The traditional belief of Hinduism has not at all been shaken in the Geeta-theory that single-pointed, divine-dedicated Karma, without desire for the fruits, shall bring about inner purification, which is a condition precedent to spiritual awakening. The Geeta only gives an exhaustive exposition of this idea to incorporate in it ALL activities in the social and personal life; while in the Vedas, Karma meant only the religious and the ritualistic activities.
Philosophy is not a subject that can be rightly understood by hasty students. The stanza now under review, when not properly understood, would seem to indicate an impossible method. At best, it would look as if it was a religious sanction for the poor to continue to be poor and a sacred permission for the rich to continue tyrannising over the poor! To act in life “WITHOUT ANY EXPECTATION OF RESULTS” would seem to be almost impossible to one who is only trying to understand the stanza mentally. But when the same individual, after his studies, walks out into the open fields of life and tries to practise it there, he shall discover that this alone is the very secret of all real achievements.
Earlier, we have indicated how Krishna, through his Karma Yoga, was showing “the art of living and acting” in a spirit of Divine inspiration. Here also we shall find, as we tussle with this idea in our attempt to digest it, that Krishna is advising Arjuna on the secret-art of living an inspired life.
Wrong imaginations are the banes of life, and all failures in life can be directly traced to have risen from an impoverished mental equanimity, generally created by unintelligent entertainment of fears regarding possible failures. Almost all of us refuse to undertake great activities, being afraid of failures, and even those who dare to undertake noble endeavours, invariably become nervous ere they finish them, again, due to their inward dissipastion. To avoid such wasteful expenditure of mental energy and work with the best that is in us, dedicated to the noble cause of the work undertaken, is the secret prescription for the noblest creative inspiration; and, such work must always end in a brilliant success. This is the eternal law-of-activity in the world.
The future is always carved out in the present. Tomorrow’s harvest depends upon today’s ploughing and sowing. But, in the fear of possible dangers to the crops, if a farmer wastes his present chances of thoroughly ploughing, and carefully sowing at the right time, it is guaranteed that he shall not have any harvest at all. The present moments are to be invested intelligently and well, so that we may reap a better time in the future. The past is dead; the future is not yet born. If one becomes unhealthy and inefficient in the present, certainly he has no reason to hope for a greater future.
This fundamental truth, very well-known and easily comprehended by all, is, in the language of the Geeta, a simple statement: “If success you seek, then never strive with a mind dissipasted with anxieties and fears for the fruits.” In this connection it is very interesting to dissect carefully and discover exactly what the Shastra means when it says: “Fruits-of-action.” In fact, the reward of an action, when we understand it properly, is not anything different from the action itself. An action in the PRESENT itself, when conditioned by a FUTURE-time, appears as the fruit-of-the-action. In fact, the action ends, or fulfils itself, only in its reaction, and the reaction is not anything different from the action; an action in the present, defined in terms of a future moment, is its reaction. Therefore, to worry over and get ourselves pre-occupied with the anxieties for the rewards-of-actions is to escape from the dynamic PRESENT and to live in a FUTURE that is not yet born! In short, the Lord’s advice here is a call to man not to waste his present moment in fruitless dreams and fears, but to bring his best — all the best in him — to the PRESENT and vitally live every moment, the promise being, that the future shall take care of itself, and shall provide the Karma Yogin with the achievements divine and accomplishments supreme.
In effect, therefore, Arjuna is advised: “All that is given to you now is to act and, having known the cause of action to be a noble one, to bring into the activity all that is best in you and forget yourself in the activity. Such inspired action is sure to bear fruit, and again, it has its own reward-spiritual.”
The stanza gives the four injunctions guiding us to be true workers. A real Karma Yogin is one who understands: (a) that his concern is with action alone; (b) that he has no concern with results; (c) that he should not entertain the motive of gaining a fixed fruit for a given action; and (d) that these ideas do not mean that he should sit back courting inaction. In short, the advice is to make the worker release himself from all his mental pre-occupastions, and thus through work make him live in the joy and ecstasy of inspired self-forgetfulness. The work itself is his reward; he gets himself drunk with the joy and satisfaction of a noble work done. The work is the means; the Higher Self-experience alone is the Goal-Divine.
By thus re-acting readily to all external challenges, with his devoted attention upon Him, one can find peace easily, and a bosom thus purged of its existing vasana-bondages is, to that extent, considered better purified for the purposes of meditation and the final Vedantic-realisation of the Infinite glory of the Self.
IF A MAN SHOULD NOT PERFORM WORK PROMPTED BY DESIRES FOR THEIR RESULT, HOW THEN SHOULD HE PERFORM IT? THE REPLY FOLLOWS:
