free will

​The critically acclaimed ‘Disobedience’ premiered on cable last evening. ‘You are free to choose,’ boom two important characters; one at the very beginning and the other at the very end.
Incidentally, it’s Gita Jayanti today. I’m drawn to a shloka from the concluding chapter (chapter 18, text 63). Says Krishna to Arjuna:
इति ते ज्ञानमाख्यातं गुह्याद्गुह्यतरं मया |
विमृश्यैतदशेषेण यथेच्छसि तथा कुरु ||
Thus I have explained to you the most confidential of all knowledge. Deliberate on this fully, and then, do what you wish to do.
यथेच्छसि तथा कुरु!
Krishna endorses free will but also lays down the stipulations under which it may be exercised, namely, right knowledge and deliberation.
Then, where either of the prerequisites is lacking, it may be prudent to stick to convention, or to the law of the land; for ‘Disobedience’ of either can have far reaching ramification. We saw so in the layered and complex movie. And we’ll see so in the panning out of nationwide events from the past few weeks.