The mind always thinks in terms of purpose and utility. When the mind disappears, action does not disappear, activity disappears -- Activity has utility; action is pure joy, pure beauty. We act not because something has to be achieved; we act because action is a dance, a song. We act because we are so full of energy. "Energy is delight" -- When there is great energy, It is bound to explode. Action comes out of energy, out of delight. Activity is businesslike, Action is poetry. Activity creates bondage because it is result oriented: we are doing it not for its own sake; we are doing it for some goal. There is a motive, and then there is frustration. We did not enjoy the activity itself, we were waiting for the result. When we achieve the goal, there is frustration also. The goal is achieved, but suddenly we realize that all the dreams we have been dreaming about the goal are not fulfilled -- the same emptiness inside. All that we know is how to be miserable. 

Activity means there is a goal; activity is only a means to that end. Action means that the means and the end are together in it. We act for the sheer joy of acting. For example, I am writing -- it is not a activity, hence I am not concerned with the result at all. It is a pure act. I enjoy communicating. I am grateful. If I don’t write, I will have to talk to the trees or to the rocks, or I will have to talk to myself! I am obliged to whoever reads this; you need not be obliged to me. It is a pure act. There is something in me that wish to relate. There is no goal orientation – I am not expecting anything from anyone. If someone appreciates, I am happy; if not, I am still happy! It is a simple act. No motive, no future in it -- just the present. Hence I am not trying to create a system of thought -- I cannot. Our every act is complete in itself, entire in itself. It has no relationship with the past and no relationship with the future. It is total. If I die this very moment, there will be no desire in me even to have completed my unfinished book. Action is an end unto itself; it has no utility. When the mind is seen to be impotent, the mind disappears. In that very seeing, the mind disappears. And, with it all utilitarian activities will also disappear, because mind is the cause of goal orientation. 

It contains all our motives. It contains our past and the future; it does not contain the present at all. And when there is no mind all that is left is pure present. We act moment to moment, and each moment is enough unto itself. Each statement of a buddha has the taste of truth. But it is not concerned with utility.... The death of the mind frightens, scares us. But for many lives we have lived identified with the mind, so when the death of the mind comes closer it feels as if WE are going to die. In witnessing, mind remains only as a mechanism, but separate from us; we are no longer identified with it. When we want any memory we can use the mind. Mind is not continuously on. When needed, the witness, the man of meditation, the man of awareness, is capable of putting the mind on or off. He puts it on when there is some need. When we are witnessing, the mind remains, but not constantly working. Our identity is broken. We are the watcher; the mind is the watched. It is a beautiful mechanism, one of the most beautiful mechanisms that nature has given to us. So we can use it when needed for factual memory -- It is a good tool, but that's all it is. It need not sit upon us continuously. Even while we are sleeping, it is sitting on our chest torturing us, giving us nightmares. All kinds of relevant and irrelevant thoughts go on and on. We lose our purity of witnessing, we don't remain a mirror. Our mirror becomes so covered with the dust of thoughts that we start becoming closed to existence. How many people are there who see the full moon? Even if they see it, they don't SEE -- their seeing is not of any value. There is no rejoicing, no dancing. How many people are there who see the flowers? How many people are there who are aware of the birds and the wind passing through the trees? 

When the mind is no longer hovering over us continuously, we become aware of infinite beauty, of truth, of the celebration that goes on and on in existence. When activity ceases, action is born. Action means response; activity means reaction. When we are in action the mind is put aside and our consciousness is in a direct contact with existence; hence the response is immediate. We are responding to the reality as it is. Then there is beauty, because our action is true to the situation. But millions of people in the world are simply living through ready-made answers. They are already carrying the answer; they don't listen, they don't see the situation confronting them. They are more interested in the answer that they are carrying within themselves than in the question itself, and they go on living their answer again and again. That's why their life becomes boredom, a repetitive boredom, a drag. It is no longer a dance, it cannot be a dance. Action is a dance; activity is a drag. Activity is always untrue to the situation; action is always true to the situation. And activity is always inadequate because it carries an answer from the past, and life goes on changing every moment, so whatsoever we bring from the past is never adequate, it always falls short. Whatsoever we do, there is frustration; we feel that we have not been able to cope with reality. We always feel something is missing; we always feel our reaction was not exactly as it should have been. And the reason is that we have simply repeated a ready-made answer. 

We should always be in control: be the master, not the mind. We should use it when needed; Even if we are sleeping, it goes on knocking on our doors; it does not allow us even to have a beautiful sleep with the result from the cradle to the grave, it becomes mediocre, it becomes stupid. It never has enough energy, it becomes very weak; hence the impotence. If the mind has time to rest, it will again become rejuvenated, it will again be fresh. The mind should always be fresh, young and responding with such freshness, with such newness that it seems unbelievable. The teachings of Krishna always has a new nuance to them, a new flavor, a new fragrance. We can go on listening/reading them for years, and still we will remain enchanted. Even when they repeat something it is never the same -- the context is different, the color is different, the meaning is different. The mind will be there, more alive, more potent, more restful, younger, fresher – not our master but a good servant, an obedient servant. Activity will disappear totally; there will arise action. Action means there is no goal to it. Witnessing is the miracle that changes everything in our life. Become a witness so that we can see that the mind is impotent that activities are useless, but not action. Action continues. 

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