Krishna: The Man and His Philosophy - Osho - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 14. ACTION, INACTION AND NON-ACTION
the hands of existence, nothing more. So don’t think that you ate going to kill them. If you think
you are the doer then you are bound to be afraid. With the doer comes fear, anxiety and anguish.
Every suffering, every sorrow, arises from the ego, the doer, which is a false entity. You are utterly
mistaken if you think you are the doer; you are merely an instrument in the hands of the divine. Let
it do what it wants to be done through you, and let go of yourself.”
Therefore, while concluding the GEETA, Krishna says to Arjuna, ”Give up everything, give up all
religions, all sense of the doer and doing, give up your ego and be established in inaction.”
Inaction is the technique of remembering.
Question 2
QUESTIONER: WE ARE GRATEFUL TO YOU FOR YOUR SUPERB EXPOSITION OF ACTION,
INACTION AND NON-ACTION. YOU HAD EXPLAINED TO THE FOREIGN DISCIPLES OF
MAHESH YOGI WHEN THEY MET YOU IN KASHMIR LAST YEAR ABOUT THE SIGNIFICANCE
OF INACTION IN ACHIEVING SELF-KNOWLEDGE, AND WE HAVE NOW NO CONFUSION
ABOUT IT. BUT SOME CONFUSION SURELY ARISES FROM KRISHNA’S EXPOSITION OF
INACTION IN THE GEETA. HE EMPHASIZES THE IMPORTANCE OF INACTION, BUT IT SEEMS
TO BE CONFUSING, BECAUSE IT HAS MORE THAN ONE MEANING. HE SAYS THAT A YOGI
IS ONE WHO, HAVING ACTED DOES NOT THINK HE HAS ACTED, AND A SANNYASIN IS ONE
WHO DOES NOT ACT AND YET ACTION HAPPENS. THERE IS YET ANOTHER SIDE TO THIS
QUESTION WHICH SEEMS IMPORTANT. SHANKARACHARYA SAYS IN HIS COMMENTARIES
ON THE GEETA, THAT A WISE MAN DOES NOT NEED TO ACT, BECAUSE ACTION BELONGS
TO THE DOER. AND YOU SAY THAT WE DON’T HAVE TO ACT, BECAUSE ACTION HAPPENS
ON ITS OWN. BUT WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO ARJUNA’S INDIVIDUALITY IF HE CONSENTS TO
BE JUST AN INSTRUMENT IN THE HANDS OF EXISTENCE?
Krishna says that when one acts as if he does not act at all, it is yoga. Yoga means action through
inaction. To become a non-doer is yoga. The other thing he says is that when one does not do a
thing and yet knows he has done everything, it is sannyas. This is another side of the same coin.
Doing nothing, everything is done.
Sannyas and yoga are two sides of the same coin. Of course, they are two opposite sides of the
coin, but they are inseparable. It is difficult to say where the one side ends and the other begins. It is
true that the one side is the opposite of the other, but they are so inextricably joined that one cannot
be without the other. In fact, there cannot be a coin with only one side, it has to have two sides –
one opposite to the other. They really complement each other, they are not at all contradictory. Its
front and back together make up a coin.
There is no contradiction whatsoever in the two statements of Krishna, and there is no room for
confusion either. If you look at a wise man from his front side he will look a yogi, and the same wise
man will look a sannyasin if you view him from the rear. And Krishna’s definition of the two sides
is absolutely right. He defines a wise man, who is both yogi and sannyasin, as one who is actively
inactive and inactively active. And remember, these two sides are simultaneously present in one
who knows the truth, it is not possible to separate one of his sides from the other. One who acts
through inaction can also be non-acting through action. These are two sides of the same coin. And
Krishna: The Man and His Philosophy 266 Osho