What is the halakha if he thought invalidating thoughts during the raking of the coals? Does this thought invalidate the incense? The Talmud elaborates: The question here is whether actions that facilitate the performance of a mitzva are considered like the mitzva itself. If so, merely raking the coals, which facilitates the mitzva of the incense, is like burning the incense itself; therefore, an improper thought would disqualify the incense. Or perhaps actions that facilitate the performance of a mitzva are not considered part of the mitzva itself. No answer was found for this question either, and the Talmud once again concludes: Let it stand unresolved.
בעו מיניה מרב ששת: הולכה בשמאל, מהו? אמר להו רב ששת, תניתוה: נטל את המחתה בימינו ואת הכף בשמאלו.
§ The rabbis raised a dilemma before Rav Sheshet: What is the halakha with regard to carrying the blood in one’s left hand? Is this action valid, or is carrying, like receiving and sprinkling the blood, an act that must be performed with the right hand? Rav Sheshet said to them: We already learned it; there is an answer to this question from the Mishnah: He took the coal pan in his right hand and the spoon in his left hand. This proves that although the spoon is carried in the left hand to the place of the service, the rite is valid.
ונפשוט להו מהא דתנן: הרגל של ימין בשמאל ובית עורה לחוץ!
The Talmud asks: And let us resolve this dilemma for them from that which we learned in a Mishnah: The priest who is privileged to carry the head and the leg of the daily offering to the ramp carried the right leg in his left hand, with its entire hide facing outward and the place of the slaughter on the neck facing the priest. This Mishnah also proves that carrying with the left hand is acceptable.