How often do we take these words from the Bhagavad-Gita (XI, 33) to apply only to one person, Arjuna, and one set of circumstances, i.e., one particular battle in which he had to fight—the result of which was predetermined by Krishna!
But suppose we begin to take the sentence as applying to ourselves, in our everyday life, at all times and places. It would give us a totally different basis for thought, feeling and action, as also rid us of indecision, fear of consequences, and selfishness.
Arjuna's feelings are affected by the thought of destroying his kin, fear of the consequences that must ensue and how hollow victory, when gained, would seem to him. Here is an important point: he is looking at one consequence of one action, namely, what would happen if he fought the battle. He has ignored what would happen if he refused to fight.
Is not this what we do? We seldom try to visualize the consequences of inaction in some event, and therefore we lack discrimination.
We often speak of Karma, the great law of cause and effect, realizing in the mind that what comes to everyone is the due effect of the past, and that none can stay its course. But here Krishna speaks of himself as Karma, for he says that all those to be killed in the battle "have been already slain by me." Hence it is their Karma to die in that way.
Who shall bring something that is preordained to pass? The one whose dharma it is, the one who is placed there by Karma. And it is better to perform one's duty, even if full of faults!
Therefore we must find out the difference between an "agent" and an independent actor. An agent is one who follows a certain path laid down for him by another. In doing so, he has, or should have, no personal or selfish wishes, etc., for he is only the agent on whom it has fallen to perform a certain piece of work. A tree, for example, which falls down and destroys someone is an agent bringing Karmic precipitation at the proper time and place and to the proper person; it has no feelings attached to the action. Neither has the sun which shines on the just and the unjust, on the health-giving crops and poisonous weeds.
What should be our attitude, then, to acts that need to be performed? If an action presents itself to us, and there is no escape except personal cowardice, then we have to ignore all personal feeling regarding the action. We have to act with neither liking nor disliking, but because it is our dharma. In that way we are embroiled neither in the consequences of the action nor in the consequences of inaction. In another place Krishna tells Arjuna to dedicate all his actions to Him; this is another way of saying the same thing. We are also told not to bother about results. It is action which counts; the results of both action and inaction will follow of themselves.
Therefore, it would seem, we need a philosophical basis by which we can determine what is right action and what is right inaction, for there are two kinds of action and inaction. We can act wrongly, inharmoniously and personally, or we can refuse to act in a righteous cause as well as in an unrighteous cause. When in doubt, therefore, we must earnestly decide what is our duty, not our wish. False duties are many and absorb us all the time. So, "What is my business?", "Am I concerned here?" are questions to consider at every stage. Whatever conclusion we come to will be in terms of our nature. If we make a wrong choice, we shall meet the same circumstances again and again, until we judge aright.
Remember, feeling should follow thought; thought must not become lost in feeling.
Consider these quotations:
Both action and inaction may find room in thee; thy body agitated, thy mind tranquil, thy Soul as limpid as a mountain lake. (The Voice of the Silence, p. 32)
Stand aside in the coming battle, and though thou fightest be not thou the warrior.
Look for the warrior and let him fight in thee....Unconcerned in the battle save to do his bidding, having no longer any care as to the result of the battle, for one thing only is important, that the warrior shall win, and you know he is incapable of defeat....(Light on the Path, pp. 9, 11)
"Be Thou Only the Immediate Agent."
All men wish to live happily, but are dull at perceiving exactly what it is that makes life happy; and so far is it from being easy to attain to happiness that the more eagerly a man struggles to reach it the further he departs from it, if he takes the wrong road....
True happiness consists in not departing from nature and in moulding our conduct according to her laws and model. A happy life is one which is in accordance with its own nature, and cannot be brought about unless in the first place the mind be sound and vigorous, enduring all things with most admirable courage suited to the times in which it lives, and must be able to enjoy the bounty of Fortune without becoming her slave.
A happy life consists in a mind which is free, upright, undaunted and steadfast beyond the influence of fear or desire. A man must be accompanied by a continual cheerfulness, a high happiness, which comes indeed from on high because he delights in what he has. If we attain to this, then there will dawn upon us those invaluable blessings, the repose of a mind that is at rest in a safe haven, its lofty imaginings, its great and steady delight at casting out errors and learning to know the truth, its courtesy and its cheerfulness, in all of which we shall take delight.
—Annaeus Lucius Seneca