Description

The subject of free will is an important one that has engaged the minds of philosophers both in the eastern as well as in the western tradition

A false paradigm often attributed to the Sanaatanik ( a votary of the philosophia perennis , otherwise mischaracterized in common parlance as a Hindu), and perhaps to Oriental philosophy in general, is the notion of the inevitability of fate and destiny. It is this they argue that makes Hinduism a supine faith, steeped in passivity and acceptance of conditions without actively trying to change them, in contrast to what is allegedly the case in the Judeo Christian faiths This is astonishing and gargantuan in the scale of the misrepresentation and has unfortunately been internalized by a large section of the Hindu populace. The Dharma teaches just the opposite, namely that the individual is endowed with free will and the capability and the responsibility to exercise such a free will and make appropriate choices with Viveka and Vairagya.