duty.

[Guest guest]

Q. It is an established rule that so

 

long as there is the least idea of I-AM-

 

THE-DOER, Self-knowledge cannot be attained,

 

but is it possible for an aspirant

 

who is a householder to discharge his

 

duties properly without this sense?

 

 

 

Ramana:

 

 

 

As there is no rule that action should

 

depend upon a sense of being the doer

 

it is unnecessary to doubt whether

 

any action will take place without a

 

doer or an act of doing.

 

 

 

Although the officer of

 

a government treasury may appear, in

 

the eyes of others, to be doing his

 

duty attentively and responsibly

 

all day long, he will be

 

discharging his duties without

 

attachment, thinking 'I have no

 

real connection with all this money'

 

and without a sense of involvement in

 

his mind.

 

 

 

In the same manner a wise householder

 

may also discharge without attachment the

 

various household duties which fall to

 

his lot according to his past karma,

 

like a tool in the hands of another.

 

 

 

Action and knowledge are not obstacles

 

to each other.