There is an oft quoted verse from the Bhagavad Gita, verse 47 of chapter 2, which says,
You have the right to perform action, but not the fruits thereof at any time; let not the fruits of your actions be your motive, and let there not be attachment to inaction.
When I learnt about this verse for the first time, I thought it commands us to work like slaves, we keep suffering and God enjoys all the fruits of our actions. But now, as my understanding has become a little clearer, I am able to appreciate this verse which reminds us of our right to be free all the time.
To understand the verse better, we first have to clearly understand what is action and what is meant by ‘fruit of action’. Action obviously mean things we do, the self’s way of communicating with the external world using the organs of this body. Action here is not just what we do with our hands and legs, but the term includes the act of seeing, hearing, thinking, etc. And organs are not just our physical organs, but more accurately the nervous centres which control the actual physical organs. Action is that which you perform or perceive using your organs and fruit of action is the reaction in your mind to whatever you do. The reaction can be in the form of feelings like feeling the heat or cold, it can be in the form of joy or distress, or it can be the feeling of ownership/doership. We have to understand that perception of heat is entirely different from feeling the heat. That is, the act of you knowing that the temperature around you as 40 °C is entirely different from you suffering from the heat. This knowing the temperature is action, and your suffering is the reaction. To act, we have the right, but let’s not be attached to the reaction. Knowing what is happening around us, judging the best course of action under the circumstances, and actually guiding our physical body to perform those actions is what we have to do, but not suffer from what’s happening around us and get excited or bogged down by the circumstances around us. When we can really be this way, we can really know that we are free all the time.
It’s all fine to concentrate on what we do at this moment so that we don’t suffer, but what about situations we really enjoy, what if we really enjoy the heat? It is perfectly alright to enjoy as long as you choose your enjoyment and not allow your circumstances to determine what you enjoy and what you don’t. Enjoy you must, as long as you enjoy the action, the process of creation. When you enjoy the process of creation, you are in control of your circumstances, but when you take joy from your reaction, you are controlled by your circumstances. The pure joy of creation that originates from the pure self is infinitely greater than the conditional enjoyment dictated by our reaction to things outside and things of the past.
We are also advised in this verse not to get attached to inaction. When we act, we continuously create and determine what we are, we keep living in the present moment. To act is to live and to live is the natural state of our existence. But in attachment to both reaction and inaction, we are lost in the past, we cling on to something that is not anymore, we don’t live anymore. To be attached to the reaction or be inert is to resist living, to die.
Live in the present moment, enjoy the process of creation, enjoy life and know that you are free, all the time.
Blessed Be.
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