Lotsa talk about Fate and Free Will: the no-joke solution?

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The Riddle of Fate and Free-Will Solved

 

(A dialogue between His Holiness Shri Chandrashekhara Bharati

 

Mahaswami and a Disciple): [His Holiness was the Sringeri Mathadhipati

 

1912-1954.]

 

 

 

H.H. : I hope you are pursuing your studies in the Vedanta as usual?

 

D. : Though not regularly, I do make some occasional study.

 

H.H. : In the course of your studies, you may have come across many

doubts.

 

D. : Yes, one doubt repeatedly comes up to my mind.

 

H.H. : What is it?

 

D. : It is the problem of the eternal conflict between fate and

free-will.

 

What are their respective provinces and how can the conflict be

 

avoided?

 

H.H. : If presented in the way you have done it, the problem would

baffle

 

even the highest of thinkers.

 

D. : What is wrong with my presentation? I only stated the problem

and

 

did not even explain how I find it to be a difficult one.

 

H.H. : Your difficulty arises in the very statement of the problem.

 

D. : How?

 

H.H. : A conflict arises only if there are two things. There can be no

 

conflict if there is only one thing.

 

D. : But here there are two things, fate and free-will.

 

H.H. : Exacly. It is this assumption of yours that is responsible for

your

 

problem.

 

D. : It is not my assumption at all. How can I ignore the fact that

the

 

two things exist as independent factors, whether I grant their

 

existence or not?

 

H.H. : That is where you are wrong again.

 

D. : How?

 

H.H. : As a follower of our Sanatana Dharma, you must know that fate

is

 

nothing extraneous to yourself, but only the sum total of the

 

results of your past actions.

 

As God is but the dispenser of the fruits of actions, fate,

 

representing those fruits, is not his creation but only yours.

 

Fre-will is what you exercise when you act now.

 

D. : Still I do not see how they are not two distinct things.

 

H.H. : Have it this way. Fate is past karma; free-will is present

karma.

 

Both are really one, that is, karma, though they may differ in

the

 

matter of time. There can be no conflict when they are really

one.

 

D. : But the difference in time is a vital difference which we

cannot

 

possibly overlook.

 

H.H. : I do not want you to overlook it, but only to study it more

deeply.

 

The present is before you and, by the exercise of free-will,

you can

 

attempt to shape it.

 

The past is past and is therefore beyond your vision and is

 

rightly called adrishta, the unseen. You cannot reasonably

attempt

 

to find out the relative strength of two things unless both of

them

 

are before you. But, by our very definition, free-will, the

present

 

karma, alone is before you and fate, the past karma, is

invisible.

 

Even if you see two wrestlers right in front of you, you

cannot

 

decide about their relative strength. For, one may have

weight, the

 

other agility; one muscles and the other tenacity; one the

benefit of

 

practice and the other coolness of judgment and so on. We can

go on

 

building arguments on arguments to conclude that a particular

 

wrestler will be the winner.

 

But experience shows that each of these qualifications

may fail

 

at any time or may prove to be a disqualification. The only

practical

 

method of determining their relative strength will be to make

them

 

wrestle.

 

While this is so, how do you expect to find by means of

 

arguments a solution to the problem of the relative value of

fate

 

and free-will when the former by its very nature is unseen!

 

D. : Is there no way then of solving this problem?

 

H.H. : There is this way. The wrestlers must fight with each other

and prove

 

which of them is the stronger.

 

D. : In other words, the problem of conflict will get solved only

at the

 

end of the conflict. But at that time the problem will have

ceased to

 

have any practical significance.

 

H.H. : Not only so, it will cease to exist.

 

D. : That is, before the conflict begins, the problem is incapable

of

 

solution; and, after the conflict ends, it is no longer

necessary to

 

find a solution.

 

H.H. : Just so. In either case, it is profitless to embark on the

enquiry

 

as to the relative stregth of fate and free-will.

 

 

 

A Guide

 

 

 

D. : Does Yor Holiness then mean to say that we must resign

ourselves to

 

fate?

 

H.H. : Certainly not. On the other hand, you must devote yourself to

free-

 

will.

 

D. : How can that be?

 

H.H. : Fate, as I told you, is the resultant of the past exercise of

your

 

free-will. By exercising your free-will in the past, you

brought on

 

the resultant fate.

 

By exercising your free-will in the present, I want you to

wipe

 

out your past record if it hurts you, or to add to it if you

find it

 

enjoyable.

 

I any case. whether for acquiring more happiness or for

reducing

 

misery. you have to exercise your free-will in the present.

 

D. : But the exercise of free-will however well-directed, very often

 

fails to secure the desired result, as fate steps in and

nullifies

 

the action of free-will.

 

H.H. : You are again ignoring our definition of fate. It is not an

 

extraneous and a new thing which steps in to nullify your free-

will.

 

On the other hand, it is already in yourself.

 

D. : It may be so, but its existence is felt only when it comes into

 

conflict with free-will. How can we possibly wipe out the past

 

record when we do not know nor have the means of knowing what

it is?

 

H.H. : Except to a very few highly advanced souls, the past certainly

 

remains unknown. But even our ignorance of it is very often an

 

advantage to us.

 

For, if we happen to know all the results we have

accumulated

 

by our actions in this and our past lives, we will be so much

 

shocked as to give up in despair any attempt to overcome or

mitigate

 

them. Even in this life, forgetfulnes is a boon which the

merciful

 

God has been pleased to bestow on us, so that we may not be

burdened

 

at any moment with a recollection of all that has happened in

the

 

past.

 

Similarly, the divine spark in us is ever bright with

hope and

 

makes it possible for us to confidently exercise our free-

will. It

 

is not for us to belittle the significance of these two boons--

 

forgetfulness of the past and hope for the future.

 

D. : Our ignorance of the past may be useful in not deterring the

exercise

 

of the free-will, and hope may stimulate that exercise. All the

 

same, it cannot be denied that fate very often does present a

 

formidable obstacle in the way of such exercise.

 

H.H. : It is not quite correct to say that fate places obstacles in

the way

 

of free-will. On the other hand, by seeming to oppose our

efforts,

 

it tells us what is the extent of free-will that is necessary

now to

 

bear fruit.

 

Ordinarily for the purpose of securing a single benefit, a

 

particular activity is prescribed; but we do not know how

 

intensively or how repeatedly that activity has to be pursued

or

 

pesisted in.

 

If we do not succed at the very first attempt, we can

easily

 

deduce that in the past we have exercised our free-will just

in the

 

opposite direction, that the resultant of that past activity

has

 

first to be eliminated and that our present effort must be

 

proportionate to that past activity.

 

Thus, the obstacle which fate seems to offer is just the

gauge

 

by which we have to guide our present activities.

 

H.H. : The obstacle is seen only after the exercise of our free-will;

how

 

can that help us to guide our activities at the start?

 

H.H. : It need not guide us at the start. At the start, you must not

be

 

obsessed at all with the idea that there will be any obstacle

in

 

your way.

 

Start with boundless hope and with the rpesumption that

there

 

is nothing in the way of your exercising the free-will.

 

If you do not succeed, tell yourself then that there has

been

 

in the past a counter-influence brought on by yourself by

exercising

 

your free-will in the other direction and, therefore, you must

now

 

exercise your free-will with re-doubled vogor and persistence

to

 

achieve your object.

 

Tell yourself that, inasmuch as the seeming obstacle is

of your

 

own making, it is certainly within your competence to

overcome it.

 

If you do not succeed even after this renewed effort,

there can

 

be absolutely no justification for despair, for fate being but

a

 

creature of your free-will can never be stronger than your

free-will.

 

Your failure only means that your present exercise of

free-will

 

is not sufficient to counteract the result of the past

exercise of

 

it.

 

In other words, there is no question of a relative

proportion

 

between fate and free-will as distinct factors in life. The

relative

 

proportion is only as between the intensity of our past action

and

 

the intensity of our present action.

 

D. : But even so, the relative intensity can be realised only at

the end

 

of our present effort in a particular direction.

 

H.H. : It is always so in the case of everything which is adrishta or

 

unseen. Take, for example, a nail driven into a wooden pillar.

When

 

you see it for the first time, you actually see, say, an inch

of it

 

projecting out of the pillar. The rest of it has gone into the

wood

 

and you cannot now see what exact length of the nail is

imbedded in

 

the wood. That length, therefore, is unseen or adrishta, so

far as

 

you are concerned. Beautifully varnished as the pillar is, you

do

 

not know what is the composition of the wood in which the nail

is

 

driven. That also is unseen or adrishta.

 

Now, suppose you want to pull that nail out, can you

tell me

 

how many pulls will be necessary and how powerful each pull

has to

 

be?

 

D. : How can I? The number and the intensity of the pulls will

depend

 

upon the length which has gone into the wood.

 

H.H. : Certainly so. And the length which has gone into the wood is

not

 

arbitrary, but depended upon the number of strokes which drove

it in

 

and the intensity of each of such strokes and the resistance

which

 

the wood offered to them.

 

D. : It is so.

 

H.H. : The number and intensity of the pulls needed to take out the

nail

 

depend therefore upon the number and intensity of the strokes

which

 

drove it in.

 

D. : Yes.

 

H.H. : But the strokes that drove in the nail are now unseen and

unseeable.

 

They relate to the past and are adrishta.

 

D. : Yes.

 

H.H. : Do we stop from pulling out the nail simply because we happen

to be

 

ignorant of the length of the nail in the wood or of the

number and

 

intensity of the strokes which drove it in? Or, do we persist

in

 

pulling it out by increasing our effort?

 

D. : Certainly, as practical men we adopt the latter course.

 

H.H. : Adopt the same course in every effort of yours. Exert yourself

as

 

much as you can. Your will must succeed in the end.

 

 

 

Function of Shastras:

 

 

 

D. : But there certainly are many things which are impossible to

attain

 

even after the utmost exertion.

 

H.H. : There you are mistaken. There is nothing which is really

 

unattainable. A thing, however, may be unattainable to us at

the

 

particular stage at which we are, or with the qualifications

that we

 

possess.

 

The attainability or otherwise of a particular thing is

thus

 

not an absolute characteristic of that thing but is relative

and

 

proportionate to our capacity to attain it.

 

D. : The success or failure of an effort can be known definitely

only at

 

the end. How are we then to know beforehand whether with our

 

present capacity we may or may not exert ourselves to attain a

 

particular object, and whether it is the right kind of

exertion for

 

the attainment of that object?

 

H.H. : Your question is certainly a pertinent one. The whole aim of

our

 

Dharma Shastras is to give a detailed answer to your question.

 

Religion does not fetter man's free-will. It leaves him

quite

 

free to act, but tells him at the same time what is good for

him and

 

what is not.

 

The resposibility is entirely and solely his. He cannot escape

it by

 

blaming fate, for fate is of his own making, nor by blaming

God, for

 

he is but the dispenser of fruits in accordance with the

merits of

 

actions. You are the master of your own destiny. It is for you

to

 

make it, to better it or to mar it. This is your privilege.

This is

 

your responsibility.

 

D. : I quite realise this. But often it so happens that I am not

really

 

master of myself. I know, for instance, quite well that a

particular

 

act is wrong; at the same time, I feel impelled to do it.

Similarly,

 

I know that another act is right; at the same time, however, I

feel

 

powerless to do it. It seems that there is some power which is

able

 

to control or defy my free-will. So long as that power is

potent,

 

how can I be called the master of my own destiny? Whatis that

power

 

but fate?

 

H.H. : You are evidently confusing together two distinct things. Fate

is a

 

thing quite different from the other one which you call a

power.

 

Suppose you handle an instrument for the first time. You will

do it

 

very clumsily and with great effort.

 

The next time, however, you use it, you will do so less

 

clumsily and with less effort. With repeated uses, you will

have

 

learnt to use it easily and without any effort. That is, the

facility

 

and ease with which you use a particular thing increase with the

 

number of times you use it.

 

The first time a man steals, he does so with great

effort and

 

much fear; the next time both his effort and fear are much

less. As

 

opportunities increase, stealing will become a normal habit

with him

 

and will require no effort at all. This habit will generate in

him a

 

tendency to steal even when there is no necessity to steal. It

is

 

this tendency which goes by the name vasana. The power which

makes

 

you act as if against your will is only the vasana which itself

is of

 

your own making. This is not fate.

 

The punishment or reward, in the shape of pain or

pleasure,

 

which is the inevitable consequence of an act, good or bad, is

alone

 

the province of fate or destiny.

 

The vasana which the doing of an act leaves behind in

the mind

 

in the shape of a taste, a greater facility or a greater

tendency for

 

doing the same act once again, is quite a different thing. It

may be

 

that the punishment or the reward of the past act is, in

ordinary

 

circumstances, unavoidable, if there is no counter-effort; but

the

 

vasana can be easily handled if only we exercise our free-will

 

correctly.

 

D. : But the number of vasanas or tendencies that rule our hearts

are

 

endless. How can we possibly control them?

 

H.H. : The essential nature of a vasana is to seek expression in

outward

 

acts. This characteristic is common to all vasanas, good and

bad.

 

The stream of vasanas, the vasana sarit, as it is called, has

two

 

currents, the good and the bad.

 

If you try to dam up the entire stream, there mey be

danger.

 

The Shastras, therefore, do not ask you to attempt that. On the

 

other hand, they ask you to submit yourself to be led by the

good

 

vasana current and to resist being led away by the bad vasana

 

current.

 

When you know that a particular vasana is rising up in

your

 

mind, you cannot possibly say that you are at its mercy. You

have

 

your wits about you and the responsibility of deciding whether

you

 

will encourage it or not is entirely yours.

 

The Shastras ennciate in detail what vasanas are good

and

 

have to be encouraged and what vasanas are bad and have to be

 

overcome.

 

When, by dint of practice, you have made all your

vasanas

 

good and practically eliminated the charge of any bad vasanas

 

leading you astray, the Shastras take upon themselves the

function

 

of teaching you how to free your free-will even from the need

of

 

being led by good vasanas.

 

You will gradually be led on to a stage when your free-

will

 

be entirely free from any sort of coloring due to any vasanas.

 

At that stage, your mind will be pure as crystal and all

 

motive for particular action will cease to be. Freedom from the

 

results of particular actions is an inevitable consequence.

Both

 

fate and vasana disappear. There is freedom for ever more and

that

 

freedom is called Moksha.