Category Archives: Topic of the month

Action – to-be-done

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One cannot, but act. After all, isn’t that regarded as living?

I act, I get into trouble. Verdicts are passed about my actions, that it is right and wrong, whether I ask for it or not. Based on my actions, judgments are made and sentences pronounced that I am a selfish person, etc. That hurts me and makes me feel guilty. Makes me unhappy.

Therefore, can I be without acting? No. Even to maintain the body, one has to act.

Then how to ensure that I always act the rightful way? Bhagavad-gītā, 3.08, Kṛṣṇa says “niyatam kuru karma tvam, karmajyāyo hi akarmaṇah. – do what is to-be-done, for action is better than inaction”.

How do I know what is to-be-done? Śāstra – scriptures are the source – but then reading / understanding / arriving at its purport seems to be a life time endeavor. Can you please give me a simpler thumb rule?

Ok – here you go. I shall give you two.

1  1. Don’t do unto others, what you don’t want done to you, and viceversa.

2. 2.  All actions are related to the role. Always remember that you are playing the role. What is to-be-done will always be evident if you remember you are playing the role. What is to-be-done becomes blurred when we confuse the role with the actor, and the actor’s likes and dislikes start influencing what’s to-be-done by the role that he plays.

Am I different from the role? Well, yes, but that’s another topic. 🙂

Action – Agency

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An action should have an actor (kartA). That means there should be someone to claim: “I am doing this”. Only humankind has this sense of agency, though all living beings naturally are active. Man is born as part of nature and lives as part of nature. But he does not realize his being an integral part of nature, and therefore is oblivious of the fact that his ability to know, ability of volition, and ability to do works are merely part of the creative function of nature. Because of this obliviousness he thinks he is the doer of all these actions. Such a man is called vimUDhAtmA (the stupefied one or the stupid). Only such stupid ones have the sense of agency and they alone have karma.

From Karma and Reincarnation, Swami Muni Naryanana Prasad, D.K. Printworld (P) Ltd., 1993, ISBN 81-246-0022-8. Buy from Amazon US, Buy from Amazon UK

Topic of the month

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New – Topic of the month

We are beginning a new series (or at least seeing how it goes!)

This will aim to present frequent, specially chosen, short quotations on a different topic each month. Each blogger will aim to post several quotations and will be principally responsible for answering any questions which may arise from his or her post. It is not required that the poster agree with the post!

The title of each post will be of the format ‘Topic name – Post subject’ and will be accompanied by details of the source (‘Book title, author, ISBN’ or ‘teacher who said this and where’). Length of post will be no more than 200 words and sometime only a single sentence. I have generated a new category called ‘Topic of the month’. Please feel free to post comments with further suggestions.

The first topic is ‘Action’ and the first post will follow immediately.