By Navin Jani
One aspect of the Vedic culture—knowledge of the future—may seem at first glance to contradict free will, but this is not so. In fact, St. Augustine’s explanation of this phenomenon in relation to the omniscience of God parallels the Vedic understanding. Others had argued that if God already knew what we were going to do, that would prevent us from having free choice; we could not help but act in the way God had foreseen. In response, Augustine explained that God’s vision of the future does not cause anything to happen. Rather, it is akin to human vision of the past. We have the ability to re-member past events, but this doesn’t mean we cause them. Similarly, God has the ability to pre-member future events, but this doesn’t mean His doing so curtails human liberty. He is simply beyond time, unlike us, and He can therefore observe past, present, and future all with equal ease.