________________
10
Law of Karma
from the animal will, which is exercised without this control. "Choice can thus be considered within the one world of nature, to be both free and necessitated.''18
Such freedom is not capable of freeing man from all his yesterdays, because it finally leaves man as a part of nature. But freedom of choice consists of the capacity of choosing between lawful and unlawful. Here nian regards himself as phenomenon, but as noumenon he is legitimately free from the objects of choice. “In this respect he is free, but he has no choice."19
The moral law requires man to act from a rational principle and not from an inclination of the sensuous world. It is, therefore, implied that man is capable of actions free from any inclination but determined only by reason. Thus man's existence as a free being and his existence in a completely determined temporal order are jointly guaranteed without any interference.
Thus, we see that freedom which presupposes its cause in the field of experience, is not so determining that it excludes causality of our will. “A causality which, independently of those natural causes, can produce something that is determined in the time-order in accordance with empirical laws and which can therefore begin a series of events entirely of itself." 20
Now, we must watch how Aurobindo reconciles the Law of Karma with freedom. According to him, the Law of Karma maintains that the consequence is followed by previous acts or cause. Good and evil seem to be as opposite powers, and we are apt to see the world in its moral aspect. “As a struggle and tug of war and between tbese eternal opposites. God and Devil, Deva and Asura, Ahuramazada, Angrya and Mainyu.”21
Our will is full of power. Even Nature works through our will. Our will can create also, that is to say it can produce a totally new thing out of the stuff. But critics point out that though our present will can create future consequences, it is not a free new-will. First, our present actions or present Karmas are the result of already formed shape. Secondly, our will is an instrument in the hands of something greater than ourselves. That is to say, our soul or self is not our own
