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The Resolution of the Opposition of Free Will and Determinism · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  As long as we remain rooted in the external surface
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  consciousness and ego personality, we are firmly bound
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  by the determinism of nature. Nature, whether on the physical,
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  vital or mental level, operates under its own laws of action.
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  The more dense the expression of consciousness is, the more fixed
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  those laws become. Thus matter has what appears to
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  be fixed and unalterable laws that govern the way that matter
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  acts in the universal creation. It should be noted that we are
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  not fully cognizant of all of these subtle interactions, so
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  our understanding of these laws continues to increase as our
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  base of knowledge expands. This does not imply that the
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  laws are imprecise or constantly changing, but rather that our
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  appreciation of those laws is incomplete and moving towards
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  greater knowledge as time goes by.
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  The vital and mental levels also operate under their own
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  principles, while they appear to have more flexibility and
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  freedom. We are beginning to understand
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  that there are indeed laws of action that apply to each of
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  these levels of consciousness as well.
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  This implies that the external reality we embrace is very much
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  a deterministic existence. We can trace back cause and
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  effect to see that there is no escape at this level from
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  determinism. That does not mean, however,
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  that there is no place at all for free will.
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  It is when we can shift our standpoint away from the ego
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  standpoint to the Divine standpoint that we can see that
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  at this level, the entire creation is directed and
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  developed by the Divine consciousness.
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  We are ourselves an expression of this consciousness.
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  And once we shift our standpoint to that status, we are Co
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  creators and Co participants unified with the ultimate source
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  of the entire manifestation and its laws and thus share in the
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  free will of the Divine. Some people believe that even
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  the divine consciousness is bound by the laws of nature.
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  It is true that when the Divine chooses to create a universe it
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  sets forth the laws under which operations will occur and
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  obviously chooses to abide by those self determined rules.
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  Yet it is also true that other universes, other creations, may
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  and do operate under different principles than those we
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  recognize here. Scientists today speak of the
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  multiverse with a recognition that there are virtually
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  infinite configurations that manifest in different universes.
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  They are not all bound by the very same laws of nature,
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  Siorobindo writes Quote. In reality, the freedom and the
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  determination are only two sides of the same thing.
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  For the fundamental truth is self determination of the cosmos
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  and in it a secret self determination of the individual.
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  The difficulty arises from the fact that we live in the surface
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  mind of ignorance, do not know what is going on behind, and see
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  only the phenomenal process of nature there.
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  The apparent fact is an overwhelming determinism of
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  nature, and as our surface consciousness is part of that
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  process, we are unable to see the other term of the Bayou in
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  reality. For practical purposes, on the
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  surface there is an entire determinism in matter, though
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  this is now disputed by the latest school of science.
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  As life emerges, a certain plasticity sets in, so that is
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  difficult to predict anything exactly as one predicts material
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  things that obey A rigid law. The plasticity increases with
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  the growth of mind, so that man can have at least a sense of
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  free will, of a choice of his action, of a self movement which
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  at least helps to determine circumstances.
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  But this freedom is dubious, because it can be declared to be
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  an illusion, a device of nature, part of its machinery of
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  determination, only a seeming freedom, or A at most a
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  restricted relative and subject independence.
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  It is only when one goes behind, away from Prakriti to Purusha,
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  and upward away from mind to spiritual self, that the side of
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  freedom comes to be first evident, and then by unison with
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  the will which is above nature. Complete.
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  End Quote Reference Shriorubindo and the Mother, The Hidden
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  Forces of Life, Chapter One, Life Through the Eyes of the
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  Yogin pages, 2021.