Three Ways To Fool Oneself
Acharya Prashant: ‘Karma’ or doing, or action is easier to understand. That, with which you associate yourself as the doer is karma. Remember you are not the doer; you are associating yourself with the action. Where is the action happening? The action is happening in the domain of the senses. In the domain of the senses plus the mind, which in itself can be called an extended sense. Right? That’s where the action is happening. But you start identifying with that action. You start calling that action as your property, you start owning it. In that sense, I am calling it a property. You start taking responsibility for that action and this responsibility is not really a virtue. You start taking ownership of that action because you are desirous of the fruit of the action. You know very well that you want to consume the result of the action, you will, first of all, have to assume or claim; claim is a better word, that you are the owner of the action. If you do not own a property, let’s say a field, can you claim what grows on that field? Let’s say fruits and vegetables come upon that field. If you intend to consume them, then you should have first of all laid a claim to the very field itself, I own it.
That’s the reason why the misled, the ignorant, ‘I’ sense claim the action. Otherwise, there is hardly any need. Something is happening, something will come out of it. Right? These are just changing phenomenal states, cause and effect phenomena, something is happening, something will follow from that like a stream of time, stream of cause and effect, this is happening so something else results from that and then there are so many things that all get together to proceed towards something else. Right?
Now, first of all, we do not know what will come from what because the number of factors that get together to produce any outcome is simply innumerable. Secondly, we do not know in what particular way and to what effect will those factors combine. Yet we have a hope that they will combine in the way we desire and what’s our desire, our desire is that they will combine in a way that produces a fruit that we already know of in the past. Not very clear? Let me explain.
Let’s say you have tasted some particular sweet, sweet meat at some point in your life. Name one of your choice (pointing to the audience) Burfi. So you have that experience, that pleasure of Burfi stored in your memory. You do not exactly know what things, what factors get together to ultimately give you a product like the Burfi. You do not quite know that. But the experience, that memory of Burfi really overpowers you, you are captivated, you want that experience again. So you apply your intellect and you guess what all went into the making of Burfi. You guess there was some sugar because you tasted it was sweet, probably there was some milk, probably there was some corn, some flour, something. So you guess of all these things. Now you want to see all these things coming together, in the hope that when they come together, at the required temperature, in the required way, frozen for the right period of time and all such things you know, all of these are phenomena — heat, pressure temperature, ingredients, what are these? These are worldly stuff. So you want all these worldly things to get together as causes hoping that the aggregation of these causes will give you the particular effect called Burfi. Now wherever you see these things, getting together or possible to get together, you start claiming that you are the one causing them to get together.
Are you getting it?
You go to some place for example where a man seems to be gathering all these things, some grated coconut is there, some milk, some sugar, what else is? Something else you know, so all these things and that man is sitting and he has all these stuff. Now the moment you look at that man and you find him with all this stuff, what comes to you? “Ah! These causes are there, now they will probably result into a Burfi.” But you cannot have that Burfi because that Burfi belongs to that man. If the man is actually the doer, then who will have claim over the product, the doing? That man. Now you see that in the next 30 minutes, probably the Burfi will result from all this accumulations. So immediately what do you do? You do something utterly dishonest, you lay claim on the happening. This is called doership, this is called doership, this is ‘karma.’
The actual doer is somebody else, but you have hopes from the doing. And what do you expect to result from the doing? Something that you have already experienced in the past. Now it is a double deceit. Firstly, you are not the doer. Secondly, you are fooling yourself by thinking that the process will result in exactly the same experience as the one you have had in the past. Do you really know what goes into the making of Burfi? Had you really known that what you would have done? You have made it yourself? So you really do not know. You are just shooting in the dark. It’s a blind guess. Just as we all guess and hope and pray that some positive outcome will result from our endeavors. Don’t we do that? Are we ever certain? We are speculating and we are afraid, right?
So, in two ways is doer ship a foolish thing, first, you are not the doer. Secondly, even if you claim to be the doer, it is extremely unlikely that the doing will satisfy you the way you expect. There is a third and underlying deeper deceit as well, can you help me with it? What is the fundamental deceit here? The two current deceits we have already talked of; one you are not the doer, you are arbitrarily and dishonestly claiming to be the doer. You very well know that the doer is somebody else, that the event can very well happen without your intervention or presence. You know that. Right? You disappear from the scene, the cooking will still happen, if the cooking is to happen at all. You do not even know why the man has aggregated all the stuff. May be he has no intention of producing any sweets. You do not know and even if he has a particular intention that intention in no way depends on you. You get lost, the thing will still happen. Are you getting it? So that is the first level of dishonesty.
Second is, you are bluffing, first of all, to yourself. You do not know whether all these will result in the desired outcome. I am asking for the deeper and underlying dishonesty. Have you not had an experience already, so what is the fundamental deceit? Self-deceit? Yes, that it satisfied you the last time. It is on that assumption, it is on that self-deceit that you are basing all your future actions. You are telling yourself, “the last time it happened to me was so great.” Was it? Was it? It wasn’t great even in the past. How will it be great when the past is replicated in the future, if at all?
Are you getting it?
We want our futures as some kind of replicas of the past. Right? Maybe exaggerated replicas, decorated replicas, face-lifted replicas, but no man can ever visualize a future that is fundamentally separated from his past.
In fact, all visualization is an exercise in retrospect. When you are visualizing you feel as if you are looking ahead. The fact is when you are visualizing, you indeed are looking ahead but just as a car driver looks ahead into the rearview mirror. It appears as if the fellow is looking ahead of himself, but he is actually looking behind. That’s what visualization is. Visualization therefore can never give you anything really new and that is the reason why all these self-help and motivational techniques based on visualization are bound to bomb. When you visualize what do you want, repetition of your already sorry and stale state? Look at your current state, how are you right now? If you are happy and all right, why would you want to visualize? Isn’t self-help based on the premise that currently you are not ok? If you are not currently not ok, is not your current situation a product of your past?
You remember what the Upanishad told us that day, “kṛtaṁ smara, kṛtaṁ smara, kṛtaṁ smara.” Do you remember all your deeds? Do you remember all your deeds, remember what you have done? Your current situation is not without reason, you are responsible. So your past was really not all that great, it resulted in the miserable thing called your present. Right? And what are you doing when you visualize? You are just trying to replicate that same past that has resulted in the current disaster called you. Therefore, visualization can never be successful and if it is successful, it will be a bigger disaster.
Are you getting it?
Do you see the whole environment of doer-ship? Doer-ship involves choice, but semiconscious choice. You are choosing which is a good thing. The whole purpose of consciousness is to choose discretely. Choose discretely. Discretion is missing. Choice is there but indiscriminate choice. Instead of choosing something entirely new, you are just choosing to repeat the past and what a shame it is that you are trying to repeat the past that never satisfied you in the first place. See, had the past been any good, had the past really been favorable to you, probably it would have been understandable that you want to relive your past, right?
After all the past was such a golden period, who would not want to live it. But, that is not the case, look at the absurdity, look at the absolute stupidity, the past was not great at all. The proof is that you still wallow in it. The proof is that it has resulted in a future in a present rather, that is not at all charming enough to hold you captivated. So what are you found doing all the time? Returning to the past, marinating yourself in memories? Thinking of the good old days. Now the good old days resulted in a condition in which you are continuously harking back to the so-called good old days.
Now were the good old days really good, had they been really good, they would have liberated you of themselves. Do you get this? Had the past been really good, then it would have resulted in a present in which there would be no need to go back to the past. That’s the mark of any auspicious thing. It’s output is residue less, it’s output is independent of itself. It leaves you free of itself, anything wonderful and what is the sign of anything that is inauspicious for you? It will blemish you, it will never leave you even after you want to leave it behind. It will scar you. It will stubbornly leave its traces upon your existence, your psyche. You will want just to brush it off, leave it behind but you will find that it is clinging, its sticky. This stickiness is a sure shot sign of inauspiciousness.
Getting it? Is doer ship clear? Something you want to ask?
What is meant by indiscriminate choice? Indiscriminate choice is fundamentally dishonest choice. You are choosing against yourself. You are not being good to yourself. You are telling lies to yourself. As if, one ever got anything by keeping himself in the dark. Getting it? Who wants to guess why we do all this? I mean if the past is not good, if the Burfi was not really so delicious, why do you want to repeat the experience? Think, think. Clear the questions that you should be asking.
‘Sāṅkhya’ explains it. Sāṅkhya says, “Sir all that you are saying right now, is coming from a very elevated state of consciousness.” But we are not always this way. You are not always merely the free and light consciousness that you are in this moment. At other times you are what you are, the body. Consciousness has no weight but the body has weight. Consciousness, pure consciousness is just light, it hardly has any inertia, its featherlike, but the body has inertia. When the body has inertia it has a certain laziness. If you accept that the past was not really great then you will have to redo, rework, create something new and that involves effort, labor, work. ‘Tamogun’ doesn’t allow that, the body doesn’t allow that, the body has inertia.
We do not live ‘satvik’ lives. Our systems carry a lot of momentum. When a system carries momentum how easy is it to change its velocity? Tell me. When you apply brakes to a bicycle how soon does it stop? When you apply brakes to a passenger train, how soon does it stop? Unfortunately, we live not even like a passenger train we live like a freight train; carrying a lot of baggage. So many people, so many things and we are carrying all that. We are just too heavy. So it is not easy to change direction, there is a lot of momentum. So when there is a lot of momentum, the force that is required to change direction is equally large, F=dp/dt. Such great momentum, from where will you muster the corresponding force? That force will then have to come from your commitment towards the Truth, your commitment towards liberation. Not everybody has that commitment. Therefore, not everybody is able to summon the inner force needed to change the habits of the past.
Two things are there, first of all, your ‘tamasic’ inertia has to be as low, as little, as possible. You should be carrying as little mental weight as possible. The mind has to be something very, very light like feather. Secondly, practically, you know that some weight will always be there because you are born human. Practically some baggage would always be there in the mind. But you want to change direction, having learnt that you are not going in the right way, you quickly want to course correct. For that, you must summon ‘åtmabala.’ Now this ‘åtmabala ‘is very different from willpower. ‘åtmabala’ arises from the mind’s love and devotion towards it’s own welfare. That’s what gives power to the mind. Mind says, “I might be moving towards North, but I have just learnt that my welfare is towards the South so I will apply brakes.” And when a system carrying a lot of momentum is braked suddenly, you know what happens? What happens? There is great stress on that system, a lot of heat and noise is generated. You should be prepared to take that and that is called sacrifice.
The brakes have been suddenly jammed. So much so that the system can even catch fire. All the kinetic energy will have to go somewhere. Where would it go? It would turn into heat, sound and you know so many other things. You have to be prepared to let the system go to flames. You are saying, “I am prepared to turn to ashes but I am not prepared to keep going towards North when my welfare, when my beloved, when my liberation is to the South. I will not go towards that direction. I fully well know that my own body is carrying me towards North.” Its the momentum, its the ‘tamasic’ inertia of the past and it is saying, “Go, go, carry on, carry on’, its rolling.” And you very well know that a rolling object will keep rolling. Why would it stop on its own or would it? It won’t. It wants to keep rolling, it wants to keep rolling. But you are not that rolling object. You are somebody who is somehow unfortunately contained inside that rolling object but is not that rolling object. The distinction is the basis of all spirituality. You are contained in that massive rolling object but, you are not that object. So you have discovered, “I am not to go to the North.” And with all your might you say, “This thing has to stop right now.” And when you apply the brakes so very hard then there are consequences. What do you say? “I am prepared to take the consequences. I am prepared to take the consequences.”
Are you getting it?
Now, this kind of action is a special category of action called, you could simply call it ‘Niṣhkāmakarma.’ You could either fool yourself, “You know all my life I have been rolling towards the North. All my past I was rolling towards the North and oh! it was so delightful, so I will continue rolling towards the North.” You could either deceive yourself this way or you could simply admit, “The past has always been a waste. But the past is still is so much upon me. The past is not been left behind, I see that I am constituted of the past. All my movements, all my urges, impulses, my feelings, my instincts they all come from my past and they are still very dominant.” That’s the momentum of the past, right? “But I won’t give in. If the whole system has to crash, so be it.”
Getting it?
So, you see the difference between karma and niṣhkāmakarma here. Ordinary karm would say, “The system must roll on just as it was rolling in the past.” So you will do things but you will do things just to keep the roller on track and that track leads to a past-like future. This is the normal action that we all engage in. We want to do things, we exercise the choice. You can imagine somebody sitting inside the roller and he exercise the choice. He does have his hands on the steering and there is the accelerator and the brake and the clutch, all the stuff, the gear, all that is there. So the choice is there, right? When you have your foot on the accelerator then it is normal doing. You are just letting your momentum to continue and express itself. What are you doing with your steering wheel? Just minor adjustments, very minor adjustments. You have no intention to take a U-turn. That intention is not at all there. Right? So you are exercising a choice. Its not that you are sitting doing nothing inside the roller. The choice is being exercised. Don’t we all say, this is my choice, this is my choice? The fact is when you are choosing in the usual way, you are choosing very little. You are just letting the rolling happen.
And what is ‘Niṣhkāmakarma?’ Having known what is right you do what is right and forget the consequences. This forgetfulness towards the consequences in called ‘Niṣhkāmata.’ “I do not care for the consequences at all.” This is called Niṣhkāmata or action without expectation. “I will just do the right thing and I will let the rightness of my action decide for me. If my action is right, how can the consequences be wrong? I may feel that the consequences are not suitable for me, but that would be my feeling, not the reality.” How do you know whether something that has happened to you is right? Figure out the effect from where the cause has emanated. If the action is right, the result cannot be wrong. And you have no way of knowing directly whether the result is right or wrong.
All that you can ever know is whether the action, the center of action, was right. So you act then you leave it to the rightness. Or you could say act and you could simply leave it. Act and leave it. If the action is right how can the result be wrong? So I leave it. This is what Kṛiṣhṇa means when he says, “Your right, your adhikar is that atmost over the action, forget the result.” What he is saying is not something ideal. It is actually the reality. It is something very practical. Can you ever have any handle over the results, has anybody ever enjoyed that? But in our fancies, we keep assuming as if the results would be as per our expectations. And that leads to so much sorrow and disappointment. The much better option is just do what is right. Full stop. “What would happen next, I don’t care, I don’t care.”
