25-09-2019, 01:58 PM
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Master
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 1,847
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by ketzer
I am curious to know what others make of this passage?
If I don't care about the outcome of my task, then why am I bothering to do it?
Quote:
“You have the right to work, but for the work's sake only. You have no right to the fruits of work. Desire for the fruits of work must never be your motive in working. Never give way to laziness, either.
Perform every action with you heart fixed on the Supreme Lord. Renounce attachment to the fruits. Be even-tempered in success and failure: for it is this evenness of temper which is meant by yoga.
Work done with anxiety about results is far inferior to work done without such anxiety, in the calm of self-surrender. Seek refuge in the knowledge of Brahma. They who work selfishly for results are miserable.”
― Bhagavad Gita
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To characterize a necessary detachment as indifference, e.g., “not caring”, indicates an unfortunate but nevertheless common misunderstanding of the passages.
There is no avoidance of work while incarnated in the physical reality.
If work is unavoidable then for the awakened human being, the proper attitude to work is essential, in order to fulfill spiritual purpose accordingly.
In the Gita, Arjuna (who also symbolizes the world disciple) has been awakened to the spiritual possibility of life, and is subsequently informed by Krishna (God) what is the proper spiritual attitude regarding work or action.
How and why someone consciously orients to that work (action) determines whether it is a spiritual intention or not, which further affects the process and outcome. The prescriptions of the Gita describe the spiritual approach (yoga), proper attitudes which provide liberation, vs. the conventional materialistic approach (desire/expectation of ego-mind) which yields further limitation in and of the physical.
One has to care about any and all of it, to do one’s best according to circumstance, to consecrate all action to the divine, which then increasingly informs the process. If we work with the intention of satisfying the desires and expectations of ego-mind, this necessarily ends in further entrapment, interrupts a dynamic presence in-and-of the moment, and generates additional reactive distortions and further limiting conditions.
The theory of Karma Yoga is:
1) detachment from result (and expectation) which allows for increasing
2) intuition regarding God’s Will within any action
Only when 1 & 2 are substantially undertaken does it then become possible to
3) become a dynamic instrument of Truth consciousness (God’s Will) in the physical
Suggest reading Sri Aurobindo's (imo, one of the best commentaries available), “Essays on the Gita”.
Hope this is helpful.
~ J
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