Why do anything?

Sometimes in the midst of chaos and anxiety and activity and wellness programs and satsangs and sadhanaa, a question like this has to pop up. The mind wants to know why are we doing anything at all. Gita does have an answer. When Arjuna asked Krishna about inaction and action. Krishna replied that there is really no such thing as inaction. Sure, it may seem like you have solved your immediate problem of facing adversity and unpleasantness by withdrawing from the battlefield or picking up a good book and vegging out on the couch but that too is an action. Whatever it is that you are avoiding by ignoring never eally goes away.

 Like Buddha said, even if one person is unhappy in the world, that  will someday come to you or your progeny or what you call home. He went on to instruct his bhikkus that you must act to bring about enlightenment and happiness by ending suffering for all not just yourself. One enlightened being is a very temporary affair and no enlightenment at all.

You may go on further and ask but why even do that i.e. why seek end of suffering. Think deeply on this, even when you avoid trying to end suffering, you are actually trying to end suffering. Acting to end suffering is not an option, you are doing it even when you are not.

But "why do anything" is even a deeper question once you truly realise that you are not the body. Krishna taught another gita called the Uddhava Gita which is the next step, once you have transcended the mind and body. For then, there is truly nothing to do as all actions are in this realm of what Buddha called the conventional reality. However if you delude yourself into thinking that you have transcended the body mind, inaction will be premature and bring suffering. That is not nirvana.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Only the body is in the now

In spacetime, now is time zero, relative to itself. Now is now everywhere at time zero.Any movement, tactile or conceptual, changes the time coordinate, taking the mind away from the body to the past or the future. Reality is the present moment thus has no time associated with it. Awakening to this reality can only happen at the present moment. Reality can not be at any time other than zero, i. e. It can not be in the past or the future. Emotions like fear or anger are body's reaction to thoughts, often from the past or about the future. They can not happen at any other time only at time zero or now. So when mind goes to the future or the past, it brings all of the resulting emotions  to the present. The clear antidote for suffering from such emotions is not to stop thinking, an impossible task, but to bring the mind back to the present exactly where the body is. Mindfulness meditation or yoga alleviates suffering by bringing the mind back to reality which exists only in the presen
Read more

Touching the Earth.

One day Siddhartha, the Buddha-to-be, felt that he was about to have a breakthrough. Meditating under a beautiful pippala tree, he had the sense that sometime that night he would realize full enlightenment and become a Buddha. Suddenly, Mara appeared. Mara sometimes appears as doubt, sometimes as anger, darkness, jealousy, craving, or despair. When we feel doubtful or skeptical, he is there. When we feel angry, irritated, or lacking in self-confidence, that is Mara. Siddhartha had been visited by Mara many times before, and he knew that the best way to treat him was to be very gentle. That day Mara came in the form of skepticism. He said, "Who do you think you are? Do you think you can attain great enlightenment? -- Don't you realize how much darkness, despair, and confusion there is in the world? How can you hope to dissipate all of it?" Siddhartha smiled, expressing great confidence. Mara continued, "I know you have practiced, but have you practiced enough? Who wil
Read more

My Buddha Nature

Who am I, what am I are the central queries of most spiritual practice. Instead of answering this question with words which is an impossible task as millions of words have failed over the millenia, the Buddha answered it by becoming it. All we can know is that our Buddha nature is as demonstrated by Gautama of Sakiya village on the foothills of Himalayas. Following his life and his teachings will give you what need to know your true nature, many have and termed it the Buddha nature. Many claim to know or have experienced the answer to the question who am I and have gone on to teach others as well. But the language still fails us in describing this our reality of being. This should not come as surprise as there are many other things especially our internal feelings and emotions which are impossible to describe precisely. A simple headache or the experience of joy are indescribable. This is our first clue and last observation to stop this impossoble quest.
Read more