Quote:
|
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?
“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
|
Namaste:
So, who is the one doing all of this "bothering" or "caring" about what it is that is either being done or not being done?
That is the whole essence of those passages from the Bhagavad Gita.
Even "non doing" is the action of inaction, so whether Arjuna fought or not is irrelevant if there is no "Arjuna" and no "Krishna".
This is a difficult concept to understand, but it was never meant to be understood..
Ralph Waldo Emerson summed it up beautifully in his poem entitled "Brahma" (which for my whole life, I believe it was meant to be entitled "Brahman")
Brahma - Ralph Waldo Emerson
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahma_(poem)
Brahma
If the red slayer think he slays,
Or if the slain think he is slain,
They know not well the subtle ways
I keep, and pass, and turn again.
Far or forgot to me is near;
Shadow and sunlight are the same;
The vanished gods to me appear;
And one to me are shame and fame.
They reckon ill who leave me out;
When me they fly, I am the wings;
I am the doubter and the doubt,
And I the hymn the Brahmin sings.
The strong gods pine for my abode,
And pine in vain the sacred Seven;
But thou, meek lover of the good!
Find me, and turn thy back on heaven.
–Ralph Waldo Emerson
Aum Namah Shivaya