What did Krishna mean when he said Action itself is the Fruit of Action?

On merely looking at the statement, we feel doing more is what he meant. But there
is a problem to this. This explanation is obvious, way too obvious to be included in
Gita. And I have learnt, the hard way of course, that all good spiritual texts though
they appear a simple statement to the thought, when we read it for the first time, is
actually a philosophical pointer, which is too deep for our thought to fathom at one
go.
So whats so special about this statement? Lets examine it. Action itself is the fruit
of Action. When we read it for the first time we think, Fruit or reward is something
that arises out of action. How can action arise out of action, as the fruit? Now to
understand this statement completely we must dissect this statement word by word
and examine it. There are two major words here Action and Fruit. Lets examine
them.
So, What is Action? I can hear you saying action is anything, that we do physically.
Now that is the definition of action that we have known, right. The internet
definition of action is the fact or process of doing something, typically to achieve
an aim. Lets say action is the ACT, Ok. What is action? Its the act itself, its neither
the person who does the act nor the Fruit which is obtained as a result, but just the
ACT.
Who Acts? The actor acts. There are two separate entities in the previous
statement. The person who acts and the action or the object, on which he acts. But
is the action separate from the actor? Without the actor there is no action, and by
the absense of action there can be no actor. You see, when you see an object its not
just by the existence of the object you are able to see, it is also a fact that because
you are able to see, the object exits. To make it simpler lets put it this way, unless
you know something through your knowledge that thing doesnt exist for you. Its
not a part of your world. Only when you know something it becomes a part of your
world. For example we considered elephant to be the biggest animal on land, till we
found the fossils of Dinosaurs. Now dinosaurs, at least for now, is the biggest
animal that lived on land ever, for us. This knowledge is true till we find fossils of a
bigger animal.
So the existence of something is a two way street, the object existing and our
knowing it. So action without actor and actor without action is not possible. So there
is only the Action, the ACT. So if there is no division between the ACT and the
ACTOR, can we say that ACTION alone remains. There is only ACTION and no actor
or the object on which the actor acts. If action alone exists where is the fruit?
Lets examine What is Fruit or Result? Fruit or Result means consequense of the
action to the benefactor. Benefactor is the person who acts and waits to receive the
reward. Now when he waits, isnt he separating himself from the action. Just now we
saw that action and the person who acts together form the Act or Action. The

separatedness is an illusion. Our minds projects itself as separate entity who is

acting, which is separate from the Act or the object on which it is acting. So it is like
we enter into an act and then step out of it and then anticipate reward for our act.
But this cannot be true. Because actor and action can never be separated, we saw
that just now.
And if action alone remains and if there is no separate entity, the actor, then the big
question is, who will receive the fruit? Because there is no actor, no separate entity,
to receive the fruit.
And what you call as the fruit or reward, also exist because of your knowledge.
Knowing is acting. Just now we saw that the Person, the Object and the Act together
make the Action. And one thing is not separate from the other. Hence Action alone
remains. So what you call fruit is also Action, but in Future.
And so the saying Action itself is the Fruit of Action. Because there is no separate
entity to receive the object or reward or fruit and also the Fruit is not separate from
the Action.
Hope this blog was helpful.
Thank you.

Are we truly FREE?

Freedom is a concept that has inspired people since time immemorial. But time and
again I cannot stop acknowledging the fact that freedom as I have understood is a
relative concept rather than an absolute one. So what exactly is freedom? If you go
out there and ask this question to ten different people I am pretty sure you will get
ten different answers. And evey answer could be unique in its own way and also
seem right from the point of view of the person holding that thought.
So lets investigate this concept a little more. What is freedom? The meaning of the
term freedom is the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants. Ok. So
ideally freedom means the right to do things as one seems right. But if we go
deeper into the meaning of the word Freedom, I cannot help but notice the term as
one wants. Now this term should be investigated a little bit more to understand the
true nature of freedom and its meaning to human beings.
As one wants. Now what does this mean? What do you want as an individual? Or
as a person who you think you are? My wants are the summation of all the desires
that I have had since childhood, my schooling, my conditioning, my interpretation of
things, the books that I have read, the things that I have done. Everything adds up
to the making of me. This made up me is the one who is wanting i.e. wanting

freedom, isnt it? Which means if I had been raised differently I would have wanted
something else, that means some different kind of freedom.
So my question to you is, does true freedom exist? You were raised in a way, that
style of raising plus your DNA is causing you to want stuff that you are wanting. If
you were born in a different environment to different folks, you would have wanted
something else or you would have reacted differently to the same situation, dont
you think? So are we truly free or whatever we desire or consider as freedom is just
a mechanical reaction due to our conditioning?
I am afraid but the latter is true. We are not free in absolute sense. Whatever we
consider as freedom is just a mechanical response due to our conditioning , had we
been born to different parents and raised in a different environment we would have
considered something else as freedom. So we are imprisoned, to say the least by
our conditioning. We are bonded to our knowledge which reacts through our
conditioning to a given situation. And we call that reaction as freedom. But we saw
now that our responses were learned and our minds conditioned. So how can we
cosider ourselves to be free or call our actions that are arising out of those learned
conditions as movement towards freedom.
And if we achieve success by such actions it will only reinforce our conditioning and
make us ever so more conditioned. And conditioning is a trained behaviour. The
more conditioned we get, farther will be our true freedom, dont you think? So this
introspection at least throws some light on the fact that, what we consider as
freedom is just a reward to our conditioned behaviour and conditioned respones and
thereby encouraging more conditioned behaviour, which enslaves us to these
conditions even more.
So FREEDOM as we know it is just an illusion.
So what is true freedom?
Freedom in absoluteness is knowing of this condition of ours. Freedom is bringing to
light the fact that we can never be free until we are free of all the conditioned
patterns in us. Bringing to awareness this fact itself is a big step towards freedom.
Because once you are conscious of the conditioned responses, you no longer react
unconsciously. You do not have to make any effort to uncondition yourself. Your
knowing this fact is enough. Your knowing about your conditioning itself will put an
end to your conditioned reactions. The more aware you become of your conditioned
responses and reactions, closer you move towards true Freedom.
Only by being absolutely aware of your conditioning, by bringing your conditioning
into the light of your consciousness can you ever achieve absolute and true
freedom.
Thank You.