Action, inaction and a little compunction...

"Life is a lot more fun when you are not responsible for your actions..."
- that improbably inquisitive imaginary six-year old


I am a great fan of 'Calvin and Hobbes'... Well, everyone who has read the comic strip would obviously be. The brilliance of Bill Watterson's profound and perennially funny creation is the subtle manner in which he laughs at certain acquired traits and misconceptions of human nature which we can very well do without.

One such popular misconception is about 'Fate' and 'Destiny'. People think or comfortably assume that fate means you are not responsible for your actions. But that’s so not true... What you are actually not responsible for are the results of your actions and not the actions themselves.

Fate or Destiny can and should never be given as excuses for wrong actions or for inaction, for that matter. After all isn't this exactly what Lord Krishna tells Partha…

"Karmanyeva Adhikaryascha Maa Phaleshu Kadhachanaa"

English Translation:

"You have a right to perform your prescribed duty,
but you are not entitled to the fruits of action"

What's equally important is the 'not-so-famous-as-above' line that follows.

"Karmaphalehtur bhurma te sangostvakarmani"

English Translation:
"Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities,
And never be attached to not doing your duty"

So I am left pondering here, which category would I fall into (wrong action or inaction) because right now I am at my office desk, supposed to be doing my job. Instead here I am letting my mind wander from Calvin to Krishna in the guise of understanding destiny!!!