The End of Sorrow

by Eknath Easwaran

  The Gita will say, in marvelous language, even good habits are ties. First you get rid of bad habits by developing good habits. You cannot get rid of bad habits by saying “Go, go, go”; you get rid of bad habits by bringing in good habits which will force them out, and you don’t have to push because there won’t be any room to put their sleeping bag down. And then, the giants of all religions say, even the good habits have to go, because any habit is a form of rigid conditioning; any habit keeps you from freedom.

  My wife and I used to go around Lake Merritt every day when we were in Oakland. We had been used to going around clockwise, and you know the feet; they almost get automatic: you get there and they immediately turn in the same direction. So one day I just turned in the opposite direction instead. Even in little things you can experience this thrill of liberating yourself from your habits. When you want to sit in a very comfortable chair, go and sit down in a very uncomfortable one. This is how you free yourself.

  A friend of ours, who is much more daring than I am, once went into an ice cream parlor and said, “What is the worst kind of ice cream you have?”

  The proprietor answered, “Licorice.”

  “Bring a bowlful, please.”

  The proprietor gasped. “You’re sure? One spoonful may be enough.”

  She said, “Please bring a bowlful of licorice ice cream, and leave it to me.”

  She disposed of every vestige of it, and when she asked for the bill, the proprietor looked at her with awe and said, “It’s on the house.”

  This is one of the secrets the mystics tell us: when you free yourself from the tyranny of likes and dislikes, you can enjoy everything. With freedom from the tyranny of likes and dislikes comes freedom from allergy, which has become the bane of millions. Allergy is often a protest by the nervous system: “I have strong likes and strong dislikes; don’t try to trifle with me.” This is allergy. Gradually you can so free your nervous system that you can juggle with your likes and dislikes, which means you have gone beyond the law of duality where things are divided into pleasure and pain, success and defeat, birth and death. It is freedom from the tyranny of pain and pleasure, likes and dislikes, that will eventually give us the strength to realize moksha, or the indivisible unity of life, in our own consciousness.

  16. What is action and what is inaction? This question has confused the greatest sages. I will give you the secret of action, with which you can free yourself from bondage.

  Here Sri Krishna comforts Arjuna by telling him that he needn’t think badly of himself because he lacks discrimination. Even some of the great sages lacked discrimination when they started on the spiritual path. Arjuna says, “Wait! Great sages? Maybe one day I too will become a great sage!” And he is consoled by the way that Sri Krishna says that even the kavis, the great sages, were sometimes confused about action and inaction.

  Then Sri Krishna adds, “I will give you practical hints which will enable you to cultivate this discrimination. And” – to put his advice in the modern idiom – “remember, yaj jnatva mokshyase ‘shubhat: these words are not only for your diary. They are not to be put on buttons or on stickers for the back of your chariot. They are to be practiced. You have to carry them into your daily life, even though it may be unpleasant or even distressing.”

  17. You must understand what is action, what actions should be avoided, and what is inaction. For the true nature of action is difficult to grasp.

  Sri Krishna, the Lord of Love present in all hearts, tells us how best we can use our life to alleviate the many woes to which the world has become subject during the course of the centuries. In understanding this secret of karma yoga, or selfless action, the word karma has to be understood not only as meaning deeds, but also words and thoughts. Even words are actions, and we all know from the advertising world the power of the word. Those word wizards who coin slogans which can even come with us into our sleep are, to use Aldous Huxley’s words, “the most influential of popular moralists and philosophers.” Some of these advertising slogans are the surest proof of the negative power of words. If anyone doubts the efficacy of the mantram, let him observe the power of the advertising slogan.

  Even thinking is a subtle form of action. Sigmund Freud has said that thought is action in rehearsal. When we are thinking angry thoughts against somebody, we actually are throwing abstract rocks at them. Sometimes I think a rock does not hurt so much as a harsh thought. We know how long people to whom we have unfortunately shown anger can suffer because of resentment and hostility. And we, too, suffer because we are violating the fundamental law of the unity of life.

  People who think selfish thoughts can really show us that, as the mystics say, thinking is action. Living in a place where people are always thinking about their selfish satisfactions is living in an atmosphere worse than smog. The worst kind of smog is ego smog, and we have only to live with very egocentric people to know how deleterious it is. When we associate with agitated people, we come home so agitated that we cannot sit and have our dinner; we cannot go to sleep in peace. We cannot understand: in the afternoon we were feeling so placid and so composed; what happened to make us so agitated? Then we suddenly see: we went out with that fellow. We can all testify to this. When we are with agitated people, if we are not fairly calm within ourselves, naturally we participate in their agitation.

  Conversely, in a very beautiful manner, when we are agitated, when we want to express our agitation by agitating a few more around us, we may go by mistake to the house of a serene person. Quietly established in himself, he comes out and says, “You want to agitate me? Come in.” We go right in and start agitating, recapitulating what wrongs the world has done to us, how we have always been innocent. But halfway we begin to say that maybe sometimes we do make mistakes, maybe sometimes we do provoke people. Our host is still not saying anything. He is just looking with shining eyes of love and understanding, and by the time the interview ends, we have become calm. We come out and don’t know what has happened to our agitation. “Is it the meal I had that may have corrected my agitation?” It takes a long time to understand that when we associate with people we also participate in their mental states. In Sanskrit there is a very good saying, Samsargad doshagunam bhavati: “By association we can become good and selfless, and by association we can become bad and selfish.”

  Let us remember that we cannot avoid action by staying at home. Even if we tie ourselves up in a chair and take a vow not to move for the whole day, we are acting inside, and thoughts can be action in a very subtle form. In order to be entirely free in our action, the mystics say, thought has to be controlled at its origin. The Buddha has said in the Dhammapada that all we are is the result of what we have thought. The thoughts that germinate in the depths of our consciousness slowly drive us into action. Action, therefore, begins at the level of thinking, and the purpose of meditation is to control action at the source.

  Vikarma is action which is prohibited to us because it inflicts suffering on others. Vikarma is wrong action. Any action which is born of anger, fear, or greed is vikarma. The Gita will say that any action that is propelled by anger is likely to bring sorrow not only to those against whom the action is directed, but also to the doer. When we are angry, most of us are prompted to action. Immediately tamas is transformed into rajas. Even the most phlegmatic person, when roused to anger, will leap up and start acting right and left, bringing suffering on everyone around.

  In order to act wisely, we have to be free from anger, free from hostility, free from resentment. Unfortunately, even in the efforts being made to banish violence from our midst, I sometimes see an element of resentment and hatred. In order to counter violence, we should not get violent at all. We can deal effectively with violence by being persuasive, courteous, and considerate, and yet very, very firm. Gentleness and friendly persuasion can be effective with all human beings. The moment I get angry, you are going to get more angry; and when you get more angry, I am going to get most angry. This is what happens whe
n we meet anger with anger. We move further and further apart; and two people who stood only two yards apart at the outset, by the time the peace negotiations are finished, have moved two hundred yards apart. Jesus has said that it is by bearing with people who provoke us, by blessing those who curse us, by doing good to those who hate us, that we can win them over. My humble conviction is that there is no human being who lacks this capacity to love and respond to love, because the Lord lives in all of us.

  Just as action born of anger leads to disaster, so do actions done out of fear and greed. When we do things out of fear, we are likely to be far off the mark. When we do things out of the third propelling force, greed, this too leads to disaster. Actions motivated by these three do not benefit anyone.

  The third term used is akarma, ‘inaction.’ When we empty ourselves of all selfishness and realize that the Lord within is the operator, all action falls away. We do not act; the Lord acts through us. Whenever Gandhi was asked how he was able to free India from the political domination of the greatest empire the world has known without firing a shot, he would reply that all he did was empty himself of his selfishness and separateness to become a humble instrument in the hands of the Lord.

  This is the real meaning of inaction, but we do not achieve this state by merely refusing to act. There is a tremendous need for action in all of us ordinary human beings. The choice that we have is: shall we act under the compulsion of self-will, bringing about our own downfall and the downfall of others, or shall we act as an instrument of the Lord, contributing to the welfare of our family, community, country, and world?

  18. They who see action where there is inaction, and inaction where there is action, live in wisdom. Their consciousness is unified, and their every act is done with complete awareness.

  Here Sri Krishna says a strange thing to Arjuna: “When a person becomes united with Me, when he becomes an instrument in my hands, then even though he acts, he does not act.” The person who has surrendered himself to the Lord does not act; the Lord acts through him.

  This reminds me of when we held weekly meetings on the University of California campus in Berkeley. Curious things used to take place on campus in those days. One day, as I was leaving the meditation meeting, I saw a group of demonstrators being hauled away by the police. They would struggle for a while and then suddenly go limp. Then there was no struggle, no effort, and evidently no resistance at all. This was very protective, and I saw what effect it had on the people who were dragging those students away. It took away all their animosity, for what is the use of dragging a person who doesn’t object to being dragged? In this verse Sri Krishna tells Arjuna, “When the ego tries to drag you away, go limp.” When spiritual awareness increases, you can act from morning to night with great power and in the evening come back so fresh, so vital, and so light on your feet that you say, “Oh, I am not tired. I haven’t been acting; I’ve just been going limp.”

  For me, Gandhi is the perfect example of the statement that a person filled with the love of God, practicing the presence of God, never acts at all. Once when I went to Gandhiji’s ashram, as I walked about in the neighborhood of his little cottage, I saw the unending stream of political leaders from Britain and India who came to him throughout the day. I was wondering how he was able to bear the pressure of these significant interviews which would change the relations of two great countries, and in the evening, I expected to see a tired, irascible, very impatient man coming out. Instead I saw a smiling figure who looked as if he had been playing bingo with children all day. I could not believe my eyes, because I was used to the idea that if we work eight hours we should be tense and ready to be irritated by anybody who tries to be nice to us. But he was completely untouched by his action.

  Every day in our work, as long as it is not at the expense of others, we can learn to avoid tension and pressure when attending to the most challenging tasks that life may bring us. For most of us, tension has become a badge of action. In fact, we usually expect someone who has engaged in intense action during the day to complain about his ulcer. Tension need not accompany action; we can act free from any tension, any movement in the mind, any ripple of consciousness. Once Gandhi was asked by Western friends, “Mr. Gandhi, you have been working fifteen hours a day for fifty years for these helpless millions of India. Why don’t you take a long holiday?” Gandhi replied, “I am always on holiday.”

  When a person has made himself an instrument in the hands of the Lord as Gandhi did, then Sri Krishna says, “He is not acting at all. I act through him.” In the Gita this is called “inaction in action.” Conversely there are people who say they want to drop out of society and go away from the world. Such people, even if they try to keep quiet in the midst of the woods, are still active. All of us are active everywhere, and all of us influence our environment everywhere. A parent is influencing his children by his attitudes and by his ways, even if he does not look after them. Even when we refuse to act, Sri Krishna maintains, we influence people by our apathy.

  The practice of meditation demands intense action. Without energetic, intense, selfless action, the practice of meditation can become quite dangerous, and we can become caught inside. To the orthodox Hindu the working out of bad karma through good karma is an essential part of spiritual progress. As long as we have a heavy load of unfavorable karma on our back, it will not be possible for us to wake up when we plunge into the depths of the unconscious. In some of the most profound stages of meditation, when we have touched the floor of consciousness, we are like a diver who has gone fathoms deep to stand on the sea bed. Similar to the tremendous pressures bearing down on him is the pressure that bears down on the person who reaches the unconscious in meditation. When we reach the depths of the unconscious, we naturally become completely unconscious, but we must learn to become conscious at that time. Now to give a little preview of this magnificent climax of meditation, when we are standing there with this vast sea of consciousness pressing down upon us, instead of being frightened or paralyzed, or becoming completely unconscious, we must be able to repeat the mantram in the depths of our unconscious. If we can do this, we are worthy of becoming aware of the Lord.

  19. The awakened sages call a man wise when all his undertakings are free from anxiety about results; all his selfish desires have been consumed in the fire of knowledge.

  The Gita is an imperative call to action in which the Lord insists that none of us can afford to lie here inactive while the world burns in turmoil and violence. If each one of us makes the maximum contribution that lies within his power to conquer violence, we would see the reign of peace, of goodwill, and of love. It is natural for the vast majority of us, as we look around the world and see the conflagration threatening to engulf us, to throw up our hands in despair and say, “What can I do?” “But,” Sri Krishna will ask, “what is it that you cannot do?”

  If we realize that in the depths of our consciousness dwells the Lord of Love, who is infinite love, infinite wisdom, and infinite capacity for selfless service, none of us would ever feel despondent or defeated. The feeling of being inadequate to the call made by life upon us, the Gita says precisely, is caused by our anxiety about results. We get involved in the results. We want to say, “See what I have accomplished.” We want posterity to turn the pages of history to see how many are devoted to our exploits. The secret of all action, as embodied by Mahatma Gandhi in his own masterly personal life, is to select a selfless goal – it does not matter how big or impossible – and do everything we can, in the face of challenges, difficulties, or persecution, to move towards that goal. It may not be possible for one person to achieve his goal, but his work will be continued and supplemented, becoming larger and larger until it reaches fulfillment.

  The word used here is budhah, ‘those who are awake.’ These awakened ones would not say that you and I are acting. They would say we are only chasing our tail, going round and round in ineffective action, wasting our time and energy. Only the man who turns his back upon
his own self-will and dedicates all his energy, time, resources, everything to the Lord in the service of Him in everyone around, is truly wise.

  If we look at the so-called great achievements of people who have made their name in history, we will find the motive often may have been ambition, or prestige, or the lust for power. The Gita says such people do not really make a lasting contribution to the world. This is particularly true of the lust for power, which is perhaps the most corrupting of all lusts. As Lord Acton once said, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” When we go after personal power, in the early days we might really want to make a contribution to our country and to world peace, but as power begins to intoxicate us, all these honest motives recede until finally we want power for the sake of power, for imposing our self-will on everyone around.

  Sometimes after dinner at Ramagiri we talk about current issues, and the other day we were having a discussion about the concept of leadership in modern politics. I pointed out that the concept of leadership placed before us by Gandhi is that of the leader who turns his back upon personal power, who seeks not to enjoy the perquisites of office, and who thinks not of his image or of what posterity will read about him in history books. We all know how many times the occupants of office do things simply for ensuring victory in the next election. In India, too, it was not uncommon for us to see leaders coming on the platform to harangue us about what they were going to do for our benefit, what they were going to do for our progress, only to ensure their personal re-election. The concept that Gandhiji placed before the whole world is that the best leader is one who is not interested in himself, but only in making his maximum contribution to the welfare of the people and the world. I give Mahatma Gandhi as an unvarying example of a great leader in politics who has worked for his people and his country without any thought of profit, prestige, or power.