[Advaita-l] Omniscient Lord and free will.

[Kaushik Chevendra]

An excellent answer sir. Thank you.

On Thu, 15 Jul 2021, 15:09 Venkatraghavan S via Advaita-l, <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Namaste,
>
> To clarify, what is being said is that sarvajnatva merely refers to Ishvara
> being a witness. He does not determine every outcome, which would mean that
> there is no such thing as free will.
>
> But saying that in itself, does not preclude Ishvara protecting / blessing
> devotees who have performed their karma-s / worshipped him with sincerity.
> That blessing / protection is not simply a matter of Ishvara's whim.
>
> It is a result of the devotees' karma / upAsana/ bhakti, all of which have
> been undertaken by the exercise of their free will -  and is a blessing
> that Ishvara bestows, in his role as the karma phaladAtA.
>
> I believe this was alluded to by Raghav ji in his earlier email in this
> thread.
>
> Re, jyotiSha, it is not simply a shastra that says this is what is foretold
> - you have no choice but to accept it.
>
> Rather, the purpose of jyotiSha is to reveal what is likely to happen as a
> result of the fructification of past karma-s. Because these are the results
> of past karma-s, the exercise of free will to perform karma-s in the
> present, can mitigate the results of karma-s in the past.
>
> Regards,
> Venkatraghavan
>
>
>
> On Thu, 15 Jul 2021, 08:59 Vishesh Bhat, <visheshlives at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Namaste,
> >
> > I apologise if it looks like I am hijacking this thread to clear my own
> > confusion. I will make a separate thread otherwise. But  had to ask. If
> > IshwarA is merely "the witness", then what is the purpose of Bhakti to
> > "Saguna Brahman"? There are also numerous stories in the Ramayana and
> > Mahabharata which talk of "karma" being dissolved due to the grace of
> > "IshvarA". How does one interpret these in the light of advaita??
> Finally,
> > how does one understand Jyotishya which talks of karma phala being
> > distributed in a given life and also methods to get rid of undesired
> karma
> > phala by means of japa and homa?
> >
> > With humble pranams,
> > Vishesh Bhat.
> >
> > On Thu, 15 Jul 2021 at 12:39, Venkatraghavan S via Advaita-l <
> > advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
> >
> >> Namaste Subbuji,
> >>
> >> Your post reminded me of an old verse from the chitsukhI - there it is
> >> said
> >> omniscience is of two types - svarUpatah sarvajnatva and pramANatah.
> >>
> >> स्वरूपतः प्रमाणैव सर्वज्ञत्वं द्विधा स्थितम् ।
> >> तच्चोभयं विनाऽविद्यासंबन्धं नैव सिध्यति ॥
> >>
> >> The former refers to jnapti, which is the sarvAvabhAsaka kshamatvam that
> >> you refer to. The latter sarvajnatva is of the nature of knowing
> >> everything
> >> that I think Kaushik ji is referring to.
> >>
> >> Both, says chitsukhAchArya, are because of consciousness's association
> >> with
> >> ignorance.
> >>
> >> Reminds one of the bhAShyakAra's words from the ArambhaNAdhikaraNam -
> >>
> >> तदेवमविद्यात्मकोपाधिपरिच्छेदापेक्षमेवेश्वरस्येश्वरत्वं सर्वज्ञत्वं
> >> सर्वशक्तित्वं च, न परमार्थतो विद्यया अपास्तसर्वोपाधिस्वरूपे आत्मनि
> >> ईशित्रीशितव्यसर्वज्ञत्वादिव्यवहार उपपद्यते ;
> >>
> >> Regards,
> >> Venkatraghavan
> >>
> >>
> >> On Wed, 14 Jul 2021, 23:39 V Subrahmanian, <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >> > This is very nice Venkat ji. Advaitins have defined 'sarvajnatvam' as
> >> > 'sarva-avabhAsana-kshamatvam' which means 'capacity/ability to
> >> illuminate
> >> > everything'.
> >> >
> >> > regards
> >> > subbu
> >> >
> >> > On Thu, 15 Jul 2021, 1:26 am Venkatraghavan S via Advaita-l, <
> >> > advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
> >> >
> >> >> Namaste,
> >> >> Ishvara knows everything in all periods of time not because it is
> >> >> predestined or people lack free will, rather He directly perceives
> the
> >> >> past, present and future continuously.
> >> >>
> >> >> Me seeing someone's actions in the present does not mean that I have
> >> >> influence over their actions or they lack free will in acting the way
> >> they
> >> >> do. I am merely a witness to their actions.
> >> >>
> >> >> The same principle applies for Ishvara's omniscience and individual
> >> free
> >> >> will in all time and space.
> >> >>
> >> >> Regards,
> >> >> Venkatraghavan
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >> On Wed, 14 Jul 2021, 20:29 Kaushik Chevendra via Advaita-l, <
> >> >> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >> > Namaste.
> >> >> > If isvara is omniscient then he knows every action committed by
> >> >> everyone.
> >> >> > Then if he knows what will happen, then where is the free will as
> >> it's
> >> >> > already predestined.
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