Action, Not Words

Apart from ‘Friends, Romans and countrymen’, one of Mark Antony’s most-quoted phrases from Julius Caesar is, “The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.” One can question if the good Roman was being trifle too harsh on posterity. What about the good that men do, such as setting up world-class hospitals, schools and colleges?

How do these compare with reports of alleged shenanigans against them? “Caesar wept when the poor wept,” Antony declaims in his funeral oration with biting irony, “Ambition should be made of sterner stuff.” He lets the crowds decide if such empathy was an edifying ornament or a crippling weakness! As the great apostle of the Bhakti tradition in Maharashtra, Sant Tukaram declares in a famous abhang, “He who identifies totally with those who are poor and suffering is the true Sadhu.

“He alone is worthy of being worshipped as a living God. His propensities are as soft as freshly-driven butter,” the saint-poet adds. “He holds them close to his heart those who have no refuge. Nor does he differentiate between his children and his servants when it comes to showering love and kindness.” When push comes to shove, deeds are what matter most and not words and ephemeral feelings and thoughts.

Ultimately, action alone gives us ‘consolation for our inexistence’, says British philosopher John Gray. “(Yet) it is not the idle dreamer who escapes from reality. It is practical men and women, who turn to a life of action as a refuge from insignificance.”