A few years back I was watching a few ten year old boys and girls playing a game when watching the TV show Power Rangers. Each boy or girl identified with one of the Power Rangers – Red, Yellow, Blue, Pink and Black. They were so familiar with who is playing whose role. They had been consistently playing the same roles for weeks and months. They thought they were the ones fighting on TV. Here is something similar to what they were talking as they were watching the show:
Rohit: Come on guys, We are Power Rangers. Let us fight the evil.
Aditya: See what I do. Pow.
Rani: Take that, bad guy.
Shyam: Did you see what I did?
Rohit: Yeah, Shyam. That was awesome.
Shreya: Aditya, did you see what I did to the guy who came to hit you?
Aditya: Thanks, Shreya.
Rani: Shyam, there is a guy coming behind you.
Shyam: Thanks, Rani. Pow. Take that hit.
Rohit: Aditya, duck down.
Aditya: Thanks, Rohit.
Rohit: Did you guys see how hard I hit that guy?
These kids were so excited and involved watching the show. They helped each other, thanked each other, appreciated each other, bragged about “themselves”, etc. I was very amused when I watched them having fun this way.
Recently, I realized that I had also been unwittingly playing the same game for several years. I was thinking that I was doing things. I was proud of my achievements. I regretted somethings that I had done. I thought that I was helping several people. I had great ambitions in life. I got angry and upset when I was ignored.
Then, suddenly it dawned upon me. I was behaving no different from the ten year old children. I was claiming ownership where there was none. I was claiming doership where there was none. Things have been happening. They would have happened the same whether I thought I was doing them or not. Neuroscience experiments have been showing time and again that the so-called voluntary actions happen a fraction of a second before our conscious mind comes to know what has happened. Then, the conscious mind claims doership of the action. This happens again and again. The conscious mind constantly lives under a delusion of doership and freewill. This is exactly what has been told in Gita verses 3.27,28. The same can be seen in the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Ramana Maharishi, and so many other teachers.
Now, I sit back and relax. I watch the show.