magnitude are equally subject to fixed laws, and by discovering these
laws man is able to predict their behaviour with accuracy. No doubt,
modern physicists, such as Niels Bohr, suspect that the heart of the
atom may be the citadel of indeterminism. The behaviour of the
electrons as they jump from one orbit to another, is still
unpredictable and does not seem to be subject to any law.
Nevertheless, it would be rash to accept it as an established fact.
With the progress of nuclear physics and the invention of more
sophisticated instruments, laws which underlie the behaviour of
electrons may be discovered and indeterminism may be dislodged
from its last stronghold. In any case, man, in his practical life, has to
deal with molar objects, and nobody yet doubts that they are subject
to unalterable natural laws. When physicists are able to decide that
indeterminism lies at the core of the atom, the bearing of this view
on man will be considered in all its implications. At the moment, we
can only advance the surmise that even if freedom turns out to be at
the root of the universe, at the formation of matter it enters upon a
long period of latency, only to blossom out again with the
emergence of Man.
(ii) The Divine Will and Man. How does the Divine Will function in
the sphere of man? To answer this question, we must not lose sight
of man's dual nature. By virtue of possessing a body, man is a part
of the physical world. As such, he is as much subject to natural laws
as any other physical object. Birth and death are natural events,
growth and decay are natural processes and these are governed by
the laws of nature. But he is also endowed with an ego or self, and
freedom is the breath of life to it. Freedom of choice is inherent in
the self. It is free to choose any alternatives. The Divine Will has
conferred on man a measure of freedom which is sufficient for his
needs as a rational responsible being. Of course, this freedom has its
limitations. It has to be so for a finite being: but in so far as his action
is determined, not by any external agency, not even by a fragment of
his self, but by his whole integral self (which is essentially rational),
he is acting freely and is expressing himself. This is the freedom
which man has a right to demand and which the Divine Will has
granted him. This is indeed man's most precious possession. He can
rise to his full stature only in a social and political environment
which puts no curbs on the freedom to which he is entitled. The
The Working of the Divine Law 144