action is the fruit

He dropped the passengers at Ghatkopar, a central suburb in Mumbai. Looked around. And could see the roads stretching-blending far away into anonymity. It was a different feeling of being alone at two in the night. And when one is sweat-fully tired, there is an amazing sense of merger one feels with everything around.

Pramod turned his auto and now decided to drive straight to home. After fourteen hours of road, another hour and a half seemed a mammoth distance. After all, the distance between any two space is called time...and here the space is the mental space.

And as he drove, the roads kept pitching ever growing loneliness and darkness. And then his attention froze on something. It was just a few hundred meters away. A young woman with her restless silhouette and shadow.

Now he could not allow himself to drive past without knowing if she was ok. And so he made a curios halt.

She appeared hassled and in great tension. Fear robs language of its confidence. She explained in broken details about returning from Powai, and how she suddenly realized that her wallet & cellphone went missing. And how the earlier rickshaw-guy screamed and asked her to step down thinking that she was conning him.

Pramod did not have to labor his memory to recall two similar incidences, where the passengers had cheated him with such stories.

He sat still. Blinked uncertainty, as the engine kept busy without going anywhere. And then smiled and gracefully requested the lady to step into the auto.

The curious halt ended, the journey had begun ... and so also a hectic conference inside of his mind, of the right-the wrong-the good-the bad. "What if she really cheats me? What if she has plans to rob me with some gang members?". Questions were seeking, while answers were hiding.

And it only added to distractions while driving. He realized that the answers to this are hidden in not so distant future moments. And that he should focus on performing his karma. He also counseled himself saying, "If my intent is pure, then my actions have to be sure. And if I keep dancing on the possible outcomes, then I have already lost out on performing my actions in the first place".

Thus he reached an inner consensus, "I will not ask for the money and would take this as my service to women and humanity". The counsel worked, and he reached a calm inside.

He could now feel the gentle breeze, the appearing-disappearing of lights on the roads between two waking lamp-posts.
He even offered water to the woman.
He could smile at a tea-on-a-cycle-shop along the way.

He could smile also without reason.

And though he was driving a vehicle that needed to be in control, he felt that the vehicle was giving him some freedom now.

His actions became ... and also became beautiful.

After some time, they reached ninety feet road at Thakur Complex, Kandivali. This destiny had just begun. He wished the lady good health and was about to leave. The lady, with her recovered voice, insisted that he waits.

She then dialed the intercom and called for her sister. Both of them thanked Pramod a lot. They began by paying him double the amount. Pramod refused to take it initially but later gave in and only picked up the actual amount. They even took him home and offered him tea.

Teleology says about choice of actions being always in light of goals. But are actions and fruits, as we generally know, detached and mutually exclusive?

Does not seem so if we meditate adequately on action and fruit.

Because action itself is the fruit.

For every action that we perform, there are so many people who remain unemployed and are wanting to be in this position to perform action.

For every action that we perform, we perform them with some able-bodied nature of our eyes, ears, hands, etc being in working condition. There are at least 1 out of 7 persons who are suffering from some disability. Hence the gift of being able to perform with able-body is a big fruit in itself.

For every action that we perform, we can enjoy the fruits in form of learning something out of the action. Learn what works and what does not. And both are fruits.

For every person's every action is some person's fruit. Unless we play our pure intent in performing our actions, they wont receive their fruit (no matter whether we are in corporate or driving or being citizen or in any other relation). We have the opportunity to play some role in someone's fruit. This opportunity is a privileged fruit in itself.

For all that we are able do today is the fruit of our actions of yesterday. Hence the doing of today is already a fruit.

For action is not a homogenous lump. But it is made up of innumerable tiny actions. And each of these tiny actions are measured for right/wrong. And as we keep chugging along these tiny action by not being perturbed by the wrong and not too elated by the right, we reach a state of discretion (vivek) for being better at the next tiny action.

To sum up, seeing actions as fruits is a very healthy diet.

Thank You.