Sense of Doer-ship
Published by uttishthata December 15th, 2006 in Group DiscussionHari Om,
Sense of Doer-ship
Why should you bear your load on the head when you are travelling in a train?
It carries you and your load whether the load is on your head, or on the floor of the train. You are not lessening the burden of the train by keeping it on your head, but only straining yourself unnecessarily.
Similar is the result of your sense of doer-ship in the world.
- Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi
Posted by: Bhakta Dhruva
Dear All,
It was wonderful to receive profound words from Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi on sense of doer-ship. Combined this with the highest truth - that each of us is nothing but Witness Consciousness and that in the truest sense we have no obligations at all - make me wonder why we are repeatedly told that \”we are responsible for our actions\”. When our original nature is Freedom, where does the sense of responsibility arise?
Could any one clear this doubt that has arisen in the mind of a person who has just stepped in in the path of spirituality.
Best wishes to all.
(N. Muralidharan)
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dear Mr. Muralidaran,
you are perfectly right in stating that, in absolute sense we are all witness consciousness, we are all the one-without-a-second and this world is merely illusory. but if this world is really illusory, it is an absolute non-sense that you continue facing the worldly miseries and enjoy worldly happiness. if you continue being affected from this world, it\’s high time you come out of this illusory existence. for this, i would like to cite one of the examples given by Sri Sri Thakur Maharaj, which i have always cited, i.e., to pierce out the thorn from your skin, you need the help of another thorn. although you know that this world is illusory, you still don\’t feel that infinite bliss, and you are still not free from miseries. for that, take the help of another illusion, the sense-of-doership. this thorn of Karma, will set you free from the thorn of the bondage of Karma. then, throw both the illusions away and enjoy bliss.
May We All Be Spiritually Awakened.
Joydeep Biswas
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Pranams:
Till you realize your are the Witness Consiousness, you cannot shy away from the responsibilites of your actions. Mere bookish knowledge will not do. Doing so would be akin to the child of a billionarie CEO claiming that since s/he is h/er ward, s/he too is naturally a CEO and does not need to do anything to get that position…hard work or personal effort is required before that claim can be made.
Pranams, Mahesh
Mahesh Ursekar
====
Namaste.
The words words of Mahatmas point at a deeper significance than what
is understood at a mere superficial level.
When both Devas and Asuras approached the Guru for initiating them
to Brahmavidya, the Guru pronounced;
\”TAT TWAM ASI\”
That thou art.
Happily both devas and asuras went back thinking that if we are
already THAT , which we are in search of, let us go back and live
happily and merrily and there is hardly anything to be done on our
part.
And………
The devas and asuras spent their days in merriment, eating, sleeping
and recreating.
But, after a short while, some second thought appeared to the devas
and they all contemplated upon the Mahavaakya given to them by the
Guru and realised that the Guru may not have intended the same as
they have misunderstood and went back to the Guru once again to
clarify their doubt.
Again the Guru pronounced;
\”TAT TWAM ASI\”
and went into deep meditation.
The devas left for their abode,engaged themselves in serious
contemplation and dived deeper into their consciousness, while the
asuras remained happy at their \”BODY\” consciousness.
After a while, when the devas transcended their body consciousness
to explore deeper layers of the mind, they noticed imperfections
there as well and approached the Guru again.
The Guru once again welcomed them happily and in response to their
querry, repeated the same mahaavaakya \”TAT TWAM ASI\” and went into
meditation.
The joyous devas returned thinking that they have found the truth,
engagaed themselves in still deeper contemplation on \”SELF\” and
still not quite satisfied, went back to the Guru and sought further
instruction.
And the Guru smilingly welcoming them, repeated the same Mahaavaakya
and went into meditation.
And the devas returned happily, for the time being….
This continued till the dawn of \”SELF REALISATION\” among them and
when they went to the Guru the next time they were all beaming with
divine effulgence and all doubts of the Devas were at an end.
In the meanwhile, the Asuras, thinking that the \”BODY\” is all that
is existing, went on with their old habit pattern.
In certain schools of Vedanta, there is a Darsana known as
\”Drishti Srishti vaadam\”
and
\”Srishti Drishti vaadam\”
Once Bhagawan Ram asked Hanumanji as to how did he look upon Ram,
the answer came….
\”DEHA BUDHYAA TU DAASOHAM,
JEEVA BUDHYA TWAD AMSAKAHA
ATMA BUDHYA TWAM EVA AHAM
ITI ME NISCHITA MATI: \”
Ram, when I am engrossed in body-consciousness, I am thy servant;
when I identify myself with Jeevaatma, am your(Paramaatma) part
And….when I am contemplating on SELF, am non-different from you.
This is my firm conviction.
So also, when we dwell at different planes of our consciousness,
things appear to us differently.
It is given to a SADGURU alone to clarify such doubts of a very
subtle nature as this and BOOK-KNOWLEDGE and discussions in forums
such as these falls short of its efficacy in guiding us to the
supreme goal.
My humble suggestion is that you pray God for blessings of the
proximity of a SADGURU and at once all doubts will be at an end!
Pranam.
AUM NAMAH:SIVAYA.
Posted By: \”pension201958y\”
====
From: \”Sushil Rapatwar\”
Hi Murali
We have been told innumerable things and if you view that through the microscope of pure witness consciousness most of them (in fact all of them) are mere concepts i.e. if anything can be denied by anyone then it is a concept!! With this strict definition you come down to only one reality and that is \”I AM\” … everything is merely conceptualisation !
Then one may wonder why were these things carried down to us from scriptures/sages/saints for so long … so as to maintain the social fabric .. to make oneself a responsible individual fit to live in a society defined by its rules and regulations. FEAR and DESIRE are the two key factors that operate this mind-body organism that we currently reside in … mainly attributed to \’mind\’. These have very strong foothold on humanity since time immemorial [if you ask why then this can be attributed to \’divine hypnosis\’ which is also called by \’Lila\’]. So any concept like rebirth, karma, previous lives, next lives, going to heaven, hell, angels etc etc. are purely fictitious characters to instill this duo of fear and desire and keep the individual under control.
So don\’t accept anything that has been told to you unless and until you have experienced it! This entire play is pre-planned and it is already written … so the only thing that \’you\’ can do is \’nothing\’ !! or to put it in another way … \’you\’ cannot do anything !! everything is done according to the script !! This might come as a blow to the \’EGO\’ but then that is the biggest impediment. Even the words that I am typing are getting typed and \’I am\’ not typing it … !!
Most of what I have written above is what Ramesh Balsekar has mentioned in his books who has based on his teachings from Ramana Maharshi and Nisargadatta Maharaj. He says that whatever he is saying is also a concept …
Then one might ask …. why bother with concepts? that is true. However, they point us to THE truth … they should just be taken as the pointers and nothing else. Follow where the pointers point to and not the pointers ! Throw them away as soon as they have served their purpose … analogy of \”getting the thorn out using a thorn and then throwing both away\” can be used here.
For a person who has just stepped on the path of spirituality, reading the books mentioned by the authors above will serve as a good starting point … eventually even they should be discarded
I hope that it clarifies your question to some extent.
Love
–
Sushil
====
From: \”Ramesh Krishnamoorthy\”
Dear Muralidharan
In my humble opinion, we are not \’aware\’ of we being Free. That\’s where the sense of responsibility, \’Me\’ doing things and all the worries arise. Once the realization comes, all troubles are gone.
Swamiji\’s view on this is to make Oneself strong, both in body and in mind. It is a blasphemy, he says, to take credit for good and blame the bad on Lord. On the contrary, he says, take responsibility of both your good and bad which makes one very responsible and also more eligible.
As he says \’as you think, so you become\’, if we think we are responsible for our actions, then we aspire to be more qualified for the realization, rather than blaming it on someone else, God in this case.
In his own words…
All this is determined by Karma, work. No one can get anything unless he earns it. This is an eternal law. We may sometimes think it is not so, but in the long run we become convinced of it. A man may struggle all his life for riches; he may cheat thousands, but he finds at last that he did not deserve to become rich, and his life becomes a trouble and a nuisance to him. We may go on accumulating things for our physical enjoyment, but only what we earn is really ours. A fool may buy all the books in the world, and they will be in his library; but he will be able to read only those that he deserves to; and this deserving is produced by Karma. Our Karma determines what we deserve and what we can assimilate. We are responsible for what we are; and whatever we wish ourselves to be, we have the power to make ourselves. If what we are now has been the result of our own past actions, it certainly follows that whatever we wish to be in future can be produced by our present actions; so we have to know how to act. You will say, \”What is the use of learning how to work? Everyone works in some way or other in this world.\” But there is such a thing as frittering away our energies. With regard to Karma-Yoga, the Gita says that it is doing work with cleverness and as a science; by knowing how to work, one can obtain the greatest results. You must remember that all work is simply to bring out the power of the mind which is already there, to wake up the soul. The power is inside every man, so is knowing; the different works are like blows to bring them out, to cause these giants to wake up.
Hail Swami Vivekananda..!
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From: Vinay Jayaram
All -
Osho Rajneesh says - Freedom is not irresponsibility. Freedom is responsible action done with a sense of detachment for any fruits or desired consequences. The realisation that our true nature is one of freedom, happiness, existence, bliss, etc., is not of intellectual conviction but of TRUE EXPERIENCE. As Krishna said - No living being is free from action. Each & every living entity, whether it desires or not, it has no choice but to act. The only difference between a realised Yogi & an ignorant fool is that the Yogi has realised the oneness of the Individual Self with the Supreme & hence sees himself in everything & everything in himself. How can such a Yogi ever commit an irresponsible action? Since causing hurt to someone & getting hurt oneself is one & the same, there is no question of committing any irresponsible action. Such a noble soul can commit only responsible action of the highest order because the impurity of desire for fruits does not exist. Such a Karma is of Yogic order & hence rightly called Karma Yoga.
The sense of doership exists simply because of the existence of the duality of I & others. The moment the Yogi realises the oneness of the Self, this duality immediately vanishes & leads to the profound experience of the NON-DUAL SELF. If this Non Dual Self is the Supreme Reality or Truth, then who is the doer, what is done, & where is the doing? Such a sense of doer, done, & doing automatically vanishes as simply as \”CAMPHOR VANISHES AFTER BURNING ITSELF TO NOTHINGNESS IN THE HEAT OF THE FIRE (TAPAS or SAADHANA)\”. Here, camphor is the Individual Self (existing because of the ignorance of duality), the fire is Penance or Tapas, & the nothingness is Individual Self becoming one with the Supreme & existing in that state of oneness.
Hence, each one of us is RESPONSIBLE FOR OUR ACTIONS.
The nature of the Self is of PURE CONSCIOUSNESS. However, it is incorrect & wrong to say that Consciousness itself is the Self. The Upanishads are very clear on this front as the disciple questions the Guru,\”What is the nature of this Self?\” The Guru promptly replies,\”Its nature is one of Pure Consciousness\”. The Guru never says that consciousness itself is the Self. The Self cannot be described but it\’s attributes alone can be described. Hence, we should not entertain any such wrong notions & confuse ourself with Self & nature of the Self.
Light, Peace, Happiness….Bliss,
Vinay
==
From: \”Seshu Loka\”
This is a very interesting statement. Thanks for bringing this.
Does it come in line with what is said in Bhagavad Gita too about not bearing the responsibility for the results of the actions ?
Or does it mean that we don’t have to bother about doing anything?
I don’t think it would be that way. Because even in Bhagavad Gita, it never says never do any work.
It says do your work as per the dharma and leave the results of it to God.
Please correct me if i am wrong.
Regards
Seshu
===
From: Devinder Kumar
Almost everything including right or wrong, responsibility or freedom can be appreciated only in the context in which it happens. The meaning of same thing changes with situation. People have completely opposite opinion on what is right and fight with each other. Each is right in his context. Each is wrong in other\’s context. A free man sees both context.
Until your mind is in the state of oneness your context is that of this world. So follow the rules of this world. Determine right, wrong and your responsibilities sincerely from your inner voice and the situation you are in. The greatest danger is in false sense of freedom and start feeling that one has reached pinnacle of spirituality. Your real nature is freedom but that real you is not you as a man or woman. The real you which is free is at a level where this world virtually vanishes. It is like looking at the existence from the perspective much deeper than atoms or parts of it where even time and space loose their meaning. At that point this entire universe may shrink and feel like nothing. Nothing but that contains everything. As a science student I read that
from pure energy confined to a region of a pin head the whole universe spewed out when that energy collided on to itself. Matter and antimatter created in less than billionth of billionth of billionth second vanished again but a one in 100 billion impurity in thermal consisteancy left this entire universe as it is.
The stuff in you and I and earth and sun and moon and billions of galaxies was created at that instant. I just don\’t have any clue what lies there as I have not even begin my journey to that point. I have only read in Swami Vivekananda\’s book that it is existance, knowledge and bliss.
The real freedom may come only to a very few and that too after years of austerity, after getting rid of one\’s ego and feeling through every heart and mind.
The road to freedom is through the road of responsibility. Also freedom does not mean inaction. It is the freedom from the Maya of this world that puts veil on the mind and does not let you feel one with everyone.
Devinder Kumar
===
From: Chetan Merani
Dear ones,
Reason is that we lack faith in this statement, hence we feel responsible for our actions and have to shoulder the responsibility for the same. As long as we have the ego of doer-ship, we are responsible for our actions fully and squarely. Only when, by Sadhana we develop a full faith and understanding of Bhagwan\’s words, doubts will disappear. We are by nature \’FREE\’ etc. are just words at present stage of development of most of us. There is world of difference between understanding a statement intellectually accepting its validity and actually experiencing it & living ones life in accordance with it.
Only Sadhana purifies the mind and enables it to understand and experience subtle truths of spirituality.
By Bhagwan\’s Grace, may we all be illumined!
Chetan Merani
From: “PHANI KRISHNA”
Date: Thu Dec 14, 2006 2:59 pm
Hey !
Ramana Maharshi says “First of all find out for whom the doer ship is there and for whom the world is illusory ? Then we can think over if the doership or world etc remain . The things like world , doership will exist for the individual only.Then better to to find out who the first person is.What is the use of knowing anything without knowing the first person ? How that knowledge can be true ?”
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From: N Muralidharan
Date: Thu Dec 14, 2006 3:53 pm
Dear All,
First of all, I wish to thank all of you who have responded to my e-mail. One particular e-mail has conveyed that “I should not try to measure the height of the mountain till I reach the top”. Well, I understand.
I wish to make certain points clear. I am perfectly aware of my being in body consciousness and my sense of duality is complete. To tell you the truth, I have not even started spiritual practices such as meditation to know myself. In the last four or five years, prompted by the developments in the domestic front, I started reading spiritual books and have attended the basic course of ‘ART OF LIVING” of Sri Sri Ravishankarji. Whatever knowledge I have gained, I admit, is only bookish knowledge.
Many of your e-mails stress one point that mere intellectual understanding of spiritual self does not help and that one should experience. Well, I do not want to dispute this but certainly want to make a mention of what I think. I am convinced with the intellectual understanding and I have complete faith that each one of us is essentially divine in nature. While consciously practicing this understanding both at home and in the office while dealing with various people, I have seen that situations, which otherwise would have turned explosive, had been amicably settled. I am aware of the change that is happening slowly but surely within me, especially in the last one year. Therefore, my point is intellectual understanding of one’s own divine nature does help in day-to-day life, provided you are convinced of your original nature.
Coming back to my query about the sense of responsibility, all your e-mails are almost unanimous that as long as we are in the body consciousness, there is no escape from performing actions and the sense of responsibility. Well I take it.
Thanks once again.
Best wishes
(N. Muralidharan)
Some of Thakurjis Utterences on DOERSHIP:
My favourite one is SONG SUNG BY THAKURJI :
SAKALI TOMAR ICCHHA, ICCHHAMAYI TARA TUMI MA…
TOMAR KARMA TUMI KARO MA, LOKE BOLE KORI AMI…
God alone is the Doer, and none else’- that is knowledge. I am not the doer;
I am a mere instrument in His hand. P. 98 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
The activities are good if you can perform them in a selfless spirit, renouncing egotism,
giving up the idea that you are the doer. Through such action one develop love and devotion
to God, and ultimately realizes Him. P. 108 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
A man verily becomes liberated in life if he feels: ‘God is the Doer. He alone is doing
everything. I am doing nothing’. Man’s sufferings and worries spring only from his
persistent thought that he is the doer. P. 142 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
There are many more times Thakurji has said AGAIN AND AGAIN……
In other words THIS QUESTIONS OF DOERSHIP CAN BE SUMMED UP IN ONE WORD; SHARNAGATI.
a devotee