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SRIMATHE RAMANUJAYA NAMAHA
APPAN THIRUVADIGALE SARANAM

Free will (9)

Dear Bhagavathas, accept my pranam. This is in continuation of earlier posting.






Incidentally let me quote some excerpts from the book ?Origin of Universe?
by the eminent British scientist of the current century Stephen Hawking.

Chapter Twelve: IS EVERYTHING DETERMINED? *

*( a lecture given at the Sugma club seminar at the university of 
CambridgeApril 1990.

?In the play Julius Caesar, Cassius tells Brutus, ?Men at some times are 
masters of their fate. But, are we really masters of our fate? Or is everything 
we do determined and preordained? The argument for preordination used to be 
that God was omnipotent and outside time, so God would know what was going to 
happen. But how then could we have any free will? And if we don?t have free 
will, how can we be responsible for our actions? It can hardly be one?s fault 
if one has been preordained to rob a bank. So why should one be punished for it?
In recent times, the argument for determinism has been based on science. It 
seems that there are well- defined laws that govern the universe and everything 
in it develops in time. Although we have not yet found the exact form of all 
these laws, we already know enough to determine what happens in all but the 
most extreme situations. Whether we will find the remaining lawsin the fairly 
near future is matter of opinion. I am an optimist. I think there is a 
fifty-fifty chance that we will find them in the next twenty years. But, even 
if we don?t, it won?t really make any difference to the argument. The important 
point is that there should exit a set of laws that completely determines the 
evolution of the universe from its initial state. These laws may have been 
ordained by God; but it seems that He (or She) does not intervene in the 
universe to break the laws.?
????????.
?These problems of determinism have been discussed over the centuries. The 
discussion was somewhat academic, however, as we are far from a complete 
knowledge of the laws of science, and we didn?t know how the initial state of 
the universe was determined. The problems are more urgent now because there is 
a possibility that we may find a complete unified theory in a little twenty 
years. And we realize that the initial state may itself have beendetermined by 
the laws of science. What follows is my personal attempt to come to terms with 
these problems. I don?t claim any great originality ordepth, but it is the best 
I can do at the moment.?
?????
? I now turn to the third problem, the question of free will and responsibility 
of our actions. We feel subjectively that we have the ability to choose who we 
are and what we do. But this may just be an illusion. Some people think they 
are Jesus Christ or Napoleon, but they can?t all be right What we need is an 
objective test that we can apply from the outside to distinguish whether an 
organism has free will. For example, suppose we are visited by a ?little green 
person? from another star. How could we decide whether it had free will or was 
just a robot, programmed to respond to if it were like us. The ultimate 
objective test of free will would seem to be Canwe predict the behavior of 
organism? 
If one can, then clearly does not have free will, but predetermined. On 
theother hand , if one cannot predict the behavior, one could take that as 
anoperational condition that organism has free will.?
??
???

?The concept of free will belongs to a different arena from that of fundamental 
laws of science. If one tries to deduce human behavior from the lawsof science, 
one gets caught in the logical paradox of self ?referencing systems. If what 
one does could predict from the fundamental laws, then thefact of making the 
prediction could change what happens. It is like the problems one would get 
into if time travel were possible, which I don?t think it ever will be.? 
??.
??To recapitulate: I have discussed some of the problems that arise if one 
believes that everything in the universe is determined. It does not make much 
difference whether this determinism is due to an omnipotent God or to the laws 
of science. Indeed, one could always say that the laws of science are the 
expression of the will of God.?
???.
? The third question was: If everything is determined, what becomes of free 
will and responsibility to our actions? But the only objective test of whether 
an organism has free will is whether its behavior can be predicted. ?

? In summary, the title of this essay was a question: Is every thing 
determined? The answer is yes, it is But, it might as well not be because we 
can never know what is determined.?

NOTE; The above excerpts are presented to show the mind of the eminent 
scientist. According to him, the universe functions by predetermined laws. 
Regarding free will,
it is not possible to predict the human behavior due to the enormous number of 
particles to be considered for approximation. So it is up to the humanbeing to 
act according to his(her) circumstances and knowledge and enjoy the result.
The scientists are engaged in investigating material aspect (Achethana) of the 
universe.
But, our elders considered this aspect as inferior. They concentrated on Athma 
swaroopam and Paramathmaswaroopam and the relation between them. So, should we 
worry about free will?   


Instead is it not worth to be the followers of Emperumanar?s dharsanam?
Whether you are after material benefits or for Moksha, it depends on your 
choice.
In both the cases Emperuman will help you, if you are honest and sincere.
 
The? free? will and effort to obtain results for material benefits are 
understandable.
That too has got limitations.

The question of superiority arises when more than one is involved in any action.
One in the topmost of the power will be all-powerful and his power and 
responsibilities will be delegated to his subordinates. The next one to him 
however capable he may be, he is subordinate to the topmost one. He may try 
toimpress the top most by his merits. But, it is up to the highest to get 
convinced. When such is the case for material benefits, it is needless to say 
that our actions need not bind Emperuman to grant Moksha. He is all in all and 
can do as he pleases and no body can question him. That does not meanEmperuman 
can be cruel. He has all ?kalyana gunas and power to do anything. He loves 
those who love him sincerely. He is the embodiment of compassion and will take 
care of them.

Followers of Emperumanar dharsanam will understand that their swaroopam is 
?parathantharyam? and ?bhogyathai?to Emperuman. They need not worryabout ?free 
will?. They can rest assured that everything is ?Emperuman?s will?.


Adiyen Ramanuja dasan, T.Parthasarathy. 





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