Ajay: Destiny & Free Will

[Guest guest]

Dear Ajay,

I joined this group just a few weeks ago - a complete novice in these matters - and

living inn London!! - but not far removed from the land of my cultural heritage and

ancestors.

These days Our Mother need Her children spread all over our dear planet... and

after all, Veda is Universal... and wherever you are, your body is that temple

that is able to live fullness of life whoever you may me or whatever you may

be; Indian, European, African, Christian, Jew...

My Guru's teaching goes like this:

What you have experienced in the past is / was your DESTINY - the future is in your

hands and that is FREE WILL - do your best!

The teaching of your Guru is true, but to my experience, without any offense, I

would say that the present is also conditioned by the past. To my observation,

people will not be able to feel free to think and to act on matter that are

deeply foreign to them. We could see in some Jyotish chart, some configuration

that will make difficult for some young soul to aspire, by example, to moksha

or even to have an interest in any aspect of knowledge. This "maturation" of

the soul is not coming naturally for anyone, we have to work for it... and it

takes some time. Do not expect a young soul just rising from animal plane to

understand and experience the concepts of Subjective knowledge that easily,

they will be concerned with more basic fields of interest. So your Master is

Absolutely right, there will be free will in the present action, but the range

of this free will will be restricted somehow; this is just a point of view to

wander "how much freedom means free".

Other deeper questions arise about not being tied up in the fruits of your actions -

I am not comfortable with the interpretations given to 'me' that " do your 'karma' /

actions- but do not be tied up with the fruits of your actions" - I am sure you

know what I mean....

My simple question is : "Why not?"

If I have worked hard to pass my exams or worked hard to prepare and deliver a

thesis on bio-technology - should I not be concerned that it should go well??

"But do not be tied up with the fruits of your actions..." Many translations and

even more commentaries... on the Chapter II, verse 47 of the Bhagavad-Gita...

the problem is that it should not be taken out of its context. The verse 47 is

understood only in the context of the previous verses, specially from verse 45

and to the following verses, specially starting from verse 48 )... The Key;

the state of Yoga, "...being without the three gunas...", turiya chetana

(transcendantal consciousness) or experience of Samadhi.

Vedic text will tell you that everything is Brahm. "That" (Absolute) is Brahm

but "This" (Relative) also is Brahm. Nothing is left over... From the smallest

to the Biggest, from relative to Absolute... From Emptiness to Fullness; all

the fields of life, all the fields of knowledge, being vedic or modern... Brahm

is One Wholeness... and wholeness is a status that should be lived ultimately.

I would give you some words from my Master about the "birth" of the

misinterpretation of "not being tied up with the fruits of Actions":

"...Shankara's view has been misrepresented by commentators who undertook to

propagate his philosophy. They seem to have missed the central part of

spiritual life -- turiya chetana (transcendental consciousness) and the direct

way to its realisation. As a result, everything which aimed at clarifying the

process of transcending has been held to belong to the path of renunciation and

attributed to the recluse way of life. This lack of insight led to the idea that

the centre of spiritual life is to be found in the recluse order, thus debarring

the householder from the gains of spirituality.

Since they followed the recluse way of life, they were naturally concerned with

thoughts of the separateness of the Divine from the world; and, with the

continuance of this situation generation after generation, that aspect of

knowledge began to dominate Shankara's tradition...The teaching became

one-sided and, deprived of its wholeness, eventually lost its universal appeal.

It came to be regarded as mayavada, a philosophy of illusion, holding the world

to be only illusory and emphasising the detached way of life.

When this detached view of life became accepted as the basis of Vedic wisdom,

the wholeness of life and fulfilment was lost. This error of understanding has

dominated Indian culture for centuries and has turned the principle of life

upside down. Life on the basis of detachment. This is a complete distortion of

Indian philosophy. It has not only destroyed the path of realisation, but has

led the seekers of truth continuously astray.

Shankara's consciousness exemplified the highest state of human development; his

heart expressed supreme devotion to God (para bhakti), while his mind expressed

awareness of the Self as separate from the field of action (jnana). This it was

that led Shankara's speech to flow into ecstasies of devotion and at the same

time into clear expressions of knowledge, the dry and hard-headed truths

concerning Divine nature...

His expressions of deep devotion made in the state of complete surrender and

oneness with God, and his intellectual clarifications made in the state of

awareness of the Divine nature, are both so full and complete in themselves

that, seen from the ordinary level of consciousness, they appeared to present

two independent paths to enlightenment: the path of knowledge and the path of

devotion.

In the field of behaviour and experience the strain of attempting to be

dispassionate and detached, of trying to make a mood of equanimity in pleasure

and pain, only puts unnatural, undue stress on the mind, resulting in the

development of an unnatural and warped state of the inner personality. This

kind of practice has helped to bring dullness, artificiality and tension to

life in the name of spiritual growth."

"...The founder of the Yoga philosophy, Patanjali, was himself misinterpreted,

and the order of stages on his eightfold path reversed. The practice of yoga

was understood to start with yama, niyama, and so on (the secular virtues),

whereas in reality it should begin with samadhi. Samadhi cannot be gained by

the practice of yama, niyama, and so on. Proficiency in the virtues can only be

gained by repeated experiences of samadhi."

"Bring in the light....!

Ignorance is destroyed by gaining knowledge, and not that knowledge is gained by

destroying ignorance. Therefore the seeker has not to try to come out of

ignorance; rather he should try to gain knowledge through direct experience."

"When the mind begins to take delight in the objects of the senses, this shows

that its delight is not within; the mind is not anchored to the bliss of the

Self, it is absorbed in the outer direction away from bliss.

The direct experience of transcendental bliss gives a man such a great

contentment that the joys of the relative world fail to make a deep impression

on him, and he naturally rises above the binding influence of action."

Best regards

Jean

And, in essence, for what Jyotish claim to be: "We don't go for what the world

has been, we go for what the world should be."