Free Will….

Are our actions done by our body?
No.
They have got their roots in the mind. The mind produces ideas and desires which prompts us to work.

Fulfilment of our desires occure according to their intensity. You are Raja or Rank  according to the intensity of your desire. 

Lets understand to what extent we are bound and to what extent we are free?

Train is free to move along the rail lines but still it is bound as it cannot run beyond the lines.

Freedom to choose a particular action itself is the cause of our bondage. Because that particular action we choose gives the result for sure which binds us.

We know that no one is sent to jail directly without investigating whether a person has commited a crime under a force by another person or with his own choice/free will. If  the person was not free at the time of commitment of a crime ( pressure by another person or a psychiatric illness preventing him to act as per his will ), he is not entitled for 100% punishment. He is not held fully responsible for his action.
This concept of free will  is beneficial for social harmoney. Because if a person (who is not having mental ailment or is not forced by any other person) does a criminal act, and not get  punished, there will be no fear in the minds of those who always engage in evil activities in the society.
The very procedure to order any punishment or reward is based on this concept of free will-  “The one who has done the act, must get punished assuming that the person has done the act with his free will ( provided he or she in not under pressure or mental illness).

But is the free will true? Isnt it an illusion?

Can’t we say that as that criminal person is destined to get punished, he must have used his free will to kill the victim? Otherwise how could he be sent to jail ?( if this punishment is destined for him?)
We can understand this scenario in two ways _ # Because he has done a criminal action, he is sent to the jail. # Because he was destined to go the jail,  he had done the criminal act.

That means his free will ( to do the criminal act) also was guided by the divine to get executed so as to get his punishment happened.
To make happen what is destined to happen, the divine makes the people use their free wills.

We can understand this concept of free will with few day to day examples.

We give few tasks like brooming, cleaning clothes and utensils, etc. to the maid of our house.
We fix the pay, area of her work and also the time of her coming for the work and going to her home.

She has a free will to choose the actions – either accept or reject the work.
Once she accepts the work, she is bound to get the results of her work. She is free to act, sincerly and with honesty or otherwise.
If she doesnt clean properly, we scold her for sure. And if she does it honestly; we praise her and give reward .
Thus it is when she acts as per our wish( she must work with honesty), she gets reward. If she is consistant with such actions/ work ( aligned with our will) ;  We are ready to do favours for her and offer her extra money, gifts .
Now, if she is destined to get reward, she will work honestly and if she is destined to get scolded, she will not work honestly. Thus her very choosing/ free will also is not under her control but that of her prarabdha and arranger for this is the divine.

God has placed us in this world. Everyone has been given a particular body mind instrument, certain skills, aptitudes, the places with particular environment, things and beings to interact, to  work to earn and to live. (  we must keep in mind that all these allowted things in this current life is outcome of our own desires/ vasanas from previous life.)
Just like we determine how much clothes and utensils the maid should clean and within how much time so that she can go to her home at a particular time;  Our tasks, achievements, success, failures, etc in our life are all predecided. And to make all these happen, our way of choosing or free will to choose is also guided/ directed by the divine.

During each happenings or events in our life, we are given many choices. For example, whether to join a service or start own business. Whether to go for pilgrimage or not, etc.
In thses cases, we are given a free will to choose an act.
If you choose certain act, we have to receive its results.
Sometimes, only one option is there where you have no choice to choose but accept as it is. E.g. You have to go to collage for exam and your own vehicle is not working. There is no cab or any other facility. Only availability is the autorikshaw. So you have to go for it.

The movie director asks the actor to choose red horse in a particular scene. So while shooting that scene, the actor will choose the red horse and no other coloured horses. He is acting as per the directors will so that the prewritten story/ movie  will move smoothly. If the actor chooses the white horse, not as per the requirement of the story, director will correct him and make him choose red horse. ( I was eligible for the admission in engineering as well as medical college. I spent one month in engineering college but later on took admission in medical college. As I was destined to be a doctor as per my prarabdha story, even if i have chosen engineering first, nature arranged some circumstances so that i had to enter the medical field.)

Thus very execution of our free will, is governed by the God. The wish which  is aligned with the divine wish ( to make our own life story), only gets fullfilled.

You will notice that acting according to our free will in the past only has given rise to our current life, the prarabdha. And only those wills of ours will be fulfilled which are aligned with the God’s will to make every destined event happen in our current life. Thus you can understand that there is no free will as such.

One eligible man wanted to get married. So his parents started searching for eligible girls. Among many girls, he  selected one , as per his will and thus they got married.

In fact, that girl was destined to be his wife in this life.( his free will in previous births) According to the theory of reincarnation and law of karma; the people and the events in our life are already determined as per the karmas of our previous lives. The things and beings come in our life to clear the karmic debt from our previous lives.
He has chosen only that particular girl among many because she was destined in his life as his wife to clear the debt from their previous life.That man was  thinking that he has selected that girl as his wife using his  free will. But it is not true. He had an illusion of a free will. His very choosing ( free will) was goverened by the divine so that their marriage should happen as it was already destined. ( result of free will of the past). The nature/ the divine arranged all to get it happen. 

Thus whatever has to happen will happen. No one can do anything to change the course of these predestined happenings.  Our very choosing tendency gets aligned with the Lords wish.

People will ask then how to choose an act and live in this world.
Answer is-
Every now and then, we will find the choices to choose and we are compelled to use this so called free will to act. So our choosing must be guided by the wisdom( scriptural knowledge)  and intuition. We should avoid to do anything indiscriminately.

We have been given certain task in the office. You have two choices. To do it as per Lords wish or your own wish. Lords wish are known to all through the scripturs, that  any activity should be carried out as per the dharma/ ethical way.
If everyone in this world will act as per Gods will, there would be no chaos, corruption, violence, etc.in this world.

Thus if someone asks you whether to have a tea or coffee? You must choose. You will think that you have a free will to choose between tea and coffee. So you execute it and say ‘ I would like to have a coffee.’
If you are destined to get a coffee at that particular time, you will get it for sure even if something goes wrong or missing. Nature will arrange things to make the event happen.
And if you are not destined to get the cofffe at that particular time, even if all the things seem to be favourable and easy for the cofffe, something will go wrong and the host will give you a tea with apology.

Thus free will is an illusion. ( If the thing happens as per your will , you say that your will got fulfilled but truth is as your will was aligned with Gods will, the very thing happened.)

This illusion of the free will is for the ignorant ones only. Realised masters/ Jivanmuktas know that there is no free will as such. Everything is God’s will. And as their wills are always aligned with God’s, they don’t regret or complain, they don’t blame anyone for anything.
They also choose when choice is given. But they don’t expect the results but accept whatever comes to them as it is.

Thus it is important to understand  that neither things just happen to us; nor anything is chosen by us randomly. Everything is governed by the God/ the divine only.

It is better to surrender to the God, so that our every choice / free will get merged with His will.  And then only we will accept everything coming to us as God’s will  and can live at peace and Bliss.

       Hari Om!