Q: If every mental state, disposition, desire and action is determined by preceding causes, then wouldn’t even the distinction between a pious person, a materilistic person and a criminal ultimately be determined by their previous karma, samskaras, gunas and circumstances?
A: Of course. What other distinction would there be? The ātman is untouched by these things; every ātman is an identical clone.
Q: For example, if someone develops virtuous dispositions and performs pious activities, while another develops harmful dispositions and commits crimes, neither appears to have independently chosen the conditions that shaped their respective minds and actions.
A: When you say, ‘neither appears to have independently chosen’, who are you referring to? The ātman does not choose anything. The jīva chooses (jīva = atma+mind/body complex). But even that choice is predetermined by saṁskāras and the guṇa one is under – sāttvik people exercise more agency than tāmasic people.
Q: In that case what is the basis of moral accountability? In what sense is a person responsible for sinful or criminal actions if their decisions and dispositions were themselves predetermined? Similarly, in what sense does a pious person deserve credit for virtuous actions if those too were predetermined?
A: Good deeds beget good results. Bad deeds beget bad results. That is the rule of karma. The ātman is not responsible for anything if actions are done without identification as their doer. Then even if one kills, one does not actually kill (hatvā api sa imān lokān na hanti na nibadhyate). Otherwise the ātman is implicated in the bondage of karma. Pious deeds are also bondage, as are impious deeds. These are all a result of the working of the guṇas – Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself states, ‘guṇā guṇeṣu vartanta iti matvā na sajjate’.
Q: I understand that actions still produce karmic consequences within the causal chain. But does this not raise a further question,if both the action and its consequences are predetermined, what is the basis of moral responsibility rather than merely causal consequence?
A: So what if actions are predetermined? Certain actions lead to certain results. For example, if we jump off a cliff, we die. Why should we ascribe some special agency to gravity? It acts inexorably and inevitably because it is programmed into the laws of nature. Objects move through curved spacetime – it is how it is.
Likewise, if someone does something against the śāstra – such as harming others – one faces the consequences. Here, I mean the jīva faces the consequences and that is just the way nature is setup. If we do not accept this, then we cannot accept that there is anādi karma – you can ask, why are we in the material world acting in certain ways? There is no why — it is how it is.
We use the term ‘moral’ and ‘immoral’ to describe acts that support or oppose scripture. Every action begets a reaction and the reaction must go to the agent of the action. That is the law; whether we ascribe a moral significance to it or not is of no consequence. The ātman is an agent when it identifies as the doer of the action. And so the results accrue to it – meaning to the body it identifies with.
Q: And how does this understanding reconcile with sastra’s instructions to perform dharmic actions, avoid adharma, and cultivate bhakti?
A: śāstra is programming us – perform dharmic actions as that will lead ultimately to mokṣa. Avoid adharma as that will prevent birth in lower species. Cultivate bhakti as that is the pinnacle of all endeavors. These are programs that are designed to motivate us to act in ways that are beneficial.
Q: I am trying to understand whether your position implies complete determinism even at the level of moral responsibility, or whether the jiva possesses some genuine conditioned agency that makes it accountable for its actions.
A: The jīva possesses conditioned agency, of course. That is our everyday experience. Accountability does not require free will – accountability is hardwired in the way nature works. We are taught about morality and immorality so that we get programmed to act in ways that are beneficial to us.
Thank you 🙏🙏