When Krishna controls our karma, do we really have free will?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

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Okay, if Krishna is the controller of karma, do we really have free will? Well, you had free will to ask this question. Isn’t it? I have free will to not answer this question. Yeah, actually all of us have experience that we do have free will.
We can all make choices. So, it is a very basic natural experience. Now, what is true is, we don’t have unlimited free will.
The scope of our past karma may limit the scope of our free will. That means say, we may not be able to sing like some great classical singer. But we all have capacity to sing and sometimes we may sing carelessly, sometimes we may sing carefully.
So, we can envision free will and karma acting in a way that there is a horse. The horse is tied to a pole. It’s tied with a rope.
The radius of the rope, the length of the rope is the scope of the freedom of the horse. Within that scope, the horse can move left, right, can move back, forward, can do a lot of things. But the horse cannot go beyond that scope.
So, like that, for us, we do have free will. But there is limitation. At a very gross level, we can’t fly like a bird in the sky.
For all human beings, that limitation is there. Within the basic limitation that is created by our human body, all of us may also have some limitations and some strengths. So, as I said, some of us have specific abilities, some of us have some specific deficiencies.
So, our past karma determines the length of the rope. It determines the circumference or the circle of our free will. Some people may have a lot of talent, lot of wealth, lot of position and thus they can do much more.
That means by their past karma, their circumference of influence is much bigger. For others, it may be lesser. But still, how we use what influence we have, that is up to us.
So, somebody may have phenomenal amount of talent, but if they are irresponsible, they are careless, the talent may go to waste. You see this in sports all the time. Some players who are very talented, but they are very temperamental also.
And they don’t do well. There are other players who may be moderately talented, but if they are consistent, they work hard, they may do very well. So, the point is that the circumstances that we are put in, those are determined by our past karma.
But what we do in those circumstances, that is up to us. So, what happens to us is destiny. How we respond to it is freedom.
And if we have a materialistic conception of life, then the scope of how we can respond is very limited. So, if Parishit Mahatma had a materialistic conception of life, he would have thought, I am a curse to die, and at the end what can I do? But when he understood, I am the soul, and even when he was going to face death, he raised his consciousness spiritually. And he found fulfillment therein, and he set an example for the whole world.
So, our free will is definitely there, and our capacity to use our free will is increased by our spirituality. Because we understand that our material circumstances may limit us materially, but they don’t limit us spiritually. And the whole spiritual dimension of life for us is opened, when we practice spirituality.
That’s how, whatever free will we have, that is never taken away from us. The scope of the free will is determined by past karma, and that scope of the free will can be increased by our practice of spirituality. Does that answer your question? Thank you.