What is Free will ?, Despite it's called freewill it isn't something that is uninfluenced . Say, in the case of a Mirage, (where the critical angle of refraction , is inevitably surpassed by the construct of the eye, thereupon turns it out to be a reflection , failing the validity of perception). It is, by the influence of the vaasanas/ samskaaras, one is impelled to presume the presence of water where the image is seen , So any will for that matter, is constrained ( by the locus of that jiva) meaning influenced , by samskaaras , conditioning (desire , fear, moral injunctions, subliminal impressions, ego(ahamkara) et al) ., despite being a thought process in a conscious mind. For a dog that lacks rods and cones in its retina , the grass does not look green ,though it's ears are receptive to supersonic frequencies, thus can hear sounds, a human cannot. By extending that any will is a phenomenon of subject tivity ,(and thus called ignorance or ajnana,as it is both real and unreal)ensues tht any experiential reality is nothing but a kalpita . although its validity and its reality in its own context is not denied at all . kalpita is one that undergoes bhava , abhava , (Gita 2.16) , hence cannot be satyam .. Also any will , consequently freewill varies according to the quality of the consciousness of a jiva as well. Free will, though may be said , notwithstanding ,it influenced by vasanas / samskaaras created by karmic imprints.
There may not be a concrete answer as to when and how karma may fructify ?etc. , but with some references abt it, on the scriptures it is known to that extent
In the light of Swami Vivekanandas commentary for Patanjali Yoga Sutras,
tatastadvipakanugunanam evabhivyaktirvasananam
From these threefold works are manifested in each
state only those desires (which are) fitting to that state
alone. (The others are held in abeyance for the time
being.)
Suppose I have made the three kinds of Karma, good, bad,
and mixed; and suppose I die and become a god in heaven; the
desires in a god body are not the same as the desires in a
human body. The god body neither eats nor drinks; what
becomes of my past unworked Karmas, which produce as
their effect the desire to eat and drink? Where would these
Karmas go when I became a god? The answer is that desires can only manifest themselves in proper environments. Only
those desires will come out for which the environment is
fitted; the rest will remain stored up. In this life we have many
godly desires, many human desires, many animal desires. If I
take a god body, only the god desires will come up, because
for them the environments are suitable. And if I take an
animal body, only the animal desires will come up, and the
god desires will wait. What does that show? That by means
of environment we can check these desires. Only that Karma
which is suited to and fitted for the environments will come
out. These proves that the power of environment is the great
check to control even Karma itself.
Swami Vivekanandas commentary on Patanjali Yoga Sutras
sopakraman nirupakraman cha karma tatsanyamad
aparantajnanam,arishtebhyo va
Karma is of two kinds, soon to be fructified, and late to be fructified.
By making Samyama on that, or by
the signs called Aristha, portents, the Yogis know the
exact time of separation from their bodies.
When the Yogi makes a Samyama on his own Karma, upon
those impressions in his mind which are now working, and
those which are just waiting to work, he knows exactly by
those that are waiting when his body will fall. He knows when
he will die, at what hour, even at what minute. The Hindus
think very much of that knowledge or consciousness of the
nearness of death, because it is taught in the Gita that the
thoughts at the moment of departure are great powers in
determining the next life.
Swami Vivekanandas commentary on Patanjali Yoga Sutras
heyan duhkham anagatam
The misery which is not yet come is to be avoided.
Some Karma we have worked out already, some we are
working out now in the present, and some is waiting to bear
fruit in the future. That which we have worked out already is
past and gone.
That which we are experiencing now we will have to work
out, and it is only that which is waiting to bear fruit in the
future that we can conquer and control, so all our forces
should be directed towards the control of that Karma which
has not yet borne fruit. That is meant in the previous
aphorism, when Patanjali says that these various Samskaras
are to be controlled by counteracting waves.
Swami Vivekanandas commentary on Patanjali Yoga Sutras
