In the last post, I spoke about the tension between the freedom we get from uncertainty and the responsibility we get from knowledge. It feels like a tug-of-war at the heart of our existence. I used to think the answer was to pull harder on the rope of knowledge. But I now believe the only intelligent action is to let go of the rope entirely. This isn’t an act of giving up. It’s an act of surrender.
When I was wrestling with the idea of a vast, overwhelming uncertainty, I was reminded of the 11th chapter of the Gita. Arjuna is left awestruck and terrified after seeing the infinite, all-encompassing form of the Lord. This overwhelming experience, I feel, is a necessary step. It’s the moment we move from the illusion of being in “control” to the liberating state of “surrender.” The quest for objective knowledge will never give us full control. Only surrender has the power to make you experience bliss.
If we surrender, we surrender the “self,” the ego, the “I” that feels it needs to be in control. In the face of this, abandoning the quest for knowledge seems trivial. The surrender is the abandonment of the highest order.
In this state, who cares if you are active or passive, responsible or irresponsible? These dualities collapse. As the Gita says, the wise person sees action in inaction, and inaction in action. There is only one perfect action under surrender, and its only motivation is an unconditional Love for the divine power that you are surrendering to. I like to call it a “kind uncertainty.” The only intention is to love it more and more.
You might ask, how can one be socially responsible in this state? But to me, irresponsible behavior can only arise from a sense of self, from an ego with its own agenda. In the absence of that “I,” how can an irresponsible act arise? The intention is simply to love.
There’s a saying in my mother tongue, Marathi: आधी पोटोबा मग विठोबा! It means, “First, the stomach, then the Lord.” We first fulfill our basic needs, and only then can we think of higher things. I think our spiritual journey works like that. The Divine Power, in its kindness, allows us to see our desires fulfilled. Bhukti comes before Mukti! Through this, we feel gratitude. This gratitude, coupled with a minimalist approach to life, is what leads to the ultimate, voluntary surrender. It’s like a neural network; we may start with random desires, but through an iterative process of realization, we converge on the optimal solution—the sole desire to become one with the divine. This process might take minutes for a Buddha or lifetimes for the rest of us, but I feel it is irreversible.
This brings me to free will. It’s a tricky concept. Initially, we are free to desire anything. Eventually, we “willingly” choose the “only option” that brings true liberation: to merge with the divine. Is freedom lost? No. In both cases, the freedom to choose is there. But the final act of free will, the most profound one, is to choose to become free from the need to will anymore. That is true contentment.
What does a world based on this look like? How does individuality persist within this oneness? I always think of the FC Barcelona football club in its glory days. The intricate passing just happens. No single player is the star; the ball is the center. Every player becomes one with the ball, and the game flows with a breathtaking, emergent beauty. The players still have their individual skills, but they exist only to serve the whole. There’s no tension between belonging and individuality, because the ego’s need to exert its influence has faded away.
The poet-saint Jnaneshwar laid out this vision for the future of humanity in his “Pasayadana.” He described a world of walking wish-fulfilling trees and talking nectar of knowledge. To me, this is the ultimate “Nash equilibrium”—a state of perfect, stable harmony where everyone’s wish is fulfilled because their only wish is to contribute to the whole. This is the future I see, a future where leadership is not about power, but about love. Where every act is a reward in itself, and humanity becomes a grand, beautiful orchestra.
The real feeling of liberation doesn’t come from retaining the free will but from becoming truly free from willing. Becoming One with Him. Burden of responsibility. Desire to control. All Gone! That’s the Truest Bliss!
Reinvent The Self! 