Doer Vs Non-Doer

In recent times, I have got into the discussion of Fate Vs Free Will many a times. Again and again, we got into discussion where someone was taking the side of Fate and someone else was on the side of Free Will.

As I see, we can understand this point of discussion from a different perspective altogether; i.e. Doer Vs Non-Doer.

We can say that Doer is the person of Free Will. He thinks that things or events are taking place in his life only by him doing something, else nothing is going to happen. Moreover, he thinks that he is the one who is taking actions in his life. Hence, he is the Doer.

On the other hand, Non-Doer is the person of Fate. He is of the opinion that all things or events are already pre-destined and we are just playing our respective roles in manifesting that pre-destined result. Here, the biggest mistake we can do is to think that Non-Doer is a lazy person and he is not doing anything. It is not the case. Non-Doer is taking all humanly possible actions but he is not keeping the idea of Doing on himself. He accepts that his Doing is also a part of this Grand-Happening of the Universe. So, Non-Doer is a person who is acting just like an actor on stage under the guidance of Director.

Doer vs non-doer are essentially a dualistic way of looking at the nature of existence, just like west vs east is a dualistic way of looking at our world which is all one. The oneness is the non-dual.

So, if we see deeply then there is only one difference between a Doer (person of Free Will) and a Non-Doer (person of Fate) and that is; they both are taking actions but Doer is thinking he is doing it whereas Non-Doer is accepting that his doing is also part of happening.

Now, if we see then this distinction of Doer Vs Non-Doer can be seen in different Religions too.

Western/Abrahamic Religions are based in the concept of Doer. Hence, the concept of Ten Commandments is there. Their focus is so much on right actions. As Doer is thinking that he is doing everything, focus has to be on right actions. So, emphasis of Abrahamic/Western Religions is on right actions. Responsibility of taking right action is on individual as he thinks that he is the doer.

Whereas the emphasis of Eastern Religions is on right knowledge because Eastern Religions feel that even if a person is taking any wrong action then it is because he doesn’t have right knowledge or awareness of what is right or what is wrong? As our knowledge of right/wrong leads us to take any action Eastern Religions focus more on being right knowledge or awareness.

And the highest of knowledge or awareness is that everything is autonomous in this world. Everything or everyone is ruled over by their Gunas (Rajas, Sattva and Tamas) and they are bound to pursue their Gunas. So eventually, things are happening on their own. Life brings us situations which are dependent on countless similar situations and we act on those situations as per our Gunas level which again becomes the basis of countless new situations in life of countless people.

So, it is like we are like one wave in the middle of a vast ocean. Many other waves come and put us into situation of floating with other waves. One action in our life depend on so many collateral situations that we can’t even imagine that how much our daily existence depends on the support of the whole existence.

As I normally put it to the supporters of Free Will or Doer philosophy, we just need to ask these two questions to ourselves and this ego of Doer will fall flat –

• If you are the Doer then you must have planned to do or would have attempted to do many things in life. Could you achieve all your planned goals or ambitions? If not, then why? Who stopped you when you are the only one who is the doer?
• Also, if you are the Doer then there must be many events in your life which you never planned or worked for then how come those events happened in life?

An honest introspection on these two points will end this debate here itself about who is Doer and who is the non-Doer.

Now, there are two important things –

First, the moment we accept or recognize that we are not the Doer then mind jumps to the conclusion that it means that we need not to do anything. This is first major but very childish mistake we do. Understand that it is concept of letting-go of Doer and not doing. So, we need to continue doing but with the profound awareness that divine is functioning through us, and actually it is the case. Understand that for taking any action, you need energy in your physical body. Now, none of us is generating energy by own self. This energy is getting supplied to us by existence or divine. This is the best or easiest way to understand that Existence is functioning through us.

Another thing is that mind’s only pleasure is to accept itself as the Doer. The moment mind contemplates itself as non-doer, it becomes restless. It starts asking questions as to “what we are doing then?” Also, when you accept yourself as Doer then it is impossible to separate yourself from the result of that action. “I did this, hence I am getting this result.” This is how we create Karma and move into one life after other, experiencing the results of a Karma, of which we were never the doer at 1st place. But mind convinces us of the Doer status also and consequential result too.

Now, we can ask that if things are really autonomous then why Western Religions developed the concept of Doer and why Commandments were given for acting upon.

This is where we have to see things from perspective of Disciples and not from the Teacher/Master.

Understand that it is necessary that if Master is teaching something then Disciple should be able to understand it. It is meaningless if a Master is speaking of the highest level of wisdom and Disciple is not yet ready to absorb/grasp it.

Most of the Masters who gave Commandments; like Moses, Jesus or Paigambar Mohammed (PBUH), were in a region where literacy rate was very less. People were illiterate and unable to understand the deep philosophical facts. Like, out of 12 disciples of Jesus Christ, only Judas was little bit educated. Rest of 11 were poor and uneducated villagers.

Now, if Jesus had tried to explain them the concept of Non-Doer or Satva-Rajas-Tamas Gunas then it would have been exercise in futility. As majority of people were living at base level and understanding themselves as Body, it was the only option for Jesus to tell them about 10 Commandments to do. He chose 10 best actions and gave them these commandments so that at least they shouldn’t do anything harmful for themselves or others.

I am not saying that an uneducated person cannot be spiritually evolved but that can be an exceptional case like Bhagwan Ramakrishna Paramhansa. It can’t happen in dozens at one place at one time.

On the other hand, if we see who were instrumental in promoting the concept of Non-Doer in Eastern Religions then we will get names like Krishna-Arjuna, Buddha-Aanand and Mahavira-Gautam etc. Now, what is the major difference?

Arjuna was not an illiterate villager. He was born in a Kingdom; i.e. A Prince. He got the best of education available at that time. Hence, he was able to understand the deep concepts of Bhagwad Geeta when Krishna spoke about it.

So, it is not incapability of Jesus that He couldn’t speak the concept of Non-Doer but it was the incapability of disciples who He got that they were unable to understand such higher concepts. For a Guru, it is a matter of great fortune to get a Disciple like Arjuna.

So, if we see it clearly, the concept of Doer was developed due to lack of ability of Disciples of Western Masters rather than due to any profound wisdom of those Masters whereas the concept of Non-Doer came from Divine Wisdom and understanding of Eastern Masters.

May be this is also the reason that it is considered by many that majority of Western Religions traditionally didn’t accept Astrology because to understand deep concepts of Astrology too, we need some sort of level of intellect and education/knowledge. We can see that as wisdom and intellect increased over the centuries, a whole branch of Western Astrology got developed which has its own Zodiac and Concepts.

All I am trying to say is that the concept of Doer or Free-Will is very easy to understand for human mind. It is like; I did this, hence this result came. It is so simple to get it inside mind. Hence, the popular acceptance of concept of Doer or Free-Will. Everyone wants to remain the Doer. It also brings them an illusion of ego boost that their lives are in their hands.

But to understand the concept of non-doer, you may require a mind which can comprehend the deepest concepts of Gunas on which basis this existence functions.

So, this is what we can see as concept of Doer Vs Non-Doer and if we see it clearly then we may realize that not only we are not Doer but there is no Doer in this existence, not even God or Existence itself. Understand it like this, everything or everyone has its own nature. Like, it is water’s nature to flow or Fire’s nature to spread. It is Earth’s nature to gravitate and it is Air’s nature to sway. Likewise, everything or every plant or every animal or every human also has own nature and he is following that. Every single entity in this existence is independent or autonomous by itself. We can say that every single entity is God in itself for itself.

It is just the intersection of two separate entities of two separate nature brings an event in our lives and we try to interpret that event as good, bad or ugly as per our social conditionings. So, if we see from this angle then not only we are not the Doers but in actuality, there is no Doer in this existence. Everything is happening on its own autonomously by following its own nature.

Again, it is like we are a small wave in the vast Ocean of this existence. Wave has to be in alignment with the Ocean. Wave cannot go against the Ocean. Wave is nothing but a small part of Ocean. Its existence depends on Ocean. Likewise, we are nothing but a small part of this existence and every action taken by us is dependent completely on vast existence. Situations in lives of many other known/unknown people bring situations in our lives and the kind of actions we take brings further situations in our own life or in the lives of others. This is why; analogy of us standing as a small wave in vast ocean of this existence makes so much of sense.

We can also understand the same concept through The Butterfly Effect - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6h2LD6nfbMM and https://www.astrosaxena.com/articles/Butterfly.

So, this is what I feel about this topic of Doer Vs Non-Doer where we are all non-doers, just like everything and everyone else is a non-doer. Everything and everyone is autonomous.

Hope this helps. Thanks,