Swami Sivananda

Karma - Part 7

FREE WILL (PURUSHARTHA)

The word purushartha is very much used in our scriptures. We should have a clear understanding of this word. It means human goals. 'Purusha' is a human being, male or female.

The word 'arthah' in Sanskrit has several meanings. It has the meaning 'meaning'. What is the artha of that particular verse means what is the meaning. It also means wealth. The word arthah here in this context is goal or destination.

That which is sought after by every human being is called arthah. What is sought after by human beings?  Different goals. So any human goal is called artha. Combining these two words purusharthah means human goals. 

The primary meaning of the word is human destination or goal. By using the word purushartha itself, we convey an important idea that these are goals sought after only by human beings. Because of the availability of purusharthas, the human beings become distinct from or different from all the other beings. In fact because of the purusharthas, human beings are considered to be superior to all the other living beings. 

Free will v/s destiny

This freedom to modify the past and thereby create a future for better or for worse is called purushartha or self-effort.

To illustrate: a log floating down a river will move at the same speed at which the river flows, but if the log is fitted with a motor and manned by an intelligent driver, the log will have an independent movement of its own, although conditioned by the flow of the river. Let's assume that the waters of the river are moving at two miles an hour. When the speedometer on the log shows ten miles an hour, the log will move at twelve miles an hour down the river but only eight miles an hour if it goes upstream.

The flow of the river will always be there; but because of the motor and the intelligence of the driver, the log has a limited freedom of movement now.

The plant and the animal kingdoms move just as the log that floats down the river, directed and guided by their inborn instinct and impulses. But we, having reached the human level, have acquired a reasoning capacity and a discriminative faculty. Using these two, we can steer the ship of life safely to our destination, the higher goal we have set for ourselves. 

At each moment of our life, we are not only living the fruits of our past actions, but also creating those for tomorrow. Similarly, at each moment we are preparing ourselves for the lives yet to come.

Prarabdha is caused by the actions done in the past. Thus, if our prarabdha is a sorrowful one now, let us perform such acts today that can determine a happier life for us in the future.

A happier tomorrow is built only when we assert our will to live a divine life today. Religion asks us to entertain and live such values of life so that while living them we are able to create an ordered life, full of joys, in the future. Follow the righteous path of the good; avoid the by-lanes of the crooked, the unrighteous path of the pleasant. We must start and constantly keep on the right path to reach the goal of supreme good. If our course is in the right direction, we shall certainly reach our destination.

Thus, the law of karma, when understood correctly, is the greatest force of vitality in Vedantic philosophy. It makes us the architects of our own future. We are not helpless pawns in the hands of a mighty tyrant. If we are weak or sorrowful, it is solely because of our own willful actions. In our ignorance, we may have pursued certain negative values of life in the past and their fruits have reared up now to give us the pattern of circumstances we are living today.

If we are to be guided by this delusion that all our actions are predetermined, then in every act of ours there is no room for self-improvement through effort. There are some who justify their actions by saying, 'I have no faith in a Higher Good, and it is my prarabdha, so why should I try to live a noble, moral life? This is a self-defeating concept based on a defeatist mentality.

But then, where does this self-effort, purushartha, come in if prarabdha orders every situation? We have been given limited freedom by nature. For example, we cannot bend a piece of thick metal, but supposing the metal is beaten out and made into a chain, it then becomes pliable. Similarly, when a cow is tied to a rope in the centre of a pasture, it is not free to graze the entire field but can move freely only within the circle drawn by the rope. Similarly, although we have taken this form to live out a fixed prarabdha, we can reach the supreme goal of life by applying our pure motives and intelligent discrimination to harness the freedom allowed to us from moment to moment. 

Carve out a new channel, fill your mind with repeated good thoughts. Repeat to yourself, 'I love all; or I am very tolerant'. Go on repeating the suggestive thoughts and in a short time you will observe that you have no anger at all in your mental make-up.

First of all, we should be aware of our weaknesses. We must be fully aware of them. We are essentially the very composition of our minds. When we perform some actions repeatedly, our minds get fixed with certain impressions. The quality of our experiences depends upon the quality of the mind that undergoes the experience. The mind, being what it is, is conditioned by the various impressions that it has gathered in its different stages of life. Thus, when we control and chasten the motives and thoughts in our minds, we purify the mind itself.

Swami Chinmayananda

A sage from Ananda kutir, Guru of Swami Chinmayananda, roars on free will, to remove all our fears about our destiny.

“The doctrine of Karma affords a most rational and scientific explanation of what is called fate. It gives a positive definite word of assurance that, although the present of which he himself is the creator or the author, is unalterable and irrevocable, he may better his future by changing his thoughts, habits, tendencies and mode of action. Herein lies great comfort, strength, encouragement and consolation to the desperate man. Herein lies a strong impetus for the man to struggle and exert for improving himself. Even a forlorn and helpless man is made cheerful when he understands this doctrine of Karma.

The doctrine of Karma brings hope to the hopeless, help to the helpless, joy to the cheerless and new strength to the weak. It braces up a sunken man. It is an ideal "pick-me-up" for the depressed and gloomy. The doctrine of Karma teaches: "Do not blame anybody when you suffer. Do not accuse God. Blame yourself first. You will have to reap what you have sown in your previous birth. Your present sufferings are due to your own bad Karma in your past life. You are yourself the author of the present state. The present is unchangeable.

Do not weep. Do not cry over spilt milk. There is no use. You will not gain anything by so doing. Instead of weeping over the failure of crops during last year, go on ploughing this year. You will get abundant rain this year and rich harvest. Do virtuous actions now. Think rightly. Act rightly. You will have a brilliant and a glorious future." How beautiful and soul-stirring is this magnanimous doctrine of Karma! The doctrine of Karma develops faith and supports ethics. It says: "If you hurt another man, you hurt yourself."

Dear friends! Man is the master of his destiny. Wake up now from the deep slumber of ignorance. Never become a fatalist. Think rightly. Act rightly. Lead a virtuous life. Never hurt the feelings of others. Mould your character. Purify your mind. Concentrate. Thou art Nitya Mukta Purusha. Tat Tvam Asi - Thou art That.”

Swami Sivananda

HOW FAR PURUSHARTHA HELPS IN FACING PRARABDHA?

There are four categories of Prarabdha:

(1) Very acute Prarabdha;

(2) Acute Prarabdha;

(3) Mild Prarabdha;

(4) Very mild Prarabdha.

(1) So far as very acute Prarabdha is concerned, you cannot change it at all in spite of your very acute and intense Purushartha (efforts) during this lifetime.

Your birth through certain parents in a certain country, community, caste, creed, race or sex is not accidental.

God is not so whimsical as to throw you anywhere in any way he likes. It is the result of your very acute Prarabdha which is completely unchangeable. You cannot change your parents and your kith & kin.

You cannot change your masculine body into feminine and vice versa. You cannot change your sons, daughters or relatives in your present birth in spite of your very acute efforts, as they are the results of your deeds-actions creating debits or credits with them in your and their previous births which have brought you together in this present life.

Hence you cannot be separated and none of you can leave your present body unless your previous accounts of give and take with one another are completely cleared during this birth.

(2) So far as acute Prarabdha is concerned, it cannot be completely wiped off, but at least you can make it mild or diluted by your very acute efforts (Purushartha) in this birth.

If it is destined for you to suffer a severe blow of a stone-throw to hit your forehead, you cannot completely escape it but you can, by your very acute effort (Purushartha) break its velocity and thereby reduce the intensity and quantum of injuries.

If it is destined for you to fail in your elimination, by your very acute Purushartha (efforts), you can at least pass in the third class instead of first or second class.

If the butter-milk taste is very acute, terribly sour, you can add a few cups of water and make the sour taste milder so that you can tolerably drink it.

(3) If your Prarabdha is mild, you can completely wipe it out by acute Purushartha just as you can completely abolish dirty yellow patches on the tiles of your bath room by using acid or strong detergent chemicals.

(4) The very mild Prarabdha can be wiped off even by ordinary Purushartha just as it is possible to wipe off ink drops on your room floor by a simple brush only.

Anyhow, you should ceaselessly go on doing Purushartha all throughout and never go back and abandon it at any stage.

If your Prarabdha is mild or very mild, it will be wiped off by simple or intense-acute Purushartha. lf it is thus not wiped off, do not worry; go on and continue striving with very acute Purushartha at least to make your acute Prarabdha mild or diluted.

However, inspite of your very acute Purushartha, if you cannot bring about any change in your Prarabdha which might be very acute, then quietly and cheerfully undergo and suffer it with total submission and absolute resignation to God.

In that way you can exhaust your very acute Prarabdha through endurance of suffering. After all, your Prarabdha is nothing but the ripened and matured fruits of the previous Kriyamana Karmas of your own.

Hence nobody else, not even God is responsible or to be blamed.

Love.