. Gitaji 11: You the Primal God, the Ancient Purusha; You are Supreme Refuge of this universe, Knower, the One Thing to be known; Supreme Goal; By You is the whole universe pervaded. (38) The Holy Lord said: Verily, hard indeed it is To behold this great form of Mine Which you have seen. Even the gods Ever long to behold this form. (52) Not by Vedic study, nor by Austerity, nor by gifts, nor By sacrifice can I be seen As on this day you have seen Me. (53) By single-minded devotion I may be known in this true form, Seen in reality, also Entered into, Scorcher of Foes. (54) With Respect and Divine Love, Mike Keenor ------------------------------- One cannot say one is dependent or independent. One is interdependent. Let me explain, in terms of relationships. One is not dependent on one's mother when they are in her womb but interdependent. How? Our soul is temporarily in her body not permanently, we do come out at birth. In the same way our soul is encased in this human body and we are interdependent on mother earth for our sustenance. Our air, food and other needs are provided by the earth. Our physical needs cannot be met without air, water, plants, crops which provide us with rice, vegetables, and ingredients for our herbs and medicine. Where does a higher force or being come into play? Can you for one second exist on earth without air? You will physically die. Definitely you are not independent of the earth. Neither are you dependent on it at a non-physical level. This comes to the idea of a soul. You existed before you entered your mother's womb and you will continue to exist after you exit from your mother earth's womb but not the universe. How? Something that exists does not cease to exist and something that does not exist cannot exist. Our form may change but our essence stays. Something from science. Energy cannot be destroyed but can change from one form into another. Matter is form and energy is formless. Hope this has helped some. Prashanth PRIOR POSTING Man himself is an action, his whole body/mind is action only. How then is it possible in a universe that is One unbroken consciousness for an apparent part to be other than interdependant? IT IS NOT! Man has no free will, all his actions are done by the Whole. Once it is seen (by no-one) that there is no inner being within the form, nobody, then all actions are seen to be just ripples arising from the stillness of Being. Your very question is an action of the Whole as is this reply for there is only One. In Love Avasa (Adrien Meyer) -------------------------------- You. The manifestation that is called Life is an unavoidable experience once the birth of the form has taken place. This experience in itself is neither good nor bad, it is simply experience. Within this experience there arises the idea that there is an experiencer of this and the judgement of events gets then categorised as negative and positive. What is witnessing all of the experiences is something, which has no something-ness about it, that is neutral. It is out of this neutrality that the play of Life is manifesting. This neutrality is witness to what takes place, including the arising of judgment, to this one all is simply arising. This one is all that there actually is, the One manifesting as the apparent many. Right now in this very moment and in every moment what is witnessing the play of life and all the reactions and responses to it is this neutrality that is the source of all that appears. It is this that is experiencing its own creation right now as the one that you imagine yourself to be, a separate individual being. You are not what you imagine yourself to be, what you actually are can never be put into the framework of the imagination for you have no image, you are void. What you are is what IS when the activity of the mind ceases to draw images upon what you are. You are not a thing, you are the absence of thing-ness, you are no-thing-ness. This that you actually are is also what all is. All form is the manifestation of this no-thing-ness and through this manifestation this no-thing-ness experiences Life. This is the Truth of you, this is what is actually factually true. You are not an object of time as you have been supposing but the subject of all objectivity. Right now this is true of you, it has and is and always will be true of you for Truth never changes. You are the Source itself manifesting as all that is and experiencing your manifestation. This cannot be attained because it is what you already are. This is not in a becoming process for it is always utterly complete. This cannot be reached for it is not elsewhere, neither in time nor in space. This cannot be experienced for as this you are the subject of all experiences, a non-experience in yourself. There is therefore nothing that needs to be done to get to this, it is simply what IS. It is all that IS. Right now this is the fact of what you are and whether the seeing of this is happening or not does not in any way change the fact of what you are. The body is your creation, right now, the arising of the thoughts and feeling that make up the play of the mind are your creation, right now, and the manifestation of what appears to be a world 'out there' is the reflection of this, right now. All that is appearing is appearing within this presence that knows of its appearance, this presence is what you are and as this you are unborn, therefore undying, the eternal itself. You go nowhere for you are the now of here, you are being, simply Being. Being this with you always, Love Avasa. (Adrien Meyer) ------------------------------- Jai Hanuman I would not have given my views had I too perceived the discussion purpose to be below as perceived by some : " Purpose here is to see free-will of a person versus Total Freedom when limitations vanish! " No ! As I understood the question of Ramji (so did the questioner himself ) - there the purpose is free will/independence of karma and control of a human being over the same vis a vis the results meted out by 'divine will' to him ! Free will has nothing to do with 'liberation' or 'freedom' or 'emancipation'. Even liberated souls are free to do karmas and Gita suggests karma for them. Even God does karma and so does a bonded soul. In doing karma/efforts all human beings have free will irrespective of their present status . In results only 'divine will' operates irrespective of their present status ! Vasudevah Sarvam referred by some is a different principle altogether. Consider the below quote made by some : IF Vasudevah Sarvam is true, then we cannot be Vasudeva as individual person with limited free-will is what I meant to share. Again I must disagree with above statement Jee ! Whether you are " individual person with limited free will " or you are an otherwise person or you are a 'person' in whatever way you perceive that, whether you are 'programmed' or otherwise - Vasudevah Sarvam is still true irrespective of the above or any perceivable distinctions of any sort. The very concept of Vasudevah Sarvam is that " He is real as well as unreal " - 'sadsachaham Arjun " (BG 9:19). Nothing escapes that. No distinctions or divisions impact that ! " Sarvam " means " sarvam " !! No state however gross or subtle it may be, however real or unreal it may be, however disllusioned or clear it may be, however liberated or bound it may be- no state can ever be beyond " Vasudevah " ! In any case how that state is reached by a human, is certainly beyond the scope of this question. If following statement is true then what I have stated herein above and before is also true. " Individual jeeva has no reality apart from Ishwara! " Sure Truth prevails and it prevails as under : Since Ishwara has free will hence Jeeva being fragment of Him, must always have the same. If one goes deeper then he finds out that in long run and in reality, in results ( " effect " ) too you have freedom, because you had freedom in karma ( " cause " ). You choose the results invariably when you choose to act. This is really deep dive. God metes out " results' to us of our own karmas only and that of no body else. By that yardstick- you enjoy free will both in efforts and in results. " Freedom " is natural and automatic, our birth right. " Bondage " is artificial and created, falsely perceived. Beneath there is " freedom " not " limitations or bondage " ! Freedom hence prevails everywhere in the basis/roots ! Freedom is automatic. Freedom is programmed. As simple as that Jee ! Jee Jee Shashikala Dear Sadaks, Sri Pratapji statement is stricking SAT. King Janaka once had a dream that he was a begger on streets. He announced to all saints to clarify that, " Whether he begger dreaming as a king OR whether he king dreaming as a begger " . No one could clarify this. Then came an eight-fold deformed saint and said to the king that both are not Sat. This is in detail in Asthavakra Geetha which nearly means Sri Pratabji statement. One is independant to say there is NO God. But that does not mean the statement is accepted by the listeners at large. Besides the listeners think that he is shouting of something that has NO meaning. So such independent statement becomes Nil value. But if someone says GOD is benevalent. This is accepted at large, and that independence has value. B.Sathyanarayan PRIOR POSTING Dear Sadhakas, Namaste! I also want to offer my appreciation for B. Sathyanarainji for bringing timely messages of all Great Realized Sages. One such sage is Ramana Maharshi, spiritual giant! His Quote is relevant in this context of independence/free-will satsang! " There is neither creation, nor destruction, Neither Destiny, nor Free-will; Neither path, nor acheivement; This is the final truth! " And is consistent with Gita's teaching between the lines! Namaskar...........Pratap Bhatt -- Independent will action etc is more wishful thinking, your actions are governed by you brain biochemistry and that by your genes. independence in action is something which has to be gained through realisation of the self. it is a right to be earned as buddhahood, anyway think about it as a model. Ravi Bakhsi Hari Om Very right you are Dear Mike .You are not only right but accurate and 'divine' too ! I will tell you how! I doubt if you had with you Swamiji's Sadhak Sanjeevani when you wrote your last note. You used the words 'atomic particles' , 'supreme intelligence' and 'divine will' while reflecting upon BG 10:42! Even Swamiji in his purport to the same verse explained using the same theme ! That is satsanga. That is wave length to which one gets tuned in Satsanga ! That is how 'divine' pervades the universe. Swamiji said in His purport that in one part/fragment/particle of God entire universe is held. Inspite of there being uncountable and endless universes existing in His that small particle still that is not full, there is still space for endless more universes. Just as- a very small part of nature is our 'intelligence' , but inspite of there being knowledge of many languages, syllables, arts etc we can't say that there is no space left now more knowledge, more languages, more syllables etc in the 'intelligence'. There is always space left in the intellect for more knowledge. When a small part of nature can be so limitless and still spacious, then how limitless shall be the 'supreme divine intelligence' , the small particle of God Himself who is 'beyond' nature, supreme, transcendental, endless, limitless, and bottomless Himself. There in that 'supreme divine intelligence' , space for more universes is specially vacant. That fragment is still empty. Note also Brother that till BG 10:41, Paramatma was answering Arjuna's specific questions. Here in 18:42, Krishna Himself of His own accord and. ' divine will ' is telling Arjuna that once you look at Me , nothing will remain to be looked at. Why Arjuna should any more be interested in knowing more 'vibhutis' of Him? Here Krishna is giving the 'essence/juice/nectar " of an answer to Arjuna's question- after giving detailed reply to his question upto 18:41 ! By the way the following is translation of BG 18:42 in Swamiji's Sadhak Sanjeevani treatise on BG: Link: Having answered Arjuna's question, in the next verse, the Lord Himself reveals an important fact. " Or what need is there, for you O Arjuna, of detailed knowledge? I stand supporting the entire universe, with a single fragment, of Myself " Jai Shree Krishna Vyas N B Dear Sadhakas, Namaste! I respect views expressed here on " my " (?) observations on Free- will/Independence/Freedom. As I take it, this satsang is about sharing our understanding by putting it on the table what we have understood, to be examined by us all. I don't insist on saying this is the only truth! Or we may be saying same thing in our different words! As I see, Understanding/Truth alone acts, not an individual! I had similar observations about person having free-will, independence, choice. I was led to think deeply what lies behind those words we use everyday. As a limited body-mind identified person, we have limited free-will, which is different than Freedom I(?) am referring to here. Freedom is Total freedom from bondage of a false sense of " me " , the person. Limited free-will is not a free-will as I understand. To be able to do whatever we like is not a freedom we are talking about here, I suppose. Choices may suggest confusion versus clarity. Clarity comes from Totality! Some can say limited free-will is still free-will, I don't. Purpose here is to see free-will of a person versus Total Freedom when limitations vanish! " Person " is perceived object and is limited as such, while " we " are All Perceiving Consciousness, Impersonal! Sure, there is first and foremost, and always available free-will or freedom to Realize we are not such a limited person afterall! If not exercised, obviously we continue to live from limitations of pairs of opposites, makeup of " a person " . As a matter of fact, we are never ever " bound " ! If we are not free, we remain as if programmed entity, always choosing what we think is good for " us " regardless of so called " others " . We are not doomed to remain as such as interpreted by some. To see the falsehood and step out of such a " person(limitations) " to take true stand as Atman is the purpose of Human life. IF Vasudevah Sarvam is true, then we cannot be Vasudeva as individual person with limited free-will is what I meant to share. Swamiji says " All are ONE, and ONE is all " . Even when I act as seemingly individual, only God or total intelligence acts! I have to knowingly act as such! We only have right over actions, but independence in acting is limited, if remain limited! To me, as Jesus says, Will is always God's Will, never " mine " , because there is no " I " , the individual except in ignorance, or dream from which we need to wake up! Individual jeeva has no reality apart from Ishwara! If Jeeva is enlightened, Jeevahood is merged in Ishwara. In Yagna of True knowledge, Devotion, and Selfless karmas, individuality is the sacred offering! Namaskar............Pratap Bhatt ------------------------------- PRIOR POSTING -Shree Hari- Vyasji I am so glad that you mentioned B Sathyanarainji, I always read his comments to the best of my abilities, and realise there is wise council in his revelations. Even though we may be at the oposite ends of the divine rainbow, we are linked by this sacred Satsang. Sathyanarainji you have my greatest respect, I bow to you. Paramatma is; in all down to the smallest sub atomic particle,(and beyond that), in 'The Supreme', is, as it were the 'Supreme Intelligence', the 'Divine Will' holds all in existence. If a leaf trembles in the wind, it is free to do so, if a person does good or bad he/she is free to do so,(not withstanding Karma). Remember good, bad, are opposites that exist in the illusion of duality. In Gitaji 10: Of what value is it for you To know all this, O Arjuna? I ever support this whole world By just one portion of Myself. (42) To me B.G. 10 as a whole is worth a read I believe when dealing with this subject. With Respect and Divine Love, Mike Keenor ------------------------------- Jai Shri Krishna, Pratapji may please note that ONLY in human life a person has privilege of " Free will " . Human life is adored by Scriptures because of that only. Use your " conscience " , change your path ! If human life is " programmed " then what makes this life superior to animals or Devatas? Is God that cruel ? God or Shiva referred by you did not make the players in this Lila - dependent/helpless ! In order to " play " , a " player " must have independence! You have free will / independence always, at all times in human life, upto the last breath. Human life is the greatest form of life- undoubtedly ! If in this life, one presumes that one is " programmed " - then in which life he will get " unprogrammed " ? Narayan Narayan Rajendra J Bohra Jai Hanuman Ok Pratap Bhaiyya ! Now I have read it fully Jee ! Twice, Jee !! But what is the theme ? Why did you lose independence? Why did you get bound? Why other person is not as accurately and precisely bound by the same " programmed action " ? Who fell into the well of desires, me/mine notion? How? Exercise of " free will " , misutilisation thereof !! I quote you only here Pratapji : " All actions, ordinarily, are decided/driven by desires/fears, likes/dislike(raagas/dwesha), pleasurable/painful experiences of the past memories. " Now tell me - desires/fears/likes/dislikes of whom? Could you not have chosen to be otherwise? Yes !! Can't you even today choose not to be swayed by them? Yes !! You have free will even when you are completely in " bondage " state. Else how a sinner most person like Valmiki/Angulimaal became Dharmatma? What is sanctity of Gita 9:31? Free will !! Correct choice !! That choice is action !! Let us Read again what you wrote: " And unfortunately, the person thinks " he " is acting as if " me-doer " is different than " his " (assumed only) desires or fears or likes/dislikes! Isn't this strange, come to think of it? Is there such a thing as Person with free-will, if this is his story? " Is thinking or not thinking that " me/doer " is different or same or whatever, not arising out of " free will " ? Do not you have choice/option there ?? Tell me categorically what prevents you from applying conscience and changing your perception? Free will is still there with you! Bondage lies in mind only. Change the mind ! Who prevents? There after you stated : " It is as if he/she is programmed by such conditioning which controls his/her entire life. Where is the freedom to act in such a programmed person? Person itself is fictitious entity and so is the free-will of such a person. Funny argument, isn't it- Pratap Bhaiyya ? Why did he fall into that shape at first place? Misutilisation of free will ! Has he/she referred by you become optionless now? No ! No !! If he/she is programmed, doesn't that mean he/she can't realise God, or change for better? Gone for ever ! Worse than even an animal ! No, it can't be so ! Rather it is certainly not so !! Is every human being is exactly what is described here ? No! No !! Difference in degree/intensity/circumstances/positioning/ etc between two individuals is due to what ? Exercise of that free will !! Your statements convert great human birth into a slave birth, programmed by God as punishment !! Wrong! Wrong ! You went on to state : In another context, I can say that person has just one free-will, and that is that he/she can choose to remain body-mind identified individual or be Atman(by knowing/surrendering). If he/she doesn't exercise this one freedom given to all, then that is the last freedom he had, and he remains bound essentially! So in stroke, you concluded that " this one is the last freedom he had and he remains bound essentially " !! Very Good Jee ! Now where is need for Saints and Sages/Gitaji? Where is any scope left for him/her to make amends? Free will destroyed for ever!! He/she is gone for ever, Jee !! Isn't it? Now there are no options available !! Human birth got wasted long back! Now cry and live as a puppet! Animals then become far better than humans !! Isn't that the conclusion? No I don't agree with you, once again , Pratap Bhaiyya ! You have " free will " alive in you at all times, in all places, in all circumstances, so long as you are in human body !! Even in most " bondaged state " - you have " free will " in you- ready for use !! You can make amends anytime during the course of human life ! Come On , Pratap Bhaiyya !! Human birth is sought even by Demi Gods! Why ? Free Will available at all times, Jee ! Isn't it ?? Please also note Pratap Bhaiyya- Both Karma Yoga and Jnana Yoga are only practiced by a human being by remaining identified with body/mind etc. Realisation comes later on. Free will remains always- at the beginning, in the middle and in the end. Human life is " karma yoni " ! There is a provision of conversion of " karmas " into " akarmas " ( Karma yoga) not cessation of karmas. There is provision of " assuming non doership " (Jnana Yoga) not cessation of doing. There is provision of surrendering/offerring whatever you do to God ( Bhakti Yoga- " yatkaroshi " BG 9:26) and not " na-karoshi " - not doing. " Not doing " is impossible in human birth. However, " Assumptions " / " Acceptances " of all sorts viz " I am doer " , " I am not doer " , " I am of God " , " I am of world " etc are possible. Those assumptions are examples again of FREE WILL available to Self. Hope you are crystal clear now. Namaste Jee Jee Jee Shashikala -------------------------------- ------------------------------ PRIOR POSTING Hari Om One can't cease to admire the talent accumulated in this GT Group. Indeed it is a divine group. How humble are real Satsangis !! One such humble Satsangi is B Sathyanarainji. In every posting of him, you will find history, names and references of great souls !! He invariably remembers realised souls, great characters of past, great events stated in our Holy Scriptures !. No Sir. You can never be wrong ! Jai Shree Krishna Vyas N B ------------------------------- The following may kindly be added to the response given by Sadak Vyas N B " After you do your karma say to " move the leaf " , whether the leaf moves or not is not in your hands. " + and very interestingly no sincere and honest effort goes waste. The leaf moves. For more, one needs to understand " Who am I " by self enquiry...... Best wishes... Sushil Jain ------------------------------- Dear Sadhakas, Namaste! This refers to Shashikalaji's observations on my previous post. With all respects, I may point out that I wish, Shashikalaji, you had read entire post, instead of stopping after the first sentence as you say you did. If asked what does " person " who is supposed to have free-will mean, what would be the answer? For me, it means a sense of " I-me " rooted in desires, fears, and likes/dislikes. This sense of " I-me " becomes so strong in the absence of questioning, " it " becomes person himself/herself. " It " (insentient) becomes " me " , so to speak. This " I " is the superimposed sense on Reality of Being(Is-ness as Swamiji calls). All actions, ordinarily, are decided/driven by desires/fears, likes/dislike(raagas/dwesha), pleasurable/painful experiences of the past memories. And unfortunately, the person thinks " he " is acting as if " me-doer " is different than " his " (assumed only) desires or fears or likes/dislikes! Isn't this strange, come to think of it? Is there such a thing as Person with free-will, if this is his story? It is as if he/she is programmed by such conditioning which controls his/her entire life. Where is the freedom to act in such a programmed person? Person itself is fictitious entity and so is the free-will of such a person. (please see this crucial point, that which acts is conditioning, not a person entity, then it is easy to see no free-will in conditioning). Even when he pretends to have free-will it is only out of knowns, sum total of conditioning, karmas, called mind or ignorance-Jeeva or subtle/causal body. Free-will is limited in scope, whereas Freedom/Independence we are talking here, is Freedom from conditioning/karmas, freedom even from demand for freedom. (If Shiva wants play jeeva, who can stop?) So even when he decides to act differently in the name of purushartha to overpower karmas, the actions are still based on different sets of knowns (this is the extent of his free-will). All Knowns being limited, it cannot bring freedom that comes from taking true stand as Atman! Thus, as I understand, either through self-knowledge, or through self-surrender or selfless karmas, person(doership-Karta) disappears into Atman-Consciousness which IS all Impersonal Intelligence(not personal intellect), divine intimation(conscience) speaks to an apparant " person " as His instrument to act for greater good. This is what Arjuna did. OF course, no body can deny that result of action is what it would be according to many variables, only one of which is this supposed person with free-will. In " karmanyevadikaraste " verse of Gita, my understanding is that person has choice in acting only, not on the result. But the acts that come from him/her is not necessarily from freedom, unless one takes stand as Atman! No one can remain without doing karma(Gita) suggests that " personal " freedom is not given because it may be in conflict with Divine Will. In another context, I can say that person has just one free-will, and that is that he/she can choose to remain body-mind identified individual or be Atman(by knowing/surrendering). If he/she doesn't exercise this one freedom given to all, then that is the last freedom he had, and he remains bound essentially! Thus, as I understand, it is better to act as if God as Will in " me " is acting through " me " , the instrument. THEN, all actions are going to be Divine and can never be evil even if they seem like evil (mahabharat war). Try this perspective, and see what happens! Namaskar...............Pratap JAI SITARAMJIKI. No doubt not even a leaf moves without God's will; In a billionth of a second the whole universe, each atom, is being destroyed and remade. When I started writing and at this moment now I am not the same person, just like you cannot take a second dip in the same water of a river; it is always a new water which has come along. I, each atom of me, has been destroyed and remade. This is how the universe is working which gives each one of us a chance to inject our karma, whether good or bad, but then do not forget that we have accumulated so much of the past karma in our millions of previous births (we are carrying a heavy load of our past karma) that that tendency or sanskars motivate us to decide whether we act for the good of all, or selfishly for our own good only; and therefore we ourselves are the only one responsible for whatever we do or do not do. If you pray hard enough and do NAAM JAP all the time, and surrender your will to God, God will help you to make only the right decisions henceforth thus changing your destiny for the better. BHAJ RE MANA SITARAM SITARAM SITARAM. Sher Agrawal Dear Sadaks, Many desires are full filled in practical life and many remain unfull filled. The root for desire is our own Prarabdha Karma. What one desires other hates- How? Karma. The thoughts of desires arises from within designed by Bagavan. It is we feel by Maya that unfulfilled or fulfilled. B.Sathyanarayan How is Man independent in performing actions ? It depends on our perception – our beleifs – of what is action and what is man. Any change in matter-energy patterns perpetuated through one's body, mind and senses is normally conceived as action. Generally speaking, an idividual calling himself man believes to be independent in performing several actions because he knows how he depends on many for the actualising the same. In other words, independence is claimed only with the dependence in the background. Any action perceived is a conjugation between an individual and its environment. The individual, the environment, as well as the medium of interaction between the two are equal particpants in any perceived action. I can't call any of these as even partners because I do not think any of these are independently or collectively capable of precipitating an action on their own. All the actions perceived are fragments of images of the monolithic Action Supreme as sensed by the cognitive cluster of senses the individual is blessed with. The perception is apparently in individual's hand and hence one often utters that a man (and a woman, an animal, a plant, and anything as such) is independent to perceive … incapable of distingushing a perception from an action, one may try to claim an indepednece of performing action as well. Truly speaking, even perception examined carefully reveals the fact that so many elements of one's system are involved even to perceive the thoughts … let alone act upon the physical world. Na hi kashchit kshanamapi jaatu tishthatyakarmakrit | Kaaryate hyavashah karma sarvah prakritijairgunaih || Nothing in this universe is capable of negating The Action and transcend the mode of action. Everything is optionless but to follow the course of action dictated by the individual nature. Bhayadasyaagnistapati bhayaattapati suryah | Bhayaadindrashch vaayushcha Mrityurdhaavati panchamah || Everything, let alone perishable beings like a man, even cosmic forces such as sun, fire, matter, death, and knowledge follow the locus of action with absolute obedience. Karma bramhodbhavam viddhi bramhaakshara samudbhavam | Tasmaatsarvagatam bramha nityam yagnye pratishthitam || The Action is verily rooted in The Absolute being The Invariant as such. The Absolute is inherent in everything through The Action as such being the Invariant in all the variance that could be perceived in this universe. If it all anything is independent only The Action is independent. Probably, man who has identified one with The Action could also be independent in performing actions. But the difficulty here is there is nothing left to act upon in such as state! There is no plurality of actions in such a unified state!! On the other hand, the notion of independence is stemms out of our belief in dependence on the elements of life to conduct our own lives. From spiritual stand point, when every element in this universe is just participating in the action as per its own nature, how can anything depend on anything at all? If we examine carefully, the very notion of dependence becomes a myth. Therefore, the imagination built upon such a myth – independence – is just an illusion. Therefore, the statement " a man is independent of performing actions " does not make sense to me from spiritual perspective wherein the concepts such as independence, performance, plurality of action, etc. disperse into the oblivion once the bliefs that support their legetimacy is rattled with absolute persistence. Respects. Naga Narayana PRIOR POSTING Hari Om I think the following principle brought out by Vineetji must be reconsidered by him for it defies all logics : " that what happened was Paramatma's will, and that which did not happen was our desire (which was apart from Paramatma's will) .That is it! " All happennings are His will . Where is question of any distinction of the type " which did not happen was our desire (which was apart from His will) " ??? How what does not happen is our desire? What can happen which is apart from His will ? Translation from Hindi to English has not contributed to this. Please clarify. Principle as grasped by me from Swamiji and Gitaji is- " In every doing we are independent, in any happenning, we are not independent " That is law. No happenning is capable enough to force a reaction from us. No doing can be forced. Moreover, to say that even asking the question by Sadhak Ramji writing the answer by you is due to divine will is a faulty concept. It snatches away capacity of human being of " karmanye vaadhikaraste " ! God does not like us to attribute our independence of doing karmas too to His divine will. How can He? You can't remain without doing Karma even for a fraction of a second - this means you are responsible for the same. God is not responsible for the same. He only gave us independence. He is a disinterested friend. We reap as we sow ! Even if you are totally " surrendered " soul or even if you are " liberated " - " in doing " you have complete independence so long you live in a human body. Just imagine, if some sadhak stretches this concept a bit further and says " I did this deed , because God willed that " . That deed can be any deed - why not? Jai Shree Krishna Vyas N B - Dear all, Bhagawaan has given us the intellect to discriminate what we should do and what we should desist from doing as being not spiritually good. He has also allowed His Maaya to have its sway on us to see if we heed to the intellect or come under the sway of ignorance. A spiritually oriented man does what is good or Shreyas and desists from the pleasurable or Preyas. Here is man's independance. Also allowing us to do what we choose to is Bhagawaan's will. Jai Shree Krishna! Prof ( Major ) Ramanujam Dear Sadaks, We know that we are single Advaitham (No you and me) as it says " Aham Bramasmi " . You are part of Braman and have the indipencence of thought and action. But you have NO indipendence over death, birth, place of birth, caste, to whom born, whether in rich or poor family, the type of Karma (cart puller, car driver, train driver, house maid, luxurious life, handicapped, beautiful or ugly, one time popper another face of life rich, rich becoming poor ETC ETc). For the action and thought one does one is responsible. Valmiki Rishi was a thief earlier until Sage Nararad told that robbing other will yield sins that affects only him NOT to his family members though they are enjoying the gain from theft. Realization took place and he became Valmiki. Here one can note why Sage Narad chose this perticular thief to impart knowledge though there were 100 of thieves. Karma Pala of earlier birth brings Guru to rescue. " Karmanye vaadhikaraste, ma phaleshu kadchan " - I feel that this means one is indipendant of performing action, but NOT indipendant to decide the fruit of Action. Scripts say that Sri Vishnu is giver of Karma Pala. Kans could have been killed along with other demons. Time factor. Sank is the sound of Warning and Chakra is time factor of Sri Vishnu. Garuda is symbol of speed as Sri Vishnu is sustainer which is required fast enough to keep life going. Bagavan Shiva destructor-- Buffelow is time factor (slow and steady the time and aging takes place without one` s knowledge), small drum on HIS hand is death knell, thrishulam takes the soul from body. Vibhuti (Sacred ashes of Bagavan Shiva) is that one becomes ashes after death. Many do wrong things like murdering, raping, robbing, insulting Etc. This is because of independence given to human. Animals have no intellect and they behave as they are. So animals do not do anything independently (They remain silent even if they are killed and the animal from that herd does not revenge- Like father got killed son revenges) That is why animals raise from lower birth to human level. So I feel that, " HUMAN IS INDEPENDENT OF ACTION BUT NOT INDEPENDENT OF THE FRUITS OF ACTION " . " Karmanye vaadhikaraste, ma phaleshu kadchan " PARDON ME IF I AM WRONG B.Sathyanarayan PRIOR POSTING Shree Hari Ram Ram In English Brother Ramji, Your asking the question, and this written response is also happening as per Paramatma's Will. By such acceptance, it will make you contented, that what happened was Paramatma's will, and that which did not happen was our desire (which was apart from Paramatma's will) . That is it ! The work is done, and once again we become engaged in meditating on that Paramatma. Ram Ram Ram Vineet, Sarvottam IN HINDI Bhaiyyaa Ramji, Aapkaa prashna poochnaa aur yeh utter likhnaa bhi usee Paramaatmaaki icchaa (sweekruti) ke anusaar ho rahaa hai. Isse aise sweekaar karnaa aapko santushta karegaa ki jo huaa wah toh thi Paramaatmaa ki icchaa aur jo kuch bhi nahin huaa wah thi humaari (Paramaatmaatmaa se alag) icchaa. Bas kaam ban gayaa aur lag gaye usi Paramaatmaa ke dhyaan mein. Ram Ram Ram. Vineet, Sarvottam ------------------------------- Jai Hanuman Pratap Bhaiyya! Read again your first sentence ! Frankly I did not read afterwards! There is no question of there being any doubt whatsoever in a person " not having a free will/independence in performing an action " ! One always has a free will there !! Come what may !!! Similarly there is no question or doubt of there " being any kind of free will or independence in the results of an action " made by a person - come what may !! Efforts/performance is always in your hands. Results is always beyond your hands ! There are subtle principles Jee - in the above laws , too !! They appear juxtaposing but in reality they indeed are crystal clear! I can also argue that the results ultimately are chosen/ determined by the " doer " ! Come on !! That also is equally true - but in long term and in reality ! How incomprehensible and contradictory that reality appears ? But still true !! Truth prevails in whatever way you see that, from whatever angle you perceive that, in whichever position you are positioned !! Afterall it is truth ! Pratap Bhaiyya !! I am also aware of the fact that " karmanusarini buddhih " ( Intellect changes as per prior deeds) - but Dear Brother, I also know that " Purushartha " (capacity of humans to do karmas- free will / independence ) prevails over waves of " sphuranas " ( thoughts arising due to prior deeds- Prarabdha )caused by altered intellect due to past karmas , Jee ! All said and done- " Anhonee hoti nahin, honi hai so hoi " ( What is not to 'happen' shall not, what is to 'happen' shall ) - at the same time - in 'doing' you always remain free/independent ! That is law !! Namaste Jee Jee Jee Shashikala -------------------------------- ------------------------------- PRIOR POSTING Hari Om Not a leaf " moves " is the result. Sure! It is in God's hands only. What is stated is that " not a leaf moves " . It is not stated that " no effort to move a leaf " is possible by a human being. Question of free will arises in making efforts - not in results thereof. Hence you can always make an effort to move the leaf. You are independent in that. After you do your karma say to " move the leaf " , whether the leaf moves or not is not in your hands. As simple as that! " Karmanye vaadhikaraste, ma phaleshu kadchan " - you are entitled to make efforts, you have no role to play in consequential results ! Jai Shree Krishna Vyas N B ------------------------------- Priy pratap ji you let or dont let BUT Thy will be done. thats for sure. Raja Gurdasani ------------------------------- namasthe all, Everything happens (eacha nd every small and minute action, whatever it may be), only with the GRACE/POWER/DIVINITY of that SUPREME divinity. Regards, Bharathi -------------------------------- PRIOR POSTING Dear Sadhakas, Namaste! Man or woman is not independent in performing actions as long as one takes oneself to be body identified person. This body identification provides a stage to function in the world-stage for playing one's roles to serve. Unfortunately this identification provides plateform on which " individuality " in terms of desires, fears, likes/dislikes constitute subtle body-mind-stuff, which takes control of his/her life. This is what he/she calls " I " or " me " , and thus 'mineness " is born. ( " Mineness " is born only after " me " is born first). When one such a one acts, it is only this " me " , disguised as desires/fears really act, and always attempts to protect " imagined him/her " or what is perceived to be of his/hers. So there is no independent actions out of such a one, always reacting to situations in self-defense not knowing his true SELF-Atman-true independence to act. When one acquires the knowledge of one's true Self, through whatever means prescribed in Gita or other Scriptures, one is aware of " me " in its true colors just as it arises and stays away from acting to protect it. There is a total freedom to act out of That which we truly are, Love, Compassion ourselves in the abscense of " me " ! Actions are then seen as coming from Totality of Being and not personal. Such a one can truly say " Let Thy Will be done " as Jesus said. When a leaf moves, it is God's will through nature, and when we act, it is God as our Will acts, whatever be the act! Namaskar........ Pratap Bhatt What we are today is the result of our past karmas. What we will become in our next birth will be the result of our present karmas. The goal of every soul is to become one with God ultimately, that is for the atma to become one with Parmatma. This is called attaining moksh or liberation from the endless and painful cycle of birth and death. Since everything in this world is an illusion, it is upto us to first connect with our soul through meditation and through good karmas, then to attain moksh from 8.4 million births. So we do have a choice. Not everything is pre-ordained. Hari Shanker Deo Dear Sadhaks, It is true that nothing moves without HIS will. But Bhagavan has created and designed the whole creation that nothing goes missing without HIS knowledge is the meaning. This is very large subject to go in detail. But an example can be given. Human has 5 pranas, governed by 5 boothas and 5 layers Auras (which can be photographed by Kerlion Camara). So any smallest Thought or action or both are independent to humans. Every action or thought is recorded by the one`s own Aura resulting in cause and effect. The action done by body is called Kayaka Karma. Finding mistake on anything is also wrong Karma as one forgets the Eswara Sarvaboothanam. The thought is called Maanisha Karma. So when one does good or bad it is automatically rewarded. This means the actions does not go unrewarded. This again means that Bhagavan is under knowledge of all. So it means that nothing moves without HIS knowledge. One has to understand that to come to Human form from lower births is with HIS grace. Human is given independence to do Karmas. This independence (By way of intellect) to Human is given by Bhagavan to elevate to Divinity B.Sathyanarayan - GITA TALK GROUP GUIDELINES: 1. Purpose of the group is to help Sadhakas clarify their doubts related to Gitaji shalokas. Therefore, responses which further clarify the understanding of Gitaji, will only be posted. 2. Wherever possible, please quote Gitaji or other scriptures to substantiate your response. 3. Kindly limit personal feelings, opinions, beliefs etc. to the extent that they further help in understanding the Gita shlokas 4. Please be as concise and to the point as possible, respecting sadhaka's time. 5. Kindly focus your writing to the subject at hand only. 6. Please do not include links to the other sites or other organizations. 7. Kindly do not include your personal information such as phone number, address etc. 8. Please do not address the response to a particular individual since the message is going to the entire group. 9. Due to the large readership, all responses may not be posted. 10. Moderator at his discretion, may modify the posting, if content is unclear or not appropriate for distribution to the group. 11. Please respond taking into consideration the novices, youth, westerners, non-sectarian audience. Kindly limit the use to Sanskrit words only, rather provide the English word with Sanskrit bracketed wherever possible. MODERATOR Ram Ram ------------------------ Post message: Subscribe: - Un: - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 11, 2008 Report Share Posted November 11, 2008 Narayana Narayana In English It is said that not a leaf can move without Bhagwaan's will (wishes), then how is man independent in performing actions? Ramchandra In Hindi Bhagwan ki marji ke bina pataa bhi nahin hiltaa, phir manushya karam karne mein kaise swatantra hai? Ramchandra NEW POSTING Dears lots of loves and best wishes. there is no doubt that nothing happens without the will of God. But this rule applies to a person who has reached to that state of this understanding through self introspection and spiritual practices. for a person of bookish knowledge the sense of me and mine is highly dominating. therefore it is for such men that scriptures speak of free will so that they with the help of discrimination and practice know and establish themselves in this firm knowledge of the doership of God in every sphere of this cosmic drama. then these type of doubts and questions do not disturb the sadhak. C. K. Kaul Dear Sadhak, Not a single leaf can move without His Will, true but this is also true that He Himself has given us (so called jeevatma) freedom to " choose " " the way " we perform our actions. Krishna says- You have right to perform your duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty. Gitaji ch 2:47 And in Chapter 18 - He says - If you do not act according to My direction and do not fight, then you will be falsely directed. By your nature, you will have to be engaged in warfare. Ch 18:59 Under illusion you are now declining to act according to My direction. But, compelled by your own nature, you will act all the same, O son of Kunti. Ch 18:60 This means if We do not choose our karma according to our dharma or as instructed by Lord Himself then still we will perform same karma due to our ignorant nature, and those karma will surely bind us. So to me we are not " independent " in performing the actions but we are surely independent in bringing the conscious presence in whatever we do, means we are independent in choosing " How to " perform the actions so the Karma(actions) become akarma (Non- action). Gitaji ch 4:17-24 God explains what is karma/akarama and vikarma. with lots of love, a sadhika Sadhna Karigar Hari Om Oh! What a divine shape this satsanga is taking every day! My respectful and hearty compliments to Adrien Meyers for sharing with sadhaks genius, unbelievably lucid, and truth itself in its finest form. There cannot be any doubt in what you have stated. Each statement can be independently and jointly certified through the references of Holy Gita, statements of Param Shraddheya Swamiji Shri Ramsukhdasji Maharaj, all holy scriptures of Sanatan Dharma- I am certain about this. Yours is the finest statement which I have ever read on such a tricky subject. I bow to you in respect. I request you to consider in the interest of all of us, to participate frequently or at least sum up the deliberations on each question. So Brother Mike ! Divine is indeed at play. !! Jai Shree Krishna Vyas N B ------------------------------- - PRIOR POSTING -Shree Hari- A few points have come up recently: Vyasji, I too have considered for quite some time now, that there is space for affectively an infinite number of universes within the domain of what is referred to as existence. Adrian, there are experiential insights to what is often called reality, everything a person considers to be a fact can be cast asunder, the very paradigm that a jiva finds to be true, through all its existences, can suddenly be found to be of no value. To borrow from Bede Griffiths, one finds, 'A New vision of Reality'. Now the point is, one Lives this new reality, now if one Lives this new reality, then one understands that this New Vision is transitory. Thus the deeper, (for want of a better expression), 'Reality' takes one, then the more one looks towards 'Fana' (inhalation). In this changed vision of reality, of course one is not an object in time. But one has to Live this reality. (Actually there is nothing els one can do). Thus Adrien I agree in what you are saying, I suppose there is an intellectual understanding, and experiential knowing, step by step, some truly blessed souls a quantum leap. Gitaji 11: You the Primal God, the Ancient Purusha; You are Supreme Refuge of this universe, Knower, the One Thing to be known; Supreme Goal; By You is the whole universe pervaded. (38) The Holy Lord said: Verily, hard indeed it is To behold this great form of Mine Which you have seen. Even the gods Ever long to behold this form. (52) Not by Vedic study, nor by Austerity, nor by gifts, nor By sacrifice can I be seen As on this day you have seen Me. (53) By single-minded devotion I may be known in this true form, Seen in reality, also Entered into, Scorcher of Foes. (54) With Respect and Divine Love, Mike Keenor ------------------------------- One cannot say one is dependent or independent. One is interdependent. Let me explain, in terms of relationships. One is not dependent on one's mother when they are in her womb but interdependent. How? Our soul is temporarily in her body not permanently, we do come out at birth. In the same way our soul is encased in this human body and we are interdependent on mother earth for our sustenance. Our air, food and other needs are provided by the earth. Our physical needs cannot be met without air, water, plants, crops which provide us with rice, vegetables, and ingredients for our herbs and medicine. Where does a higher force or being come into play? Can you for one second exist on earth without air? You will physically die. Definitely you are not independent of the earth. Neither are you dependent on it at a non-physical level. This comes to the idea of a soul. You existed before you entered your mother's womb and you will continue to exist after you exit from your mother earth's womb but not the universe. How? Something that exists does not cease to exist and something that does not exist cannot exist. Our form may change but our essence stays. Something from science. Energy cannot be destroyed but can change from one form into another. Matter is form and energy is formless. Hope this has helped some. Prashanth PRIOR POSTING Man himself is an action, his whole body/mind is action only. How then is it possible in a universe that is One unbroken consciousness for an apparent part to be other than interdependant? IT IS NOT! Man has no free will, all his actions are done by the Whole. Once it is seen (by no-one) that there is no inner being within the form, nobody, then all actions are seen to be just ripples arising from the stillness of Being. Your very question is an action of the Whole as is this reply for there is only One. In Love Avasa (Adrien Meyer) -------------------------------- You. The manifestation that is called Life is an unavoidable experience once the birth of the form has taken place. This experience in itself is neither good nor bad, it is simply experience. Within this experience there arises the idea that there is an experiencer of this and the judgement of events gets then categorised as negative and positive. What is witnessing all of the experiences is something, which has no something-ness about it, that is neutral. It is out of this neutrality that the play of Life is manifesting. This neutrality is witness to what takes place, including the arising of judgment, to this one all is simply arising. This one is all that there actually is, the One manifesting as the apparent many. Right now in this very moment and in every moment what is witnessing the play of life and all the reactions and responses to it is this neutrality that is the source of all that appears. It is this that is experiencing its own creation right now as the one that you imagine yourself to be, a separate individual being. You are not what you imagine yourself to be, what you actually are can never be put into the framework of the imagination for you have no image, you are void. What you are is what IS when the activity of the mind ceases to draw images upon what you are. You are not a thing, you are the absence of thing-ness, you are no-thing-ness. This that you actually are is also what all is. All form is the manifestation of this no-thing-ness and through this manifestation this no-thing-ness experiences Life. This is the Truth of you, this is what is actually factually true. You are not an object of time as you have been supposing but the subject of all objectivity. Right now this is true of you, it has and is and always will be true of you for Truth never changes. You are the Source itself manifesting as all that is and experiencing your manifestation. This cannot be attained because it is what you already are. This is not in a becoming process for it is always utterly complete. This cannot be reached for it is not elsewhere, neither in time nor in space. This cannot be experienced for as this you are the subject of all experiences, a non-experience in yourself. There is therefore nothing that needs to be done to get to this, it is simply what IS. It is all that IS. Right now this is the fact of what you are and whether the seeing of this is happening or not does not in any way change the fact of what you are. The body is your creation, right now, the arising of the thoughts and feeling that make up the play of the mind are your creation, right now, and the manifestation of what appears to be a world 'out there' is the reflection of this, right now. All that is appearing is appearing within this presence that knows of its appearance, this presence is what you are and as this you are unborn, therefore undying, the eternal itself. You go nowhere for you are the now of here, you are being, simply Being. Being this with you always, Love Avasa. (Adrien Meyer) ------------------------------- Jai Hanuman I would not have given my views had I too perceived the discussion purpose to be below as perceived by some : " Purpose here is to see free-will of a person versus Total Freedom when limitations vanish! " No ! As I understood the question of Ramji (so did the questioner himself ) - there the purpose is free will/independence of karma and control of a human being over the same vis a vis the results meted out by 'divine will' to him ! Free will has nothing to do with 'liberation' or 'freedom' or 'emancipation'. Even liberated souls are free to do karmas and Gita suggests karma for them. Even God does karma and so does a bonded soul. In doing karma/efforts all human beings have free will irrespective of their present status . In results only 'divine will' operates irrespective of their present status ! Vasudevah Sarvam referred by some is a different principle altogether. Consider the below quote made by some : IF Vasudevah Sarvam is true, then we cannot be Vasudeva as individual person with limited free-will is what I meant to share. Again I must disagree with above statement Jee ! Whether you are " individual person with limited free will " or you are an otherwise person or you are a 'person' in whatever way you perceive that, whether you are 'programmed' or otherwise - Vasudevah Sarvam is still true irrespective of the above or any perceivable distinctions of any sort. The very concept of Vasudevah Sarvam is that " He is real as well as unreal " - 'sadsachaham Arjun " (BG 9:19). Nothing escapes that. No distinctions or divisions impact that ! " Sarvam " means " sarvam " !! No state however gross or subtle it may be, however real or unreal it may be, however disllusioned or clear it may be, however liberated or bound it may be- no state can ever be beyond " Vasudevah " ! In any case how that state is reached by a human, is certainly beyond the scope of this question. If following statement is true then what I have stated herein above and before is also true. " Individual jeeva has no reality apart from Ishwara! " Sure Truth prevails and it prevails as under : Since Ishwara has free will hence Jeeva being fragment of Him, must always have the same. If one goes deeper then he finds out that in long run and in reality, in results ( " effect " ) too you have freedom, because you had freedom in karma ( " cause " ). You choose the results invariably when you choose to act. This is really deep dive. God metes out " results' to us of our own karmas only and that of no body else. By that yardstick- you enjoy free will both in efforts and in results. " Freedom " is natural and automatic, our birth right. " Bondage " is artificial and created, falsely perceived. Beneath there is " freedom " not " limitations or bondage " ! Freedom hence prevails everywhere in the basis/roots ! Freedom is automatic. Freedom is programmed. As simple as that Jee ! Jee Jee Shashikala Dear Sadaks, Sri Pratapji statement is stricking SAT. King Janaka once had a dream that he was a begger on streets. He announced to all saints to clarify that, " Whether he begger dreaming as a king OR whether he king dreaming as a begger " . No one could clarify this. Then came an eight-fold deformed saint and said to the king that both are not Sat. This is in detail in Asthavakra Geetha which nearly means Sri Pratabji statement. One is independant to say there is NO God. But that does not mean the statement is accepted by the listeners at large. Besides the listeners think that he is shouting of something that has NO meaning. So such independent statement becomes Nil value. But if someone says GOD is benevalent. This is accepted at large, and that independence has value. B.Sathyanarayan PRIOR POSTING Dear Sadhakas, Namaste! I also want to offer my appreciation for B. Sathyanarainji for bringing timely messages of all Great Realized Sages. One such sage is Ramana Maharshi, spiritual giant! His Quote is relevant in this context of independence/free-will satsang! " There is neither creation, nor destruction, Neither Destiny, nor Free-will; Neither path, nor acheivement; This is the final truth! " And is consistent with Gita's teaching between the lines! Namaskar...........Pratap Bhatt -- Independent will action etc is more wishful thinking, your actions are governed by you brain biochemistry and that by your genes. independence in action is something which has to be gained through realisation of the self. it is a right to be earned as buddhahood, anyway think about it as a model. Ravi Bakhsi Hari Om Very right you are Dear Mike .You are not only right but accurate and 'divine' too ! I will tell you how! I doubt if you had with you Swamiji's Sadhak Sanjeevani when you wrote your last note. You used the words 'atomic particles' , 'supreme intelligence' and 'divine will' while reflecting upon BG 10:42! Even Swamiji in his purport to the same verse explained using the same theme ! That is satsanga. That is wave length to which one gets tuned in Satsanga ! That is how 'divine' pervades the universe. Swamiji said in His purport that in one part/fragment/particle of God entire universe is held. Inspite of there being uncountable and endless universes existing in His that small particle still that is not full, there is still space for endless more universes. Just as- a very small part of nature is our 'intelligence' , but inspite of there being knowledge of many languages, syllables, arts etc we can't say that there is no space left now more knowledge, more languages, more syllables etc in the 'intelligence'. There is always space left in the intellect for more knowledge. When a small part of nature can be so limitless and still spacious, then how limitless shall be the 'supreme divine intelligence' , the small particle of God Himself who is 'beyond' nature, supreme, transcendental, endless, limitless, and bottomless Himself. There in that 'supreme divine intelligence' , space for more universes is specially vacant. That fragment is still empty. Note also Brother that till BG 10:41, Paramatma was answering Arjuna's specific questions. Here in 18:42, Krishna Himself of His own accord and. ' divine will ' is telling Arjuna that once you look at Me , nothing will remain to be looked at. Why Arjuna should any more be interested in knowing more 'vibhutis' of Him? Here Krishna is giving the 'essence/juice/nectar " of an answer to Arjuna's question- after giving detailed reply to his question upto 18:41 ! By the way the following is translation of BG 18:42 in Swamiji's Sadhak Sanjeevani treatise on BG: Link: Having answered Arjuna's question, in the next verse, the Lord Himself reveals an important fact. " Or what need is there, for you O Arjuna, of detailed knowledge? I stand supporting the entire universe, with a single fragment, of Myself " Jai Shree Krishna Vyas N B Dear Sadhakas, Namaste! I respect views expressed here on " my " (?) observations on Free- will/Independence/Freedom. As I take it, this satsang is about sharing our understanding by putting it on the table what we have understood, to be examined by us all. I don't insist on saying this is the only truth! Or we may be saying same thing in our different words! As I see, Understanding/Truth alone acts, not an individual! I had similar observations about person having free-will, independence, choice. I was led to think deeply what lies behind those words we use everyday. As a limited body-mind identified person, we have limited free-will, which is different than Freedom I(?) am referring to here. Freedom is Total freedom from bondage of a false sense of " me " , the person. Limited free-will is not a free-will as I understand. To be able to do whatever we like is not a freedom we are talking about here, I suppose. Choices may suggest confusion versus clarity. Clarity comes from Totality! Some can say limited free-will is still free-will, I don't. Purpose here is to see free-will of a person versus Total Freedom when limitations vanish! " Person " is perceived object and is limited as such, while " we " are All Perceiving Consciousness, Impersonal! Sure, there is first and foremost, and always available free-will or freedom to Realize we are not such a limited person afterall! If not exercised, obviously we continue to live from limitations of pairs of opposites, makeup of " a person " . As a matter of fact, we are never ever " bound " ! If we are not free, we remain as if programmed entity, always choosing what we think is good for " us " regardless of so called " others " . We are not doomed to remain as such as interpreted by some. To see the falsehood and step out of such a " person(limitations) " to take true stand as Atman is the purpose of Human life. IF Vasudevah Sarvam is true, then we cannot be Vasudeva as individual person with limited free-will is what I meant to share. Swamiji says " All are ONE, and ONE is all " . Even when I act as seemingly individual, only God or total intelligence acts! I have to knowingly act as such! We only have right over actions, but independence in acting is limited, if remain limited! To me, as Jesus says, Will is always God's Will, never " mine " , because there is no " I " , the individual except in ignorance, or dream from which we need to wake up! Individual jeeva has no reality apart from Ishwara! If Jeeva is enlightened, Jeevahood is merged in Ishwara. In Yagna of True knowledge, Devotion, and Selfless karmas, individuality is the sacred offering! Namaskar............Pratap Bhatt ------------------------------- PRIOR POSTING -Shree Hari- Vyasji I am so glad that you mentioned B Sathyanarainji, I always read his comments to the best of my abilities, and realise there is wise council in his revelations. Even though we may be at the oposite ends of the divine rainbow, we are linked by this sacred Satsang. Sathyanarainji you have my greatest respect, I bow to you. Paramatma is; in all down to the smallest sub atomic particle,(and beyond that), in 'The Supreme', is, as it were the 'Supreme Intelligence', the 'Divine Will' holds all in existence. If a leaf trembles in the wind, it is free to do so, if a person does good or bad he/she is free to do so,(not withstanding Karma). Remember good, bad, are opposites that exist in the illusion of duality. In Gitaji 10: Of what value is it for you To know all this, O Arjuna? I ever support this whole world By just one portion of Myself. (42) To me B.G. 10 as a whole is worth a read I believe when dealing with this subject. With Respect and Divine Love, Mike Keenor ------------------------------- Jai Shri Krishna, Pratapji may please note that ONLY in human life a person has privilege of " Free will " . Human life is adored by Scriptures because of that only. Use your " conscience " , change your path ! If human life is " programmed " then what makes this life superior to animals or Devatas? Is God that cruel ? God or Shiva referred by you did not make the players in this Lila - dependent/helpless ! In order to " play " , a " player " must have independence! You have free will / independence always, at all times in human life, upto the last breath. Human life is the greatest form of life- undoubtedly ! If in this life, one presumes that one is " programmed " - then in which life he will get " unprogrammed " ? Narayan Narayan Rajendra J Bohra Jai Hanuman Ok Pratap Bhaiyya ! Now I have read it fully Jee ! Twice, Jee !! But what is the theme ? Why did you lose independence? Why did you get bound? Why other person is not as accurately and precisely bound by the same " programmed action " ? Who fell into the well of desires, me/mine notion? How? Exercise of " free will " , misutilisation thereof !! I quote you only here Pratapji : " All actions, ordinarily, are decided/driven by desires/fears, likes/dislike(raagas/dwesha), pleasurable/painful experiences of the past memories. " Now tell me - desires/fears/likes/dislikes of whom? Could you not have chosen to be otherwise? Yes !! Can't you even today choose not to be swayed by them? Yes !! You have free will even when you are completely in " bondage " state. Else how a sinner most person like Valmiki/Angulimaal became Dharmatma? What is sanctity of Gita 9:31? Free will !! Correct choice !! That choice is action !! Let us Read again what you wrote: " And unfortunately, the person thinks " he " is acting as if " me-doer " is different than " his " (assumed only) desires or fears or likes/dislikes! Isn't this strange, come to think of it? Is there such a thing as Person with free-will, if this is his story? " Is thinking or not thinking that " me/doer " is different or same or whatever, not arising out of " free will " ? Do not you have choice/option there ?? Tell me categorically what prevents you from applying conscience and changing your perception? Free will is still there with you! Bondage lies in mind only. Change the mind ! Who prevents? There after you stated : " It is as if he/she is programmed by such conditioning which controls his/her entire life. Where is the freedom to act in such a programmed person? Person itself is fictitious entity and so is the free-will of such a person. Funny argument, isn't it- Pratap Bhaiyya ? Why did he fall into that shape at first place? Misutilisation of free will ! Has he/she referred by you become optionless now? No ! No !! If he/she is programmed, doesn't that mean he/she can't realise God, or change for better? Gone for ever ! Worse than even an animal ! No, it can't be so ! Rather it is certainly not so !! Is every human being is exactly what is described here ? No! No !! Difference in degree/intensity/circumstances/positioning/ etc between two individuals is due to what ? Exercise of that free will !! Your statements convert great human birth into a slave birth, programmed by God as punishment !! Wrong! Wrong ! You went on to state : In another context, I can say that person has just one free-will, and that is that he/she can choose to remain body-mind identified individual or be Atman(by knowing/surrendering). If he/she doesn't exercise this one freedom given to all, then that is the last freedom he had, and he remains bound essentially! So in stroke, you concluded that " this one is the last freedom he had and he remains bound essentially " !! Very Good Jee ! Now where is need for Saints and Sages/Gitaji? Where is any scope left for him/her to make amends? Free will destroyed for ever!! He/she is gone for ever, Jee !! Isn't it? Now there are no options available !! Human birth got wasted long back! Now cry and live as a puppet! Animals then become far better than humans !! Isn't that the conclusion? No I don't agree with you, once again , Pratap Bhaiyya ! You have " free will " alive in you at all times, in all places, in all circumstances, so long as you are in human body !! Even in most " bondaged state " - you have " free will " in you- ready for use !! You can make amends anytime during the course of human life ! Come On , Pratap Bhaiyya !! Human birth is sought even by Demi Gods! Why ? Free Will available at all times, Jee ! Isn't it ?? Please also note Pratap Bhaiyya- Both Karma Yoga and Jnana Yoga are only practiced by a human being by remaining identified with body/mind etc. Realisation comes later on. Free will remains always- at the beginning, in the middle and in the end. Human life is " karma yoni " ! There is a provision of conversion of " karmas " into " akarmas " ( Karma yoga) not cessation of karmas. There is provision of " assuming non doership " (Jnana Yoga) not cessation of doing. There is provision of surrendering/offerring whatever you do to God ( Bhakti Yoga- " yatkaroshi " BG 9:26) and not " na-karoshi " - not doing. " Not doing " is impossible in human birth. However, " Assumptions " / " Acceptances " of all sorts viz " I am doer " , " I am not doer " , " I am of God " , " I am of world " etc are possible. Those assumptions are examples again of FREE WILL available to Self. Hope you are crystal clear now. Namaste Jee Jee Jee Shashikala -------------------------------- ------------------------------ PRIOR POSTING Hari Om One can't cease to admire the talent accumulated in this GT Group. Indeed it is a divine group. How humble are real Satsangis !! One such humble Satsangi is B Sathyanarainji. In every posting of him, you will find history, names and references of great souls !! He invariably remembers realised souls, great characters of past, great events stated in our Holy Scriptures !. No Sir. You can never be wrong ! Jai Shree Krishna Vyas N B ------------------------------- The following may kindly be added to the response given by Sadak Vyas N B " After you do your karma say to " move the leaf " , whether the leaf moves or not is not in your hands. " + and very interestingly no sincere and honest effort goes waste. The leaf moves. For more, one needs to understand " Who am I " by self enquiry...... Best wishes... Sushil Jain ------------------------------- Dear Sadhakas, Namaste! This refers to Shashikalaji's observations on my previous post. With all respects, I may point out that I wish, Shashikalaji, you had read entire post, instead of stopping after the first sentence as you say you did. If asked what does " person " who is supposed to have free-will mean, what would be the answer? For me, it means a sense of " I-me " rooted in desires, fears, and likes/dislikes. This sense of " I-me " becomes so strong in the absence of questioning, " it " becomes person himself/herself. " It " (insentient) becomes " me " , so to speak. This " I " is the superimposed sense on Reality of Being(Is-ness as Swamiji calls). All actions, ordinarily, are decided/driven by desires/fears, likes/dislike(raagas/dwesha), pleasurable/painful experiences of the past memories. And unfortunately, the person thinks " he " is acting as if " me-doer " is different than " his " (assumed only) desires or fears or likes/dislikes! Isn't this strange, come to think of it? Is there such a thing as Person with free-will, if this is his story? It is as if he/she is programmed by such conditioning which controls his/her entire life. Where is the freedom to act in such a programmed person? Person itself is fictitious entity and so is the free-will of such a person. (please see this crucial point, that which acts is conditioning, not a person entity, then it is easy to see no free-will in conditioning). Even when he pretends to have free-will it is only out of knowns, sum total of conditioning, karmas, called mind or ignorance-Jeeva or subtle/causal body. Free-will is limited in scope, whereas Freedom/Independence we are talking here, is Freedom from conditioning/karmas, freedom even from demand for freedom. (If Shiva wants play jeeva, who can stop?) So even when he decides to act differently in the name of purushartha to overpower karmas, the actions are still based on different sets of knowns (this is the extent of his free-will). All Knowns being limited, it cannot bring freedom that comes from taking true stand as Atman! Thus, as I understand, either through self-knowledge, or through self-surrender or selfless karmas, person(doership-Karta) disappears into Atman-Consciousness which IS all Impersonal Intelligence(not personal intellect), divine intimation(conscience) speaks to an apparant " person " as His instrument to act for greater good. This is what Arjuna did. OF course, no body can deny that result of action is what it would be according to many variables, only one of which is this supposed person with free-will. In " karmanyevadikaraste " verse of Gita, my understanding is that person has choice in acting only, not on the result. But the acts that come from him/her is not necessarily from freedom, unless one takes stand as Atman! No one can remain without doing karma(Gita) suggests that " personal " freedom is not given because it may be in conflict with Divine Will. In another context, I can say that person has just one free-will, and that is that he/she can choose to remain body-mind identified individual or be Atman(by knowing/surrendering). If he/she doesn't exercise this one freedom given to all, then that is the last freedom he had, and he remains bound essentially! Thus, as I understand, it is better to act as if God as Will in " me " is acting through " me " , the instrument. THEN, all actions are going to be Divine and can never be evil even if they seem like evil (mahabharat war). Try this perspective, and see what happens! Namaskar...............Pratap JAI SITARAMJIKI. No doubt not even a leaf moves without God's will; In a billionth of a second the whole universe, each atom, is being destroyed and remade. When I started writing and at this moment now I am not the same person, just like you cannot take a second dip in the same water of a river; it is always a new water which has come along. I, each atom of me, has been destroyed and remade. This is how the universe is working which gives each one of us a chance to inject our karma, whether good or bad, but then do not forget that we have accumulated so much of the past karma in our millions of previous births (we are carrying a heavy load of our past karma) that that tendency or sanskars motivate us to decide whether we act for the good of all, or selfishly for our own good only; and therefore we ourselves are the only one responsible for whatever we do or do not do. If you pray hard enough and do NAAM JAP all the time, and surrender your will to God, God will help you to make only the right decisions henceforth thus changing your destiny for the better. BHAJ RE MANA SITARAM SITARAM SITARAM. Sher Agrawal Dear Sadaks, Many desires are full filled in practical life and many remain unfull filled. The root for desire is our own Prarabdha Karma. What one desires other hates- How? Karma. The thoughts of desires arises from within designed by Bagavan. It is we feel by Maya that unfulfilled or fulfilled. B.Sathyanarayan How is Man independent in performing actions ? It depends on our perception – our beleifs – of what is action and what is man. Any change in matter-energy patterns perpetuated through one's body, mind and senses is normally conceived as action. Generally speaking, an idividual calling himself man believes to be independent in performing several actions because he knows how he depends on many for the actualising the same. In other words, independence is claimed only with the dependence in the background. Any action perceived is a conjugation between an individual and its environment. The individual, the environment, as well as the medium of interaction between the two are equal particpants in any perceived action. I can't call any of these as even partners because I do not think any of these are independently or collectively capable of precipitating an action on their own. All the actions perceived are fragments of images of the monolithic Action Supreme as sensed by the cognitive cluster of senses the individual is blessed with. The perception is apparently in individual's hand and hence one often utters that a man (and a woman, an animal, a plant, and anything as such) is independent to perceive … incapable of distingushing a perception from an action, one may try to claim an indepednece of performing action as well. Truly speaking, even perception examined carefully reveals the fact that so many elements of one's system are involved even to perceive the thoughts … let alone act upon the physical world. Na hi kashchit kshanamapi jaatu tishthatyakarmakrit | Kaaryate hyavashah karma sarvah prakritijairgunaih || Nothing in this universe is capable of negating The Action and transcend the mode of action. Everything is optionless but to follow the course of action dictated by the individual nature. Bhayadasyaagnistapati bhayaattapati suryah | Bhayaadindrashch vaayushcha Mrityurdhaavati panchamah || Everything, let alone perishable beings like a man, even cosmic forces such as sun, fire, matter, death, and knowledge follow the locus of action with absolute obedience. Karma bramhodbhavam viddhi bramhaakshara samudbhavam | Tasmaatsarvagatam bramha nityam yagnye pratishthitam || The Action is verily rooted in The Absolute being The Invariant as such. The Absolute is inherent in everything through The Action as such being the Invariant in all the variance that could be perceived in this universe. If it all anything is independent only The Action is independent. Probably, man who has identified one with The Action could also be independent in performing actions. But the difficulty here is there is nothing left to act upon in such as state! There is no plurality of actions in such a unified state!! On the other hand, the notion of independence is stemms out of our belief in dependence on the elements of life to conduct our own lives. From spiritual stand point, when every element in this universe is just participating in the action as per its own nature, how can anything depend on anything at all? If we examine carefully, the very notion of dependence becomes a myth. Therefore, the imagination built upon such a myth – independence – is just an illusion. Therefore, the statement " a man is independent of performing actions " does not make sense to me from spiritual perspective wherein the concepts such as independence, performance, plurality of action, etc. disperse into the oblivion once the bliefs that support their legetimacy is rattled with absolute persistence. Respects. Naga Narayana PRIOR POSTING Hari Om I think the following principle brought out by Vineetji must be reconsidered by him for it defies all logics : " that what happened was Paramatma's will, and that which did not happen was our desire (which was apart from Paramatma's will) .That is it! " All happennings are His will . Where is question of any distinction of the type " which did not happen was our desire (which was apart from His will) " ??? How what does not happen is our desire? What can happen which is apart from His will ? Translation from Hindi to English has not contributed to this. Please clarify. Principle as grasped by me from Swamiji and Gitaji is- " In every doing we are independent, in any happenning, we are not independent " That is law. No happenning is capable enough to force a reaction from us. No doing can be forced. Moreover, to say that even asking the question by Sadhak Ramji writing the answer by you is due to divine will is a faulty concept. It snatches away capacity of human being of " karmanye vaadhikaraste " ! God does not like us to attribute our independence of doing karmas too to His divine will. How can He? You can't remain without doing Karma even for a fraction of a second - this means you are responsible for the same. God is not responsible for the same. He only gave us independence. He is a disinterested friend. We reap as we sow ! Even if you are totally " surrendered " soul or even if you are " liberated " - " in doing " you have complete independence so long you live in a human body. Just imagine, if some sadhak stretches this concept a bit further and says " I did this deed , because God willed that " . That deed can be any deed - why not? Jai Shree Krishna Vyas N B - Dear all, Bhagawaan has given us the intellect to discriminate what we should do and what we should desist from doing as being not spiritually good. He has also allowed His Maaya to have its sway on us to see if we heed to the intellect or come under the sway of ignorance. A spiritually oriented man does what is good or Shreyas and desists from the pleasurable or Preyas. Here is man's independance. Also allowing us to do what we choose to is Bhagawaan's will. Jai Shree Krishna! Prof ( Major ) Ramanujam Dear Sadaks, We know that we are single Advaitham (No you and me) as it says " Aham Bramasmi " . You are part of Braman and have the indipencence of thought and action. But you have NO indipendence over death, birth, place of birth, caste, to whom born, whether in rich or poor family, the type of Karma (cart puller, car driver, train driver, house maid, luxurious life, handicapped, beautiful or ugly, one time popper another face of life rich, rich becoming poor ETC ETc). For the action and thought one does one is responsible. Valmiki Rishi was a thief earlier until Sage Nararad told that robbing other will yield sins that affects only him NOT to his family members though they are enjoying the gain from theft. Realization took place and he became Valmiki. Here one can note why Sage Narad chose this perticular thief to impart knowledge though there were 100 of thieves. Karma Pala of earlier birth brings Guru to rescue. " Karmanye vaadhikaraste, ma phaleshu kadchan " - I feel that this means one is indipendant of performing action, but NOT indipendant to decide the fruit of Action. Scripts say that Sri Vishnu is giver of Karma Pala. Kans could have been killed along with other demons. Time factor. Sank is the sound of Warning and Chakra is time factor of Sri Vishnu. Garuda is symbol of speed as Sri Vishnu is sustainer which is required fast enough to keep life going. Bagavan Shiva destructor-- Buffelow is time factor (slow and steady the time and aging takes place without one` s knowledge), small drum on HIS hand is death knell, thrishulam takes the soul from body. Vibhuti (Sacred ashes of Bagavan Shiva) is that one becomes ashes after death. Many do wrong things like murdering, raping, robbing, insulting Etc. This is because of independence given to human. Animals have no intellect and they behave as they are. So animals do not do anything independently (They remain silent even if they are killed and the animal from that herd does not revenge- Like father got killed son revenges) That is why animals raise from lower birth to human level. So I feel that, " HUMAN IS INDEPENDENT OF ACTION BUT NOT INDEPENDENT OF THE FRUITS OF ACTION " . " Karmanye vaadhikaraste, ma phaleshu kadchan " PARDON ME IF I AM WRONG B.Sathyanarayan PRIOR POSTING Shree Hari Ram Ram In English Brother Ramji, Your asking the question, and this written response is also happening as per Paramatma's Will. By such acceptance, it will make you contented, that what happened was Paramatma's will, and that which did not happen was our desire (which was apart from Paramatma's will) . That is it ! The work is done, and once again we become engaged in meditating on that Paramatma. Ram Ram Ram Vineet, Sarvottam IN HINDI Bhaiyyaa Ramji, Aapkaa prashna poochnaa aur yeh utter likhnaa bhi usee Paramaatmaaki icchaa (sweekruti) ke anusaar ho rahaa hai. Isse aise sweekaar karnaa aapko santushta karegaa ki jo huaa wah toh thi Paramaatmaa ki icchaa aur jo kuch bhi nahin huaa wah thi humaari (Paramaatmaatmaa se alag) icchaa. Bas kaam ban gayaa aur lag gaye usi Paramaatmaa ke dhyaan mein. Ram Ram Ram. Vineet, Sarvottam ------------------------------- Jai Hanuman Pratap Bhaiyya! Read again your first sentence ! Frankly I did not read afterwards! There is no question of there being any doubt whatsoever in a person " not having a free will/independence in performing an action " ! One always has a free will there !! Come what may !!! Similarly there is no question or doubt of there " being any kind of free will or independence in the results of an action " made by a person - come what may !! Efforts/performance is always in your hands. Results is always beyond your hands ! There are subtle principles Jee - in the above laws , too !! They appear juxtaposing but in reality they indeed are crystal clear! I can also argue that the results ultimately are chosen/ determined by the " doer " ! Come on !! That also is equally true - but in long term and in reality ! How incomprehensible and contradictory that reality appears ? But still true !! Truth prevails in whatever way you see that, from whatever angle you perceive that, in whichever position you are positioned !! Afterall it is truth ! Pratap Bhaiyya !! I am also aware of the fact that " karmanusarini buddhih " ( Intellect changes as per prior deeds) - but Dear Brother, I also know that " Purushartha " (capacity of humans to do karmas- free will / independence ) prevails over waves of " sphuranas " ( thoughts arising due to prior deeds- Prarabdha )caused by altered intellect due to past karmas , Jee ! All said and done- " Anhonee hoti nahin, honi hai so hoi " ( What is not to 'happen' shall not, what is to 'happen' shall ) - at the same time - in 'doing' you always remain free/independent ! That is law !! Namaste Jee Jee Jee Shashikala -------------------------------- ------------------------------- PRIOR POSTING Hari Om Not a leaf " moves " is the result. Sure! It is in God's hands only. What is stated is that " not a leaf moves " . It is not stated that " no effort to move a leaf " is possible by a human being. Question of free will arises in making efforts - not in results thereof. Hence you can always make an effort to move the leaf. You are independent in that. After you do your karma say to " move the leaf " , whether the leaf moves or not is not in your hands. As simple as that! " Karmanye vaadhikaraste, ma phaleshu kadchan " - you are entitled to make efforts, you have no role to play in consequential results ! Jai Shree Krishna Vyas N B ------------------------------- Priy pratap ji you let or dont let BUT Thy will be done. thats for sure. Raja Gurdasani ------------------------------- namasthe all, Everything happens (eacha nd every small and minute action, whatever it may be), only with the GRACE/POWER/DIVINITY of that SUPREME divinity. Regards, Bharathi -------------------------------- PRIOR POSTING Dear Sadhakas, Namaste! Man or woman is not independent in performing actions as long as one takes oneself to be body identified person. This body identification provides a stage to function in the world-stage for playing one's roles to serve. Unfortunately this identification provides plateform on which " individuality " in terms of desires, fears, likes/dislikes constitute subtle body-mind-stuff, which takes control of his/her life. This is what he/she calls " I " or " me " , and thus 'mineness " is born. ( " Mineness " is born only after " me " is born first). When one such a one acts, it is only this " me " , disguised as desires/fears really act, and always attempts to protect " imagined him/her " or what is perceived to be of his/hers. So there is no independent actions out of such a one, always reacting to situations in self-defense not knowing his true SELF-Atman-true independence to act. When one acquires the knowledge of one's true Self, through whatever means prescribed in Gita or other Scriptures, one is aware of " me " in its true colors just as it arises and stays away from acting to protect it. There is a total freedom to act out of That which we truly are, Love, Compassion ourselves in the abscense of " me " ! Actions are then seen as coming from Totality of Being and not personal. Such a one can truly say " Let Thy Will be done " as Jesus said. When a leaf moves, it is God's will through nature, and when we act, it is God as our Will acts, whatever be the act! Namaskar........ Pratap Bhatt What we are today is the result of our past karmas. What we will become in our next birth will be the result of our present karmas. The goal of every soul is to become one with God ultimately, that is for the atma to become one with Parmatma. This is called attaining moksh or liberation from the endless and painful cycle of birth and death. Since everything in this world is an illusion, it is upto us to first connect with our soul through meditation and through good karmas, then to attain moksh from 8.4 million births. So we do have a choice. Not everything is pre-ordained. Hari Shanker Deo Dear Sadhaks, It is true that nothing moves without HIS will. But Bhagavan has created and designed the whole creation that nothing goes missing without HIS knowledge is the meaning. This is very large subject to go in detail. But an example can be given. Human has 5 pranas, governed by 5 boothas and 5 layers Auras (which can be photographed by Kerlion Camara). So any smallest Thought or action or both are independent to humans. Every action or thought is recorded by the one`s own Aura resulting in cause and effect. The action done by body is called Kayaka Karma. Finding mistake on anything is also wrong Karma as one forgets the Eswara Sarvaboothanam. The thought is called Maanisha Karma. So when one does good or bad it is automatically rewarded. This means the actions does not go unrewarded. This again means that Bhagavan is under knowledge of all. So it means that nothing moves without HIS knowledge. One has to understand that to come to Human form from lower births is with HIS grace. Human is given independence to do Karmas. This independence (By way of intellect) to Human is given by Bhagavan to elevate to Divinity B.Sathyanarayan - GITA TALK GROUP GUIDELINES: 1. Purpose of the group is to help Sadhakas clarify their doubts related to Gitaji shalokas. Therefore, responses which further clarify the understanding of Gitaji, will only be posted. 2. Wherever possible, please quote Gitaji or other scriptures to substantiate your response. 3. Kindly limit personal feelings, opinions, beliefs etc. to the extent that they further help in understanding the Gita shlokas 4. Please be as concise and to the point as possible, respecting sadhaka's time. 5. Kindly focus your writing to the subject at hand only. 6. Please do not include links to the other sites or other organizations. 7. Kindly do not include your personal information such as phone number, address etc. 8. Please do not address the response to a particular individual since the message is going to the entire group. 9. Due to the large readership, all responses may not be posted. 10. Moderator at his discretion, may modify the posting, if content is unclear or not appropriate for distribution to the group. 11. Please respond taking into consideration the novices, youth, westerners, non-sectarian audience. Kindly limit the use to Sanskrit words only, rather provide the English word with Sanskrit bracketed wherever possible. MODERATOR Ram Ram ------------------------ Post message: Subscribe: - Un: - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 13, 2008 Report Share Posted November 13, 2008 Narayana Narayana In English It is said that not a leaf can move without Bhagwaan's will (wishes), then how is man independent in performing actions? Ramchandra In Hindi Bhagwan ki marji ke bina pataa bhi nahin hiltaa, phir manushya karam karne mein kaise swatantra hai? Ramchandra NEW POSTING Hare Krishna Dear Avasaji, Whatever you have said I was not able to understand because of my layman English. Can you or someone else please explain it? After reading Sir Vyasji's comments I am curious to know what you have written. Please forgive me for asking you to make extra effort. Thanks, Varun P. Paprunia Dear Sadhaks, We can use knife to cut fruit or to cut ourselves. Choice is our. This is where we are independent. After Arjuna hearing Geetha temporarly dependent. But at time when Abhimanyu died, he wanted to kill himself in fire. On the last day after war When Arjuna was asked to get down from chariot first, Arjuna questions Bhagavan Why. Faith on Bhagavan or BG momentarily lost. Duryodana was Independent, lost whole family. Pandavas were dependent on Sri Krishna, whole family saved. We can learn to use this knife called Buddhi to cut 6 Bad Gunas, depending on Bagavan, (No independance). When Manas and Budhi merges, one`s face turns to glory (Saanidyam) where smile (Not laughter) can be seen always as Bhagavan seats within one. Independence are being used by so many Duryodhnas of Today. But discarding independence, curtailing sensual pleasures, avoiding to worldliness, depending on Satsang, Guru and ultimately on Bagavan, gives us permanent Independence of liberating from again being born to this earth (Karma boomi). Jai Sri Krishna baiya sathyanarayan PRIOR POSTING Dears lots of loves and best wishes. there is no doubt that nothing happens without the will of God. But this rule applies to a person who has reached to that state of this understanding through self introspection and spiritual practices. for a person of bookish knowledge the sense of me and mine is highly dominating. therefore it is for such men that scriptures speak of free will so that they with the help of discrimination and practice know and establish themselves in this firm knowledge of the doership of God in every sphere of this cosmic drama. then these type of doubts and questions do not disturb the sadhak. C. K. Kaul Dear Sadhak, Not a single leaf can move without His Will, true but this is also true that He Himself has given us (so called jeevatma) freedom to " choose " " the way " we perform our actions. Krishna says- You have right to perform your duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty. Gitaji ch 2:47 And in Chapter 18 - He says - If you do not act according to My direction and do not fight, then you will be falsely directed. By your nature, you will have to be engaged in warfare. Ch 18:59 Under illusion you are now declining to act according to My direction. But, compelled by your own nature, you will act all the same, O son of Kunti. Ch 18:60 This means if We do not choose our karma according to our dharma or as instructed by Lord Himself then still we will perform same karma due to our ignorant nature, and those karma will surely bind us. So to me we are not " independent " in performing the actions but we are surely independent in bringing the conscious presence in whatever we do, means we are independent in choosing " How to " perform the actions so the Karma(actions) become akarma (Non- action). Gitaji ch 4:17-24 God explains what is karma/akarama and vikarma. with lots of love, a sadhika Sadhna Karigar Hari Om Oh! What a divine shape this satsanga is taking every day! My respectful and hearty compliments to Adrien Meyers for sharing with sadhaks genius, unbelievably lucid, and truth itself in its finest form. There cannot be any doubt in what you have stated. Each statement can be independently and jointly certified through the references of Holy Gita, statements of Param Shraddheya Swamiji Shri Ramsukhdasji Maharaj, all holy scriptures of Sanatan Dharma- I am certain about this. Yours is the finest statement which I have ever read on such a tricky subject. I bow to you in respect. I request you to consider in the interest of all of us, to participate frequently or at least sum up the deliberations on each question. So Brother Mike ! Divine is indeed at play. !! Jai Shree Krishna Vyas N B ------------------------------- - PRIOR POSTING -Shree Hari- A few points have come up recently: Vyasji, I too have considered for quite some time now, that there is space for affectively an infinite number of universes within the domain of what is referred to as existence. Adrian, there are experiential insights to what is often called reality, everything a person considers to be a fact can be cast asunder, the very paradigm that a jiva finds to be true, through all its existences, can suddenly be found to be of no value. To borrow from Bede Griffiths, one finds, 'A New vision of Reality'. Now the point is, one Lives this new reality, now if one Lives this new reality, then one understands that this New Vision is transitory. Thus the deeper, (for want of a better expression), 'Reality' takes one, then the more one looks towards 'Fana' (inhalation). In this changed vision of reality, of course one is not an object in time. But one has to Live this reality. (Actually there is nothing els one can do). Thus Adrien I agree in what you are saying, I suppose there is an intellectual understanding, and experiential knowing, step by step, some truly blessed souls a quantum leap. Gitaji 11: You the Primal God, the Ancient Purusha; You are Supreme Refuge of this universe, Knower, the One Thing to be known; Supreme Goal; By You is the whole universe pervaded. (38) The Holy Lord said: Verily, hard indeed it is To behold this great form of Mine Which you have seen. Even the gods Ever long to behold this form. (52) Not by Vedic study, nor by Austerity, nor by gifts, nor By sacrifice can I be seen As on this day you have seen Me. (53) By single-minded devotion I may be known in this true form, Seen in reality, also Entered into, Scorcher of Foes. (54) With Respect and Divine Love, Mike Keenor ------------------------------- One cannot say one is dependent or independent. One is interdependent. Let me explain, in terms of relationships. One is not dependent on one's mother when they are in her womb but interdependent. How? Our soul is temporarily in her body not permanently, we do come out at birth. In the same way our soul is encased in this human body and we are interdependent on mother earth for our sustenance. Our air, food and other needs are provided by the earth. Our physical needs cannot be met without air, water, plants, crops which provide us with rice, vegetables, and ingredients for our herbs and medicine. Where does a higher force or being come into play? Can you for one second exist on earth without air? You will physically die. Definitely you are not independent of the earth. Neither are you dependent on it at a non-physical level. This comes to the idea of a soul. You existed before you entered your mother's womb and you will continue to exist after you exit from your mother earth's womb but not the universe. How? Something that exists does not cease to exist and something that does not exist cannot exist. Our form may change but our essence stays. Something from science. Energy cannot be destroyed but can change from one form into another. Matter is form and energy is formless. Hope this has helped some. Prashanth PRIOR POSTING Man himself is an action, his whole body/mind is action only. How then is it possible in a universe that is One unbroken consciousness for an apparent part to be other than interdependant? IT IS NOT! Man has no free will, all his actions are done by the Whole. Once it is seen (by no-one) that there is no inner being within the form, nobody, then all actions are seen to be just ripples arising from the stillness of Being. Your very question is an action of the Whole as is this reply for there is only One. In Love Avasa (Adrien Meyer) -------------------------------- You. The manifestation that is called Life is an unavoidable experience once the birth of the form has taken place. This experience in itself is neither good nor bad, it is simply experience. Within this experience there arises the idea that there is an experiencer of this and the judgement of events gets then categorised as negative and positive. What is witnessing all of the experiences is something, which has no something-ness about it, that is neutral. It is out of this neutrality that the play of Life is manifesting. This neutrality is witness to what takes place, including the arising of judgment, to this one all is simply arising. This one is all that there actually is, the One manifesting as the apparent many. Right now in this very moment and in every moment what is witnessing the play of life and all the reactions and responses to it is this neutrality that is the source of all that appears. It is this that is experiencing its own creation right now as the one that you imagine yourself to be, a separate individual being. You are not what you imagine yourself to be, what you actually are can never be put into the framework of the imagination for you have no image, you are void. What you are is what IS when the activity of the mind ceases to draw images upon what you are. You are not a thing, you are the absence of thing-ness, you are no-thing-ness. This that you actually are is also what all is. All form is the manifestation of this no-thing-ness and through this manifestation this no-thing-ness experiences Life. This is the Truth of you, this is what is actually factually true. You are not an object of time as you have been supposing but the subject of all objectivity. Right now this is true of you, it has and is and always will be true of you for Truth never changes. You are the Source itself manifesting as all that is and experiencing your manifestation. This cannot be attained because it is what you already are. This is not in a becoming process for it is always utterly complete. This cannot be reached for it is not elsewhere, neither in time nor in space. This cannot be experienced for as this you are the subject of all experiences, a non-experience in yourself. There is therefore nothing that needs to be done to get to this, it is simply what IS. It is all that IS. Right now this is the fact of what you are and whether the seeing of this is happening or not does not in any way change the fact of what you are. The body is your creation, right now, the arising of the thoughts and feeling that make up the play of the mind are your creation, right now, and the manifestation of what appears to be a world 'out there' is the reflection of this, right now. All that is appearing is appearing within this presence that knows of its appearance, this presence is what you are and as this you are unborn, therefore undying, the eternal itself. You go nowhere for you are the now of here, you are being, simply Being. Being this with you always, Love Avasa. (Adrien Meyer) ------------------------------- Jai Hanuman I would not have given my views had I too perceived the discussion purpose to be below as perceived by some : " Purpose here is to see free-will of a person versus Total Freedom when limitations vanish! " No ! As I understood the question of Ramji (so did the questioner himself ) - there the purpose is free will/independence of karma and control of a human being over the same vis a vis the results meted out by 'divine will' to him ! Free will has nothing to do with 'liberation' or 'freedom' or 'emancipation'. Even liberated souls are free to do karmas and Gita suggests karma for them. Even God does karma and so does a bonded soul. In doing karma/efforts all human beings have free will irrespective of their present status . In results only 'divine will' operates irrespective of their present status ! Vasudevah Sarvam referred by some is a different principle altogether. Consider the below quote made by some : IF Vasudevah Sarvam is true, then we cannot be Vasudeva as individual person with limited free-will is what I meant to share. Again I must disagree with above statement Jee ! Whether you are " individual person with limited free will " or you are an otherwise person or you are a 'person' in whatever way you perceive that, whether you are 'programmed' or otherwise - Vasudevah Sarvam is still true irrespective of the above or any perceivable distinctions of any sort. The very concept of Vasudevah Sarvam is that " He is real as well as unreal " - 'sadsachaham Arjun " (BG 9:19). Nothing escapes that. No distinctions or divisions impact that ! " Sarvam " means " sarvam " !! No state however gross or subtle it may be, however real or unreal it may be, however disllusioned or clear it may be, however liberated or bound it may be- no state can ever be beyond " Vasudevah " ! In any case how that state is reached by a human, is certainly beyond the scope of this question. If following statement is true then what I have stated herein above and before is also true. " Individual jeeva has no reality apart from Ishwara! " Sure Truth prevails and it prevails as under : Since Ishwara has free will hence Jeeva being fragment of Him, must always have the same. If one goes deeper then he finds out that in long run and in reality, in results ( " effect " ) too you have freedom, because you had freedom in karma ( " cause " ). You choose the results invariably when you choose to act. This is really deep dive. God metes out " results' to us of our own karmas only and that of no body else. By that yardstick- you enjoy free will both in efforts and in results. " Freedom " is natural and automatic, our birth right. " Bondage " is artificial and created, falsely perceived. Beneath there is " freedom " not " limitations or bondage " ! Freedom hence prevails everywhere in the basis/roots ! Freedom is automatic. Freedom is programmed. As simple as that Jee ! Jee Jee Shashikala Dear Sadaks, Sri Pratapji statement is stricking SAT. King Janaka once had a dream that he was a begger on streets. He announced to all saints to clarify that, " Whether he begger dreaming as a king OR whether he king dreaming as a begger " . No one could clarify this. Then came an eight-fold deformed saint and said to the king that both are not Sat. This is in detail in Asthavakra Geetha which nearly means Sri Pratabji statement. One is independant to say there is NO God. But that does not mean the statement is accepted by the listeners at large. Besides the listeners think that he is shouting of something that has NO meaning. So such independent statement becomes Nil value. But if someone says GOD is benevalent. This is accepted at large, and that independence has value. B.Sathyanarayan PRIOR POSTING Dear Sadhakas, Namaste! I also want to offer my appreciation for B. Sathyanarainji for bringing timely messages of all Great Realized Sages. One such sage is Ramana Maharshi, spiritual giant! His Quote is relevant in this context of independence/free-will satsang! " There is neither creation, nor destruction, Neither Destiny, nor Free-will; Neither path, nor acheivement; This is the final truth! " And is consistent with Gita's teaching between the lines! Namaskar...........Pratap Bhatt -- Independent will action etc is more wishful thinking, your actions are governed by you brain biochemistry and that by your genes. independence in action is something which has to be gained through realisation of the self. it is a right to be earned as buddhahood, anyway think about it as a model. Ravi Bakhsi Hari Om Very right you are Dear Mike .You are not only right but accurate and 'divine' too ! I will tell you how! I doubt if you had with you Swamiji's Sadhak Sanjeevani when you wrote your last note. You used the words 'atomic particles' , 'supreme intelligence' and 'divine will' while reflecting upon BG 10:42! Even Swamiji in his purport to the same verse explained using the same theme ! That is satsanga. That is wave length to which one gets tuned in Satsanga ! That is how 'divine' pervades the universe. Swamiji said in His purport that in one part/fragment/particle of God entire universe is held. Inspite of there being uncountable and endless universes existing in His that small particle still that is not full, there is still space for endless more universes. Just as- a very small part of nature is our 'intelligence' , but inspite of there being knowledge of many languages, syllables, arts etc we can't say that there is no space left now more knowledge, more languages, more syllables etc in the 'intelligence'. There is always space left in the intellect for more knowledge. When a small part of nature can be so limitless and still spacious, then how limitless shall be the 'supreme divine intelligence' , the small particle of God Himself who is 'beyond' nature, supreme, transcendental, endless, limitless, and bottomless Himself. There in that 'supreme divine intelligence' , space for more universes is specially vacant. That fragment is still empty. Note also Brother that till BG 10:41, Paramatma was answering Arjuna's specific questions. Here in 18:42, Krishna Himself of His own accord and. ' divine will ' is telling Arjuna that once you look at Me , nothing will remain to be looked at. Why Arjuna should any more be interested in knowing more 'vibhutis' of Him? Here Krishna is giving the 'essence/juice/nectar " of an answer to Arjuna's question- after giving detailed reply to his question upto 18:41 ! By the way the following is translation of BG 18:42 in Swamiji's Sadhak Sanjeevani treatise on BG: Link: Having answered Arjuna's question, in the next verse, the Lord Himself reveals an important fact. " Or what need is there, for you O Arjuna, of detailed knowledge? I stand supporting the entire universe, with a single fragment, of Myself " Jai Shree Krishna Vyas N B Dear Sadhakas, Namaste! I respect views expressed here on " my " (?) observations on Free- will/Independence/Freedom. As I take it, this satsang is about sharing our understanding by putting it on the table what we have understood, to be examined by us all. I don't insist on saying this is the only truth! Or we may be saying same thing in our different words! As I see, Understanding/Truth alone acts, not an individual! I had similar observations about person having free-will, independence, choice. I was led to think deeply what lies behind those words we use everyday. As a limited body-mind identified person, we have limited free-will, which is different than Freedom I(?) am referring to here. Freedom is Total freedom from bondage of a false sense of " me " , the person. Limited free-will is not a free-will as I understand. To be able to do whatever we like is not a freedom we are talking about here, I suppose. Choices may suggest confusion versus clarity. Clarity comes from Totality! Some can say limited free-will is still free-will, I don't. Purpose here is to see free-will of a person versus Total Freedom when limitations vanish! " Person " is perceived object and is limited as such, while " we " are All Perceiving Consciousness, Impersonal! Sure, there is first and foremost, and always available free-will or freedom to Realize we are not such a limited person afterall! If not exercised, obviously we continue to live from limitations of pairs of opposites, makeup of " a person " . As a matter of fact, we are never ever " bound " ! If we are not free, we remain as if programmed entity, always choosing what we think is good for " us " regardless of so called " others " . We are not doomed to remain as such as interpreted by some. To see the falsehood and step out of such a " person(limitations) " to take true stand as Atman is the purpose of Human life. IF Vasudevah Sarvam is true, then we cannot be Vasudeva as individual person with limited free-will is what I meant to share. Swamiji says " All are ONE, and ONE is all " . Even when I act as seemingly individual, only God or total intelligence acts! I have to knowingly act as such! We only have right over actions, but independence in acting is limited, if remain limited! To me, as Jesus says, Will is always God's Will, never " mine " , because there is no " I " , the individual except in ignorance, or dream from which we need to wake up! Individual jeeva has no reality apart from Ishwara! If Jeeva is enlightened, Jeevahood is merged in Ishwara. In Yagna of True knowledge, Devotion, and Selfless karmas, individuality is the sacred offering! Namaskar............Pratap Bhatt ------------------------------- PRIOR POSTING -Shree Hari- Vyasji I am so glad that you mentioned B Sathyanarainji, I always read his comments to the best of my abilities, and realise there is wise council in his revelations. Even though we may be at the oposite ends of the divine rainbow, we are linked by this sacred Satsang. Sathyanarainji you have my greatest respect, I bow to you. Paramatma is; in all down to the smallest sub atomic particle,(and beyond that), in 'The Supreme', is, as it were the 'Supreme Intelligence', the 'Divine Will' holds all in existence. If a leaf trembles in the wind, it is free to do so, if a person does good or bad he/she is free to do so,(not withstanding Karma). Remember good, bad, are opposites that exist in the illusion of duality. In Gitaji 10: Of what value is it for you To know all this, O Arjuna? I ever support this whole world By just one portion of Myself. (42) To me B.G. 10 as a whole is worth a read I believe when dealing with this subject. With Respect and Divine Love, Mike Keenor ------------------------------- Jai Shri Krishna, Pratapji may please note that ONLY in human life a person has privilege of " Free will " . Human life is adored by Scriptures because of that only. Use your " conscience " , change your path ! If human life is " programmed " then what makes this life superior to animals or Devatas? Is God that cruel ? God or Shiva referred by you did not make the players in this Lila - dependent/helpless ! In order to " play " , a " player " must have independence! You have free will / independence always, at all times in human life, upto the last breath. Human life is the greatest form of life- undoubtedly ! If in this life, one presumes that one is " programmed " - then in which life he will get " unprogrammed " ? Narayan Narayan Rajendra J Bohra Jai Hanuman Ok Pratap Bhaiyya ! Now I have read it fully Jee ! Twice, Jee !! But what is the theme ? Why did you lose independence? Why did you get bound? Why other person is not as accurately and precisely bound by the same " programmed action " ? Who fell into the well of desires, me/mine notion? How? Exercise of " free will " , misutilisation thereof !! I quote you only here Pratapji : " All actions, ordinarily, are decided/driven by desires/fears, likes/dislike(raagas/dwesha), pleasurable/painful experiences of the past memories. " Now tell me - desires/fears/likes/dislikes of whom? Could you not have chosen to be otherwise? Yes !! Can't you even today choose not to be swayed by them? Yes !! You have free will even when you are completely in " bondage " state. Else how a sinner most person like Valmiki/Angulimaal became Dharmatma? What is sanctity of Gita 9:31? Free will !! Correct choice !! That choice is action !! Let us Read again what you wrote: " And unfortunately, the person thinks " he " is acting as if " me-doer " is different than " his " (assumed only) desires or fears or likes/dislikes! Isn't this strange, come to think of it? Is there such a thing as Person with free-will, if this is his story? " Is thinking or not thinking that " me/doer " is different or same or whatever, not arising out of " free will " ? Do not you have choice/option there ?? Tell me categorically what prevents you from applying conscience and changing your perception? Free will is still there with you! Bondage lies in mind only. Change the mind ! Who prevents? There after you stated : " It is as if he/she is programmed by such conditioning which controls his/her entire life. Where is the freedom to act in such a programmed person? Person itself is fictitious entity and so is the free-will of such a person. Funny argument, isn't it- Pratap Bhaiyya ? Why did he fall into that shape at first place? Misutilisation of free will ! Has he/she referred by you become optionless now? No ! No !! If he/she is programmed, doesn't that mean he/she can't realise God, or change for better? Gone for ever ! Worse than even an animal ! No, it can't be so ! Rather it is certainly not so !! Is every human being is exactly what is described here ? No! No !! Difference in degree/intensity/circumstances/positioning/ etc between two individuals is due to what ? Exercise of that free will !! Your statements convert great human birth into a slave birth, programmed by God as punishment !! Wrong! Wrong ! You went on to state : In another context, I can say that person has just one free-will, and that is that he/she can choose to remain body-mind identified individual or be Atman(by knowing/surrendering). If he/she doesn't exercise this one freedom given to all, then that is the last freedom he had, and he remains bound essentially! So in stroke, you concluded that " this one is the last freedom he had and he remains bound essentially " !! Very Good Jee ! Now where is need for Saints and Sages/Gitaji? Where is any scope left for him/her to make amends? Free will destroyed for ever!! He/she is gone for ever, Jee !! Isn't it? Now there are no options available !! Human birth got wasted long back! Now cry and live as a puppet! Animals then become far better than humans !! Isn't that the conclusion? No I don't agree with you, once again , Pratap Bhaiyya ! You have " free will " alive in you at all times, in all places, in all circumstances, so long as you are in human body !! Even in most " bondaged state " - you have " free will " in you- ready for use !! You can make amends anytime during the course of human life ! Come On , Pratap Bhaiyya !! Human birth is sought even by Demi Gods! Why ? Free Will available at all times, Jee ! Isn't it ?? Please also note Pratap Bhaiyya- Both Karma Yoga and Jnana Yoga are only practiced by a human being by remaining identified with body/mind etc. Realisation comes later on. Free will remains always- at the beginning, in the middle and in the end. Human life is " karma yoni " ! There is a provision of conversion of " karmas " into " akarmas " ( Karma yoga) not cessation of karmas. There is provision of " assuming non doership " (Jnana Yoga) not cessation of doing. There is provision of surrendering/offerring whatever you do to God ( Bhakti Yoga- " yatkaroshi " BG 9:26) and not " na-karoshi " - not doing. " Not doing " is impossible in human birth. However, " Assumptions " / " Acceptances " of all sorts viz " I am doer " , " I am not doer " , " I am of God " , " I am of world " etc are possible. Those assumptions are examples again of FREE WILL available to Self. Hope you are crystal clear now. Namaste Jee Jee Jee Shashikala -------------------------------- ------------------------------ PRIOR POSTING Hari Om One can't cease to admire the talent accumulated in this GT Group. Indeed it is a divine group. How humble are real Satsangis !! One such humble Satsangi is B Sathyanarainji. In every posting of him, you will find history, names and references of great souls !! He invariably remembers realised souls, great characters of past, great events stated in our Holy Scriptures !. No Sir. You can never be wrong ! Jai Shree Krishna Vyas N B ------------------------------- The following may kindly be added to the response given by Sadak Vyas N B " After you do your karma say to " move the leaf " , whether the leaf moves or not is not in your hands. " + and very interestingly no sincere and honest effort goes waste. The leaf moves. For more, one needs to understand " Who am I " by self enquiry...... Best wishes... Sushil Jain ------------------------------- Dear Sadhakas, Namaste! This refers to Shashikalaji's observations on my previous post. With all respects, I may point out that I wish, Shashikalaji, you had read entire post, instead of stopping after the first sentence as you say you did. If asked what does " person " who is supposed to have free-will mean, what would be the answer? For me, it means a sense of " I-me " rooted in desires, fears, and likes/dislikes. This sense of " I-me " becomes so strong in the absence of questioning, " it " becomes person himself/herself. " It " (insentient) becomes " me " , so to speak. This " I " is the superimposed sense on Reality of Being(Is-ness as Swamiji calls). All actions, ordinarily, are decided/driven by desires/fears, likes/dislike(raagas/dwesha), pleasurable/painful experiences of the past memories. And unfortunately, the person thinks " he " is acting as if " me-doer " is different than " his " (assumed only) desires or fears or likes/dislikes! Isn't this strange, come to think of it? Is there such a thing as Person with free-will, if this is his story? It is as if he/she is programmed by such conditioning which controls his/her entire life. Where is the freedom to act in such a programmed person? Person itself is fictitious entity and so is the free-will of such a person. (please see this crucial point, that which acts is conditioning, not a person entity, then it is easy to see no free-will in conditioning). Even when he pretends to have free-will it is only out of knowns, sum total of conditioning, karmas, called mind or ignorance-Jeeva or subtle/causal body. Free-will is limited in scope, whereas Freedom/Independence we are talking here, is Freedom from conditioning/karmas, freedom even from demand for freedom. (If Shiva wants play jeeva, who can stop?) So even when he decides to act differently in the name of purushartha to overpower karmas, the actions are still based on different sets of knowns (this is the extent of his free-will). All Knowns being limited, it cannot bring freedom that comes from taking true stand as Atman! Thus, as I understand, either through self-knowledge, or through self-surrender or selfless karmas, person(doership-Karta) disappears into Atman-Consciousness which IS all Impersonal Intelligence(not personal intellect), divine intimation(conscience) speaks to an apparant " person " as His instrument to act for greater good. This is what Arjuna did. OF course, no body can deny that result of action is what it would be according to many variables, only one of which is this supposed person with free-will. In " karmanyevadikaraste " verse of Gita, my understanding is that person has choice in acting only, not on the result. But the acts that come from him/her is not necessarily from freedom, unless one takes stand as Atman! No one can remain without doing karma(Gita) suggests that " personal " freedom is not given because it may be in conflict with Divine Will. In another context, I can say that person has just one free-will, and that is that he/she can choose to remain body-mind identified individual or be Atman(by knowing/surrendering). If he/she doesn't exercise this one freedom given to all, then that is the last freedom he had, and he remains bound essentially! Thus, as I understand, it is better to act as if God as Will in " me " is acting through " me " , the instrument. THEN, all actions are going to be Divine and can never be evil even if they seem like evil (mahabharat war). Try this perspective, and see what happens! Namaskar...............Pratap JAI SITARAMJIKI. No doubt not even a leaf moves without God's will; In a billionth of a second the whole universe, each atom, is being destroyed and remade. When I started writing and at this moment now I am not the same person, just like you cannot take a second dip in the same water of a river; it is always a new water which has come along. I, each atom of me, has been destroyed and remade. This is how the universe is working which gives each one of us a chance to inject our karma, whether good or bad, but then do not forget that we have accumulated so much of the past karma in our millions of previous births (we are carrying a heavy load of our past karma) that that tendency or sanskars motivate us to decide whether we act for the good of all, or selfishly for our own good only; and therefore we ourselves are the only one responsible for whatever we do or do not do. If you pray hard enough and do NAAM JAP all the time, and surrender your will to God, God will help you to make only the right decisions henceforth thus changing your destiny for the better. BHAJ RE MANA SITARAM SITARAM SITARAM. Sher Agrawal Dear Sadaks, Many desires are full filled in practical life and many remain unfull filled. The root for desire is our own Prarabdha Karma. What one desires other hates- How? Karma. The thoughts of desires arises from within designed by Bagavan. It is we feel by Maya that unfulfilled or fulfilled. B.Sathyanarayan How is Man independent in performing actions ? It depends on our perception – our beleifs – of what is action and what is man. Any change in matter-energy patterns perpetuated through one's body, mind and senses is normally conceived as action. Generally speaking, an idividual calling himself man believes to be independent in performing several actions because he knows how he depends on many for the actualising the same. In other words, independence is claimed only with the dependence in the background. Any action perceived is a conjugation between an individual and its environment. The individual, the environment, as well as the medium of interaction between the two are equal particpants in any perceived action. I can't call any of these as even partners because I do not think any of these are independently or collectively capable of precipitating an action on their own. All the actions perceived are fragments of images of the monolithic Action Supreme as sensed by the cognitive cluster of senses the individual is blessed with. The perception is apparently in individual's hand and hence one often utters that a man (and a woman, an animal, a plant, and anything as such) is independent to perceive … incapable of distingushing a perception from an action, one may try to claim an indepednece of performing action as well. Truly speaking, even perception examined carefully reveals the fact that so many elements of one's system are involved even to perceive the thoughts … let alone act upon the physical world. Na hi kashchit kshanamapi jaatu tishthatyakarmakrit | Kaaryate hyavashah karma sarvah prakritijairgunaih || Nothing in this universe is capable of negating The Action and transcend the mode of action. Everything is optionless but to follow the course of action dictated by the individual nature. Bhayadasyaagnistapati bhayaattapati suryah | Bhayaadindrashch vaayushcha Mrityurdhaavati panchamah || Everything, let alone perishable beings like a man, even cosmic forces such as sun, fire, matter, death, and knowledge follow the locus of action with absolute obedience. Karma bramhodbhavam viddhi bramhaakshara samudbhavam | Tasmaatsarvagatam bramha nityam yagnye pratishthitam || The Action is verily rooted in The Absolute being The Invariant as such. The Absolute is inherent in everything through The Action as such being the Invariant in all the variance that could be perceived in this universe. If it all anything is independent only The Action is independent. Probably, man who has identified one with The Action could also be independent in performing actions. But the difficulty here is there is nothing left to act upon in such as state! There is no plurality of actions in such a unified state!! On the other hand, the notion of independence is stemms out of our belief in dependence on the elements of life to conduct our own lives. From spiritual stand point, when every element in this universe is just participating in the action as per its own nature, how can anything depend on anything at all? If we examine carefully, the very notion of dependence becomes a myth. Therefore, the imagination built upon such a myth – independence – is just an illusion. Therefore, the statement " a man is independent of performing actions " does not make sense to me from spiritual perspective wherein the concepts such as independence, performance, plurality of action, etc. disperse into the oblivion once the bliefs that support their legetimacy is rattled with absolute persistence. Respects. Naga Narayana PRIOR POSTING Hari Om I think the following principle brought out by Vineetji must be reconsidered by him for it defies all logics : " that what happened was Paramatma's will, and that which did not happen was our desire (which was apart from Paramatma's will) .That is it! " All happennings are His will . Where is question of any distinction of the type " which did not happen was our desire (which was apart from His will) " ??? How what does not happen is our desire? What can happen which is apart from His will ? Translation from Hindi to English has not contributed to this. Please clarify. Principle as grasped by me from Swamiji and Gitaji is- " In every doing we are independent, in any happenning, we are not independent " That is law. No happenning is capable enough to force a reaction from us. No doing can be forced. Moreover, to say that even asking the question by Sadhak Ramji writing the answer by you is due to divine will is a faulty concept. It snatches away capacity of human being of " karmanye vaadhikaraste " ! God does not like us to attribute our independence of doing karmas too to His divine will. How can He? You can't remain without doing Karma even for a fraction of a second - this means you are responsible for the same. God is not responsible for the same. He only gave us independence. He is a disinterested friend. We reap as we sow ! Even if you are totally " surrendered " soul or even if you are " liberated " - " in doing " you have complete independence so long you live in a human body. Just imagine, if some sadhak stretches this concept a bit further and says " I did this deed , because God willed that " . That deed can be any deed - why not? Jai Shree Krishna Vyas N B - Dear all, Bhagawaan has given us the intellect to discriminate what we should do and what we should desist from doing as being not spiritually good. He has also allowed His Maaya to have its sway on us to see if we heed to the intellect or come under the sway of ignorance. A spiritually oriented man does what is good or Shreyas and desists from the pleasurable or Preyas. Here is man's independance. Also allowing us to do what we choose to is Bhagawaan's will. Jai Shree Krishna! Prof ( Major ) Ramanujam Dear Sadaks, We know that we are single Advaitham (No you and me) as it says " Aham Bramasmi " . You are part of Braman and have the indipencence of thought and action. But you have NO indipendence over death, birth, place of birth, caste, to whom born, whether in rich or poor family, the type of Karma (cart puller, car driver, train driver, house maid, luxurious life, handicapped, beautiful or ugly, one time popper another face of life rich, rich becoming poor ETC ETc). For the action and thought one does one is responsible. Valmiki Rishi was a thief earlier until Sage Nararad told that robbing other will yield sins that affects only him NOT to his family members though they are enjoying the gain from theft. Realization took place and he became Valmiki. Here one can note why Sage Narad chose this perticular thief to impart knowledge though there were 100 of thieves. Karma Pala of earlier birth brings Guru to rescue. " Karmanye vaadhikaraste, ma phaleshu kadchan " - I feel that this means one is indipendant of performing action, but NOT indipendant to decide the fruit of Action. Scripts say that Sri Vishnu is giver of Karma Pala. Kans could have been killed along with other demons. Time factor. Sank is the sound of Warning and Chakra is time factor of Sri Vishnu. Garuda is symbol of speed as Sri Vishnu is sustainer which is required fast enough to keep life going. Bagavan Shiva destructor-- Buffelow is time factor (slow and steady the time and aging takes place without one` s knowledge), small drum on HIS hand is death knell, thrishulam takes the soul from body. Vibhuti (Sacred ashes of Bagavan Shiva) is that one becomes ashes after death. Many do wrong things like murdering, raping, robbing, insulting Etc. This is because of independence given to human. Animals have no intellect and they behave as they are. So animals do not do anything independently (They remain silent even if they are killed and the animal from that herd does not revenge- Like father got killed son revenges) That is why animals raise from lower birth to human level. So I feel that, " HUMAN IS INDEPENDENT OF ACTION BUT NOT INDEPENDENT OF THE FRUITS OF ACTION " . " Karmanye vaadhikaraste, ma phaleshu kadchan " PARDON ME IF I AM WRONG B.Sathyanarayan PRIOR POSTING Shree Hari Ram Ram In English Brother Ramji, Your asking the question, and this written response is also happening as per Paramatma's Will. By such acceptance, it will make you contented, that what happened was Paramatma's will, and that which did not happen was our desire (which was apart from Paramatma's will) . That is it ! The work is done, and once again we become engaged in meditating on that Paramatma. Ram Ram Ram Vineet, Sarvottam IN HINDI Bhaiyyaa Ramji, Aapkaa prashna poochnaa aur yeh utter likhnaa bhi usee Paramaatmaaki icchaa (sweekruti) ke anusaar ho rahaa hai. Isse aise sweekaar karnaa aapko santushta karegaa ki jo huaa wah toh thi Paramaatmaa ki icchaa aur jo kuch bhi nahin huaa wah thi humaari (Paramaatmaatmaa se alag) icchaa. Bas kaam ban gayaa aur lag gaye usi Paramaatmaa ke dhyaan mein. Ram Ram Ram. Vineet, Sarvottam ------------------------------- Jai Hanuman Pratap Bhaiyya! Read again your first sentence ! Frankly I did not read afterwards! There is no question of there being any doubt whatsoever in a person " not having a free will/independence in performing an action " ! One always has a free will there !! Come what may !!! Similarly there is no question or doubt of there " being any kind of free will or independence in the results of an action " made by a person - come what may !! Efforts/performance is always in your hands. Results is always beyond your hands ! There are subtle principles Jee - in the above laws , too !! They appear juxtaposing but in reality they indeed are crystal clear! I can also argue that the results ultimately are chosen/ determined by the " doer " ! Come on !! That also is equally true - but in long term and in reality ! How incomprehensible and contradictory that reality appears ? But still true !! Truth prevails in whatever way you see that, from whatever angle you perceive that, in whichever position you are positioned !! Afterall it is truth ! Pratap Bhaiyya !! I am also aware of the fact that " karmanusarini buddhih " ( Intellect changes as per prior deeds) - but Dear Brother, I also know that " Purushartha " (capacity of humans to do karmas- free will / independence ) prevails over waves of " sphuranas " ( thoughts arising due to prior deeds- Prarabdha )caused by altered intellect due to past karmas , Jee ! All said and done- " Anhonee hoti nahin, honi hai so hoi " ( What is not to 'happen' shall not, what is to 'happen' shall ) - at the same time - in 'doing' you always remain free/independent ! That is law !! Namaste Jee Jee Jee Shashikala -------------------------------- ------------------------------- PRIOR POSTING Hari Om Not a leaf " moves " is the result. Sure! It is in God's hands only. What is stated is that " not a leaf moves " . It is not stated that " no effort to move a leaf " is possible by a human being. Question of free will arises in making efforts - not in results thereof. Hence you can always make an effort to move the leaf. You are independent in that. After you do your karma say to " move the leaf " , whether the leaf moves or not is not in your hands. As simple as that! " Karmanye vaadhikaraste, ma phaleshu kadchan " - you are entitled to make efforts, you have no role to play in consequential results ! Jai Shree Krishna Vyas N B ------------------------------- Priy pratap ji you let or dont let BUT Thy will be done. thats for sure. Raja Gurdasani ------------------------------- namasthe all, Everything happens (eacha nd every small and minute action, whatever it may be), only with the GRACE/POWER/DIVINITY of that SUPREME divinity. Regards, Bharathi -------------------------------- PRIOR POSTING Dear Sadhakas, Namaste! Man or woman is not independent in performing actions as long as one takes oneself to be body identified person. This body identification provides a stage to function in the world-stage for playing one's roles to serve. Unfortunately this identification provides plateform on which " individuality " in terms of desires, fears, likes/dislikes constitute subtle body-mind-stuff, which takes control of his/her life. This is what he/she calls " I " or " me " , and thus 'mineness " is born. ( " Mineness " is born only after " me " is born first). When one such a one acts, it is only this " me " , disguised as desires/fears really act, and always attempts to protect " imagined him/her " or what is perceived to be of his/hers. So there is no independent actions out of such a one, always reacting to situations in self-defense not knowing his true SELF-Atman-true independence to act. When one acquires the knowledge of one's true Self, through whatever means prescribed in Gita or other Scriptures, one is aware of " me " in its true colors just as it arises and stays away from acting to protect it. There is a total freedom to act out of That which we truly are, Love, Compassion ourselves in the abscense of " me " ! Actions are then seen as coming from Totality of Being and not personal. Such a one can truly say " Let Thy Will be done " as Jesus said. When a leaf moves, it is God's will through nature, and when we act, it is God as our Will acts, whatever be the act! Namaskar........ Pratap Bhatt What we are today is the result of our past karmas. What we will become in our next birth will be the result of our present karmas. The goal of every soul is to become one with God ultimately, that is for the atma to become one with Parmatma. This is called attaining moksh or liberation from the endless and painful cycle of birth and death. Since everything in this world is an illusion, it is upto us to first connect with our soul through meditation and through good karmas, then to attain moksh from 8.4 million births. So we do have a choice. Not everything is pre-ordained. Hari Shanker Deo Dear Sadhaks, It is true that nothing moves without HIS will. But Bhagavan has created and designed the whole creation that nothing goes missing without HIS knowledge is the meaning. This is very large subject to go in detail. But an example can be given. Human has 5 pranas, governed by 5 boothas and 5 layers Auras (which can be photographed by Kerlion Camara). So any smallest Thought or action or both are independent to humans. Every action or thought is recorded by the one`s own Aura resulting in cause and effect. The action done by body is called Kayaka Karma. Finding mistake on anything is also wrong Karma as one forgets the Eswara Sarvaboothanam. The thought is called Maanisha Karma. So when one does good or bad it is automatically rewarded. This means the actions does not go unrewarded. This again means that Bhagavan is under knowledge of all. So it means that nothing moves without HIS knowledge. One has to understand that to come to Human form from lower births is with HIS grace. Human is given independence to do Karmas. This independence (By way of intellect) to Human is given by Bhagavan to elevate to Divinity B.Sathyanarayan - GITA TALK GROUP GUIDELINES: 1. Purpose of the group is to help Sadhakas clarify their doubts related to Gitaji shalokas. Therefore, responses which further clarify the understanding of Gitaji, will only be posted. 2. Wherever possible, please quote Gitaji or other scriptures to substantiate your response. 3. Kindly limit personal feelings, opinions, beliefs etc. to the extent that they further help in understanding the Gita shlokas 4. Please be as concise and to the point as possible, respecting sadhaka's time. 5. Kindly focus your writing to the subject at hand only. 6. Please do not include links to the other sites or other organizations. 7. Kindly do not include your personal information such as phone number, address etc. 8. Please do not address the response to a particular individual since the message is going to the entire group. 9. Due to the large readership, all responses may not be posted. 10. Moderator at his discretion, may modify the posting, if content is unclear or not appropriate for distribution to the group. 11. Please respond taking into consideration the novices, youth, westerners, non-sectarian audience. Kindly limit the use to Sanskrit words only, rather provide the English word with Sanskrit bracketed wherever possible. MODERATOR Ram Ram ------------------------ Post message: Subscribe: - Un: - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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