I am not the doer

An actor plays many roles on screen, yet when he retires from his work and goes home, he is no longer identified with the roles he is playing. Similarly, as I go through life, I take new roles, and give up old roles. I may play various roles such as being a child, a spouse, a parent, an employee, an employer, a teacher, a friend etc. None of the roles that I play define and limit me - I remain completely independent of the many roles I play.

I am thus not the doer of my actions. This does not mean I am not responsible for my actions. This also does not mean I can resort to inaction. I perform dynamic action without the sense of “I did it”. I am grateful to my source for giving me the abilities due to which I am able to act and serve others. I accept the fruits from my actions in humility as a gift from the divine. I thus give up the need to take personal credit for everything I do and achieve, for that is only my ego exercising it’s existence.

In giving up doer ship, I burn my past karma, stop accumulating new karma, and thus progress spiritually. When I act without my ego, no action can bind me. In giving up doer ship, I give up my deepest form of identification and ignorance - that I am the individual doer of my actions. In thus “getting out of my own way”, I allow my higher self, the pure consciousness, the spirit, to shine it's brilliance through me.