29 Dec 2021
[Ms. Laxmi Thrylokya asked: Swami, we learnt that God has given freedom (free will) to all souls at the end of Satya Yuga and we are responsible for the consequences of our own actions (Karma). But, the devoted souls, who are in love with God, surrender their free will to God and follow the will of God. Does this mean that the devoted souls become robots in the hands of God and exercise zero freedom? Is God responsible for everything? Please explain w.r.t ordinary souls and w.r.t devoted souls. At Your Divine Lotus Feet, Laxmi Thrylokya]
Swami Replied:- When an ordinary soul performs actions with full free-will, they undergo the fruits of those actions as per their merits and defects for which God is not responsible at all. If a devotee surrenders his/her full free-will to God and performs actions like a robot activated by God, it means that such a soul is in the climax devotion completely absorbed in God doing God’s service mainly. Such a full surrendered soul will have almost all actions in terms of the service of God only and hence, is not responsible for the fruits of actions. All the fruits of such fully surrendered activities are completely taken care of by God. A fully surrendered devotee has no selfishness and in absence of selfishness, no sin can be done. The sins done in the path while fully surrendering to God are also taken by God only. Once the devotee attained God fully, there is no need of doing any fresh sin (kṣipraṃ bhavati dharmātmā- Gītā).
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