Dear Lynn,

There was one issue that I didn’t speak about during our satsang the other night concerning the idea of doing to achieve non-doing. Yes you can apparently achieve non-doing through doing if the doing is non-doing. In other words it is often hard work not to do something that you want to do. So non-doing is a kind of subtle action, a resistance in oneself to the vasanas. But you can take a shortcut and see that you are neither the doer or the non-doer. When you do that you can 'do' till the cows come home and never suffer.

Lynn: Yes... well I'd like to learn that... How can I do that?

You understand that you are the Self. The Self is not the doer. The vasanas are the doer. When you identify with the vasanas you think you are doing. You feel compelled, obligated, and responsible. These feelings produce stress and stress....well, it isn't fun and it can cause (even physical) problems. So you look and see if in fact there is a person doing anything or if, as is the case, things are just unfolding automatically...without the intervention of an agent. Who, makes your food digest? Who causes you to breathe automatically? Are you in charge of how the muscles function? Who is streaming the blood through the tubes? Just what are you in charge of? So you can't 'do' it. This is the point. You can't 'learn' it. You need to see whether or not it is true. When you see that you are the Self, then you relax. The rajas, the stress disappears automatically.

Love,

Ram