Dr. Vijai S Shankar MD.PhD.
Published on www.academy-advaita.com
The Netherlands
30th May 2017
Action
“Should and should not”
Humans are convinced that they do many actions in daily life and also firmly believe in the actions that should be done in daily life and the actions that should not be done by them as well.
Humans also understand the actions that should be done by humans are sometimes not done by humans, even though they believe the actions can be done by them and should be done.
Similarly, humans also understand the actions that should not be done by humans are sometimes done by humans, even though they understand that the actions should not be done by them.
Actions that should be done and are not done bring in disappointment with its consequent, various, emotional consequences, just as actions that should not be done and are done bring in disappointment too, with its share of consequent, various, emotional consequences.
In life, it is rare to find anyone who only does actions that should be done and does not do actions that should not be done. Social etiquette and circumstances make it appear that there are people who only do what should be done and do not do anything that should not be done.
Humans believe that he or she does an action and also that his or her mind controls the movements of his body in any action that he or she is doing. This belief gives rise to the beliefs of what should be done and what should not be done.
Deep understanding of the knowledge of action reveals wisdom, which is yet to happen to humanity.
Now an action, for example: a man or a woman knows that they can buy what they need if they go to a shop. This knowledge happens within a few seconds at the most, and their respective minds inform them.
A man or a woman goes to the shop and buys what is needed, which is informed by their minds. The entire action definitely takes more than few seconds that is required to be informed of what to buy by the mind.
But what is important to understand is that the mind does not inform how the body should move in every moment of the journey to and from the shop. Despite the lack of information by the mind the shopping nevertheless gets done.
Also, while going to the shop, many muscles of the body come into play to complete the entire action of shopping. It is impossible for the mind to generate so many individual thoughts to individual muscles in every moment of the journey to and from the shop. Despite the lack of information by the mind to the muscles the shopping nevertheless gets done.
This implies that it is not the mind that controls the body in any action. The action, albeit illusory, gets done and neither a man nor a woman does the action. This further implies that what should be done and what should not be done happens when it is meant to happen.
Author: Dr. Vijai S. Shankar
© Copyright V. S. Shankar 2017
Editor’s Note:
There is no human being, including the very young, who is not seduced by the conviction of controlling every move they choose to make, albeit illusory. This seduction may be cemented by public acclamation , but soured by failure.
Acclamation and failure are the gifts of life. Understanding that this is so and is meant to be so is the gift of enlightenmeant.
Julian Capper, U.K
German Translator’s Note:
Movies are interesting for man because of the actions presented in them. There are even films called actions film, which means that they are filled with action galore. Action films promise not to be boring. In the same way daily life should not be boring too, according to the belief of the conditioned mind. Therefore people are hungry for action in daily life too. That life is action-less and does not contain any real action at all, is a revelation for every one of us, but the mind feels bored at first – until the mind becomes wiser and its addiction to action transforms into admiration of life’s singular flow.
Marcus Stegmaier, Germany.