The Art of Action

The body is impermanent and so is the nature. Our actions too are impermanent (limited in time) and so are its fruits. We experience the momentary fruits of our actions and thence remain subjected to the cycle of birth and death. So, what should we do? What is the remedy?

It is not possible to relinquish action. We cannot just remain without activity (even for a moment). We have done so much, and have been striving through countless births, but couldn’t rid ourselves of sufferings. We thought, ‘I shall be happy once I complete my studies, after I get married, after I become an engineer or a chartered accountant, a minister, a Mahant etc…. ‘We even achieved what we wanted but it was lost with the passage of time. Our misery though persists in the end. Moreover, there is the constant fear of death. Death too is not the end of our misery, because we will be reborn after death. We may even pass in the drain literally if we don’t get the chance to start the intrauterine life. Our misery continues. All said and done, the misery persists and it is equally true that nobody wants misery. So what should we do? How can we get rid of misery completely?

The remedy to end the misery is straight and simple.

Kaayen vacha mansendriyerva
Budhyatmana va prakriteh swabhavaat
Karomi yad yat sakalam parasme
Narayanayeti samarpayami

‘Whatever I do through deeds, words, thoughts, with the help of my senses, intellect and ego according to my inherent nature – is all for the supreme Lord, Lord Narayana. Convinced of this, I dedicate all my actions, thoughts and feelings unto Him.’

Stay clear of evil deeds and offer your good deeds to God. Coal is black but if you put it in the fire, it will not remain black. It will glow. If you put iron into fire, that too will glow. Similarly, you put yourself, your actions and your aims and objectives into the fire of Divinity. Do take meals, drinks, do other actions but with the feeling of propitiating the Indweller Lord, not to enjoy its taste. When going to sleep, say to the Lord, ‘O Lord! I am coming into your lap.’ Tell him when you get up in the morning, ‘Lord! You have rejuvenated and refreshed me. Now I am ready to play the games you want me to play in the samsara created by your Maya.’

Eat, drink, do all that is necessary, but offer everything to the Lord. When we do something with a selfish motive for the sake of some worldly benefit or achievement, we create karmic bondage for ourselves. Therefore all our endeavors should be for the Lord’s pleasure. As coal put in the fire doesn’t remain black, actions offered to the Lord create no more bondage.

Putana came to kill Lord Sri Krishna by poisoning. The Lord killed her, Hiranakashipu rushed to the Lord to kill Him; The Lord killed him. Kansa conspired to kill the Lord; the Lord killed him. The Lord did kill them but true to his nature, the Lord who is absolutely free himself delivered all those who fought him, from bondage. When those who fought the Lord were delivered, how can there be anything otherwise to those who have given themselves to Him?

Yatkaroshi yadsanashi yajjuoshi dadashi yath
Yatapasyashi kauntaye tathpurushashya madarpanam

‘O Arjuna, whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer in sacrifice or charity, whatever you do by way of penance, offer it all to Me.’

Then, how can the miseries, worries grudges and problems ever dare to trouble you? (Can god be in trouble? Can the Lord be worried?) If god can be in trouble or be worried, you too can be. And when worry cannot even come near the (enlightened) ones like me, how can it trouble God? When trouble itself gets into trouble while facing me, how can it trouble the Lord? Pray to the Lord earnestly, ‘O Lord! If I do not honestly give myself to You, take me forcibly in your shelter. If I do not offer my mind and intellect to you, seize them per force. May all of my actions be for your pleasure! Whatever I think with the mind, whatever I decide with the intellect, may it be motivated by your love! O Lord! I am simply incapable of seeking you, of realizing you; because my body is but perishable, my deeds are limited in effect, my intellect is dull. And you know that I cannot seek. You by my own capacity. That is why you have showed me the way, that of surrendering myself unto you. A wave, on its own strength, cannot find the ocean but the moment it erases its ego it becomes the ocean. Similarly, as soon as the jiva dissolves its ego in your consciousness, it becomes you.’

If you do it this way, you will become a jivanamukta before long.