man is free not to identify himself with the body

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Day by Day with Bhagavan________4-1-46 AfternoonDr. Syed read out to Bhagavan a Sufi story from thismonth's Vision whose moral is that there must be implicit,unquestioning faith in and obedience to the Master's direction.When all others would not obey Muhammad Ghazni'scommand to destroy a precious gem of his, one servantunhesitatingly destroyed it and, when taken to task for it bythe others, said, "Nothing is more precious to me than mymaster's command." I was reminded by this of the followingincident in Ramanuja's life and so related it to Dr. Syed andothers. It seems God Ranganatha was being taken out inprocession in Srirangam and Ramanuja called out to a discipleto come out and see the procession. The disciple was boilingRamanuja's milk and would not come out however often hewas called, and later explained to his Master, "Ranganatha isyour Master and he is important to you. You alone areimportant to me and I couldn't leave off your service, i.e.,boiling milk for you, to go and see Ranganatha."With reference to Bhagavan's answer to Mrs. Desai'squestion on the evening of 3-1-46, I asked him, "Are onlyimportant events in a man's life, such as his main occupationor profession, predetermined, or are trifling acts in his life,such as taking a cup of water or moving from one place in theroom to another, also predetermined?"Bhagavan: Yes, everything is predetermined.I: Then what responsibility, what free will has man?Bhagavan: What for then does the body come intoexistence?It is designed for doing the various things marked outfor execution in this life. The whole programme is chalkedout. (non-english script) (Not an atom movesexcept by His Will) expresses the same truth, whether yousay (n-e script) (Does not move except by HisWill) or (n-e script) (Does not move except bykarma). As for freedom for man, he is always free not toidentify himself with the body and not to be affected by thepleasures or pains consequent on the body's activities.