Divine Awakening

We should never allow ourselves to be so caught up in the nitty-gritty of every day existence that we forget what is the purpose of all of this. There is far more to existence than what most people comprehend. A passionate life of material progress, no matter how successfully executed, will ultimately prove to be a source of frustration for us because everything material that we have accumulated will eventually be taken away. We cannot keep anything. So why should we work so hard for something that we cannot keep? It does not make sense. We should instead focus our energies on attaining that which lies far, far beyond this temporary material existence. We should instead focus our energies on awakening our original eternal divine consciousness, our Krishna consciousness.

Answers According to the Vedic Version

Question: Free Will or Krishna's Plan?...

All glories unto you! Thank you once again for reminding me of matters most important, every day, tirelessly, and mercilessly hacking away at the nonsense clouding my intelligence.

Maharaja, it is completely miraculous... how specifically your discussions fit perfectly into what I am seeking. Yes, that seems to be Krishna's plan, He gives me the exact instruction to clear my doubts, through you, my teacher.

But, in this context, I have a question:

1. We have free will, we choose to go closer to Krishna or away from Him, do things for Him or for ourselves...

2. All that happens is Krishna's plan, and nothing is by chance.

How can one reconcile the above 2 points? If I have free will, then Krishna doesn't have a plan because if my will is really free, how would He know what I'm going to do? If he has a plan, and my so-called free will is only a facet of His plan, then my will is under His control, not really free.

Please clear my ignorance with the kindness of your instruction.

Humbly,

Milind

Answer: Both...

Both points are true. Everything is happening by Krishna's arrangement, and at the same time we have the free will to be part of Krishna's plan or to rebel against Krishna's plan. Of course, even if we try to rebel we are still under His plan. We are just under a different aspect of it. We can voluntarily agree to be the under the wonderful spiritual nature, which is eternal, full of bliss, and full of knowledge. Or by stubbornly trying to be independent we can be under the control of the material nature and experience instead temporality, ignorance, and misery.

Just as a nation has a system of government under which all of its citizens live. Everyone is under the national government. At the same time everyone is free to obey the laws or disobey the laws. Those who choose to disobey the laws are still under the law. They must go to the prison and be subjected to a most unpleasant set of laws. Those who voluntarily agree to abide by the laws of the state live a happy live full of so many freedoms even though it is all done within the context of the state laws.

So we have a choice, whether we would like to be law abiding citizens of God's eternal kingdom, or whether we would to try to prove that we are so-called independent and end up in the prison of material existence until we come to our senses and realize we should get out of this nasty place and go back to our original home.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

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