Mandukya_Upanishad

let the soul fly into the heights of the empyrean, or comedown to the nether regions, it is within the purview ofĪsvara’s knowledge and is contained in the Being of Īsvara.Whatever be the freedom of the kite to fly to the skies, aslong as it is tied with a rope to a peg on the earth, itsmovements are restricted. Our freedom seems to be withinthe radius of the operation of our prārabdha-karma, andbeyond that limit we cannot go. We have freedom, butlimited freedom, not absolute freedom. It is the freedomthat a mother gives to her child. The child has a freedom,but within limits; beyond that the mother will not make anyallowance. Īsvara gives us freedom in the sense that there iscapacity in us to understand, ratiocinate and judgesituations, but all these judgments are determined by thelaw of Īsvara, and we cannot overrule that law; we have toabide by that law. And, if our egoism so acts, occasionally,as to violate this law of Īsvara, then there is a reaction setup, and this reaction is what is called the law of karma.Karma that binds is nothing but the effect of the violation ofthe law of Īsvara, and abidance by His Will is unselfishkarma. This is karma-yoga. When we abide by His Will,follow His law, and then act, we perform karma-yoga. Butwhen we violate His Will and act according to the dictatesof the ego, we perform a binding karma. Īsvara, therefore, iseverything, the coming in and the going out of all things, ofall beings. Such is the glory, the magnificence and thegreatness of God, Īsvara, whose integral parts, organiclimbs, are the jīvas, and all things, animate or inanimate.The distinction of living and non-living beings, theinorganic and the organic, do not obtain in the realm of96