Do we have free will? Many scientists believe that we do not. They believe that our minds are simply machines, computers following a program. At first glance their argument appears to have merit. After all, when we working things out logically we are not using free will. We would all expect that given well defined facts such as “all cats are animals” and “tibby is a cat” everyone would come up with the same answer when asked “is tibby an animal”.
Similarly we cannot say that we are using free will when we are giving in to the desires of our emotions and senses without consideration. Hinduism teaches us that this path leads to degeneration, and distracts from our true divine nature. It is also clear that all people living at this level will act the same way, seeking pleasure where they can.
If a person were just made from these two components; an ability to reason logically plus the drive of sensual pleasure and emotions then the scientists would be right, we would have no free will.
