Gita Rahasya -Tilak 286

Karma Yoga Sastra -Tilak

CHAPTER X THE EFFECT OF KARMA AND FREEDOM OF WILL In short, these Materialists are of the opinion that the principle mentioned in the Gita, namely, "anicchan api varsneya balad iva niyojitah" , i. e., "a man commits sin, although he might not desire to do it", applies in all places in the same way, that there are no exceptions to it, and that there is no way of escaping it. From this point of view, a desire which a man gets to-day is the result of his Action of yesterday, and the desire he had yesterday was the result of his action of day before yesterday ; a man can never do anything by his independent volition, as this chain of causes is endless ; whatever happens is the result of former actions or of destiny, because people give the name Destiny to pre-destined Karma ; and, if a man is, in this way, not free to do or not to do a particular Action, it becomes futile to say that he should improve his conduct in a particular way, or that he should, in a particular manner, realise the identity of the Brahman and the Atman and purify his intelligence. Like a log which has fallen in the stream of a river, one must without demur go wherever Maya, Prakrti, the laws of Creation, or the Stream of Karma drags him, whether that is progress or regress. In reply to this, some other evolutionist Materialists say that in as much as the form of Prakrti is not steady, and Names and Forms continually change, man should watch and find out by what rules of creation these changes take place, and bring about such a change in the external creation as will be beneficial to him; and we see in actual life, that by following this logic, man utilities fire or electricity for his own benefit. Similarly, it is our experience that human nature can to some extent be altered by effort. But, the question in hand is not whether or not there can be a change in the formation of the universe or in human nature, nor whether or not man should effect such a change; and we have, at the moment, to determine whether or not a man is in a position to control or to yield to the inspiration or desire which he has to bring about such a change. And if, from the point of view of Materialistic philosophy, the fulfilment or non-fulfilment of this desire is pre-destined by the laws of Prakrti, or of Karma, or of the Creation, according to the principle ' buddhih karmanusarini ', then it follows, according to this philosophy, that a man is not free or independent to do or not to do a particular Action.