Tuesday, February 17, 2015

On Karma vs Free Will

One of the philosophical confusions that people face is
"If bad things are happening to me because of past bad karma i accumulated, then whoever did bad things to me doesn't seem to be exercising free will, and is bound by the law of karma itself"

In short my bad karma made another person do bad things, and therefore, there is no free will.

The argument looks viable, and the gentleman here  has very nicely (bazinga) attributed it to following

" If you do bad things, bad things will happen to you. This is a very simplistic way of understanding karma. This is what we tell children. But actually there are a lot of things along with karma influencing your decision...blah..blah..blah"

Essentially, if you can't solve a philosophical problem, then just go ahead and change the construct to suite your needs. Perhaps, the gentleman is learned and wants to stick to vedanta stream of thought and there is no good solution inside the thought stream.

I think this is the solution. But let me build some context by quoting ram charit manas, kishkindha kaand from here

धर्म हेतु अवतरेहु गोसाईं। मारेहु मोहि ब्याध की नाईं॥
मैं बैरी सुग्रीव पिआरा। अवगुन कवन नाथ मोहि मारा॥3॥

भावार्थ:-हे गोसाईं। आपने धर्म की रक्षा के लिए अवतार लिया है और मुझे व्याध की तरह (छिपकर) मारा? मैं बैरी और सुग्रीव प्यारा? हे नाथ! किस दोष से आपने मुझे मारा?॥3॥

English: Oh Lord, you took birth to protect Dharma and still you chose to ignore the laws of war and killed me, hidden like a hunter? What was my fault? How is it that i became your enemy and sugreev became your dear.

* अनुज बधू भगिनी सुत नारी। सुनु सठ कन्या सम ए चारी॥
इन्हहि कुदृष्टि बिलोकइ जोई। ताहि बधें कछु पाप न होई॥4॥

भावार्थ:-(श्री रामजी ने कहा-) हे मूर्ख! सुन, छोटे भाई की स्त्री, बहिन, पुत्र की स्त्री और कन्या- ये चारों समान हैं। इनको जो कोई बुरी दृष्टि से देखता है, उसे मारने में कुछ भी पाप नहीं होता॥4॥

English: (Lord says) Your younger brother's wife, your sister, your son's wife and your daughter are all equals. And killing anyone who casts an evil eye towards them, is not a sin.

The point being, an action that is bad for you, doesn't define the action. The Karma of the action is defined from the viewpoint of the "Karta" or the doer. So Something might be bad for you and be the result of your accumulated bad karma, but such a thing might actually be accumulating good karma for the other person, since punishing a sinner, is a good deed.

If someone steals a bag belonging to you, and you catch him. His act of stealing was bad. Your act of catching him was good as well as your act of catching him was bad for him.

Whether you catch the person or let go of him, is your free will. Whether you punish the sinner or not is your free will. The sinner chooses to commit a sin is his free will.

In essence there is no conflict between the law of karma and the free will. Free will is the act of choosing an action. Karma is the result of such an action.

The only time Karma will stop working out is when no one in the world is capable of making a good choice or executing a good action. Which means no one is accumulating good karma, the clock needs to be reset, and the Lord himself has to appear to kill off the sinners.

जब जब होहिं धर्म की हानि।
बाढ़हिं असुर महा अभिमानी।।
तब तब प्रभु धरि मनुज शरीरा।
हरहिं शोक मम सज्जन पीरा।।
Translation: Whenever Dharma is lost from the world, and the world is full of sinners, then, the Lord takes human form to take away the pain of the oppressed.

How does the clock for karma reset if the Lord kills you? Well here is what Ravana thinks when her sister tells him that his equals  Khar & Dushan have been killed by Lord Rama.

* सुर रंजन भंजन महि भारा। जौं भगवंत लीन्ह अवतारा॥
तौ मैं जाइ बैरु हठि करऊँ। प्रभु सर प्रान तजें भव तरऊँ॥2॥

भावार्थ:-देवताओं को आनंद देने वाले और पृथ्वी का भार हरण करने वाले भगवान ने ही यदि अवतार लिया है, तो मैं जाकर उनसे हठपूर्वक वैर करूँगा और प्रभु के बाण (के आघात) से प्राण छोड़कर भवसागर से तर जाऊँगा॥2॥
English: If it is indeed Lord who has taken a human from, then i will go and fight him. When i get killed, i will be out of this cycle of birth and rebirth and will attain heaven.

Tip: Shortest way to heaven is getting killed by the Lord himself.


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