Am I the doer or an instrument?

One of my favourite topics of discussion with my cousins and friends is this – “Am I the doer or the instrument”.

All the worldly things can be classified under on of the following 3 things – Chit, Achit and Eshwara. Chit refers to materials with knowledge, like our soul, whereas Achit are the things that have got no knowledge with them naturally like the human body. “Eshwara” refers to the Almighty. This is the basic principle of Visishtadvaitham, and that is the reason why visishtadvaitha sanyasis hold a staff called “Thruthanda” [ Advaitha saints hold ekathanda as they believe that all the above 3 are the same ! ]

As the soul resides in our body, it the combination of them that make us work. Now, when I perform an action, definitely God knows it is. He also knows how a person will lead his life. Therefore, is our life pre-determined? Or since there are Karmas (good and bad deeds in one’s life) accumulated as per our acts, is our life not pre-determined?

So there starts a debate as to whether I am made to act by God i.e. I am an instrument or are my actions independent of God’s will i.e. I am the doer.

As I said earlier, it is the combination of both the soul and the body that makes us do our work. So the soul for our body is a gift given by God! It is acting as a tool to perform many tasks. Without the soul, I may not be able to read or write blogs. So in this case, we are only instruments and not the doers of anything because this soul does not belong to my body. Lord Krishna says this in the 11^th chapter of Bagavath Gita.

But then what happens to all my actions? In case I slap someone and say that I am only an instrument and not the doer of that action will it become right on my part? Then what will happen to all the good and bad deeds of mine? I am supposed to experience for all my sins. So in that case I am only the doer of the actions and not an instrument. Lord Krishna also talks about this in Bagavath Gita.

But when I agree that I am responsible for all my actions, why at all should there be God? Why should I be dependent on him? I can be independent. Here comes the conflict. So am I the doer or the instrument?

So here is the conclusion. I am the performer, but all my actions are dependent on God. My actions have got no absolute independence. It is a dependent independence. Take an example of a company where a CEO has the full control. He has control over every person in the company. But he cannot decide on the action of every single individual worker. Does that mean the workers are independent and can do any work they like? Thus they are given some independence which is what I call as dependent independence. Therefore I am an instrument as well as the doer.

I am a doer because I have got the independence to do certain things, and I am an instrument because I have got independence to do only certain things! Hope you get the meaning right here.

Similarly, though God has full control over me, he will not control on all my actions. Therefore, I also need to take responsibility over the things that God does not take care of. I need to perform good deeds; only then this cycle of birth and death is broken.

Therefore, I am solely responsible for the present condition of my life, which depends on the deeds that I performed in my previous birth. It does not depend purely on the deeds of my present life. A child may be born rich, but does it mean it has done all good deeds in its present life?

So, to have a better life, or to break up from the continuous birth-death cycle, we need to perform certain good deeds. What could be the good deeds then? Lord Krishna also gives answer to these questions in Bagavath Gita. He says that the only way to attain his lotus feet is “Bhakhthi” or devotion to him.

So lets be his true devotees and perform all good deeds as he wishes!

- ∫.∫rikrishnan