www.telugubhakti.com Life Lessons from Narayana Murthy - Concluding part

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Dear Mohana Rao Garu,

 

Love and Love alone....

 

Many thanks for your kind words, which have been redirected to HIM with all

love and devotion.

 

To me also, Sri Murthy's words are very important. Yad bhaavam tad bhavati is

an age-old saying of Hindu philosophy. Let me reproduce what Bhagawan Sri Ramana

Maharshi said about pre-determined fate and free will. If you undrestand this, I

am sure, you will appreciate well what Sri Murthy said.

 

Is Everything Ordained?

 

By Devaraja Mudaliar

 

ONE summer afternoon I was sitting opposite Bhagavan in the Old Hall with a fan

in my hand and said to him: " I can understand that the outstanding events in a

man's life, such as his country, nationality, family, career or profession,

marriage, death, etc. are all predestined by his karma, but can it be that all

the details of his life, down to the minutest, have already been determined?

Now, for instance, I put this fan that is in my hand down on the floor here. Can

it be that it was already decided that on such and such a day, at such and a

such an hour, I shall move the fan like this and put it down here? "

 

Bhagavan replied " Certainly. " He continued: " Whatever this body is to do and

whatever experiences it is to pass through was already decided when it came into

existence. "

 

Thereupon I naturally exclaimed: " What becomes then of man's freedom and

responsibility for his actions? "

 

Bhagavan explained: " The only freedom man has is to strive for and acquire the

jnana which will enable him not to identify himself with the body. The body will

go through the actions rendered inevitable by prarabdha (destiny based on the

balance sheet of past lives) and a man is free either to identify himself with

the body and be attached to the fruits of its actions, or to be detached from it

and be a mere witness of its activities. "

 

This may not be acceptable to many learned people or philosophers, but I am

sure I have made no error in transmitting as above the gist of the conversation

that took place between Bhagavan and me. Though this answer of Bhagavan may

upset the apple cart of our careful reasonings and conclusions, I am satisfied

that what Bhagavan said must be the truth.

 

I also recall in this connection the following lines that Bhagavan once quoted

to me from Thayumanavar on another occasion: " This is not to be taught to all.

Even if we tell them, it will only lead to endless discussion. "

 

It may be well to remind readers that Bhagavan has given his classic answer to

the age-old question " Can freewill conquer fate? " as follows in his Forty

Verses. " Such questions worry only those who have not found the source of both

freewill and fate.

 

Those who have found this source have left all such discussions behind. " The

usual reaction of Bhagavan to any such question would be to retort: " Who is it

that has this fate or freewill? Find that out and then this question will not

arise. "

 

= = = =

 

AND THIS ALSO

 

A will is free only so long as it has not acted. Once it acts, then that very

act becomes binding on it. The second time it acts, it does not act as a free

will, but as a " calculating will " , for it carries the experience of the first

act with it. And a calculating will is not a free will, but a limited will. The

very creations or acts of a free will work as limiting factors upon it and guide

it in its future activity. So, the more experiences one has, the more his will

is guided and thus limited. And this is real predestination. There is thus no

antagonism between predestination, fate, karma, and free will. We were free at

one time. We acted, and then our acts became binding upon us. They curtailed our

initial freedom. They now act upon us as unavoidable fate. Since our experiences

have become complex and varied, these experiences now appear in us as joys and

fears, hopes and desires, each of which in its turn moulds or fashions our

reason and intellect. Intellect, reason

and feeling, being what they have been fashioned to be, now determine our

actions and make us choose the predestined course. Thus the acts of one life

determine the framework of the next life. Like farmers, we are now living on the

crop we gathered last, while we are preparing the soil and putting in the seed

of the new crop. Although we must undergo our fate, there being no escape from

it, yet all is not lost if we use the little freedom we have in such a manner as

to lead to our ultimate rescue.

 

I hope, Moohana Rao Garu, the above will satisfactorily and conclusively

answer your questions.

 

Love and Love alone.....

 

P. Gopi Krishna

 

========

 

" J. K. Mohana Rao " <jkmrao wrote:

 

--- Paritala Gopi Krishna

wrote:

 

 

>

> My young friends, I would like to end with some words of advice. Do

> you believe that your future is pre-ordained, and is already set? Or,

> do you believe that your future is yet to be written and that it will

> depend upon the sometimes fortuitous events?

>

> Do you believe that these events can provide turning points to which

> you will respond with your energy and enthusiasm? Do you believe that

> you will learn from these events and that you will reflect on your

> setbacks? Do you believe that you will examine your successes with

> even greater care?

>

I thank SrI gOpIkRshNa for reproducing the article on SrI mUrti.

To me the words above are the most important. While mUrti agrees that

there are chance events that shape lives, he also believes that

the future of an individual is not pre-determined based on some

pUrvajanmasukRta, but on decisions that we take during the course

of our lives and the work we put in. In a way he is also

religious as work is his religion!

 

Regards! - mOhana

 

 

 

 

 

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P. Gopi Krishna

 

 

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