Free will

===Hindu philosophy===
{{see also|Free will in theology#Hinduism}}
The six orthodox ([[astik]]a) schools of thought in [[Hindu philosophy]] do not agree with each other entirely on the question of free will. For the [[Samkhya]], for instance, matter is without any freedom, and soul lacks any ability to control the unfolding of matter. The only real freedom (''kaivalya'') consists in realizing the ultimate separateness of matter and self.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fapXqp-JSL0C&q=kaivalya|title=The ascetic self: subjectivity, memory and tradition |publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-60401-7|page=73|last=Flood|first=Gavin|year=2004}}</ref> For the [[Yoga]] school, only [[Ishvara]] is truly free, and its freedom is also distinct from all feelings, thoughts, actions, or wills, and is thus not at all a freedom of will. The metaphysics of the [[Nyaya]] and [[Vaisheshika]] schools strongly suggest a belief in determinism, but do not seem to make explicit claims about determinism or free will.<ref name="koller">{{Cite book |first1=J. |title=Asian Philosophies |publisher=Prentice Hall |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-13-092385-1 |edition=5th |last1=Koller}}</ref>

A quotation from [[Swami Vivekananda]], a [[Vedanta|Vedantist]], offers a good example of the worry about free will in the Hindu tradition.
{{blockquote|text=Therefore we see at once that there cannot be any such thing as free-will; the very words are a contradiction, because will is what we know, and everything that we know is within our universe, and everything within our universe is moulded by conditions of time, space and causality. ... To acquire freedom we have to get beyond the limitations of this universe; it cannot be found here.<ref name = "viveka"/>}}
However, the preceding quote has often been misinterpreted as Vivekananda implying that everything is predetermined. What Vivekananda actually meant by lack of free will was that the will was not "free" because it was heavily influenced by the law of cause and effect&nbsp;– "The will is not free, it is a phenomenon bound by cause and effect, but there is something behind the will which is free."<ref name = "viveka">[[Swami Vivekananda]] (1907) {{cite web |url=http://www.ramakrishnavivekananda.info/vivekananda/volume_5/sayings_and_utterances.htm |title=Sayings and utterances |publisher=ramakrishnavivekananda.info}}</ref> Vivekananda never said things were absolutely determined and placed emphasis on the power of conscious choice to alter one's past [[Karma in Hinduism|karma]]: "It is the coward and the fool who says this is his [[Destiny|fate]]. But it is the strong man who stands up and says I will make my own fate."<ref name = "viveka"/>