MAN & GOD: NANGANALLUR J K SIVAN
I write mostly in my mother tongue Tamil but in order to have a wider reach including those who are unfamiliar with Tamil I write sometimes in English and this is with the same intention.
I feel many would be interested to know about Man’s Will and God’s will and the interaction betweend the two. One need not be any philosopher to muse on this. It is the basic fact that God does not interfere with man’s free will. He adopts an attitude of Udaasina (indifference). He is known as Sakshi bootham. a silent witness to everything we do, allowing our free will to function.
Though God is a constant witness as I said above, He silently observes our daily battles of life. He sees all the happenings in the world in which He does not get involved. It is only we who create the causes for all that we do, think, talk and feel, and consequently adequately we are rewarded as ”effects” on merit for what we do. It is known as Karma effect.. When you sincerely seek to follow the moral codes of conduct laid down in the Sastras, of course, God is there readily to provide you the assistance through His devotees, the Rishis, authors of Vedhas and Upanishads . He supports, encourages and provides incentives for us to progress on spiritual lines.(“Prerita” =inducement)
God invests in us, a free will instructing us, to make best use of it, to conduct ourselves as fit human beings. Only when Adharma (evil) increases beyond limits, He himself intervenes as He deems fit, to set things right and put back humans on the right track. It is because He alone can handle such a catostrophe.
God dispenses his blessings on us, based on our merits. If we are deeply sincere, absolute, unconditional and unflinching, e knows what is ultimately good for us. He answers our prayers at all times without fail.
It becomes essential that we should realise that we cannot live without loving God. The scriptures teach us “With the development of the notion of Karma, the attainment of the individual world (Loka) was seen to depend on individual moral responsibility. Thus, however complex the system of the world may appear to be in Indian cosmology, the conclusion is, man makes his own world to live, makint it either a heaven or hell. Everyone is wholly responsible for his present state if affaur and condition. We create our own future and gets exactly what we deserve.
Souls leave their present bodies and enter the next place of existence, selected for it according to its karma palan in the process of evolution.
“Every act, every thought of ours, is weighed in the invisible none can escape the effect of it. Divine laws cannot be avoided or evaded. We carry with us the whole of the results of our past deeds. It is our indelible record which time cannot blur nor death erase.
God as supreme power is ALWAYS WITHIN every individual, NEVER WITHOUT, and dispenses justice whereby virtue is made to bring its own rewards and vice its own retribution. Justice is here on earth, if only you had the eyes to see and ability to realise.
The interrelationship of “Gods will” and “man’s free will” therefore can be summed up briefly thus:I may do whatever I like; but whether I can do them at all depends on God’s will.
I may live as I choose ; but whether I can live so depends on God’s will.
I may breath any air pure or polluted; but whether I can ever breath at all is decided by God’s will.
I may see, hear, smell, feel or taste as I wish ; but whether I will be enabled to see, hear, smell , feel or taste is beyond my control. It is in God’s control. The differences in the shapes of all creatures are due to their past actions precisely as the seeds in the case of plants. Our actions depend on our ‘Vasanas’ (result of earlier karmas inherited over countless lives, in various births).
God dispenses the seeds precisely as per our Karma. God is indifferent to the fruits of Karma while we are concerned and affected!
