Free Will
Krishnan Iyer
WHAT OF FREE WILL ?
The debate about free will has been on for centuries resulting only in emergence of a number of schools of thought , each sticking to its points of views with excruciating rigidity, regardless of an holistic approach .
Each decision of the individual has antecedents of some sort or the other – at least past experiences embedded in the memory . The neuro-sciences have clearly demonstrated the fact that the unconscious mind acts prior to the conscious mind , in taking a decision The Indian Philosophers ,thus , rightly focused on the unconscious and have placed the emphasis from FREEWILL to WILL – Will represented by the ‘aims of man’ (Purushartha) . In Vedanta Free Will is regarded as the creation of the Ego and resulting in misguiding our purpose and action towards that direction , and blurring the demarcating line between Freedom and Licentiousness. In most instances it is only a rationalization in avoiding moral obligations or in defense of not so upright decisions .The logic of causality overrides the idea of free will taken to its extreme .
Laying the stress on Will is being pro-active as against being reactive ( generally associated with Determinism, though wrongly ). Influential proponents of Freewill have charged Determinism as revolving around futility of the Will. Soft determinism of Thomas Hobbes looking for compatibility went only as far as to say only human actions other than volitions are free, and an action is free whenever it is what the agent wants to do.
One major aspect remained in all these propositions as to What is it that should concern the Individual.
Should our major worry be the nature of the Will or the likelihood of inertia overwhelming the man . Will Deterministic approach take one closer to Fatalism ? . The discriminating factor ought to be would resting on Causality lead to refraining from action and not being pro-active in Willing. A little insight would clarify the matter .
Man’s Will is unstoppable . Now how can a deterministic stand not be a countervailing force to initiative? Even with this attitude one is not simply resigned to whatever outcome because if he Wills he will also have expectations. Further, as far as danger of inertia is concerned , It is but a fact that for , the person does not know , a priori ,what is in store for him and it is hence that the WILL comes in to play. You Will, and work towards that , if only with the understanding that the Will as much as the outcomes are also the result of causality. Self determination is ‘free’ only at the point of having made a choice and not w.r.t. consequences thereof. Self determination , however , is also , a product of Causality with the mind-intellect equipment being the driver .
Sri Ramesh Balsekar said “The question of free will versus predetermination is really not free will versus,
or free will against, predetermination. The ‘free will’ is part of this predetermination” .
Will can be used effectively thus to work towards our objectives and build up the determination to achieve those objectives in all the stages human endeavour. Even in renunciation ,which is devoid of
desires neither human Will nor action is advocated against. Swami Chinmayananda said “ Liberation is
not freedom from action but freedom in action”.
In Vedanta Freedom & Liberty are core values , though they are also the creation of the mind/intellect faculty . The treatment has undercurrents of viewing Freedom as concept not only as having provided
man with greater achievements but also a keen appreciation of the great truth of equality. True Freedom thus is to chart out the right path leading to right actions all the time and hence regarded as the ultimate Value. Swami Chinmayananda said “ Liberation is not freedom from action but freedom in action”.
In Vedanta , individuals differ from one another only with respect to the mind- intellect equipment’ Chinmayananda Ji also mentioned that it is absurd to go with the stream when the destination is upstream. The evolved man has to find ways and go against the current if need be .Fix a motor’, he says and this motor is the will driven by the sharp intellect.
Working on the will trained by the trained intellect ( Prajnya ) requires understanding of the scriptures, discriminating what is that we have to work towards and how; to understand that true freedom is devoid of all bondages stemming from the ego or actions and not just acting on an impulsive thought. The so called ‘Free’ decisions are also after all thoughts ( Vritti) only !.
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Regards
P.G.KRISHNAN
Tel : 27535076 & 27636335 (R) /Cell - 9324800743