Do I Have Free Will?

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Since the time first life came in the existence,
It is struggling to establish itself separate
from the existence, it came from!

Like drop comes out of the ocean
And it is struggling to establish its Independence from the ocean.
We all know where the drop has come from
and what happens to the drop at the end.

Do I have free will?
The answer for that is Yes and No simultaneously.
Without being diplomatic or a skilled speaker
I say this from a state, where I experience, I am not writing this!

Before answering that eternal question of freedom and free will.
We need to ask ourselves, which I?
You as a body has a boundary
You have certain freedom with respect to your body.
Where to keep it, what to do with it,
what to eat, where to go, what to talk about.
But you are not completely free because
surrounding also control your actions.
Therefore from the point of the body, you have very limited freedom.

You as a mind, intellect are an emotional being, thinker, etc.
What you think, feel, and rationalize
Is all up to you, you have more degree of freedom at this plane of existence.
But again surrounding also influences our thinking, feeling, etc
And we experience we don’t have absolute free will.
But at the mental and intellectual level
you are better than at the physical level.

Experimentally most of humanity
knows and realizes its existence at these two levels.
If you are one of those then sorry for you
You don’t have free will.
You are controlled by your spouse, children, government,
friends, colleagues, clients, bosses, nature, desires, ghosts, etc.
If something remains to be controlled in you then
that is controlled by your God, Devi, Devata, Allah, Jesus whatever you prefer.
Because your belief systems have conditioned you that
Even leave cannot fall from the tree without the wish of God.
With that strong conviction, how can you have free will?
Hence, no question of experiencing “the free will”.

But there is one hope.
One hope for those, who wish to work hard and think deeper.
Work hard doesn’t mean physical or emotional or intellectual work.
But all together in a direction to know “I”ness in your experience.

Till the time you identify yourself with your body,
objects and relations around this is called
identification of the self with gross existence around.
But the moment you wish you know more
fundamental Tattva, Guna, Characteristic of those objects
you will start transcending that physicality that is binding you.

To understand the self let’s ponder on this.
Sun and moon are physical, what is the light?
Fire is physical, what is the heat?
Water, milk, oil, is physical, what is the liquidity?
A flower is physical, what is the smell?
Cloth, wool is physical, what is the smoothness?

All that we call qualities of the objects are not the objects themselves.
They are non-physical in nature, not completely non-physical.
Why? Because they still can be measured using physical types of equipment.

If you know, experience, and identify yourself,
That is completely non-physical
That cannot be measured
That is “Guna” or fundamental substance of the objects
like the heat is the substance of fire
Then only there is hope for you to know that you have free will.

And if you always remain in this identification
Then you will realize you don’t have “a free” will.
But you are the Will that is supporting existence and cosmos around.

This concept is simple, but difficult to understand for most people.
But when it comes to realization most fail to experience.
Rarest in the human breed can experience this
But rare of the rarest is able to retain this realization
for a longer period of time or for always.

The question is not how many people realize this free will.
Neither the question is whether I have free will or not.
A real question is different.
Who is “I” of that question which says “Do I have free will”?

Hari Om Tat Sat
Yours Truly Hari