Responsibility can be the cause of anxiety and also a counter to anxiety. Whenever we take any responsibility, we are essentially trying to make things happen in a particular way. For example, if we take responsibility for ensuring that a particular item is delivered at a specific time, we are trying to make sure it happens. However, because there are many factors beyond our control, any responsibility will cause anxiety. But responsibility can also counter anxiety because when we focus on one thing and do all we can to make that thing happen, the anxiety caused by hundreds of other things that are not in our control will have less mental space within us. Thus, responsibility can also counter anxiety.

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18.35 And that determination which cannot go beyond dreaming, fearfulness, lamentation, moroseness and illusion – such unintelligent determination, O son of Pṛthā, is in the mode of darkness.