Dear devotees,
It is mentioned in the scriptures that Krishna is the all doer and not a blade of grass moves without His will. Srila Prabhupada has also said that Jiva has free will but it is extremely limited.
Even flaws are made blunt and the abode of Lord is attained by the mercy of Lord and His bonafide devotee.
In the Mahabharata, Grandsire Bhishma tells Yudhisthira Maharaj a story of a businessman named Manki who failed in all business despite of strong exertion. Later, he concluded saying that we all are completely controlled by the destiny.
In the Shrimad Bhagwatam, Srila Vyasa has foretold major political events which will occur in the Kali-Yuga. From the history books, we read that the words of Srila Vyasa proved to be true.
Vedic Astrology is an appendix to the Vedas. This science helps us to understand the time factor, which is an eternal instrument of Krishna, and make predictions. Parashar, father of Srila Vyasdeva, was also an astrologer who had written various books on astrology.
In the light of this, please share your views regarding extent of power of free will.
Your servant,
Veeral Gandhi
Replies
Here is a good article on Astrology.
http://www.dandavats.com/?p=12941
The only business of Free-Will is to endeavor to be sincere in Sadhana and pray hard for one's own bhakti to fructify through sustained practice of devotional service. In due course of time Maya Devi will wither away making room for divine knowledge to appear through the Sadguru. As one begins to be resolute without subjecting oneself to hard austerities the Supreme Lord becomes happy and grants one the fruit of Mature bhakti and attachment to His lotus feet.
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Hare Krishna, All glories to Srila Prabhupada,
as i remember from the conversation with some senior devotees we have free will but now under the control of maya. we can exercise our free will and control our senses through devotional service process.
any more details please share.
Dandavats,
Vinod
Although one has free-will ; it is in the purview of Maya. One may feel that one is using one's free-will however we have to be clear that we are acting by the Will of Maya under the modes of material nature namely goodness,passion and ignorance. A lusty man will go to the brothel and a man possessed with goodness will perform dana or giving. However the greatest aspect of free-will is the will of the individual soul to surrender to Krishna using one's intelligence in the mode of goodness. Only then is the objective of free-will achieved according to the Sastras. To be relieved from the bondage of Maya and to be bonded to the internal potency of the Lord is one of the most important element of the free-will. Apart from this free-will has no meaning
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Bhagavad-Gita Chapter 9 text 6 seems to say that this material world is under the complete control of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Hare Krishna!
Thank you Mihir Prabhuji for spending your valuable time to reply my query. I value your opinion.
Your servant,
Veeral Gandhi
Hare Krsna Prabhuji,
PAMHO.
Free will is the execution of choices that we face every second of our life. What choices we get are a combination of destiny and God's mercy. Destiny is our past life's karma.
When it is said that not a blade of grass moves without the will of the lord, it means that everything has been created by God, the rules of the world, its creation, sustenance and annhilation have been made by the lord (ultimately). The rules have been made by God, but He does not control every second of the functioning of the world. This can be understood with the analogy of a software program. What are the rules of a software will be set by the programmer, but he is not responsible where a person lands by using the software. God has made the rules of the world, that whatever we do in one lifetime, we will have to suffer or enjoy in the next lifetime. Then when we suffer, we all have said at some point in time or the other - God why did you make so much suffering or why do I suffer so much? He being God, has the power to pick you up from this world software and change the rules for you or place you in a different path on the software. He assures that He will do so for His devotees - sarva dharman parityajya.... But to make Him do that for us, we also have to show that much of surrender to the lord.
Ultimately, we have to do our karma. If we do not do anything, whatever has to happen will happen automatically, then we are only to blame. Its like the 2 fingers short in Damodar pastime. One finger represents the endeavour, the second represents the sanction of the lord. We have to always do our endeavour in whatever we choose to do and leave the results in the hands of God. We must do our endeavour as a matter of duty and not be result oriented. We should not hanker or lament - that is the best gift we can give God.
I hope I have been able to explain somewhat - I did digress from the topic. Sorry.
Haribol,
Your servant,
Rashmi
You analogy is too close to the idea of Deism, that God made the world and then just walked away, like a watch maker who makes a watch winds it up and lets it run but doesn't interact. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmaker_analogy
Krsna however can and does interact with the jivas when He wishes to.
Actually there is a verse in 8th canto Srimad Bhagavatam where it describes that actually Krsna doesn't know what is going in the material universe what to speak of every blade of grass. Why? because He doesn't need to, He has servants who take care of that for Him, He is busy attending to more important business -- enjoying with Srimati Radharani.
Hare Krishna!
Mataji you have given an extremely intelligent and elaborate reply. I really appreciate your view as it matches with the scriptures. Even I was of this same view until some occurences of events made me feel that even the greatest of sincere exertions sometimes does not produce desirable results.
I am a Company Secretary (Final) student. Sometimes, even after studying diligently, marks does not reflect the hard (as well as smart) work.
You did not digress from the topic and gave very nice examples.
You have aptly said that :
"When it is said that not a blade of grass moves without the will of the lord, it means that everything has been created by God, the rules of the world, its creation, sustenance and annhilation have been made by the lord (ultimately). The rules have been made by God, but He does not control every second of the functioning of the world."
Thanks again for your elaborate and logical reply.
Your servant,
Veeral Gandhi
Hare Krsna Veeral Prabhuji,
PAMHO.
Thank you for your kind comments. I am only trying to serve devotees through this forum.
Regardng CS Finals - I am a CA, so can speak of CA finals - at the time I cleared CA, the pass percentage was 8%. That means, 92% of the people appearing for CA finals failed. Does that mean that only 8% worked hard? It means that we can work as hard as we want, nothing happens without the sanction of the lord. As mentioned in Bhagavad Gita - any activity has 5 ingredients - time, karma, jiva, prakriti and isvara. The other four may be in place, but if the sanction of isvara is not there, there cannot be result. I can understand you are feeling low. Simply put your head down and do your karma of studying - pray for the sanction of the Supreme Lord, give your exams and leave the results to Krsna.
Haribol,
Your servant
Rashmi
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