The will of God

MASTER (with folded hands): “What can I do? I become completely unconscious in that mood, then I do not know at all what I am doing.”

DOCTOR: “You should be careful. No use folding your hands now and expressing regret!”

MASTER: “Can I do anything myself in that mood? What do you think of this state? If you think it is a hoax, then I should say that your study of ‘science’ and all that is bosh!”

DOCTOR: “Now listen, sir! Would I come to see you so often if I thought it all a hoax? You know that I neglect many other duties in order to come here. I cannot visit many patients, for I spend six or seven hours at a stretch here.”

MASTER: “Once I said to Mathur Babu: ‘Don’t think that I have achieved my desired end because you, a rich man, show me respect. It matters very little to me whether you obey me or not.’ Of course you must remember that a mere man can do nothing, it is God alone who makes one person obey another. Man is straw and dust before the power of God.”

DOCTOR: “Do you think I shall obey you because a certain fisherman obeyed you? Undoubtedly I show you respect; I show you respect as a man.”

MASTER: “Do I ask you to show me respect?”

Dr. Sarkar and Girish

GIRISH: “Does he ask you to show him respect?”

DOCTOR (to the Master): “What are you saying? Do you explain it as the will of God?”

MASTER: “What else can it be? What can a man do before the will of God? Arjuna said to Sri Krishna on the battle-field of Kurukshetra ‘I will not fight. It is impossible for me to kill my own kinsmen.’ Sri Krishna replied: ‘Arjuna, you will have to fight. Your very nature will make you fight.’ Then Sri Krishna revealed to Arjuna that all the men on the battlefield were already dead.

“Once some Sikhs came to the Kāli temple at Dakshineswar. They said: ‘You see, the leaves of the Aśwattha tree are moving. That too is due to the will of God.’ Without His will not even a leaf can move.”

DOCTOR: “If everything is done by the will of God, then why do you chatter? Why do you talk so much to bring knowledge to others?“MASTER: “He makes me talk; therefore I talk. ‘I am the machine and He is the Operator.’ "

DOCTOR: “You say that you are the machine. That’s all right. Or keep quiet, knowing that everything is God.”

GIRISH (to the doctor): “Whatever you may think, sir, the truth is that we act because He makes us act. Can anyone take a single step against the Almighty Will?”

Free will and God’s will

DOCTOR: “But God has also given us free will. I can think of God, or not, as I like.”

GIRISH: “You think of God or do some good work because you like to. Really it is not you who do these things, but your liking of them that makes you do so.”

DOCTOR: “Why should that be so? I do these things as my duty.”

GIRISH: “Even then it is because you like to do your duty.”

DOCTOR: “Suppose a child is being burnt. From a sense of duty I rush to save it.”

GIRISH: “You feel happy to save the child; therefore you rush into the fire. It is your happiness that drives you to the action. A man eats opium being tempted by such relishes as puffed rice or fried potatoes.” (Laughter.)

MASTER: “A man must have some kind of faith before he undertakes a work. Further, he feels joy when he thinks of it. Only then does he set about performing the work. Suppose a jar of gold coins is hidden underground. First of all a man must have faith that the jar of gold coins is there. He feels joy at the thought of the jar. Then he begins to dig. As he removes the earth he hears a metallic sound. That increases his joy. Next he sees a corner of the jar. That gives him more joy. Thus his joy is ever on the increase. Standing on the porch of the Kāli temple, I have watched the ascetics preparing their smoke of hemp. I have seen their faces beaming with joy in anticipation of the smoke.”

DOCTOR: “But take the case of fire. It gives both heat and light. The light no doubt illumines objects, but the heat burns the body. Likewise, it is not an unadulterated joy that one reaps from the performance duty. Duty has its painful side too.”

M. (to Girish): “As the proverb goes: ‘If the stomach gets food, then the back can bear a few blows from the host.’ There is joy in sorrow also.”

GIRISH (to the doctor): “Duty is dry.”

DOCTOR: “Why so?“GIRISH: “Then it is pleasant.” (All laugh.)

M: “Again we come to the point that one likes opium for the sake of the relishes that are served with it.”

GIRISH (to the doctor): “Duty must be pleasant; or why do you perform it?”

DOCTOR: “The mind is inclined that way.”

M. (to Girish): “That wretched inclination draws the mind. If you speak of the compelling power of inclination, then where is free will?”

DOCTOR: “I do not say that the will is absolutely free. Suppose a cow is tied with a rope. She is free within the length of that rope, but when she feels the pull of the rope-”

MASTER: “Jadu Mallick also gave that illustration. (To the younger Naren) Is it mentioned in some English book?

God alone is the agent

(To the doctor) “Look here. If a man truly believes that God alone does everything, that He is the Operator and man the machine, then such a man is verily liberated in life. ‘Thou workest Thine own work; men only call it theirs.’ Do you know what it is like?

Vedānta philosophy gives an illustration. Suppose you are cooking rice in a pot, with potato, egg-plant, and other vegetables. After a while the potatoes, eggplant, rice, and the rest begin to jump about in the pot. They seem to say with pride: ‘We are moving! We are jumping!’ The children see it and think the potatoes, egg-plant, and rice are alive and so they jump that way. But the elders, who know, explain to the children that the vegetables and the rice are not alive; they jump not of themselves, but because of the fire under the pot; if you remove the burning wood from the hearth, then they will move no more. Likewise the pride of man, that he is the doer, springs from ignorance. Men are powerful because of the power of God. All becomes quiet when that burning wood is taken away. The puppets dance well on the stage when pulled by a wire, but they cannot move when the wire snaps.

“A man will cherish the illusion that he is the doer as long as he has not seen God, as long as he has not touched the Philosopher’s Stone. So long will he know the distinction between his good and bad actions. This awareness of distinction is due to God’s māyā; and it is necessary for the purpose of running His illusory world. But a man can realize God if he takes shelter under His Vidyā-māyā and follows the path of righteousness. He who knows God and realizes Him is able to go beyond māyā. He who firmly believes that God alone is the Doer and he himself a mere instrument is a jivanmukta, a free soul though living in a body. I said this to Keshab Chandra Sen.”

GIRISH (to the doctor): “How do you know that free will exists?”

DOCTOR: “Not by reasoning; I feel it.“GIRISH: “In that case I may say that others and I feel the reverse. We feel that we are controlled by another.” (All laugh.)