A. R. Natarajan - destiny and free will

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HOW FREE ARE WE?

taken fromMEDITATIONSThe Ramana Way,by A. R. NATARAJAN,Published by

Ramana Maharshi Centre for Learning, Bangalore, 2004(originally posted to NamoRamana group by saikali)

 

Free will is implied in the scriptural injunctions to be good. Itimplies overcoming fate. It is done by wisdom. (TALKS 209)Ramana's first scriptural instruction to his mother Azhagammal, wasthat the best course in life would be to accept the flow of karma.It would be futile to take up arms against what is bound to happen.What is not to happen cannot be brought about even by herculeanefforts. This was 1898. Years later, in the 1940s Devaraja Mudaliarrecorded Ramana's categoric statement that not only the major eventsin one's life but also the smallest things are pre-determined. Fromthese statements one might erroneously conclude that Ramana regardeddestiny as irrevocable. If so, it will logically follow that freewill has no place in the shaping of one's life. Such a view would bequite contrary to the teachings of Ramana where we find theimportance of free will being stressed quite often in the context ofdestiny. He would say that destiny and free will co-exist as long asthere is a sense of doer-ship. One transcends them both only whenthrough self-enquiry the feeling of doer-ship ends.Let us have a close look at the exact domain of destiny and the roleof free will in Ramana's teachings. According to Ramana "destinyconcerns only the body".Identified as we are with the body, it is hard to accept the ideathat destiny affects only the body. For the logical implication ofsuch a proposition is that the mind and the body are distinct andseparate.It is therefore necessary to go into this deeply. First we have toask the question "Why has the body come into existence at all?" Thegreat ones do not have a karmic cause for their birth. They come forthe welfare of the world and can retain the body as long as theywish. Ramana told Rangan that Yama would have to wait and take thepermission of a jnani (the Self-realized Sage), and only when ajnani is ready to cast off his body can that event happen. As forthe normal run of men, birth is part of the cosmic law, as a resultof which one goes through the experiences consequent on this ethicalbalance sheet. It is because of this fact we find infant mortality,the death of the young, sudden unforeseen deaths and the lingeringon of the old. Many people often question God's laws and wisdom andchildren and the young die. Since, however, the body has come intoexistence as a result of karma, when that force is exhausted, lifebecomes extinct. We find that the body, linked as it is to aparticular karma, which gave rise to its birth, comes to an end whenthat force is over. The mind may well be at the height of itspowers, the body in perfect health, but its karma being over, deathcannot wait.We can also look at this from another angle. The great ones havedemonstrated in their lives as to how one can completely de-linkoneself from one's own body and remain unaffected by its changes orsufferings. Ramana's body went through intense pain, caused bysarcoma, for over fifteen months. Not one moment did he complain ofit though the pain must have been excruciating. When asked by majorChadwick whether he was suffering, Ramana said "No". But at the sametime, he said "There is pain"-the pain pertained to the body and notto him. Hence his bewitching smile and divine splendor, even on 14thApril 1950 when he chose to give up the body which had been rackedwith intense pain.If the mind and body are distinct and karma refers to the body, onemay ask why is it that the mind too appears to be under its sway.This is only because of its attachments. Because of the pull of thepast it is unable to dis-identify itself from what destiny brings tothe body and is therefore affected by sorrow or joy which karma isyielding. If one learns not to pay attention to the event, if onelearns to be detached from it, then where are destiny's pleasures orpangs? This is quite obviously so, for any event can be blown up orbelittled by the mind. One may go under its weight or meet the eventwith equipoise and calm strength. From this arises the first basicpoint of Ramana that one is free to exercise his will either toidentify himself with the event or to be unconcerned with it. Hisreply to one Mrs. Desai would indicate this clearly. Mrs. Desai,quoting from the Gita, asked Ramana that if one is compelled to dothe work for which he is destined, then, the question of free willcould not arise at all. Ramana explained to her that it is open toeach one to be "free from joys or pains, pleasant or unpleasantconsequences of the work by not identifying oneself with the body".Let the body experience its allotted destiny, but it is up to eachone to be unaffected mentally by it by exercising free will anduntying the bond of attachments.One has, therefore, to develop through spiritual practice to thisstate. Even at the very threshold there is freedom. Free will can beexercised to direct action on the right lines. Were it not so, therewould be no meaning to spiritual injunctions and the code of ethicsenjoined therein. One has to discriminate between good and bad,between what is pleasurable and what is liberating, and chosewisely. To believe that one is a helpless victim of karma is to fallinto the trap of the mind's making. If only we pause to think we canreadily see that it is impossible to be truly passive, to be a mereonlooker of an event-one's own nature will assert itself in one formof action or the other. When the feeling "I am the doer" is aliveand kicking it will leave no room for rest. Exercise of free willand action is inevitable. Free will has to be channeled in pursuitof such action as would purify the mind and enable one to escapealtogether from destiny's shackles.It is necessary here to clear one point. To say that one must give apurposive turn to action should not be taken to mean that success isassured. A dispirited devotee told Ramana that he had come a coupleof years earlier and had cultivated his will power thereafter buthas met with a series of failures in his efforts. Ramana clarifiedthat what will result is only the strength of mind which wouldenable one to react to success or failure with equanimity. He alsomade it clear that "will power should not be taken to be synonymouswith success". For, success or failure is the product of destiny,whereas free will enables one to neutralize it by insulating oneselfwith an attitudinal change of mind.Destiny and free-will: their interplay lasts only so long as onedoes not enquire "who is it that is bound?" and "who is it that isfree?". Through constant vichara, ceaseless enquiry, one ends thisdoer-ship notion. Then both destiny and free will are cut at theirvery root as the person to whom they pertain has lost his separateidentity. What remains is only the Self, ever liberated, always free.