[Advaita-l] REQUEST FOR GUIDANCE

[Mahesh Ursekar]

Pranams!

>> IMHO, even the icchA to do something is purva karmA driven,
>> meaning the person's willingness to do one thing more than another itself
>> comes from purva saMskAra.

I would like to put this question to you:
If an action is done because of purva saMskAra, then we can identify a cause
for it. However, if an action is done out of "free will" then, if my
understaing of the word 'free' in 'free will' is correct, it would require
that it be a causeless action. Because if it has a cause, it couldn't be
free. How does one account for a causeless cause?

B G Tilak attributes this to Brahman/Atman. I find it hard to agree with
this since it implies Brahman/Atman has a desire for something.

Thanks, Mahesh


On Wed, May 20, 2009 at 11:41 AM, Praveen R. Bhat <bhatpraveen at gmail.com>wrote:

> praNAm all,
>
> Hari Om, Vidyasankarji,
>
> On Wed, May 20, 2009 at 3:17 AM, Sundaresan, Vidyasankar (GE Infra, Water)
> <
> vidyasankar.sundaresan at ge.com> wrote:
>
> > Personally, in an advaita vedAnta context, I would like to detach the
> > adjective "free" and just talk of "will". Human beings, especially in
> > our contemporary educated population, like to think we have "free
> > will", whereas we always operate under constraints - personal,
> > cultural, social, political, historical and geographical.
>
>
> Thats a very interesting point about having will but not as free as one
> thinks it to be. IMHO, even the icchA to do something is purva karmA
> driven,
> meaning the person's willingness to do one thing more than another itself
> comes from purva saMskAra. Unfortunately, mortals have a focus of a
> singular
> life, that too restricted by memory, to see where this purva saMskAra comes
> from.
>
> gurorarpaNamastu,
> --Praveen R. Bhat
> /* Through what should one know That owing to which all this is known!
> [Br.Up. 4.5.15] */
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