Hare Krishna Guru Maharaj
Dandavat Pranam unto your lotus feet.
HpS - AGTSP!! Our lettuce feet. We are still in the process of purification also.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Sri Gouranga Mahaprabhu.
Dear Guru Maharaj,
On behalf of my father your disciple Krsna Swaroop Das, I beg for apology for his not being able to communicate with you frequently through this blog as he is not comfortable in handling techy stuff. He remembers you and prays unto your lotus feet everyday.
HpS - We are so happy to hear about him and youer Ashrama and community. Maybe he could write a few words about his Sadhana and Sankirtan and you could pass them.
Guru Maharaj I pray and beg to seek some answer for a question which has been a topic of confusion. As it is well known to everyone that Krsna, the Supreme Lord is omniscient and we as tiny fragments of Him have a freewill; a minute independence to choose. So does Krsna know "EXACTLY" what our choice will be???(say for example what I am going to eat in the morning 10 years from now on Jan 1st,2027). To me, it feels that the way Krsna "knows" is that He doesnot necessarily know all the details but as He knows our nature so chipping in a way He can narrow down to the most likely choice. i.e He does not know in the way 2+2 gives 4. But some devotees they argue that Krsna knows EXACTLY (all details with no room for other possibilities) what my choice will be everytime. This idea of theirs seems to me that it makes us like robots with no freewill at all. I feel there should be some (at least a tiny little) uncertainty (probabilistic way) associated with God's way of knowing things as we are also individuals with a separate identity and a freedom to choose. Some devotees even argue that the answer to this question is subjective i.e the answer depends on the individual's level of understanding. To me it seems like an excuse to avoid being caught wrong.
Please be merciful to me to explain and clarify this subject matter and let me know if I am wrong and kindly correct me.
Dandavat pranam unto your lotus feet.
Hope it meets you in good health.
Expecting your merciful association.
Your fallen servant
Bishal
HpS - ASA -- Hare Krsna! Very ancient, very contemporary and very important question. After our summary of our thoughts there is a list of references. I think you can find them all at www.jayarama.us/archives/abc-ndx.docx. We will post this answer in the Archives in our asa-encyclopdeia.
The soul is sat-cit-ananda, so it has free-will. It can do fun, interesting, things that even Krsna doesn't expect. The Gopis are full of unpredictable, intense, emotional states that even they can't predict, nor Krsna, but happy surprises.
Krsna, Krsna's Devotee and Devotional Service (Purnamasi Devi?) all come together and dance and no one can quite figure out who is in control.
We are growing. We can grow faster or slower. That is our choice. Krsna, us, no one knows our potential.
In the material world in the mode of ignorance we are forced to act. Our actions are predictable. Of course, one might be in the mode of goodness in his senses and mind and be in the mode of ignorance in his intellignce, heart, like a Buddhist, Mayavadi monk who is clean, honest, generous, but at heart is fixed in the conception that he will become the supreme, original, transcendental being, God. This is really stupid.
In the mode of passion there are some choices but the impulse act in a certain way is very strong.
In the mode of goodness we can actually make choices. Of course, they are being given by Mayadevi under the order of Krsna, so they may be material options, smoke the cigarette, don't smoke it. Then we set in motion ignorant, passionate or good reactions.
Maharaja Nrga, 10th canto, Krsna book, did lots of materially pious activities and he surmises that that led him to transcendental thought. Why not? God creates this world so that by dealing with matter, plastic dolls, correctly we can come to deal with real babies.
Of course, Krsna has His free-will also. If we act submissively, friendly, under the modes of nature then He can give us transcendental choices or not.
O.K?
As far a the concepts of "chance, random events" occur in science, we find that the concepts are not clear. We heard that Bertram Russell, the Nobel Laureate, said that the concept of Chance is the most important concept in the 20th Century, because no one has he slightest idea what it means.
What is the etymology of the word?
A chance event is one whose cause can Absolutely not be Known, no? Does such an event exist? We have to have Blind Faith (see purport to BG 4.34) in this Axiom, Postulate.
If we accept this Godly entity, Chance, then the result is a philosophy of "neti-neti", no Not this, not this. What is the Absolute Truth? It is not this, not this, not this; Absoute Ignorace, a Saiva, Nihilist or Mayavadi conclusion.
O.K? Big topic.
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www.jayarama.us/archives/abc-ndx.docx
Free-will:
allows chance to understand one’s relationship with God, SB 4.25.26 p
allows one to change guna and karma in present life, SB 5.1.14 p
in human life provides opportunity to get out of repeated birth and death, SB 1.16.9 p
in material existence, SB 2.9.2
of liberated souls, SB 1.6.37
So even in the material nature there is a chance of an independent choice by the living entity, and according to his choice the material energy offers him different varieties of material bodies, SB 2.9.2,
“The living entities are given freedom to make their choice…”, SB 2.7.49