Do you actually have a choice or is Ishwara calling the shots ?

This blog is a space for my personal reflections and ideas. While I strive for accuracy, please be aware that my opinions may sometimes be incorrect or subject to error. I apologize in advance for any misinformation.

One topic that has recently intrigued me is about free will versus destiny. Do we really shape our own lives, or are we simply walking along a path already laid out for us? Every now and then, you hear contradictory answers. Someone insists, “Work hard, your effort decides everything.” Another says, “No matter what you do, if it’s not written, it won’t happen.” With such opposing voices, it’s natural to ask—what’s the truth?

Let’s start by laying out the possibilities. Broadly, there are only two. Either we have free will, or we don’t.

If everything is predestined, then what is the role of action at all? Why should anyone study, work, or even try? If destiny alone governs everything, then whether you succeed or fail should happen without any effort. But that clearly doesn’t match our lived experience. We all know that effort matters. A student who never studies cannot expect to pass an exam simply because it was “destined.” Action has significance. So pure predestination cannot be the full answer.

Now consider the opposite possibility: that we have complete free will, and our choices alone decide the outcome. At first, this sounds empowering. But then we see life contradicting it. Two people put in the same effort, make similar choices, yet arrive at very different destinations. One farmer tills the soil, sows seeds, and reaps a good harvest. Another farmer, working with equal sincerity, loses everything to drought or pests. If free will alone were the deciding factor, how do we explain such differences? Clearly, there’s more at play than personal choice.

Perhaps then, some suggest, everything is random. Life is just chance—sometimes things work out, sometimes they don’t, without rhyme or reason. But randomness collapses under closer look. If the world were truly random, rice could grow from a wheat seed, or the sun might rise in the west tomorrow. Yet our experience is the opposite—actions consistently bring matching results. Planting rice always gives rice. Stones always sink. There is too much order, too much predictability, for the universe to be ruled by chance.

So we’ve ruled out three extremes: complete predestination, absolute free will, and pure randomness. What remains?

Imagine this instead. You are a farmer. You stand before your land, holding a variety of seeds. You can choose which seeds to sow—mango, neem, or even a poisonous plant. That choice is yours. But after sowing, whether the seed grows or not depends on something beyond you: water. Without water, no seed sprouts. With water, each seed faithfully grows into what it was meant to be. Mango becomes mango, neem becomes neem, poison becomes poison. The water does not interfere. It doesn’t decide what grows. It simply nourishes the choice you already made.

This is exactly how Vedanta explains Ishwara’s role. He is like the water that sustains the law of karma. You are free to choose your actions, but Ishwara ensures that those actions bear their proper fruit.

Here is the verse from Shankaracharya's bhāṣya:

“ईश्वरस्तु पर्जन्यवत् दृष्टव्यः। पर्जन्यस्य समानः सर्वेषामुपकारकः सम्भवः, नैकस्मिन्मेघे केवलं बीजस्याप्युपकारः; यथास्वं बीजबलादेवान्यथान्यथा प्रसवः। एवं च कर्मभ्यः सृष्टेर्वैषम्यनैर्‌घृण्ये न दोषः।”

“Īśvara, however, should be viewed as like the rain. The rain is equally helpful to all seeds; it does not favor one and neglect another. But the sprouting differs according to the inherent power of each seed. In the same way, the diversity in creation is due to karma, and therefore there is no fault of partiality or cruelty in Īśvara.”

This analogy dissolves the tension. Free will is your choice of seed. Destiny is the fruit of seeds already sown. Ishwara is the rain, ensuring each seed grows true to its nature.

Your free will lies in choosing actions, guided by dharma and the wisdom of a guru. The results, however, unfold in the space held by Ishwara’s order. So, act as if everything depends on you, and surrender knowing it all depends on Him.

Hari om!

-acintya