Advaita for the Novice - Who is the doer-experiencer? - 6

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Namaste all.

 

Series on Advaita for the Novice.

 

"I am neither the Doer nor the Experiencer" - 6

 

(For No.5 go to post #35129)

 

Perfection of Actionlessness

 

[A reference, say, to Ch.2, Shloka 7 of the Bhagavad-Gita would simply be

given as

"(2 - 7)" without mentioning the Bhagavad-Gita. You may want to keep a text

of the Gita side by side, because there are too many references.]

 

 

>From our point of view of a daily life, the maxim "I am not the doer or the

experiencer" seems to be not only impossible to practice, but impossible to

accept even as an ideal possibility. This is probably one of the reasons

why Krishna takes several hundreds of verses to elaborate his theory. We

shall also take more or less the same route as Krishna in the Gita to arrive

at this. And in this process we shall see how all the theory explained in

the previous posts gets applied in practice in our journey through life.

 

Right in the beginning Krishna tells Arjuna that the Atman never dies and so

one is not supposed to grieve over whatever that dies. And then in 2 - 19

and 2- 21 He enunciates the theory :

'Whoever thinks of this (the Atman) as the slayer and whoever considers this

as slain, both of them do not know; neither does this slay nor is slain'.

'Whereas this eternal Atman is never born and is never destroyable, how can

any one talk of it as being slayed and how can any one slay it?".

 

Having got the definition of the Atman now in our very first lesson (Shri

Ananda Wood's Weekly Definition), as 'the utmost inner knowing within us',

we understand the above statement of Krishna without any further

elaboration. The inner knowing is 'not to be confused with any outward

actions' and so the slaying or being slain are all outward actions connected

with the BMI. We understand it, however, only as a theoretical statement

about the eternal Atman.

 

But Krishna is aiming at a Plan of Action for Arjuna. So, He goes along

several chapters and finally makes a startling statement in (18 - 17) where

he says: "Whoever does not have the 'I-am-the-doer' attitude and whose

intellect is not sullied, he, having slain this whole world, has neither

slain nor is bound" !

 

This statement is certainly difficult to swallow. The concept built into 18

- 17 is called 'Actionlessness'. It is a concept deeply ingrained in any

elaboration of advaita. Krishna names it as such only in two places in the

Gita, but emphasizes it throughout his discourse. And he goes about it in a

spiral fashion - that is, makes a mention, gives a little explanation,

leaves it there and comes back to it progressively again in greater depth

and again, in further depth. The deepest of this spiralling explanation is

18 - 17. Let us take the concept in the order in which he himself unfolds

it.

 

The only change between 2-19 and 18-17 is that the latter talks of the

person (who has the 'I-am-not-the-doer' feeling) and not of The Atman! But

our human weakness is such that we are able to intellectually understand

2-19 since it is a statement about the Atman, whereas when it comes to

18-17, we seem to have reservations, because it talks about what we

ourselves 'do'. The whole purpose of the Gita is to bring home the point

that the person who has no 'I-am-the-doer' feeling is none but one who has

identified with the IP or the Atman.

 

In other words, it is actually the passage from the actionlessness of the

Atman (2-19) to the enlightened attitude of actionlessness of the individual

(18 - 17). It is this change in attitude that restores to the individual his

own nature of Happiness and Peace within. Throughout his talk Krishna is

never tired of repeating this in so many different ways. This is the central

thread of the teaching in the Gita. Without a proper understanding of this,

one cannot hope to have a full comprehension of the message of the Gita.

 

To begin with, actionlessness is not non-action. Krishna specifically warns

us against this. (3-4) Actionlessness is not achieved by not entering into

action. In fact this is the first time the word is used by Krishna. And He

cites his own example for this: (3-22). "I have nothing to get done in all

the three worlds, nor anything to achieve that has not been achieved. Still

I am involved in action". To a beginning reader it may not be very clear

how actionlessness is relevant here.

 

It is when He later talks of the creation of the varNa system, that He first

mentions His own actionlessness (4-13): By Me was created the four varNas,

in accordance with their GuNas and karma. Know Me as its doer and know Me

also as the imperishable non-doer. He repeats this again in respect of His

works of Creation and Dissolution, in the ninth chapter. (9-9) Those works

do not bind Me. I sit, indifferent as it were, unattached to those actions.

 

So after the first mention of His actionlessness in the fourth chapter, he

recommends it to Arjuna also. It is at this point that He begins the topic

of Action and Inaction. And He begins it with a bang by making a really

puzzling but profound statement that must be imprinted in gold ( 4 - 18):

 

"Whoever sees inaction in action and action in inaction, he is the wisest

among men for he is the one in proper Yoga and is the proper doer of all

actions".

 

Inaction in action: When a train moves the landscape appears to move in the

opposite direction. But really there is no movement of the landscape. Only

children delude themselves into believing that the landscape is moving. We

would be only children if we believe the movement of the landscape. So also

the imperishable Self or the Atman has no action. The limiting adjuncts of

the Atman have such properties of action and these are wrongly superimposed

on the Atman as if they were its actions. That is why the Upanishad uses the

characteristic statement "it thinks, as it were; it shakes, as it were"

(Br.U.IV - 3 - 7). In other words, the real 'I' is not the doer. When I do

things I must know that the real 'I' is not doing anything. This is the

seeing of inaction in action. karmaNi (In action) akarma (inaction). Action

is only apparent. Inaction is real. The wise man knows that the world which

one sees to be full of action is actually nothing but Brahman, and as the

all-pervading entity it cannot have motion, because there is no leeway for

movement!. So he sees non-action in all the turmoil around him.

 

Action in inaction: When the train moves, the landscape moves in the

opposite direction. The child thinks that it is the landscape that is moving

and the train is stationary. Even we adults get this mistaken feeling when

two trains are in adjacent platforms ready to move in opposite directions.

Suddenly we feel that the other train has already moved, but on examination

of the changing landscape between the two trains we understand that it is

our train that has started moving and not the other train. This is the

understanding of action (karma) in apparent inaction (akarmaNi). We are not

talking of relative motion here. The concept of relative motion is resorted

to here only to bring out the possibility of 'action in inaction'. To

attribute non-action to the Self which stands still as it were is only to

comprehend it relatively. It is the Self which permeates everyhere, it is

the substratum of everything and it is the prime mover par excellence. "It

shining, everything else shines" says Katha Upanishad 5-15. The Self is

therefore the chief agent of action, as it were, though it appears to be

only a silent witness. Thus the wise man sees action in non-action.

 

It will be very educative to read extracts from Shankara's Commentary (Swami

Gambhirananda's translation) on this verse (and this will give the reader a

small sample of the expository capabilities, though not the dialectics, of

Shankara's pen in his voluminous commentaries). "The absence of action in

the Self, well-known from the Vedas, Smrtis and logic, as stated in, '(It is

said that) This is unmanifest; This is inconceivable' (2.25), 'Never is this

One born, and never does It die' (2.20; Ka. 1.2.18), etc.-has been and will

be spoken of. The contrary perception of action in that actionless Self,

i.e. in inaction, is very deep-rooted, owing to which (4-16) 'even the

intelligent are confounded as to what is action and what is inaction.' And

as a consequence of the superimposition of action pertaining to the body

etc. on the Self, there arises such ideas as, 'I am an agent; this is my

action; its result is to be enjoyed by me.' Similarly, with the idea, 'I

shall remain quiet, whereby I shall be free from exertion, free from

activity, and happy', and superimposing on the Self the cessation of

activities pertaining to the body and organs and the resulting happiness, a

man imagines, 'I shall not do anything; I shall sit quietly and happily.'

That being so, the Lord says, 'he who finds inaction in action,' etc. with a

view to removing this contrary understanding of man. And here in this world,

though action belonging to the body and organs continues to be action, still

it is superimposed by everyone on the actionless, unchanging Self, as a

result of which even a learned person thinks, 'I act.' Therefore, in action

(karmani), which is universally considered by all people to be inherent in

the Self, like the perception of motion in the (stationary) trees on the

bank of a river-(in that action) he who contrariwise finds the fact of

inaction, like perceiving absence of motion in those trees-. And, in

inaction (akarmani) in the cessation of the activities pertaining to the

body and organs and ascribed to the Self in the same way that actions are

ascribed-, in that action, he who sees action because of egoism being

implicit in the idea, 'I am happily seated quietly, without doing

anything'-; he who knows thus the distinction between action and inaction,

is wise, is learned among men; he is engaged in yoga, he is a yogi, and a

performer of all actions".

 

And Krishna continues: (4 - 19) "The wise consider him as the learned one,

who has all his actions extinguished by the fire of Knowledge and all whose

endeavours are devoid of desire or will". The fire of Knowledge is the

attitude of Actionlessness. So there is no desire to obtain anything nor

there is a will (ego) to claim the action as one's doing. (4 - 20) "Having

abandoned the attachment to the fruits of actions ever content and not

having any ephemeral prop, even though one is involved in activities, one is

actually not doing anything". (4 -21) "One who has no desires to be

fulfilled, who has controlled his BMI, who has abandoned all possessive

ideas and does work only by one's body, incurs no sin". So this is the

final directive from the Lord for us to act.

 

This recipe for 'How to act' is explained further in the next verse 4-22:

"Just content with what one gets in the normal course of things,

transcending all pairs of opposites, without envy and with an equanimous

view of both success and failure, though acting, one is not bound".

 

All actions of all kinds culminate in Knowledge, says Krishna (4 - 33 -

second line). Because, Knowledge implies actionlessness. And for the same

reason, the following verses also make sense: Even if you are the most

sinful of all sinners, you will cross sin by the raft of Knowledge (through

the attitude of ationlessness). (4 - 36) As the blazing fire reduces fuel to

ashes so does the fire of Knowledge reduce all actions to ashes. (4 - 37)

 

Then in the fifth chapter He makes a general statement of the whole concept

before going to details of the explanation. He who is yoked to the path of

Yoga, whose mind is quite pure, who has controlled his outer self and his

senses and who realises his own self as the self in all beings - such a one,

though acting, is not tainted (by the action) (5 - 7).

 

How such a one would act is described dramatically in slow motion in the

next four verses (5- 8 to 5 - 11):

 

"I do nothing at all" - thus would the enlightened yogI think - seeing,

hearing, touching, smelling, eating, going, sleeping, breathing, speaking,

answering nature's calls, grabbing, opening the eyes and closing the eyes;

all the time convinced that it is the senses that move amidst the

sense-objects."

 

"He who does actions, offering them to Brahman, abandoning all attachment,

is not tainted by sin, as a lotus leaf is untainted by water on it."

 

"Abandoning all attachment, the yogI performs actions only with the body

mind intellect and even by the senses -- all this for the purification of

his BMI"

 

"Atma-shuddhaye" - for the purification of the self - are the words used in

Verse 11 above. Here the self is the outer self, the BMI. The real Self,

the Atman, needs no purification because it is ever pure. So when Krishna

says "Atma-shuddhaye" he means the purification of the BMI which results

naturally in the perishable Self shedding off its wrong identification. In

this sense one can say we are purifying the perishable Self itself by such

actionless action!

 

Actionless Action! This is the key for identification with the IP and

disassociation from the PP. At the beginning of this series we raised the

question: "What does it mean to identify ourselves with IP?" Well, here is

the answer. Every action that we perform, has to be performed only by the

BMI accompanied by a mental renunciation that 'I am not the doer, nor am I

the experiencer'. Since the mind is involved, it satisfies the worldly

requirement that it has to be done sincerely, and since the mental

renunciation of agency is also there it satisfies the spiritual requirement

of the Gita for self-purification. The ideal is the perfection in this

Actionlessness (Sanskrit: Naishkarmya-siddhi)

 

Krishna continues: (5- 13) : Mentally renouncing all actions and remaining

self-controlled, the embodied one rests happily in the nine-gated city,

neither acting nor causing action. And again, (13 - 31) : Being without

beginning and devoid of all attributes, the Supreme Self, the Imperishable,

though dwelling in the body, neither acts, nor is tainted.

 

And now we come to the eighteenth chapter, where, in the beginning,

'Action' per se, is analysed: (18 - 14, 15). Whatever action a man performs

with his body, speech and mind, whether right or otherwise, there are five

causes, namely, the base (body), the doer, the various senses, the different

functions of various sorts, and the presiding deity as the fifth. Note that

the doer (kartA) here is the PP (that is, the jIva who has identified with

the BMI). And that is why Krishna continues (18 - 16): Such being the case,

he who, by mistaken understanding, looks upon his Self, which is isolated,

as the doer, sees not; he is of perverted intelligence.

 

In fact this is the core of our Ignorance. Shankara in the prose part of

UpadeshasAhasrI, raises through the disciple the question of "What is

Ignorance?" and answers it in unmistakable terms: " You are wrongly thinking

of Yourself, who are the self-existent non-transmigratory Absolute Self,

as one who transmigrates; the one who is the non-doing self as the doer; the

one who is the non-experiencing self as experiencer; the one who is existent

as non-existing. This is Ignorance". (Upadesha-sAhasrI #50, Prose section).

 

And therefore comes the crucial verse 18-17. So when the

"I-am-not-the-doer" feeling is there, the action touches only the doer, who

is now the BMI only; because the "I-am-not-the-doer" attitude is equivalent

to an identification with the IP, so that there is only the BMI who is doing

everything, (cf.5-11). Or one can say that PrakRti is doing everything (3-27

and (13-29). Note that all the five causes listed above for any action are

all related to BMI only. In any case the doer is not the "I".

 

We shall conclude this series now with the final (seventh) post where we

shall have a do-it-yourself summary of all that we have seen, in the form of

"Five tenets of practical advaita".

 

PraNAms to all advaitins.

Profvk.

 

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http://www.geocities.com/profvk/

For an English translation of Kanchi Mahaswamigal's Discourses on Advaita

Sadhana go to

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