Understanding who is the doer – Analyzing instincts impulses and intelligence
[Talk to IIT Kharagpur students at Kharagpur, India]
Transcript
Disclaimer: This transcript was generated using AI and may contain occasional errors or inaccuracies.
Question, what does it mean practically when the scriptures say that we are not the doers? After all, it is we who have to do what the scriptures are telling us to do. So, in what sense can we justifiably say that we are not the doers? This answer, Shri Baldevidya Bhushan, in his Vrindabhashya commentary on the Vedanta Sutra, analyzes this question systematically, and he explains that there are two kinds of scriptural statements. Some scriptural statements say that the soul is not the doer, material nature is the doer.
And other kinds of scriptural statements say that material nature is actually unconscious. It is the soul that is the doer. And then he offers a very interesting reconciliation of both these kinds of statements through a metaphor of a woodcutter.
So, he says that when a woodcutter is cutting a tree, at that time, the woodcutter is actually using the axe to cut down the tree. So we could say in one sense, it is not the woodcutter, but the axe who is cutting the tree. Because if the woodcutter were there alone, he would not be able to cut down the tree at all.
It is the axe which actually is essential for cutting down the tree. But at the same time, if the axe were there and the woodcutter were not there, then the axe would not move at all, and the tree would stay at its place and the axe would stay at its place. So, the woodcutter is also essential.
So, he says that just as in the act of cutting a tree, both the woodcutter and the axe are essential, similarly, for doing any action in the material world, both the atma and the material body, the material senses, material nature in general, are essential. So, if the soul did not have a material body with material senses, then also the soul would be there, the soul would not be able to act in the material world, in the material realm. And if just the material body were there, then the soul would not be there.
As happens when the person has died, then again the body will not be able to act. So, therefore, when the scriptures want to infuse a detachment in the soul from the material world and its interactions, the scriptures emphasize the point that we are not the doers, that actually it is the material nature who is doing everything. So, the classic example of this kind of statement is 3.27. So, in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna is telling to Arjuna that actually it is the three modes of material nature that are doing everything, and only the ignorant person thinks that he is the doer.
So, this statement is spoken by Krishna to Arjuna to emphasize to him that he is not actually the killer of his relatives, he is simply performing his duty, and to infuse within him a sense of detachment from the emotional entanglement that has stolen away his intelligence and determination in the battlefield of Kurukshetra. Lord Krishna tells Arjuna that you are not the doer. Similarly, when our spiritual teachers want to drive home to us the point that we should not become proud of whatever it is that we do in the material world, say if we are good singers, they will tell us that actually it is because you have been given a good throat, material nature has provided you with the proper voice box and the larynx and the whole mechanism that you are able to sing.
And we can realize that we are not the doers when, say, our throat gets spoiled, and even when we want to, we are not able to sing properly, or we are not able to speak properly. So, when the emphasis in the scripture is on infusing detachment and humility in the soul, and to stop the soul from taking credit and becoming proud or becoming attached, then at that time the scriptures emphasize the agency, that means the activating principle of material nature, of the three modes, and say that actually the soul is not the doer. But at other times, when the scriptures want to emphasize the point that actually it is not but the nature who is doing something.
It is we who have to take the responsibility to get things done. When scriptures want us to take responsibility for doing things, at that time the scriptures will emphatically state the point that it is we who are the doers and it is we who have to do things. So the example for this comes in the Bhagavad Gita in 11.33, when Krishna is telling Arjuna, therefore Arjuna, arise and fight.
Therefore arise Arjuna and fight, conquer your enemies. So here Krishna is telling Arjuna that you have to do something. Similarly again in the Bhagavad Gita in 18.63, Krishna tells Arjuna, Now as you desire, so you do.
So that means Krishna is telling Arjuna, you are the doer and you have to decide what you want to do. So when the scripture focuses on making sure that the soul takes responsibility, at that time the worship of the soul is emphasized. So whenever we consider the philosophy, the philosophy is conveyed to inspire us towards the right action.
And we will have to see the philosophy in the context of the action that is right and that is intended for us. Otherwise we can become lethargic and irresponsible or we can become attached and arrogant by misinterpreting the philosophy. So of course in 11.33 Krishna tells about one more factor.
He says that Arjuna arise and attain victory because by my arrangement your enemies have already been killed. Just be an instrument in my fight, in the fight which I want to happen in. By my arrangement all your enemies are killed.
So again if you want to understand how Krishna is also involved in this. It is Krishna who is ultimately making things happen. Then let's consider another example.
Suppose a thief robs a bank and then the police comes and catches the thief. And then the thief is tried in the court and then the judge sentences him to say five years imprisonment. So now the thief has gone five years in the jail.
Now if you were to ask what is the cause of the thief being jailed? Is it the police, is it the judge or is it the thief? Well all three are true. In one sense if the thief had not committed the robbery the thief would not have been in jail. So in that sense the initiation, the beginning of this whole complex of actions is with the thief.
The thief is the initiator of the action. But after the thief has committed the robbery it is when the police catch the person, the police lock the prisoner, lock him as a prisoner that he gets into the jail. So when we want to emphasize the point that the police have to take responsibility and put the thief in the jail.
Then it may be said the police are the doer. So then later on when the person is to be sentenced to imprisonment for a particular period of time. At that time we may say that the court has sentenced him to five years imprisonment.
So in one sense the action that has happened is a cumulated result of all the three factors. But similarly we as souls desire then we get entangled in material nature by that. And when we are entangled in material nature what kind of fruit results from our entanglement in material nature is determined by the super soul.
So we are like the thief, the police are like material nature and the super soul, Paramatma or Krishna is in the super soul form in the heart is the judge. So all three are involved in this. So that is why Krishna is saying Arjuna now I want you to fight and I want you to become an instrument for my sake.
And by this you will attain victory. So therefore the scriptures have to be seen in context. So in our day to day life, say if we have to wake up in the morning early to do our sadhana, our japa nicely.
Then it is for us to take responsibility. We have to set the alarm, we have to ask maybe somebody else to wake us up on time. We have to ensure that we sleep early and wake up on time that way.
So it is for us to take responsibility for that. And for us to strengthen our sadhana and to try to do our seva properly, we do have to keep in mind that it is we who are the doers. And if we don't do it, Krishna's vision will go on but we will not make spiritual advancement.
So as far as our spiritual advancement is concerned, sometimes we may say whenever Krishna has mercy on me, that time I will make spiritual advancement. That seems to put the onus on Krishna but the onus is not on Krishna. By giving us the opportunity for spiritual advancement, Krishna has already put the onus on us.
Krishna has already done his part and now the ball is in our court. So therefore when it is for us to strengthen our sadhana, to make our seva more steady, then we have to understand that it is I who is the doer. And at times, even when we try to do our best and the result doesn't come, at that time we have to understand that ultimately I was doing this not just to get the result, I was doing it for Krishna's pleasure.
Probably I was becoming proud and so Krishna has shown to me now how I am not the doer. So if material nature doesn't cooperate, then we may not be able to do what we want to do. I may deliver this answer but if the recorder has a problem or the whole internet mechanism by which I upload the answer on the site and then the readers or the listeners download and hear the answer, all this is a part of material nature.
If that doesn't work, then the answer will not reach. Or for that matter, if my throat gets spoilt and I can't speak, then although I want, I will not be able to speak the answer. So I have to recognize that it is not that I am giving the answer.
It is okay, I desire to give the answer but along with that, material nature under the direction of Krishna has to cooperate. Only then will my service, at least in the external sense, be completed. At the same time, if I just say that I am not the doer and I don't speak any answer, then the service will not even get initiated, leave alone getting completed.
So therefore, we recognize that the scriptures are for application purposes. And for the purpose of application, at different times, different points may be emphasized in the scripture. So depending on the context, we can understand why scriptures are saying that we are the doers and why scriptures are saying that we are not the doers, material nature is the doer.
Or at times, Krishna is the doer. Thank you.