Free Will or Destiny
Many great realised masters like Sri Ramana Bhagavan say that all that happens in our life is predetermined. Bhagawan Yogiram Suratkumar Maharaj also confirms that there is no free will.
A parable told by Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa seems to contradict this concept. The parable is about the calf and rope. Let us look at the parable.
“A calf is tied to a stick by the cow herd in the middle of a huge lush green field. The cow herd has given only one meter of leash for calf to graze. If the calf had grazed the one meter area completely, he adds another meter of leash for calf to graze further- giving it more freedom to move within the length of the leash. Now when one hears this, one may think it apparently contradicts words of other masters on “no free will”. Now we need to look at the context in which this parable was graced by Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. It was in the context of Spiritual Sadhana. When a person starts his journey of Spiritual Sadhana, as guided by the guru,until he completes the practices given by the guru, he would not be given the instructions for the next step of his Sadhana.
A great mahan started his journey when his guru instructed him to do japa of gayathri mantra. He completed this step with utmost dedication culminating in the direct vision of gayathri devi; then he was guided to take Srividya mantra by his guru now that this first step was completed. He with Shraddha completed this practice also with perfection; then he was guided in gnana vichara and he attained gnanam. This mahan was none other than Sri Triveni Swamigal. Hence there is no contradiction in words of mahans.
In our day to day mundane life, all that happens is dictated by our past karma (destiny). The choices we make are actually totally goaded by our vasanas (innate tendencies). So there is absolutely no individual freedom here. The only freedom we have-if we can say so – is to stop bothering about our mundane life and either enquire into the nature of our self or submit totally to the will of master or god (which is actually one and the same). Agnanis (people who haven’t realised divinity) have no freedom. Gnanis have totally merged into the divine whole and hence have no individuality and hence exert no individual “ free will”. If we examine this with an open mind and deep contemplation , this truth would be very evident.
Exceptions are rarest of the rare and hence do not become the general rule.
