Free Will or No Free Will?

Inquiring with help from Bhagavad Gita and Physics

Bhagavad Gita, the great dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna, addresses many philosophical topics relevant to the modern man. So the question came up recently as to what does Gita say about freewill? Does Krishna say whether freewill exists or is everything predestined?

Turns out not only does Krishna not directly address the question, there is not even a word for freewill in Sanskrit which is itself quite telling. There are words for will, desire, destiny etc. but not freewill. The closest word is “doership” because for one to have freewill in any action, one has to be the doer by definition. And Krishna emphatically states that doership is a myth — “ahankāra-vimūḍhātmā kartāham iti manyate” (Only the ignorant regards himself as the doer). If there is no doer in reality, then clearly there is no freewill either. But Krishna also says elsewhere that one ought to elevate oneself by one’s own efforts (“uddhared ātmanātmānaṁ”). So how to reconcile these two statements?

Clearly the statement denying doership is emphatic and unambiguous. It does not give any “sadhana” (instruction or practice) but simply states the truth of what is. Krishna also prefaces the emphatic denial of doership by stating that all actions are only performed by the modes of Nature (prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśhaḥ) and therefore entirely impersonal. And hence Krishna adds that only the deluded imagines himself to be the author of his actions with its choices, consequences etc. This is stated even more explicitly by Ramana Maharshi:

“Everything is predetermined. What for then does the body come into existence? It is designed for doing the various things marked out for execution in this life. The whole program is chalked out. ‘Not an atom moves except by His Will’ expresses the same truth.”

Then what about the other statement by Krishna imploring us to elevate ourselves by our own efforts? Unlike the previous statement negating doership entirely which is given as a description of truth, this statement exhorting to do something is a prescription for Arjuna or any seeker. It is given as a “sādhana” or an instruction for the seeker who is yet to realize the truth. Therefore the provisional notion of doership that is inherent in sādhana to realize the truth is negated in the sādhya or the truth to be realized. Thus they both represent two different paradigms, one transactionally valid and the other ultimately true.

A helpful way to understand this dichotomy is by looking into an equivalent in the world of physics. Classical (Newtonian) physics with its laws of motion, cause and effect etc. are transactionally valid and useful in our daily activities. That is despite being entirely negated by quantum physics which has been proven conclusively as the “actual” model of reality, wherein matter does not exhibit any solidity, certainty or predictability as postulated in classical physics. Even while knowing so, we still operate in the realm of classical physics for all practical purposes. This is a clear illustration of the fact that functioning in a provisional paradigm does not mean it is ultimately true.

So with the question of freewill. No wonder then that the most well known modern physicist who helped unravel Newtonian physics also made this remarkable statement about freewill and destiny:

“Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, by forces over which we have no control. It is determined for the insect, as well as for the star. Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper.” — Albert Einstein

Just as with the two paradigms in physics, we have the two paradigms of freewill and no freewill — one provisional and other actual. So again for all practical purposes, we function as if there is freewill. But a recognition that ultimately freewill is a myth is an insight into truth as it is and is of great aid in being free of regrets, guilt, second guessing etc. about past decisions made by the illusory free will of the illusory doer. And the more we function with this recognition about past events, the more we see that even while functioning in the present, decisions emerge and are not “made”. This makes life a sublime expression of the ultimate prayer of surrender to That which moves everything, “Thy will be done”.