[Advaita-l] Re: A Conversation between Divine Will and Free Will

[V. Krishnamurthy]

Namaste.

(Continued from where we left in Post no. 16174
http://www.escribe.com/religion/advaita/m16174.html   )

DDW:  You (TD) are saying that the other Power within us is
our own PrakRti, i.e., our own svabhAva, nature.  I have
never heard of this concept of ‘individualised prakRti’
that you are using. 

TD:  In Gita Ch.3, shloka No.33 the Lord says that even the
wise man  does work according to his prakRti. Acharya
Shankara, in commenting on this, writes: ‘Prakriti is
nothing but the accumulated samskAras of our past lives
individualised and earmarked for this life of ours’. The
sanskrit word ‘prakRta’ (from which ‘prakRti’ is derived)
means ‘currently in vogue’.

DDW: But why is God causing people to behave the way they
do in these times? How can you account for the fact that
the world is in such a mess? Why is everyone now immersed
in thinking only of themselves and not the greater good?
Why is this play?

DFW:  You said it right. It all looks like a deliberate
play. In fact, I would say that if the theory of play is
right, then God must be a sadist!

TD:  No, no. Not that way. It is a play alright, but that
is what is termed in the Puranas as God’s LeelA.  That
requires a lot of faith to go in that direction. Let us
pursue the trend of our  conversation in the way we started
it. First God is not causing people to behave the way they
do.  It is the people who behave that way. That itself
tells you that people have the freewill to  do what they
want to do. This free will God has granted man.

DFW:  At last you are veering to my viewpoint!

TD:  Don’t be too assured.  Of course God has granted
freewill to us both to obey His orders like satyam vada and
dharmam cara and also to disobey them. 

DDW:  That is what I call the play of the Divine.

DFW:  But then God must be foolish to play that dangerous
game. 

DDW: Your choice of words ‘dangerous game’ reminds me of
what  Sathya Sai Baba once replied to a devotee. The
devotee asked him, while they were walking along the shores
of the Arabian Sea, ‘Lord, if you are capable of doing all
those miracles for which you are known, why don’t you
change this entire sea into a sea of petrol and thus solve
the problem of scarcity of oil-fuel in the world?’.  Sathya
Sai Baba immediately replied: ‘But then I cannot guarantee
that no crazy human being like you would not throw a
lighted cigarette into that sea!’.

TD: The moral of the story is: Even God cannot guarantee
that man will not behave in an animal way. And that proves
that Man has free will!

DFW: Oh Good! Daniel come to judgement!

DDW: But then where does all this lead us? 

TD:  It leads to our starting point. It is not all black
and white. It is a spectrum of colours. The answer to the
dilemma depends upon three factors. 1. The situation or the
action that we are talking about. 2. Level of spiritual
evolution of the individual concerned. 3. Degree of
willingness to stand apart and surrender the ego. 

DDW.  I am sure on the third factor the generality of us
may be taken to be at the base  level.

TD. To simplify the discussion I am willing to assume, for
the present, that with respect to the second factor –
spiritual evolution also – we are almost at the base level.
Once we do that, we come back to the child level of
spiritual evolution, which we have already discussed. At
this level, it is Free will that is considered to be
dominant in the psychology of the individual  concerned.
But this is only the beginning. But when we start moving up
the ladder of spiritual evolution, our factor levels get a
gradual relaxation. 

DFW.  I think this is too much for me today. Why not we
continue tomorrow?

DDW and TD:  OK.

(To be continued)  

PraNAms to all seekers of Truth.
profvk


Prof. V. Krishnamurthy

You are welcome to have a look at any of the following  books on my website:
http://www.geocities.com/profvk

1. Gems from the Ocean of Hindu Thought Vision & Practice
2. Live Happily, the Gita Way
3. Advaita Dialogue for beginners.
4. Discourses of the Paramacharya on Soundaryalahari.