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KARMA AND FREEDOM
actions.
Determinists say that the will of a man is as much bound by the law of causation as the rest of the phenomena of the universe. Ethics will fall down to pieces if there is no freedom for a man. There cannot be surely any moral responsibility where there is no freedom. How could a man be made to account for his action, unless he is a free agent of his deeds? How could reward or punishment be meted out with justice to a man if he has done an action out of compulsion, but not out of free choice? Man will be like and automaton or block of wood, his hands and feet being chained down tightly.
The consciousness of the Self makes a man feel that he is ever free. This idea of freedom is ingrained in the mind of every man. It is hidden in the consciousness of the Self Though he has nothing to eat, though he is in very adverse circumstances, there is a peculiar instinct in man that prompts him to think that he is always free. Because the Nitya-Mukta (ever free) Atman is at the back of his mind, sentiments and feelings, he feels that he is free He knows that he is bound and that he is encased in this tabernacle of flesh. He is fully aware that he is a slave of Maya and Avidya. and yet something inside tells him that he is free at the same time. He has this double feeling because in essence he is the all-pervading mass of wisdom (Vijnanaghana Atman). He gets these flashes or glimpses of freedom even while he labours under
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