All the jivas, whether living in these miserable material worlds, or living in the most blissful spiritual worlds, they all have free will. Any entity (vastu) that has consciousness will have freedom (or free will) as one of the inherent properties. As Svayam Bhagavan Krishna is independent, we all the jivas that came from Krishna also have independence. However there are differences between these two vastus. While Bhagavan is fully independent, the jivas in the material worlds are only partially independent.
Bhagavan Krishna honors the freedom of every jiva. He does not want to interfere with the will of the jivas. We can see this in the Bhagavad Gita itself. After giving so much of knowledge and confidential advice to Arjuna, which is the entire Bhagavad Gita, finally he tells Arjuna:
iti te jñānam ākhyātaṁ
guhyād guhya-taraṁ mayā
vimṛśyaitad aśeṣeṇa
yathecchasi tathā kur .. BG 18.63
“Thus I have explained to you knowledge that is still more confidential. Deliberate on this fully, and then do what you wish to do.”
Actually Arjuna did not want to fight at all. That was his will. He was ready to beg and live his life instead of killing his own relatives. But after hearing the instructions from Lord Sri Krishna, he realized that the will of Krishna was different and in fact the opposite of his will and by his intelligence, he chose to go by the will of Krishna – not by his will.
Now looking at our life, do we have any one like Krishna to advise us? Even when we have someone to instruct on spiritual truth, we do not want to listen to them. Instead we arrogantly think that we know everything while the fact is we are sunken deep in the maya.
It was because of free will, the tatastha jivas fell into the deep well of material existence. Choosing maya and looking down to enjoy the material worlds was not the will of Krishna but the will of the jivas. In fact only very few jivas chose this and Krishna did not stop those jivas from falling down. At the same time, out of compassion He is sending many of His associates and devotees to these material worlds to help them understand their fallen situation. They come here as saints and gurus. But we ignore them, rejecting the rope that they throw at us to catch and get out of the well. This is an unfortunate situation. We want to continue to live by our own will.
Because we choose to live by our own will, the law of karma comes into play that makes us get deeper and deeper into the samsara of repeated birth and death. But how can we get out of this seemingly endless cycle? The easiest thing is to lead our life as per the will of Krishna!
What is the will of Krishna? The will of Krishna for the jivas is to get back to His abode and perform loving service to Him and live with Him in utmost bliss. But most of the jivas do the opposite. They want to serve their own senses and continue to suffer in the material worlds.
The wisest thing to do is to live by the will of Krishna. Krishna has expressed this in so many scriptures, and so many saints and sadhus come and teach us this. Simply by following their instructions we will be able to live by the will of Krishna and become surrendered souls. Krishna says:
sarva-dharmān parityajya
mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja
ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo
mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ … BG 18.66
“Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear.”
Then a question arises. What is meant by surrendered souls? How do the surrendered jivas live? The answer is given by Lord Krishna in the Gita:
man-manā bhava mad-bhakto
mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru
mām evaiṣyasi satyaṁ te
pratijāne priyo ’si me. .. BG 18.65
“Always think of Me, become My devotee, worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend.”
Above two verses from Bhagavad Gita are the essence of entire Bhagavad Gita. It starts with war and ends with surrender.
In fact Lord Krishna instructs about the surrender in one more place.
man-manā bhava mad-bhakto
mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru
mām evaiṣyasi yuktvaivam
ātmānaṁ mat-parāyaṇaḥ … BG 9.34
“Engage your mind always in thinking of Me, become My devotee, offer obeisances to Me and worship Me. Being completely absorbed in Me, surely you will come to Me.”
When we become a surrendered soul, then we are coming directly under the protection of the Lord. He is promising (satyam te) it. Then there is absolutely nothing to worry about. Lord is so merciful that when one fully surrenders, He takes the full responsibility of the soul. He even promises that He will ‘personally’ come and give what we lack and make us the most fortunate.
ananyāś cintayanto māṁ
ye janāḥ paryupāsate
teṣhāṁ nityābhiyuktānāṁ
yoga-kṣhemaṁ vahāmyaham (B.G. 9.22)
“To My bhaktas who always worship Me, I will personally look after them by carrying what they lack and preserving what they have.”
Real surrendered souls are very rare, but like what happened to Arjuna, these jivas become the most fortunate. Now the question is: Do we want to live by our own will, or want to live by the will of Krishna? People who want to live by their will run to so many demigods, devas, observing navaratri (worshipping maya devi herself), even worshipping spirits and ghosts. They want maya and not Krishna! They do so many things to satisfy their desires – not the desire of Krishna.
The freedom to choose is ours! If we are intelligent like Arjuna, we will choose the wisest choice and live by the will of Krishna!