Just like to add one more thing to my previous post RR ji...
Earlier on in this thread I posted some of the thoughts of Swami Vivekanand ji and his great guruji Shree Ramakrishna Paramahansa.
I certainly believe both of them to be enlightened enough to believe what they have to say, Also, I very humbly say that when they said those things they were probably not discussing.
regards
sahil

Hi Arian,

Swami Vivekanand and Ramakrishna Paramahamsa were enlightened Souls befitting the supposed qualification I mentioned above.
So naturally they were not discussing!

Right. One should not take the age factor literally. Remember that age is linked to Experience in some way. Isnt it?

And yes. One should follow his /her 'antaratmann'.

Another thing! Sometimes Guru's /books mention slokas. We use it/them according to our antaratmann/perception. But that 'could' be different from what was meant actually.    Of course, I could be wrong here too.



Hi Rhuto,

Also since this thread would probably be participated further, I take the permission to add that:  The free will factor spoken of here, is in terms of Vedic Astrology/philosophy.. and is not used in the general sense.
Hope the others understand this too.

RishiRahul

Hi Sahil,
This is that thread

Im sure u will like it

Reards,
Raman

arian_1c wrote:

Nicely composed post Sir Rhuto... Hey Raman, I couldn't find that thread by CD, can you plz post a link here... thanks already.... Meanwhile I am copying and pasting something here from Wikipedia...something that makes a lot of sense to me... " A quotation from Swami Vivekananda, a Vedantist, offers a good example of the worry about free will in the Hindu tradition.    Therefore we see at once that there cannot be any such thing as free-will; the very words are a contradiction, because will is what we know, and everything that we know is within our universe, and everything within our universe is moulded by conditions of time, space and causality. ... To acquire freedom we have to get beyond the limitations of this universe; it cannot be found here. However, the preceding quote has often been misinterpreted as Vivekananda implying that everything is predetermined. What Vivekananda actually meant by lack of free will was that the will was not "free" because it was heavily influenced by the law of cause and effect – "The will is not free, it is a phenomenon bound by cause and effect, but there is something behind the will which is free." Vivekananda never said things were absolutely determined and placed emphasis on the power of conscious choice to alter one's past Karma: "It is the coward and the fool who says this is his fate. But it is the strong man who stands up and says I will make my own fate." Similarly, Vivekananda's teacher Ramakrishna Paramahansa, using an analogy said that man is like a cow tied to a pole with a rope - the karmic debts and human nature bind him and the amount of free will he has is analogous to the amount of freedom the rope allows; as one progresses spiritually , the rope becomes longer. Mimamsa, Vedanta, and the more theistic versions of Hinduism such as Shaivism and Vaishnavism, have often emphasized the importance of free will. The doctrine of Karma in Hinduism requires both that we pay for our actions in the past, and that our actions in the present be free enough to allow us to deserve the future reward or punishment that we will receive for our present actions."