Mandukya_Upanishad

of an effect, namely, the plant, and the tree. The universe isSelf-determined in the sense that it is already contained andfully present in the Being of the Causal State, Īsvara. Thus,in a cosmic sense, we may say that everything is determinedfor ever. No change can be brought about in the cosmos byeffort of any kind, because all the efforts are the activities ofthe jīvas whose existence and function are controlled by theseed, namely, Īsvara, from whom all this comes.Omniscience includes knowledge of the future, and if thefuture is going to be indetermined there cannot be any suchthing as omniscience. We cannot say that the future can bechanged by individual effort, and the so-called change thatwe try to introduce in the future is already known to Īsvara,and all our efforts of the future are determined by the Willof Īsvara. So, while there is freedom of choice from thepoint of view of the jīva, it is determination from the pointof view of the Will of Īsvara. While we seem to changesociety, God knows already the changes that we are going tointroduce, the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ of it. Thus, it is cosmicdetermination from the point of view of Īsvara, but fromthe standpoint of the activities of the jīva, it appears to be aprocess of change with an indeterminate future. God,Īsvara, therefore, is All-powerful, All-knowing, the seed ofall things, the beginning and the end of everything.Prabhavāpyayau hi bhutanām: Everything comes forthfrom Him and everything returns to Him, and everything issustained, also, in His Being. Our movements cannot takeus outside the Body of Īsvara. Even if we travel millions ofmiles in the distant space, to the stars, we are within theBody of Īsvara. We cannot go outside it. Let our thoughts,95