About Free Will

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To understand About free will
Let us assume you are hungry
and you want to eat food
then the following activities should be done
before you feel you are no more hungry.

Out of these what are your full choices without influence
from your surrounding of past, present, future.
Mark them A

Out of these what are your choices mostly but some influence
of the surrounding of past, present & future.
Mark them B

Out of these what are your choice least and mostly influenced
by surrounding of past, present & future.
Mark them C

Out of these what are not your choices at all?
Mark them D

We know from time to time
and place to place above four
for below activities will change
In spite of that each time when you are hungry,
try to do this exercise.

Now mark A, B, C or D against these.

• Out of the variety of food items, what to eat, and what not?
• What to eat more and what to eat less?
• How much total to eat?
• In what sequence to eat?
• Eat slow or fast?
• Before taking food pray or not to pray to express gratitude
  to all those forces who brought the food before you?
• Before you eat, offer food to the next sitting person or not?
• While eating, who will sit next to you (your loved one
  or unknown to you or whom you do not like)?
• How food is offered or served to you?
• Who will offer food to you?
• You drink water or alcohol or milk or buttermilk or no liquid at all.
• You drink water or alcohol or milk or buttermilk or no liquid at all before you start.
• You drink water or alcohol or milk or buttermilk or no liquid at all post eating.
• You sit on the ground or on a chair.
• You eat on a metal plate, disposable plate, or banana leaf.
• You put a plate on table or ground or on hand.
• You eat each bite in consciousness or consume whole food unconsciously?
• How you behave with a person who is offering food to you?
• If you have to pay for food then how do you behave with the person to whom you pay?
• You keep light on or fire up a candle or no light at all?
• Sit in close or open space or semi-open space?
• Eat with close eyes or open eyes?
• Eat cold or hot food?
• Eat freshly cooked food or old food from the refrigerator?
• During eating how you behave with a person sitting next to you?
• Eat sweet or bitter things pre-taking food?
• Eat sweet or bitter things post taking food?
• How much food do you leave on the plate?
• What do you do about waste food?
• What do you do of the extra food?
• Respond or not to respond to a phone call or message during you are taking food?
• Keeping your phone off or silent or vibrate mode during you are taking food?

We know from our experience
that all these activities influence
our health in longer terms and
decides our mood in the present.

It means the previous set of activities are
deciding quality of life for the next moment

Pay attention and without altering your actions
follow your natural flow of actions
make a note of total A, B, C and Ds
Do this exercise for one week.
Observe your data around A, B, C & D.

More A’s you have more free will
you will experience with respect to taking food.
More D’s you have more helplessness
you will experience with respect to taking food

You can apply this framework
to any activity of your day to day life,
like talking to someone,
doing some work in the office,
doing some physical health-related exercises,
doing prayer/meditation,
going to sleep at a particular time,
waking up from sleep at a particular time.

Without altering your actions
If you observe your count and pattern of A, B, C, D
for your various activities then
you will come to know that
how much you are in control of your life.
And how much you can influence the surrounding
And how much is completely out of your control?

A wise is that who lives with the reality
First, accept everything
Then identify which you can change
Get the courage and energy to change
what you want to change
Then change what you can change

Finally, accept what cannot be changed
Come to terms with those forces in life
Which are out of your control

And know from your experience that
what I am today is not 100% choices of forces around me
What I am is today is mostly made by my choices
It is different that I failed to recognize those choices
and exercise the free will
at different moments of my life.

The creator has designed
this cosmos in such a way,
That for a human, who has a possibility to live a conscious life
There is the least helplessness.

For other animals in this world
who has the least self-awareness
Most of life is a compulsive behavior

For human most of life is
a consequence of his or her choices
and not the choice of someone
who is sitting in Sky and counting
how many breaths we have taken
so that we can be called back.

O Pratibimba, do I have free will is a wrong question!
How much self-aware I am
so that I can choose needs to inquired by each Jeeva.

Hari Om Tat Sat
Your Truly Hari