The actor is the action

The following is an excerpt from a samvaad (dialogue) session with Acharya Prashant.

Questioner (Q): Acharya Ji, it’s not okay for me if someone hurts someone else. Is it true to say that, “Don’t reject person but action”?

Acharya Prashant (AP): Is it possible to really draw a line between the actor and the action?

Is it possible to say that the action is being rejected but the actor is alright?

The action is nothing but a gross manifestation of the actor, you will do what you are. The doing depends on the doer. Often, by condemning the doing, and condoning the doer; you are just preserving the doer to continue with the doing.

The doing is immaterial, the doing was inevitable. Given what you are, what else could you have done? You had no option.

If something has to be addressed, it is not the doing but the doer. Pay attention to who is doing this, and if he remains the same, the same kind of actions will continue to come from him, maybe in other forms, maybe in hidden ways.

Actions just don’t drop from somewhere; they don’t come from an isolated vacuum. They arise from your self-concept; they arise from your idea of who you are and what the world is like. If the idea remains the same, the action will repeat itself; in other situations, in other…