How Can One Distinguish Between God's Plan and Human Free Will?

[Smt. Priyanka Seethepalli asked: Swami, can You please enlighten us regarding God’s plan and freewill of mankind. Can You extend the same concept of God’s will vs human actions like deforestation and killing of animals resulting to extinction of some animal species like Gorillas, etc?]

Swami replied: It is said that anything happens by the will of God only due to His omnipotence. But, this omnipotence of God cannot be exploited by us in twisted directions. If one kills somebody and says that murder happened by the will of God only (since everything happens by the will of God only), the judge will say that he is giving death punishment to that person by the will of the same God only! Even when the omnipotent God comes down as human incarnation, He follows the traffic rules while walking on the road. He will not stop all the traffic by His omnipotence till He walks on the road! He can prove His omnipotence by stopping all the traffic, but He will be criticized as mad egoistic administrator of the world! Killing any bird or animal is the greatest sin unless there is a danger of your life from it.

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