Free Will?
Free will implies a ‘willing’ in freedom, the will arising from the essence of one’s self and therefore being free from coercion of any type. Otherwise, we could not say it is ‘free’ will. If we measure what happens in daily life by the definition given above, there is at once a doubt. When we last applied our will, did it come from freedom?
Mind and intelligence are coerced and modified by innumerable influences such as education, newspapers, nationality, fears, desires, and so forth. It is exceedingly difficult to be conscious of our will alone by itself, separated from the many attendant influences. For this reason questions are raised about free will. Actually, in our daily life, we may ask if we are experiencing free will as defined.
But Bhagavan Baba’s statement about free will does not support this common daily experience. He says that we have 100% free will, for we are God!
Our daily life is the result of a vast array of influences, yet Bhagavan Baba says we are God and have total free will. True, we can acknowledge that ‘free’ will is not usually evident in our life, and that our body‑mind complex is constantly being modified by influences ranging from the most minute to the cosmic, since every event in the universe affects the total universe to some degree. But here is the vital point: Why worry about all that? Nobody is forcing us to identify with the happenings of daily life. We identify only because we choose to do so. For example, Ramana Maharshi [a great Indian saint], when asked about the agony accompanying the cancerous tumor that was growing out of his upper arm, examined the situation for a moment and then replied, ‘Yes, there is pain, but I am not in pain.’ Ramana Maharshi did not identify himself with the affairs of the transient body.
Bhagavan Baba very clearly points out this way of detachment. He says that everything consisting of subject and object is transient and will pass away. He asks, ‘Why wait?’ See through the transient phenomena and even now realize the imperishable atma [soul], the essence of yourself and of every other self.
Bhagavan Baba fully reveals how we may deal with free will in daily life. He says that in daily life we have the freedom to either turn body and mind to the world, or to turn them to God. This free choice, which we may exercise at any time, arises superior to all types of coercive influences, for it is a divine choice; it is God within us expanding in maya [illusion], or gathering unto Himself.
If our choice is to turn to God, that is our divine will, and with divine free will in our life we can will to be free of all attachment. For Bhagavan Baba tells us it is attachment to the body and to things of the world that maintains us as an ego that feels itself to be separate from God.
If one wants to take the turn of the tide and launch oneself on the magnificent quest for ‘liberation’, one must detach oneself from the familiar shore, let it go, and boldly venture into the unknown. Thus, Bhagavan Baba’s advice is to be watchful in our daily life.
Be conscious when you identify yourself with body, mind, and feelings, or with worldly objects, and do not hold to the identification; let it go. Be conscious of the effect on your mind and feelings when you become attached to objects, desires, and people, and then let go of the attachment. This is the exercise of true free will, and, Bhagavan Baba assures us it is the proper use of the free will.
For your identity, identify with God only. Be attached to God only. This is the advice of Bhagavan. Identify with Him, and His will shall become your will. The problems of individual free will exist only as long as we hold to the belief that we are individuals unique and separate from God.
~Dr. J. Hislop
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, June 1983
