Find out who it is who has free will

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The Teachings of BhagavanSri Ramana Maharshiin His Own WordsCHAPTER TWOFROM

THEORY

TO

PRACTICEIs this really a contradiction of the reply given earlier? No, because,according to Bhagavan's teaching, individuality has only an illusoryexistence. So long as one imagines that one has a separateindividuality, so long does one also imagine its free will. The twoexist together inevitably. The problem of predestination and freewill has always plagued philosophers and theologians and willalways continue to do so, because it is insoluble on the plane ofduality, that is on the supposition of one being who is the Creatorand a lot of other, separate beings who are created. If they havefree will, then he is not omnipotent and omniscient – he doesnot know what will happen, because it depends on what theydecide; and he cannot control all happenings because they havethe power to change them. On the other hand, if he is omniscientand omnipotent he has fore-knowledge of all that will happenand controls everything, and therefore they can have no power ofdecision, that is to say no free will. But on the level of advaita ornon-duality the problem fades out and ceases to exist. In truththe ego has no free will, because there is no ego; but on the levelof apparent reality the ego consists of free will – it is the illusionof free will that creates the illusion of the ego. That is whatBhagavan meant by saying that "as long as the individuality lasts,so long is there free will." The next sentence in his answer turnsthe questioner away from theory to practice.Find out who it is who has free will or predestination andabide in that state. Then both are transcended. That is the onlypurpose in discussing these questions. To whom do suchquestions present themselves? Discover that and be at peace. 1The only path of karma (action), bhakti (devotion), yogaand jnana (knowledge) is to enquire who it is who has the karma,vibhakti (lack of devotion), viyoga (separation) and ajnana(ignorance). Through this investigation, the ego disappears andthe state of abidance in the Self, in which none of these negativequalities ever existed, remains as the Truth. 2As long as a man is the doer he also reaps the fruits of hisdeeds, but as soon as he realises the Self through enquiry as to whothe doer is, his sense of being the doer falls away and the triplekarma (destiny) is ended. This is the state of eternal liberation. 31 Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, 426.2 Supplementary Forty Verses, 14.3 Forty Verses, 38.