'MAN-O-NASH' THROUGH ACTION

 
Let us consider how, through the Path of Action, the goal of Man-O-Nash, that annihilation of the mind which transforms the false "I" into the real "I," can be attained. Perfect Masters saw that actions which have false ego and impressionful mind as their background feed the mind instead of destroying it. They saw that everyone has to do actions; even the laziest of men has to eat, drink, etc. These actions, instead of destroying the mind, only feed it again.

Therefore they conceived of "action-less action." That means to act but in such a way that the effect is as if no action were done. In this way, past impressions of actions get spent up mentally through experience of happiness and misery, but no new impressions are created.

Suppose you help someone without any thought of self-interest; suppose you try to protect a woman and in doing so, get beaten and the police arrest you and put you in jail. These happenings spend up some of your past sanskaras, but as you had no self-interest, no fresh sanskaras are formed. This process is so long and complicated that one can attain Man-O-Nash through action only after many Yugas (Cycles of time).