When Things Don't Go Your Way Despite Effort
Questioner: I believe a lot in execution. I keep saying sometimes when I’m in private that I’m a doer; I do things.
Acharya Prashant: Yes.
Questioner: And I believe that I am dedicated to God. I believe that I try a lot of things, but you know some things happen, not all. So, there is a higher power towards whatever God so clearly you know. So, when you say doing is bondage, doer ship is bondage; that got me thinking.
Acharya Prashant: Yeah, that’s because the doer himself is often a product of bondage, the doer to be, more direct and accurate, is bondage personified. Often, that’s the case, and well, that’s the case then, everything that comes out of the doer only serves to reinforce the bondage. Who is the doer? That’s the question we need to go into. If the doer is a product of biological and social conditioning then the doer is just an agent of the forces that seek to keep the doer himself in Fetters, and now the doer might be acting vigorously, but that’s only to carry out the commands of its masters.
When we are born, we are already carrying a lot of tendencies within us that clutch us, make us do their bidding, that makes us feel as if our very identity is linked to them, those tendencies and then, as we progress through life, move through life, there is a lot of social input by way of influences, by way of education, and such things. And there, again there is a lot of identification; we become what we absorb. Though, that’s not what we truly are. And when we become what we absorb, then most of what we do goes against our real interests.
It’s almost as if the prisoner has been asked to build his cell and the prisoner has been told that he is the mason. Right? Now, a false identity has been laid upon false identity. The prisoner is happily raising the walls of his confinement and he says, “You know, I’m working so very hard from nine to nine every day.” What’s more, the prisoner is being paid as well, so the prisoner thinks it’s a fair deal. And the prisoner is busy decorating the small place he would be kept limited to. So, that’s what doer ship is bondage.
This kind of analogy probably both scares and clarifies you. We all work hard, but the question is, who is the one making us work so hard? And even if we are receiving some payment, some rewards, some fruits of our action, are the fruits going to supersede the ill effects of the action? Irrespective of how much the prisoner is paid for his labour, he ihas actually made a very bad deal; he’ll stay in the same enclosure he himself is raising.
Questioner: There are questions from the audience; an audience is a very important part of this interaction, so let me take it from them. You know, let me not just be. So, Harsh Raj is asking: “I want to ask a question; are the doer and the ego the same? How do we know when we are doing the right action?”
Acharya Prashant: Yes, the ego is the doer, the ego is the doer, the ego is always the doer. It’s just that we need to elevate the ego to the highest point possible. The highest point of the ego is when the ego becomes a servant to the truth. When the ego becomes a servant to the truth, then we can call it as a non-doing ego; otherwise, factually, the doer is always the ego. So, if someone likes to claim that what I’m doing right now is actually from a point of non-doing, that I am a non-doer really, it’s not really accurate, irrespective of the point when one reaches in his or her spiritual life. The doer is always the ego; just try to ensure that it’s a dedicated ego, that it’s a surrendered ego, that it’s an ego that has committed itself to the truth.
Questioner: Thank you so much. I think if we’ll get there, that’s also a good position to be in.
