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Free-will vs Pre-determination - poser- 3

From the Bhakti List Archives

jasn sn • August 6, 2002 


SRIMATHE RAMANUJAYA NAMAHA.

And the discussion continues..

The Q-3 raised:- 

# If brahman resides in all things (both chetana and
achetana) and controls
them , how can there be free will?( BG _15-15)
(avanandri voraNuvum asaiyAthu)


The answer given :-

The concept of God being the antaryAmin or the
in-dweller of all things -
animate or inanimate - refers to the relationship
between the individual
souls and the Supreme Being. The Lord's role as a
"Creator-Controller" does
not preclude jIvA's freewill. He is the cause for the
jIvAs/and everything
else. The rules are transparent. How and whether the
jIvAs want to play it
fair is upto them. For the record, the Lord likes
those who play fair and
prefers their company.

The poser:-

Is it free-will of the jiva or the grand –will of the
lord (an euphemism for predetermination)?
Can we afford to ignore the following, picked from Sri
Bhashya
“The two unborn, the intelligent and the
non-intelligent (are) the Lord and the non-Lord” (svet
up.vi 13)
“Another (viz., the Lord) also is seen to be the cause
of their association with the qualities of the ‘works’
(which lead to samsara)and the qualities of the self
(which lead to beatific release)” (svet up. V 12)
“ He is the cause , the Lord of what is the lord of
the senses (i.e., the jiva or the individual
soul)(svet up. Vi 9)

This answers the question who is the doer, the lord or
the jiva.
If lord is the doer, how can the jiva be said to
possess free will?
In the explanation of body-soul relationship, as
explained by ghataka sruti, approved by
Visishtadvaitha –--
When we say Rama, this refers grammatically to 
1. RamaÂ’s body, 
2. 2. RamaÂ’s soul, 
3. 3. RamaÂ’s soulÂ’s soul i.e., Brahman.
When we say Rama does something, who actually does? –
the first case or the 3rd case?

Another way of looking at this:-

Let us just touch upon the dream status as propounded
by Sri Ramanuja. According to him, the dreams that
occur to an individual could only be those that the
Lord wills him to experience through his own psychic
apparatus (of which also He is the lord). The
individualÂ’s capacity being utterly limited, and the
dream –experiences being avowedly far beyond his
awakened and waking capacities, it is necessary to
affirm that the supreme lord alone can grant him such
visions.
The same must hold good for the actions at waking
state too. There is no cause to assume why the lordÂ’s
writ should not run high at the waking stage of the
jiva. If it is said that the writ / will(of the lord)
is applicable only during one stage, say the dream
stage, it does not preclude the existence of a will
only as an extension of the grand-will. For, the jiva
shrouded in the I-ness notion conferred by freewill,
is indeed in a non-waking or dream state and the
awakened jiva would already have been permeated by the
osmotic current of grand-will. 

This is what has been indicted by the lord in BG when
He says why he was necessitated to preach Gita. (BG
4-1&2)

The Gita was an evolutionary necessity because this
doership was forgotten and the lord was required to
remind mankind that it is not the person who does.
This has been said in so many ways as to safe guard
the jiva from the accumulating ‘limitations’ on
account of feigning, nay, believing in the doership.

Jayasree sarnathan

Food for thought :-

“ The disciple asks,” Sir, teach me the saving
knowledge”

The preceptor says, “Austerity, restraint and
dedicated work – these are the foundations of IT – the
saving knowledge of the upanishads. The vedas are its
limbs and Truth is its Abode”
        
                                 -KENOPANISHAD.





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