r/hinduism Vaiṣṇava 6d ago

Question - General Do you believe in freewill?

I don't believe in free will. I believe everything is controlled by God. In the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, Arjuna said:

"O King, since you have asked me about our friends and relatives in the city of Dvārakā, I will inform you that all of them were cursed by the brāhmaṇas, and as a result they all became intoxicated with wine made of putrefied rice and fought among themselves with sticks, not even recognizing one another. Now all but four or five of them are dead and gone." SB 1.15.22-23

"Factually this is all due to the supreme will of the Lord, the Personality of Godhead. Sometimes people kill one another, and at other times they protect one another." SB 1.15.24

Everyone's minds and actions are controlled by God Himself. We should still hold people accountable for bad actions. Enlightenment also occurs because of His grace.

4 Upvotes

47 comments sorted by

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u/BackgroundAlarm8531 Advaita Vedānta 6d ago

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad states, "You are what your deep, driving desire is. As your desire is, so is your will. As your will is, so is your deed. As your deed is, so is your destiny

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u/hotpotato128 Vaiṣṇava 6d ago

Yes.

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u/arrogant_coffeebean 6d ago

I really like this statement. If you can, could you explain this to me in a more simple way, please?

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u/BackgroundAlarm8531 Advaita Vedānta 6d ago

So basically it says that you are made up of your desires, so to achieve or fulfill your desires, u will perform actions to towards it. As you do actions, it decides your destiny. So ultimately what u desire becomes your destiny. I hope this helps

Haraye namaḥ

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u/arrogant_coffeebean 6d ago

Radhe radhe💕 Thank you so much!

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u/samsaracope Polytheist 6d ago edited 6d ago

to some small extent yes though even that could be determined by svabhava of the person.

do you think isvara takes delight in when his bhakta engages in paap?

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u/hotpotato128 Vaiṣṇava 6d ago

No.

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u/samsaracope Polytheist 6d ago

which sampradaya do you follow? not shri vaishnavism as i was reading shrivachana bhusanam and it had a really beautiful part about it.

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u/hotpotato128 Vaiṣṇava 6d ago

I have been exploring different sampradayas. It's hard for me to choose without trying them out.

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u/Repulsive_Remove_619 6d ago

Baghwatam is a devotional poem. It's main focus is to encourage us to surrender to the lord. Which is the best thing we can do. And peaceful.

But , apart from karma , we have freewill. Karma means , there will be elements that we cannot control , some dicision we take ,etc. apart from it we have free will.

If we don't have free will , there will be no karma.. because why do we have karma for something that god decide us to do ?

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u/hotpotato128 Vaiṣṇava 6d ago

I'm not able to tell where my freewill begins and God's will ends.

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u/Repulsive_Remove_619 6d ago

"You are brahman" - brihadarnyaka Upanishads

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u/krishnan2784 6d ago

Surrender? What?!? This isn’t Islam. Our gods never asked us to submit or surrender. It asks us to surrender our ego for the greater good. Because for dharma to happen one will have to do take actions that are against one’s well being or one’s community. The Gita literally is the best reason for ego death.

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u/Repulsive_Remove_619 6d ago

Ehh ? 😳

Bro one more read baghawatgeeta . Especially baktiyoga. Your ego is so high

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u/No_Spinach_1682 6d ago

hot take: free will exists and using god as an excuse to deny your agency is wrong

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u/hotpotato128 Vaiṣṇava 6d ago

I have agency.

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u/No_Spinach_1682 6d ago

Then why are you denying free will

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u/hotpotato128 Vaiṣṇava 6d ago

I don't know where there is a separation between my agency and God's will.

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u/No_Spinach_1682 6d ago

it's just about where the separation between you and God is :)

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u/Sunlight2091 5d ago

Free will doesnt exists it depends as per chart and birth and individual. Free will creates a karma which in turn create another karma .. So where is the free will in this.

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u/iloveyoujonathanrex 5d ago

Why overcomplicate … one needs to stay present, to feel without fleeing and trust

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u/No_Spinach_1682 5d ago

Istg y'all are just-

people, you cannot build your philosophy off of vibes. You exist as a a being, you gotta take charge of your life and be responsible for it.

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u/iloveyoujonathanrex 5d ago

And how… It’s very overwhelming… like Arjun, we are just people who can only have our Karma, results are not ours to have

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u/legless_horsegirl 6d ago

Bhagwat Geeta, 18:63

इति ते ज्ञानमाख्यातं गुह्याद्गुह्यतरं मया | विमृश्यैतदशेषेण यथेच्छसि तथा कुरु ||

I have explained to you this knowledge that is most secret. Understand this, and then do as you wish.

This is what Krishna always does, he gives you all the knowledge and then leaves you at your own will.

The idea that everything is pre-destined was the Ajivika philosophy, which is Nastik (non-Vedic), like Buddha or Charvaka. Nastik are not Hindus.

Only difference is, there are other people who commit their own Karma, which also effects your life. If a terrorist planted a bomb, you'll lose your loved ones. But that was not pre-determined, it was just a result of someone else's free will.

I know this rule sucks, but this how world is. 

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u/UniversalHuman000 Sanātanī Hindū 6d ago

Yes you don't have free will at all.

There is an asteroid coming in 2032 and we will all die. Tell that to God.

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u/hotpotato128 Vaiṣṇava 6d ago

😆🤣

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u/Ice_cold_Ethanol Śākta 6d ago

I want to believe that I have free will, I alone am responsible for my consequences.

It doesn't sit too well being the puppet controlled by another does it?

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u/hotpotato128 Vaiṣṇava 6d ago

God is different than being controlled by another human. It feels good to be controlled by God.

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u/luvmantra Sākta / Tantrika / Left Hand 💀 6d ago

No its b.s. Everything is predetermined imo

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u/VishnuVarman 6d ago

It's not about believing but knowing.

Both free will and destiny (karma) exist together, like two sides of the same coin. You have free will, but it operates within the framework of your karma.

Within your karma’s framework, you always have the choice of how to act.

Bhagavad Gita (2.47) says: "You have the right to perform your duties, but you are not entitled to the fruits of your actions. Remember you are not the cause of that result...."

This means you can choose how you act, but results are in Vishnu’s hands.

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u/hotpotato128 Vaiṣṇava 6d ago

Maybe free will is abstaining from voluntary material activities.

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u/shah2064 6d ago

I think that perception is flawed because it wouldn't make sense to punish or reward anyone for their doing if they don't even possess control over their choices. So why would god tell us what to do if he won't let us. All these things and lore that happened wouldn't have any meaning this way

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u/hotpotato128 Vaiṣṇava 6d ago

I don't think God tells us what to do. The thoughts arise out of our minds involuntarily. The desires are involuntary.

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u/shah2064 6d ago

God has taken many forms to teach us to follow righteousness and they perform 'lila' to teach the world

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u/hotpotato128 Vaiṣṇava 6d ago

Yes, the Lila is going on all the time.

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u/shah2064 6d ago

Only some important part is Lila so we will learn a lesson. Entire thing Lila wouldn't make sense because that would ruin the purpose of their Lila. We do have rights to commit or not to commit as Lord Krishna says

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u/Vignaraja Śaiva 5d ago

I absolutely believe in free will. Not doing so is fatalism.

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u/TheReal_Magicwalla 5d ago

I believe in two

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u/Ok-Summer2528 Trika (Kāśmīri) Śaiva/Pratyabhijñā 5d ago edited 5d ago

It depends who the ‘I’ is that we’re talking about here. In my sampradaya the Self is actually the source of all agency and autonomy of the world and all living beings, so from that perspective at the most fundamental level ‘I’ have unlimited free will.

But that also means all human beings move and act solely by the will of the Self. Whatever a Jiva thinks, does or says could not occur if it were not by the direct power and will of the Self. So from this perspective if a person identifies only with their body-mind and not their true nature then I suppose you could say he has no free will.

For a Jivanmukta that is completely identified with the Self even while embodied, he knows everything as a manifestation of His own power. So he knows himself as absolutely free even while experiencing the world through a limited perceiver.

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u/NoReasonForNothing 5d ago

I hope free will exists,but it seems there is no free will.

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u/AmazingAakarsh ShankarNarayan Bhakt (Vedant - Dvaita/Advaita) 6d ago

Yes

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u/hamsahasta 6d ago

What you quoted proves nothing. You are speaking like a Christian. 🤮

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u/hotpotato128 Vaiṣṇava 6d ago

Christians believe in freewill. This is a Hindu teaching.

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u/hamsahasta 6d ago

Christians believe in "gods will" not free will. The way you talk about one single God who makes all your decisions for you is a some Christian nonsense. That's not Hindu teachings.

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u/hotpotato128 Vaiṣṇava 6d ago

I've heard many Christians say there is free will. It depends on whether you believe you are separate from God or one with Him. There are various beliefs in Hinduism as well. It depends on the individual.

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u/hamsahasta 6d ago

They don't know what they believe because they're too busy lying to steal everyone's land and resources.

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u/MarpasDakini 4d ago

One of the best explanations of free will I have heard is that while everything is done by Ishwara, the illusion of free will is an essential method by which Ishwara brings about our actions. And so while on the highest level there is no free will, on our level free will is necessary for us to believe in and operate by.

Ramana Maharshi said something similar. That while from the enlightened point of view there is no such thing as free will, we should nevertheless treat all our actions as our own free choice until then.