Fulfilment is not attained by some action. At every stage of your life, you thought “if this happens, my life will become complete.” This thought may have come up within you. For example, when you were a child you thought, “if I get this toy, my life will be complete.” You got that toy, but after few days you took it and threw it into the dustbin.
Life did not attain fulfilment. When you were in school, you thought that if you passed your examination, life would be complete. That happened, but in reality nothing happened.
Then you thought that if you complete your education, your life would be settled. That too happened. Now you thought, what is the use of all this education if you are not able to stand on your feet. So you started earning. After three months you began to think, what is the use of working like a donkey, and if you get married to that man or woman whom you love, your life would become complete. That happened and then you know what happened!
Whatever action you may have performed, life has not attained fulfilment. Fulfilment will not come because of some action that you perform. Try to see as to why have you been performing one action after another? It is towards fulfilment, isn’t it? People who perform action in excess, when you ask them why they are doing all that they are doing, they answer, “What to do? Food, wife, kids — who will take care of them?” The truth is, even if you fulfil all your needs, you won’t be able to sit quietly for even a day. Because one has to do something.
And this need to do something arises since your inner nature has not attained fulfilment; you are trying to do so through actions. Your actions are not a result of your need for good food or comforts; it is happening because you are in search of fulfilment. Whether this has happened with or without awareness, the actions indicate the search for unboundedness.
Only if your inner nature is complete, your life will attain fulfilment. If within you, your inner nature has attained fulfilment, there will be no need for action. If the external situation demands some action, you can do it joyously. If it is not needed, you can simply sit with eyes closed.
When a person has reached a state where there is no need to perform any action, we can say that the person has become unbounded. That does not mean that this person does not do any work at all. If the external situation demands it, he can work for 24 hours. But action is not needed for his inner nature. He is not bound to action. He is the same, even without action.
Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, an internationally renowned spiritual leader, is a visionary, humanitarian, author, poet and speaker.
He can be contacted at www.ishafoundation.org
