ACTOR AND ACTION

Every one of our actions emanates from a locus within our awareness. However, such actions result from the cumulative self-effort we invest in either manifesting or unmanifesting them. All actions are ways of sacrifices, and those are directly intertwined with the elevation of our life processes. Sacrifice is internalised, transforming outward Yajnas, or ritual offerings, into a symbolic, internal process. Actions cease to be merely external offerings and become processes of inner sacrifice, where the practitioner surrenders the fruits of their deeds and their own psychophysical ego to realise Moksha, or liberation. How is it of relevance whether that action evolves from a higher point of our awareness, when one identifies with the innermost core of our Self, or with the outermost one to our body-mind-intellect complex that is the transient aspect of our phenomenal dimension? One goes up in the elevatory journey of life process when one sees through his eye consciousness all the action in inaction, or inaction in action, and the emanation comes from That only. He does not see himself as the doer but rather performs all his actions in his embodied form with detachment, equanimity and forbearance. That is the highest point of our awareness, the indivisibility of Supreme Consciousness. Nothing is externlal; everything is internal, located within, untouched, unattached, uncontaminated, unblemished, uncaused, undivided and unhindered. It is "Tat Tvam Asi," or "Thou art That" (Chandogya Upanishad, 6.8.7); "Aham Brahmasmi", or "I am Brahman" (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 1.4.10); "Prajnanam Brahma", or "Consciousness is Brahman" (Aitareya Upanishad, 3.3); and "Ayam Atma Brahma", or "This Self is Brahman" (Mandukya Upanishad, 1.2). I am like the mother of pearl, and the imagined world is like the silver" (Ashtavakra Gita, Chapter VI). "  "I am the spotless reality in which they appear because of ignorance" (Ashtavakra Gita, Verse 2.15). I am not the body, nor is the body mine" (Ashtavakra Gita, Verse 2.22). These profound aphorisms from scriptures posit the essential identity between the Atman (inner spirit or self) and Brahman (Absolute Existence or Supreme Being).

1. Outline 

The higher the awareness level, the higher the source of action or inaction, and so it is conversely. If one experiences consciousness of Brahman, or Supreme Self, one is in Sat-Chit-Anand, or Existence-Conscious-Bliss. Why should one enquire or strive to be one with a higher level of consciousness or with Supreme Consciousness? Swami Sivananda answers that the fruits obtained from sacrifices and similar actions are ephemeral, while the knowledge of Brahman is eternal. Heaven and Earth are temporary, and virtue determines which one you receive. If one knows Brahman, one will enjoy everlasting bliss and immortality. This is why one must begin the quest of Brahman, also known as the Truth or the Ultimate Reality. A time comes when a person becomes indifferent to Karmas. He knows that Karmas cannot provide him everlasting, unalloyed happiness, which is not mixed with pain, sorrow, and fear. These elements are inherent to worldly life, which is governed by the processes of origin, sustenance, and dissolution. Therefore, a natural desire arises in him for the knowledge of Brahman, the all-pervading Cosmic Self, which transcends Karmas and is the source of eternal happiness. It is when one becomes a practitioner of discrimination, detachment, discipline, and desirelessness and is devoid of any phenomenal identification that one evolves into consciousness that everything is myself. It is what Ashtavakra Gita (18.9) states: that considerations like 'I am this' or 'I am not this' are finished for the practitioner who has gone silent, realising 'Everything is myself' or 'All as Self'. The Actor is One only. The wise individual, or the yogi, does not identify with being the actor but understands that Cosmic Self is the ultimate performer of all actions, with the individual acting as an instrument. The real actor is the Supreme Self, which is beyond the fluctuating nature of the ego. In Upanishadic terms, that One only is Supreme Self, or Brahman, who is beyond comprehension and cognition of any being. He is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, the infinity of infinitude, eternal, full, complete, and beyond the limitation of time, causation, and existence. That has been well articulated by Srimad Bhagavad Gita (BG) in the following:

na me viduḥ sura-gaṇāḥ prabhavaṁ na maharṣhayaḥ

aham ādir hi devānāṁ maharṣhīṇāṁ cha sarvaśhaḥ (BG 10.2)

Neither celestial gods nor the sages know of My origin. I am the source from which the gods and great seers come.

ā-brahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino ’rjuna

mām upetya tu kaunteya punar janma na vidyate (BG 8.16)

In all the worlds of this phenomenal creation, up to the highest abode of Brahma, you will be subject to rebirth. But upon attaining My Abode, there is no further rebirth.

kālo ’smi loka-kṣhaya-kṛit pravṛiddho

lokān samāhartum iha pravṛittaḥ

ṛite ’pi tvāṁ na bhaviṣhyanti sarve

ye ’vasthitāḥ pratyanīkeṣhu yodhāḥ (BG 11.32)

I am mighty Time, the source of destruction that comes forth to annihilate the worlds. Even without your participation, the warriors arrayed in the opposing army shall cease to exist. Srimad Bhagavad Gita teaches that you are distinct from your body-mind-intellect system. The ego arises from the same system but subsists in gross as well as in subtle states. You are only your Atman, or Self. Anything that is transient is not you. Know that you are eternal, self-luminescent, self-effulgent, untouched, unattached and complete in every respect. The teachings on action in Bhagavad Gita emphasise detachment from results, explaining that Brahman, or Cosmic Self, is the ultimate actor of source and destination, while anything else is merely an instrument of His Maya, or illusion. The wise person, or Yogi, sees "action in inaction and inaction in action", performing their duties without ego or attachment to the fruits of their actions, thereby achieving freedom from the bonds of Karma.

karmaṇyakarma yaḥ paśhyed akarmaṇi cha karma yaḥ

sa buddhimān manuṣhyeṣhu sa yuktaḥ kṛitsna-karma-kṛit (BG 4.18)

There is a difference between action and inaction. There is one kind of inaction where persons look upon their social duties as burdensome and renounce them out of indolence. They give up actions physically, but their mind continues to contemplate upon the objects of the senses. Such persons may appear to be inactive, but their lethargic idleness is actually sinful action. They are engaging in a form of inaction. There is another kind of inaction performed by Karma yogis. They execute their social duties without attachment to results, dedicating the fruits of their actions to God. Although engaged in all kinds of activities, they avoid karmic reactions, since they have no motive for personal enjoyment. A person in this state performs all kinds of activities but remains internally unaffected, existing in a transcendental position. In Bhagavad Gita (18.13-15), the actor is not the ego that emanates from the phenomenal dimension of the body-mind complex but the underlying consciousness or awareness that impels one to move inward to realise Atman, or Self.  "Action" is the act of an actor performing his duties with equanimity, detachment, and forbearance. It involves focussing on the action itself without being attached to the results or having an ego-driven sense of accomplishment. It is a selfless action. The goal is to cultivate detachment from the fruit of action (Karma Yoga) and see inaction within action (like performing actions without ego involvement) and action within inaction (like mental activities still occurring even in a state of rest). The five factors of action according to Srimad Bhagavad Gita are:

adhiṣhṭhānaṁ tathā kartā karaṇaṁ cha pṛithag-vidham

vividhāśh cha pṛithak cheṣhṭā daivaṁ chaivātra pañchamam (BG 18.14)

The body, or Adhisthana, the physical platform through which an action is performed; the actor, or Karta, that mistakenly identifies itself with the action due to ego, or Ahankara; the instruments, or Karana, the body-mind-intellect sense organs that are used to perform the action; the effort, or Cheshta, which includes various endeavours and attempts made during the action; and divine providence, or Daiva, an unseen cosmic factor or destiny, which is the ultimate, supreme cause of all results. 

It signifies that every action is performed by an actor, which can be either a manifest or unmanifest entity. Acharya Prashant states that if the highest aspect of one's self inspires the greatest scriptures, one should strive to live a life that embodies those teachings. One doesn’t always have to write a scripture. It is probably better to live in scripture. So, from Him come all the great things. Read it in reverse. If one wants to produce outstanding things, they have to come from Him, and ‘Him’ implies the highest point of consciousness, one's innermost core of true Self. To achieve great actions through one's self, one must let go of any fondness for externality in the objectified dimension of the phenomenal world, characterised by states of opposites (sorrow and happiness, pleasure and pain, birth and death, etc.), transience, perishability, multiplicity, illusion, and delusion. That pushes one to remain attached to triviality, where the quality of one's output will be unremarkable. It actually won't be worth anything. It doesn't matter how one works; quality is measured on social standards. One must know, on one's own, within, the point from which one's action originated. He reaffirms the highest acts come from the highest within.

 Action is the performance of one's Dharma, or the right way of living. It involves going beyond ego, where the sense of "I" and "mine" is the false actor driven by a feeling of incompleteness and the need to secure one's existence. True action involves performing one's Dharma with full concentration and effort, without attachment to the outcome. Action is selfless and involves detachment from results. It is a key aspect of Karma Yoga: abandoning attachment to the fruits of one's labour. The focus should be on the action itself and performing it to the best of one's ability. Action in inaction refers to being fully engaged in action while remaining free from egoistic involvement and desire for results. Inaction in action involves realising that even while outwardly performing actions, there is a state of inner stillness and inaction, as the true Self is not involved in the bodily or mental activities.  The actor does not identify with the actions he performs. He sees himself as merely an instrument in the hands of the Divine. It also signifies detachment, equanimity and forbearance from action and results, which frees him from the bondage of Karma. That is the way one's consciousness is elevated to a higher level to realise Atman, or Self. When he that is both high and low is seen, the knot of the heart is untied, all doubts are solved, and all his karma is consumed. (Mundaka Upaniṣhad, 2.2.8). He, “the omniscient”, is not subject to Samsara, or birth and death; he is ‘both high and low’, high as being the cause and low as being the effect. When he is seen directly as “I am he”, one attains emancipation, the cause of samsara being uprooted.

2. Scriptures 

The scriptures describe Him emphatically as Actor One, and actions are of His agents only as Jivatmas that manifest or unmanifest in their life journey processes to converge in a state of union. That state of union is beginningless, endless, infinite, imperishable, absolute reality, existence, supreme consciousness, or Brahman. It is complete in every respect, but the manifest and unmanifest universes are His Maya, or illusion. His Maya signifies the beginning and end of all beings and non-beings in a cyclic manner. The Eternal, Brahman, is praised in Yoga-Vasistha (1.1.1). Om, greetings to the Reality from which all beings originate, manifest, rely, and ultimately become extinct. He is all that can be known, the knower, and the knowledge. He is everything that can be seen, the act of seeing, and the seer. Salutations to He who is all knowledge himself, for He is the actor, the cause, and the effect. We offer our greetings to the source of all life, the embodiment of ultimate bliss, and the origin of the dews of delight in heaven and earth. He catalyses creation, growth, decay, and absorption in a continuous cycle. Mundaka upanishad (2.1.6) states:

tasmādṛcaḥ sāma yajūṃṣi dīkṣā yajñāśca sarve kratavo dakṣiṇāśca

saṃvatsaraśca yajamānaśca lokāḥ somo yatra pavate yatra sūryaḥ

From Him, Brahman, or Cosmic Self, are the hymns of Rig Veda, Sama Veda, and Yajur Veda, initiation, and all sacrifices and works of sacrifice, years, sacrificers, worlds, and the sun and moon. year and the giver of the sacrifice and the worlds, on which the moon and the sun shine. It highlights the unity of all phenomena, from sacred texts and rituals to cosmic bodies, as all originate from this single, ultimate source (Mundaka Upanishad, Verse 2.1.6). I am Sat-Chit-Anand, asserts the Tejobindu Upanishad (3.11). It states that I embody only Sat, Ananda, and Chit, which represent unconditioned, pure, and eternal bliss. I am Sachchidananda, who is eternal, enlightened, and pure. This Self is also Satyam-Jñānam-Anantam Brahma, or Truth-Knowledge-Infinity, a clarion remark by Taittirya Upaniṣad (2.1.1). This Self, according to Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (3.9.28), is "Vijnanam Anandam Brahma", or Knowledge, Bliss, and Brahman. I am the source from which the gods and great seers come. He is the embodiment of Sat-Chit-Anand (Existence-Consciousness-Bliss) and Satyam Jnanam Anantam (Truth-Knowledge-Infinity). The universe is not an entity that originates, progresses, or dissolves. It is inert and lifeless. The Svetasvatara Upanishad (1.4) speaks of Brahmachakra, the Wheel of Brahmān, as the ultimate root cause of the world process. Brahmān, also referred to as the Absolute Being, is the one who propels the universe.

3. Remarks 

The self-opinion that 'I am the doer' needs to be subsumed by the nectar of faith in the fact that 'I am not the doer' and be happy, an aphoristic statement by Ashtavakra Gita (1.8). One must get out of the duality, as one's real nature is as the one perfect, free, and actionless consciousness, the all-pervading witness – unattached to anything, desireless, and at peace. It is from illusion that one seems to be involved in samsara chakra (wheel of birth and death), so proclaims Ashtavakra Gita (1.12).  Ashtavakra Gita (2.7-8) says from ignorance of oneself, the world appears, and by knowledge of oneself, it appears no longer. From ignorance of the rope, a snake appears, and by knowledge of it, it appears no longer. My essential nature is to shine, and beyond that, I am nothing. When the world shines forth, it is simply me who is shining forth. It is so, Ashtavakra Gita (3.4-6) contends, that after hearing of oneself as pure consciousness and the supremely beautiful, one is to go on lusting after sordid sexual objects? When the sage has realised that he himself is in all beings, and all beings are in him, it is astonishing that the sense of individuality should be able to continue. It is astonishing that a man who has reached the supreme non-dual state and is intent on the benefits of liberation should still be subject to lust and held back by sexual activity. Liberation involves a lack of desire for sensory objects. Bondage is love of the senses. This is knowledge. Now do as you please, proclaims Ashtavakra Gita (15.2). Ashtavakra Gita (15.4-15.7) continues to emphasise discrimination based on eternal and ephemeral. It says you aren't the body, the doer of actions, or the reaper of their consequences. You are eternally pure consciousness, the witness, in need of nothing. Desire and anger are objects of the mind, but the mind is not yours, nor has it ever been. You are choiceless, awareness itself is unchanging. Recognising oneself in all beings, and all beings in oneself, be happy, free from the sense of responsibility and free from preoccupation with 'me'. Your nature is the consciousness in which the whole world wells up, like waves in the sea. That is what you are, without any doubt, so be free of disturbance and live happily. So, shouldn't we be taking responsibilityforf what we are doing instead of saying that we are not the doer? Here's what Vasistha has to say in Yog Vasistha (2.6.27-2.6.29): He who thinks of going to heaven or hell by the will of the Maker is also a slave to destiny and no better than a beast. The man of a noble mind and one employed in acts of goodness breakss off from the errors of the world as a lion from its cage. Those who vainly imagine themselves to be led about by some, and so slight their necessary duties, are to be shunned at a distance as the mean and base.

-Asutosh Satpathy