You're not the doer. Everything is carrying on under the influence of more powerful hidden forces. You have a small amount of free will at most. The rest is DNA and upbringing, also known as Nature and nurture.
The ego thinks it's the doer, but it's merely the visible face of the person. The person or mind, is being pushed around by it's built-in programming or instincts. Most people are not able to override this.
Our choices may appear like free will, but they are determined by the dictation of the body and instincts. Those of our parents a lot of the time, since it's the DNA talking.
It's not even divine inspiration or guidance from the so called higher self. That potential is there. However only few are that blessed.
Most of us are led around by nature. The ancient Sanskrit wisdom describes it like that. Humans are able to unlock their higher self but generally live as pika animals.
Donkeys led by the instinct and programming. All under the domination of material nature, which is described in the Vedas using the Sanskrit word "prakriti".
This material nature drives us to act, more do then our free will. It even overrides our intelligence sometimes. Under its influence we're forced to act.
Therefore the ancient Wisdom recommends that we continue to work with the material energy according to our nature, but that we channel the results into service of the absolute, the source, the original owner of the material energy.
By watering the root of the tree, the whole tree is satisfied. By serving the source of everything, all the rest is also served. The energy is returned to the energetic source.
It's like a parent providing all the food for a child, and then that child taking the food and offering it to the parent.
All energy is borrowed. All energy emanates from one original source. It's up to us to choose to align our intention with that of the source, in service. And once in alignment, we can feel happy, protected and full of meaning.
Bhagavad Gita ch3:27
prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni
guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ
ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā
kartāham iti manyate
SYNONYMS
prakṛteḥ—of material nature; kriyamāṇāni—all being done; guṇaiḥ—by the modes; karmāṇi—activities; sarvaśaḥ—all kinds of; ahaṅkāra-vimūḍha—bewildered by false ego; ātmā—the spirit soul; kartā—doer; aham—I; iti—thus; manyate—thinks
TRANSLATION
The bewildered spirit soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself to be the doer of activities, which are in actuality carried out by nature.
PURPORT
Two persons, one in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and the other in material consciousness, working on the same level, may appear to be working on the same platform, but there is a wide gulf of difference in their respective positions. The person in material consciousness is convinced by false ego that he is the doer of everything. He does not know that the mechanism of the body is produced by material nature, which works under the supervision of the Supreme Lord. The materialistic person has no knowledge that ultimately he is under the control of Kṛṣṇa. The person in false ego takes all credit for doing everything independantly, and that is the symptom of his nescience. He does not know that this gross and subtle body is the creation of material nature, under the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and as such his bodily and mental activities should be engaged in the service of Kṛṣṇa, in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The ignorant man forgets that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is known as Hṛṣīkeśa, or the master of the senses of the material body, for due to his long misuse of the senses in sense gratification, he is factually bewildered by the false ego, which makes him forget his eternal relationship with Kṛṣṇa.
Reference: Bhagavad Gita As It Is, translation and commentary by Swami A C Bhaktivedanta, original MacMillan 1972 edition
Image: pixabay.com
Edited on my mobile device, published onto the Hive blockchain in service to the previous Vedantists in the Brahma Madhva Ramanuja Guadiya Vaishnava sampradaya/lineage.
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