DESTINY AND FREEWILL

Balanced

IS man’s life predestined or determined by his freewill? Is man free to choose his path or is he helpless? The answer to this question is that in one sense, man is free, but in another sense he is helpless.

It is a matter of fifty-fifty or equal share. In our daily lives, each one of us goes about doing things with freedom. But, along with this, we repeatedly feel that there are powers beyond our control which cannot be ignored or else, we will be unable to do our work.

What are these two seemingly opposite factors? One is our individual personalities and the other is the conditions and circumstances within which we act. These conditions or circumstances can be called an ‘infrastructure’ which is established by nature. As far as our own selves are concerned, we are totally free. We have the freedom to think and speak as we please, to direct our lives in whichever direction we want. In this sense, we are completely free.

But as far as the ‘infrastructure’ within which we operate is concerned, we do not have the power to change it or to plan our course of action by ignoring it. For instance, if you walk, it is something that you choose to do. But to walk, you need the earth beneath your feet. You need gravity below you. You need atmospheric pressure above you. These things are part of the external ‘infrastructure’, without which you cannot walk. The same is true for everything in the context of which we do our actions.


Man lies between two different and distinct considerations—in one sense, he is free, and in another, he is helpless and compelled.

Similarly, our birth—place, family, conditions, gender—are predetermined for us. We have no choice in these matters.

This state of affairs tells us that in this world, man lies between two different and distinct considerations—in one sense, he is free, and in another, he is helpless and compelled. In terms of using his will, he is completely free. But he is helpless in the sense that he cannot use his free will without the infrastructure that has been established by the Creator. The right position in this matter is one of balance—a middleposition between freedom, compulsion and predetermined aspects.

The debate about freewill and predetermination is an ancient one. Ancient philosophers and others who came after them have written much about this. But someone who reads all that they have written is likely to get very confused. Man seeks a clear answer on this issue, but he does not find it in the enormous corpus of writings on this subject. This is because, ordinarily, people veer to one or the other side of the issue. They either think that it is total freedom that prevails or that we are totally predetermined.

This one-sided thinking approach is not proper. If a writer argues for total freedom, the reader is left thinking that he has ignored the element of predetermination. If the writer says that everything in life is preordained, the reader feels he has ignored man’s freewill. And this leads to total confusion in the reader’s mind.


Life is evenly balanced between both freewill and divine will, between freedom and fate.

As has been suggested here, life is evenly balanced between both freewill and divine will, between freedom and fate. If you reflect on both aspects, your confusion will end and you will arrive at a definitive answer to this question.