[Advaita-l] Disccussion on Free-will

Vidyasankar Sundaresan svidyasankar at hotmail.com
Sat May 23 19:30:18 CDT 2009



> >> Neither jnaani nor ajnaani really acts.
> and
> >> Otherwise there is no difference between jnaani and ajnaani. Neither one
> is really a doer at >> any time.
> 
> If there cannot be an ownership of action by either the jnaani or ajnaani
> then it implies that prakRiti, representing everything in the Universe
> (sentient & insentient), acts as one unified whole. What causes it to act?
> Purusha or Brahman. Individual action then is a myth. Which, oddly enough,
> supports my position that individual 'free will' is an illusion. It is
> universal, all pervading prakriti that is causing you & me to act but due to
> delusion, we think we act out of our own free will. Or, in Sri Ramakrishna's
> words, the Mother is the one that causes you & me to act.
> 
> Unless, my reasoning is flawed somehwere...

Only a couple of clarifications from my end - prakRti, strictly speaking,
represents only the insentient. 

Individual 'free will' is an illusion on the same level as the notion of the
'individual' itself. So long as there is a you vs. me in my mind, there is
an 'individual' I and this 'I' has both destiny and will. So individual action
is not a myth in and of itself; it is dependent upon the notion of the
individual.

Regards,
Vidyasankar

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