About work and working man, Gita has a nice philosophy.You can attain peace (or salvation) even if you don't renounce work and the society. You don't need to be a monk or a priest. You can perfectly be a family person, fully into social activities, yet you can be more than a Saint. How?
Every work which you do, do for the sake of God, for the satisfaction of God. Gita says, whatever task you do which is not for the sake of God becomes a cause for your bond to this world. And bond or attachment in this world is nothing but pain and suffering (because the Primordial Bond of human soul is with God, thus all other bonds are suffering). Look at West (also in the East now a days), people are so much into their work and career that they hardly enjoy life. They are so stressed all the time with money and everything !! The reason of that suffering is due to excessive attachment and affinity.
Gita says, you have the right for work, but you should not seek the result (the result will come if you are sincere enough to your work). I love this idea because most of the time we become too engrossed about the result and it diverts our attention from the actual job. That is also the teaching of Buddha to be always conscious about 'NOW'. Not past nor future. And if we do that, every action of ours become so perfect !! And according to Gita's teaching, work without attachment leads to the freedom of the soul (Nirvana in Buddha's teaching).
And how to do work with a purpose connected with God ... when you engage with any work, just say, "In the name of the Merciful and Beneficent God". And God willing, thus every work is considered as an act of worship. Amen!
Beloved Trevor adds, in relation to Karma Yoga, Ram Das says that "the karma yogi is the person who uses his or her life to come to God by listening for the dharmic act, acting without attachment to the outcome, all the while knowing she or he's not the actor, anyway."
Tag: Gita
In relation to Karma Yoga, Ram Das says that "the karma yogi is the person who uses his or her life to come to God by listening for the dharmic act, acting without attachment to the outcome, all the while knowing she or he's not the actor, anyway."
ReplyDeleteThanks for this post.
Like trev_diesel...
ReplyDeletethat was my favorite line also!
I too thank you for this post!
It's easy to be a saint while living in a monastery. There's little or no temptation in a monastery to be anything other than a saint. The really hard thing to do is to be a saint (whatever that might be!) while living in the world. We've all heard the teaching "to be in the world, but not of the world. There's good reason for that teaching. Being in the world (and particularly the workplace) is the alchemical process that turns dross metal into gold. The world is the fire that will consume and transform us if we willingly take part in the process.
ReplyDeleteIt's easy in a monastery to not get caught up in the greed and competitiveness and jealousy and pettiness, etc, etc, etc. It's not so easy to not get caught up in these things while living in the world. You have to be very aware and very conscious and very focused on your own values in order to avoid becoming a part of the corruption.
And let's not forget that the world does not exist only outside of ourselves. We are the world. So being in the world is an opportunity to see the greed and the pettiness and all of that stuff within ourselves as well. It's an opportunity to grow and to become a witness - and it is the witness that becomes the death of the ego.
So it seems to me that it is those of us who are going through the fires of this world, and count it as a blessing in disquise, who need not worry about lagging behind in our connection with God.
man, again a mesmerising post....again shades of wisdom that I wish i've had inside my mortal exo-skeleton...you were actually born under the wrong race...the race of "Bangalee" ain't really for you....for thee is subtle and dictating in a weird but tantalising way.
ReplyDeleteNE ways...i once heard that the geeta has some verses mentioning the arrival of a messiah from the land-of-sands....is it true? Does the Gita really signals the forthcoming of Muhammad(Sm)? I haven't really read Geeta...but wish to do so someday....here's a quote thats as intriguing as any of geeta's verses...its a quote from Gautom Buddha's wise-talkies...personally i think Buddhism is kinda gay...cuz (again,its my thought only) there is no way HUMANS CAN LIVE IN SUCH PEACE AS DEPICTED BY BUDDHISM....BUDDHA'S palm don't come bestowing food over your hungry visage when you are dying of hunger and hypoglycemia...but then again a good quote can't be of any harm to no one: so here goes:-
"Freed from human existence, you will become an effective teacher, for the sake of the world. Born among the Shakyas, as the epitome of the Triple World, the Lamp of all Beings, you will be known as Shakyamuni."---and skakyamuni he was...living amids the "shakyas"...in an elevated plain that bore no resemblance to the shattering reality that surrounded him.
Chao.
Hey Dr. Frank,
ReplyDeleteI'm flattered !! God forgive.
That quote from Buddha was nice. Buddha actually showed a path which is just another path. To reach God realization there is infinited paths.
Buddha taught the beautiful truth of Nirvana where you empty yourself, your own ego. And when u do that, you are merged with the Supreme Soul automatically. So without bringing any issue of God, Buddha taught that Emptiness (in Buddhist term its called Sunnyata). The reason Buddha didn't go into God's quest is because the time he came in India, there was a lot of dispute among ppls who were following God. But Buddha saw, the idea of God is not helping.
So he used his wisdom to bring light to another path. And Buddha was successful. I respect him dearly. May God bless his soul.
Buddha foretold that his true dharma (teaching) will last only 500 years after his passing. And true it is. The relevancy of his teaching (specially the life style is not so well fitted in today life) and thats why it will go into backgroud as day progress. But his wisdom will ever be with mankind.
Thanks again for the comment. God Bless.
Thanks for dropping by TechnoBabe's place and your comment. As a serious 12-Stepper, Ive always been amazed at how divinely inspired the Steps are, and how well Recovery wisdom meshes with the inner journey you write about so well. Detachment from the outcome, doing the footwork and leaving the heavy lifting to God, acceptance; all part of Recovery, and equally all part of this spiritual being's human journey.
ReplyDeletePeace
Very nice . Thanks for the post.
ReplyDelete