As long as the individuality lasts, so long is there free will

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The Teachings of BhagavanSri Ramana Maharshiin His Own WordsCHAPTER TWOFROM

THEORY

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PRACTICEActually, however, the question of free will or predestinationdoes not arise at all from the point of view of non-duality. Itis as though a group of people who had never heard of radiowere to stand round a wireless set arguing whether the man inthe box has to sing what the transmitting station tells him toor whether he can change parts of the songs. The answer isthat there is no man in the box and therefore the questiondoes not arise. Similarly, the answer to the question of whetherthe ego has free will or not is that there is no ego and thereforethe question does not arise. Therefore Bhagavan's usualresponse to the question would be to bid the questioner findout who it is that has free will or predestination.Devotee: Has man any free will or is everything in his lifepredetermined?The same question as above, but the answer differs accordingto the needs of the questioner. In fact, if one does not bear inmind what has just been said about the unreality of the ego itseems to be quite contradictory.Bhagavan: Free will exists together with the individuality. As long as theindividuality lasts, so long is there free will. All the scriptures arebased on this fact and advise directing the free will in the right channel.