End of suffering

[Guest guest]

the reason for this is that you are by no means readyto take a "truth

test" about your conviction.Therefore, the conviction is not

total-indeed, youare not really even totally willing to want

theconviction because of the conditioning of thousands of

years: "if I am truly convinced that I am not the doerand, more

important, no one else is a doer either, howcan I live my life

henceforth in a society whichsimply will not accept this fatalistic

attitude of

every thing happening because of God's will?" you putthis difficulty

before the sage, and you are surprisedthat the sage agrees that this

is a valid difficulty.He strengthens your argument by adding that you

also

have the most inconvenient feeling of being ahypocrite: how can I

truly accept that no one is adoer, and yet proceed to do actions and

to live mylife as if nothing has changed? Then he proceeds to

give you the answer:

"I assure you that all you have to do isto live your life

as if you are the doer." And,anticipating your problem, he says:

"No, you will notfeel like a hypocrite because that is what you have

been doing your life. You know that the sun does notmove and that all

the planets revolve around the sun ;yet, have had no hesitation on

using the words,'sunset' as if it is the sun that is

moving.Similarly, go ahead and do your actions as if you are

the doer and so is everyone else. In other words, inany given

situation, go ahead and consider all thefacts and the data very

carefully and then decidebetween various alternatives available;

having made

the decision, go ahead and put in your best effort tofructify your

decision. So far, nothing has changed;you have set a goal based on

what you want to achieve,there has been proper 'motivation' – you

have made an

effective plan and put in your best effort; no one,not even you, can

assure your self of being ahypocrite. So far, what happened is

precisely what hasalways happened in your life and nothing has

changed.

What happens after this will also be precisely whathas been happening

before: you have no control overwhat happens after this. You know

from experience thatany one of three things can result: your action

will

be successful, or it will not be successful, or therewill be no

result. The point is that nothing haschanged. All you can do is to

set a goal, make a planand put in your best effort; what happens

there after

has never been in your control. Life continues to bewhat it

was.""Then", you ask, "Where is the big change?" Then comesthe

answer: "There is a very big change – it is notwhat happens in life,

which is precisely as before –

the big change is not in what happens in life but inyour own personal

attitude to life, which trulydecides whether you are comfortable with

yourself andcomfortable with others, whatever happens in life."

You confess you are puzzled. The sagecontinues:

"Even previously having donewhat you felt you had to do,

it was your life'sexperience – and everyone else's too – that

thereafter

the doer had no more control over it. Now, with yournew understanding,

there is really no change in whathappens. But there is henceforth, a

big change in whathappens to you. Previously, accepting that it was

your

doing, success meant pride and arrogance, failuremeant guilt, shame,

resentment. Now, with theunderstanding that your doing is not really

not yourdoing but only a happening, success means onlypleasure but

not pride and arrogance; failure may mean

a sense of regret but not frustration, guilt or shame– it was never

your doing, but a happening over whichyou truly had no control. This

is the big difference:instead of fighting with the flow of life, now

you go

with the flow without any stress."( To be continued )Ramana Sarma