There is one profound dimension to the right action that I would like to bring to the attention of the reader. This is the aspect of "Being" over "Having". Action as related in the contemporary society is mostly from the realm of "having". It is when wants to have something, he takes an action. That having might be material or more sublime. It might be related to experience, emotional needs, or more exterior oriented to achieve a worldly goal. In the realm of "Being" action is more of an internal activity which one undertakes just to observe, understand, accept, know and be silent, in the meditation of inaction, but keeps growing internally to increase one's level of appreciation of life as a whole. I can give an example on the way Mother Earth manifests herself. Mother Earth or as she is known by the ancient Greeks as Gaia, is always in a state of tranquil inaction, in an outward realm. But she is always quietly serving thousands of seeds to nourish them in her womb, holding in her immense embrace the sparkle of the diamonds, the sheen of gold, the passion of throbbing geysers and hot springs, and innumerable life forms. Mother Earth does not enter into these activities to "have" something. She even does not proclaim her actions to the universe. She also does not go and stop the mindless human when he exploits her and hurts her.
______________________________________________
Copy Right © All rights reserved - Samrat Kar
Please note that I am not pointing out to sacrifice, forgiveness of un-conditionality. I am going beyond that. I am pointing to a place where there is a silent but throbbing state of is-ness. Mother Earth always is in a state of "is-ness". This state of "is-ness" from outside looks like a life-less inertia. But in reality, from within, Mother Earth is in endless activity grounded deep into love, concern and compassion. She does not have anything. She is just "IS". This awareness and appreciation of "Being-ness" brings into one's consciousness new depth of being alive, which would have otherwise fizzled out when man is vexed in the race of having and having. It allows a man to be really free. He is for the first time would be able to live his life without the added heavy baggage of expectation, judgment, fear, or heartbreak. For the first time he would be able to love freely. This idea of being is not a trick to save oneself from the unavoidable misfortunes and helplessness of life. If the reader is going into this direction, I would be pained that the idea is not understood at all. I am coming from a point of being in a state where a person will be for the first time be able to see the hidden beauty of life, which is camouflaged by the apparent commotion, dis-integration, contradictions and ugliness all prevalent on surface. This is the only way to see God. The private space of silence that one creates in the gaps of one's thoughts, ushers one into the way to the understanding of life in a much more deeper and true way. That way man is more closer to the truth.
I try to implement this state of being every moment of my life. That helps me better to integrate myself with the diverse realities of life. There are mishaps that happen. Most of the times the harsh realities of life look so overwhelmingly against man's wish and desire. Many a times life brings man face to face with situations that one is embarrassed to core to confront. There are people one loves to the core, but they hate them more than anyone. Men are most hurt by people they love the most. But in the state of "Being", one starts to recognize that, in spite of abominable ugliness of the world around, there is an undercurrent of beauty and melody and a serene composure joyously gurgling. The more he recognizes the harmony in which the life is woven, more he goes deeper - between the ridges of the tapestry and dives into the beauty gushing out from each deep pore of the fabric of life. He realizes that the true bliss is not having something or somebody. That pleasure of having is just momentarily. Eventually what one has, rusts, decays and dies. Only what stays is what "is".
There might be many other deeper levels of understanding the idea of "Right Action" in the Gita. But to the level I have come up with years of my own internal activity, and help and guidance from my friends, teachers and people around me, I have come to relate to just this level of understanding of the "Right Action" from the Bhagavad Gita. There is a long way to go for me before I can try to even fathom so many uncharted avenues this profound work of art can take us.
PS - Please note that reference to "man" in my essays are meant to stand for "mankind". I don't intend to be patriarchal in my expressions. This is done more from the point of view of simplification of the expression.
I have been delving into the aspect of "Right Action" in last few articles of mine. In these, I have tried to synthesize from my various readings, contemplations, innumerable synthesis, experiences and understanding of myself and life, the essence of right action. An initial treatment of the topic has been done the my previous articles on Bhagavat Gita as follows -
In this current essay, I have tried to touch upon the idea of Being inherent in the attitude of the "right action". I have added this essay as the last part of the earlier article - "The idea of right action", for completion sake. So that the reader can separately contemplate on this idea, without any distraction of other aspects, I thought it would be better to bring this out as a separate essay. Hope you enjoyed it.
______________________________________________
Copy Right © All rights reserved - Samrat Kar
It was an awesome and profound reading, till date i have been thinking experience as "To be" but now i am provoked to think that it is also a sense of "To have".
ReplyDelete