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Re: prakriti and karma
In article <ghenDsL6Kw.CJJAnetcom.com> Srinivas Sista <sista@ecn.purdue.edu>
writes:
>In article <ghenDsIoB5.2nw@netcom.com> Pradip Gangopadhyay <pradip@lism.usc.
edu writes:
>
> Let me try to explain by an analogy. The jiva is like a machine while
>God is like the electric current that drives the machine. Without God it is
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>not possible for jiva to do anything just as a machine can not operate without
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>the electric current. The ego bound jiva does not realize that. As long as the
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>jiva does not identify with the electric current but instead identifies with
>the machine (his ego) he is responsible for his good and bad deeds. When the
>jiva identifies with the current i.e with God he will be incapable of doing
>anything bad as his will merges with the Divine will. Only then the jiva will
>acquire free will. That is why only realized souls like Sri Chaitanya or Sri
>Ramakrishna are truly free. This is because their wills have become the same
>as the one and only one truly free will, the Divine will.
>
>>Question: Is not the `identifying' driven by the current, since it is
>>something the machine does?
Yes, since the machine is driven by the current, you can say that in
the ultimate analysis the current is responsible for the identification. If
there is no current then the machine will not operate. Similarly it is because
God is immanent as the Inner Controller that the jiva is at all conscious.
Otherwise we are just a mass of flesh, blood and bones. I used this analogy to
show that God has absolute control over the Jiva. What you are saying is that
the Jiva can not even identify with the Inner Controller unless the Jiva is
made conscious by It. Thus where is Jiva's free will? In reality the
unenlightened Jiva does not have any free will. However, he feels he has free
will because he is not aware of the Inner Controller. He feels that he is in
control and not God. Sri Ramakrishna says that God has made it this way as
otherwise the jivas would commit sin without feeling any pangs of conscience.
The Jiva who has identified with the Inner Controller does not need any sense
of personal responsibility. This is because his will has merged with the
Divine will and so his consciousness has expanded to embrace the entire
universe. His personality and his compassion have expanded to embrace the
entire sentient world. So why would he need a sense of personal
responsibility? He identifies with the entire universe.
Regards
Pradip G
