[Advaita-l] Re: "supposed to happen".

[tatha gat]

Adityaji,

I guess what you are asking is do we have free will or
not. I think that we definitely have free will and
that is what makes things so interesting. I also know
that this is, in the end, a matter of belief for I am
not aware of any conclusive "proof" either way. But,
an example that I always like is the following -
Suppose you ask me to pick a number between 1 and
30,000 ..  and I pick .. 6782. Now I *believe* this is
truely a random choice. There was no predestined chain
of events that led me to pick this particular number.

I cannot quote exact sources, but I believe that
shruti says that we do have free will - either to
harmoniously take part in the Lord's lila or not. To
me, one nice verse in the Gita is somewhere in the
very end of the 18th chapter, where Krishna, in
essence, says, "This is what I believe and what I have
told you. Now you do what you want to do". This
position, imho, is very unique in any scripture.


-Mayuresh. 


> But then, maybe all that happens (even
> the 'illusion of
> chance') is just how it is "supposed to happen".
> Maybe within mithyA
> (created universe) all that happens is simply
> inevitable. that in
> retrospect we see choices, but in real time no such
> thing really
> exists. But surely in brAhmaN-hood this question
> itself does not
> arise.
> 
> What does the gItA and Sruti in general have to say
> about this?
> 


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