28 Aug 2021
[Smt. Priyanka asked: Question regarding liberated souls in God's divine program. Pādanamaskāram Swami, Please forgive me if my understanding is wrong. When liberated souls are born on Earth to assist in God's program, they are covered in complete ignorance (out of God's will) so that they can play their assigned roles well. Liberated souls are not bound by laws of Karma like non-liberated souls. Even if they appear to be committing sins, it is as per their assigned role, either to entertain God or to set an example to others in the world. Having said that, is every action performed by liberated souls or life experiences they go through, planned as per the divine program? Are liberated souls given any free will at all? If they have free will, then some of their actions may not be as per God's plan, is that correct? In that case, are they still free from laws of Karma? At Your divine lotus feet, Priyanka]
Swami Replied:- The liberated souls are under full ignorance so that they can play their roles well in order to stand as ideals for the other devotees. In such acting in their roles, they are not bound by the laws of Karma because they are only playing the roles and not actually involved in the deeds by their original inherent nature of the three qualities (Sattvam, Rajas and Tamas). Due to ignorance, they play well in the roles, but, since they are only actors in the roles in the sense of reality, they are not bound by their actions because their actions were also stipulated by God.
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