Choice vs Destiny

K S RAM

Are we free to exercise our will? Or are we just puppets going through motions in life according to a plan, predetermined by asuperior power? Philosophers have pondered over this question since ages. Omar Khayyam thought we were no better than water, flowing willy-nilly, “where Destiny with men for Pieces plays”. Khayyam’s stand is predeterministic. He hints at an unalterable script.

In contrast to this is the traditional view of Judgment Day of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. This view is based on the conviction that each person is wholly responsible for his conduct in life. The Hindu view of karmic transmigration also supposes choice for individual human beings. Cheiro the palmist compares the human condition to that of a pendulum in motion. The view is close, in a way, to the law of gravity that recognises the interdependence of all bodies, animate and inanimate.

What suffuses all beings and objects is the All Pervasive: Vishnu or Vidyut in Sanskrit, the Ultimate Truth. To participate and submit to the collective rhythm of creation is to attain to bhakti, Narada conveys in his Sutras. This marks progress towards humility. Adi Shankaracharya calls it being harmonised, the samachitta.

The scope of individual will is to choose between confinement to the individual ego, and to submit to the Cosmic Self. Lord Krishna who embodies the Cosmic Self puts it succinctly in the Bhagavad Gita, “The worshippers of other gods go to them; My devotees come to Me.