The Riddle of Fate and Free-Will

[sadananda]

>Many thanks for posting that helpful article; there are at least
>another two on the web that are pertinent:


Swami Chinmayananda has put it nicely in simple words the fate or prarabda
and free will or purushaartha:

"What you have is fate and what you do with what you have is free will"

"Present prarabda is the product of our past and future prarabda is
past prarabda modified by our present action, free will"

Those who can sit back and watch, neither he has prarabda nor purushaartha
- just a continuos unfolding drama of life.

-Time being the product of the mind, present alone is real where there is
no time but our presence.(I am) -  There is neither past or future -
neither fate or free will, but just a castle in the air.

Sri Lakshmidhara kavi says in Advaita Makaranda:
"mayeevodoti chidvyomni jagat gandharva pattanam"

In me, the space of consciousness, raises the world of illusion - (since I
am conscious of it).

Both free will or lack of it are the notions in the mind.

But the fact is

"akartaaham abhoktaaham ahamevaayamavyayaH"

I am neither doer nor enjoyer, I alone am, inexhaustible or infinite.

But for a sadhak, who has the notion that the bondage is real, and he needs
to get liberated, fate and free will are as real as ones bondage and
liberation as two sides of the coin, and sadhana has a role to play as free
will. This includes the notion that sanyasa is essential for liberation!.

Hari Om!
Sadananda



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