The Way of Action — Life Management snippets from the Bhagavad Gita.

Snippets from the Bhagavad Gita, which are useful in the context of life management with more focus on Karma Yoga (Chapter 3) / The Yoga or the Way of Action.

Bhagavad Gita is a treatise on life management given by one successful king to another successful king who is going through a crisis.

Chapter 3: Karma Yoga/ The Yoga or the Way of Action

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

• Train your mind for a higher life. Make the mind your friend.
• Use this very life to achieve the best in this life itself.
• There is a state of mind, calm and steady, in which you do a lot of work, yet you don’t feel it, you carry so little burden.
• One cannot escape action. The focus should be how to perform an action.
• One who controls the senses by the mind and remains unattached, and directs the organs of action to the yoga of action, will excel.
• Work with freedom — work freely, give freely, whatever you do to the people, give it with a free mind, not with a miserly attitude.
• Whatever actions are to be done, do them carefully, do them well. We need to develop self- respect so that the work allotted to us is done to the best of our capacity. This is a free person’s attitude.
• The idea of getting anything by not doing any work is a peculiar attitude. Waiting for some magic or miracle to happen. No miracle is going to happen. The only miracle will be that you will be left behind!
• Lakshmi or Fortune comes to that lion among human beings who is industrious.
• All the work you do increases the bondage, but the spiritual turn you give to it, you find work becomes an instrument of spiritual liberation.
• Spiritual turn = yajna or sacrifice = an action oriented to the welfare of all around you, including yourself.
• The idea is you give something to the Divine, then what remains is yours. First give, then what remains after giving, is good. For example, cook, set aside a small portion to a beggar or birds (whoever needs it), utilise only the rest.
• Within society you help each other. The idea of giving and taking in a mutual way. Mutuality or interdependence or interrelatedness is the way to progress; not by isolation, not by confrontation, not by exploitation. For example, nature can be used, but it must be replenished also to avoid trouble in the future. Care for nature = Rain = Food = Sustenance of human beings.
• A society is strong, people are progressive, if the yagna/sacrifice principle inspires people in society. If there is not the idea of giving and taking in a mutual way, society becomes weaker and weaker and goes down. Help each other, then both of you will achieve progress; go on destroying each other, both will perish. We are interrelated.
• Renunciation and service is the mantra of life: Renunciation (of ego or self-interest) leads to every action becoming a service. Feel oneness with all (aka dedication), express it in service. Enjoy whatever remains after that kind of dedication and service.
• A wheel or cycle of interconnections has been established from the very beginning of the universe. One needs to understand this and follow it. Up to a certain limit it is good to satisfy sensory cravings, but beyond a limit, it is dangerous.
• When a person becomes pure, disciplines the senses, and is on the way to realize one’s own infinite Self, then he or she becomes a unique type of person who is not bound by any sense of external compulsion of duty, but his or her love, compassion and service flow out naturally/spontaneously. His or her very existence is a blessing to society.
• Desire = Action; no desire = no action.
• Let a young person go out, work, satisfy his or her desires, make achievement the goal of one’s life at that stage. The same person, after achievement is over, must begin to think of other higher things. Then he or she slowly withdraws one’s mind from action and achievement. He/She will have to strive to realize his/her own true nature, the truth. Then he/she will be fulfilled in life. After this stage, the person when he/she does something, it is for the good of others. He/She has nothing of one’s own to gain.
• Perform action in a spirit of detachment (non-attachment) to results or gain. Perform action for the sake of it. To be detached is very difficult but we should keep trying. As you struggle, you will find more and more areas in which you are able to perform actions in a spirit of non-attachment.
• Tremendous capacity is there in the human mind. Have faith in yourself, you will achieve fulfilment through work with detachment. That spirit must come. So, begin with work with no attachment in certain areas, and extend it later to other areas.
• Perform whatever duties you have to do in life: do all those actions with great zest and devotion, but in a spirit of detachment. Men, like Janaka, who was a king, they all performed action and attained perfection. One can practice detachment in the midst of one’s worldly responsibilities.
• How to choose our actions in society? The method is to question if an action will bring good to the poorest and lowest people? Then it will be perfectly all right. When a respected person demonstrates such action, ordinary people imitate him/her. A father at home keeps a high standard of conduct; the mother also keeps a high standard, children will follow the ways of the father and mother. It is a great responsibility for one to be a senior at work or school, the junior looks up to the senior.
• Work hard for the good of all. I must serve the people; I must help them to achieve fulfillment along with my own personal fulfillment.
• The only true teacher is he who immediately comes down to the level of the student and transfers his soul to the student’s soul and sees through the student’s eyes and hears through his ears, and understands through his mind. Such a teacher can really teach and no one else. All these negative, breaking-down destructive teachers that are in the world can never do any good.
• Nature = inertia, tremendous energy and calmness.
• Nature is there outside of us and inside of us.
• The chemistry and the physics of the world appear in you and me as the biochemistry and biophysics of the body. So, the body has its own logic of action. We think we are doing everything, actually we are not. Nature impels us to do all these things. We must realize this. When we manifest a higher intelligence or fulfillment in us (called spiritual awakening) we are able to go beyond the constraints of nature by regulating them and make them moral and ethical and value-oriented.
• Go beyond nature slowly, steadily, not with a sense of ego and arrogance, but by understanding the truth which is beyond this ego, your own infinite Self. Do not fight with nature, you will never succeed, fight nature in a diplomatic way.
• The flow of the current of life is going on, I am also in it, but I am detached from it.
• In the human system, there is such a thing as efficiency in life and action. This efficiency is measured by the high quantity of work turned out in calmness. Any kind of fussy work is inefficient work. Carry the burden with a smile as if there is no burden at all. This kind of spiritual strength must be behind all efficient work. Work calmly, silently, steadily. It is the silent man that does the best of work. Nothing is off your control when you work efficiently; and if you have a controlled anger, it will be perfectly relevant then.
• Work with a calm and quiet demeanour. Carry the burden with a smile as if there is no burden at all. In this manner, one can turn out their best work in everything one takes up. The human system must be trained to perform efficiently. Nothing is off your control when you work efficiently. For example, controlled anger will yield positive results. In conclusion, work with zest and with joy, and, in work, learn calmness and the serenity of the human mind and heart. Not that in one day you can achieve it, but by applying it in various situations, you grow in spiritual strength and become able to carry more heavy burdens with a smile.
• Believe in God, dedicate your actions to God, and work in a calm manner.
• Sensory pleasures excite the senses, which excites the mind, which creates impressions or innate tendencies, which influence behaviours. Thus by regulating our senses, we can influence our behaviours.
• Human system = inert matter implanted by a lower nature + consciousness implanted by a higher nature. We need to strive to manifest consciousness more and more in our life.
• What is the attitude one must adopt to work? Work hard for the good of all, to develop yourself, to develop your family, to develop your team, to develop your organization, to develop your nation, to develop the whole world. For citizenship responsibilities in a democracy, a citizen should think he lives in the nation, he is of the nation and he is for the nation. Then he is a true citizen.
• External and internal forces/energies act on a human being. External forces are the body and the sensory system (including the nervous system behind the sensory system). Give external forces/energies a new direction – this is our own responsibility. We must do it carefully, judiciously, not through a direct confrontation. Learn to handle the internal forces/energies – we can live a better and fuller life. There is a deeper dimension to human life, not mere comfort. There is something higher we have to manifest.
• Indian thought divides human life into four stages with their corresponding focus:
• Brahmacharya – Student life: Focus on learning
• Gruhastya – Married life: Focus on working hard, achievement, family, name, fame and money.
• Vaanaprastha – Retired life (afternoon of one’s life starts): Spiritual development must become the main activity. Do not carry forenoon activities to the afternoon – otherwise, there will be diminution of personality. The world will reject you. Nature will reject you. Take life to a higher level.
• Sannyaasa – Life of renunciation

You want your lives to be successful, be careful.

Better is one’s own dharma (way of life and work and human relations), though imperfect, than the dharma of another well performed; better is death in one’s own dharma; another person’s dharma is fraught with fear. According to one’s psychological and psychic disposition/individuality, a person has a particular bent of mind and work capacities. That is one’s dharma. All these constitute one’s individuality; let one respect it and not imitate somebody else; don’t be ashamed of yourself. Have faith in ourselves, confidence in ourselves, in one’s own disposition/individuality. One can change it for the better but should not exchange it, should not cast yourself in the mould of somebody else.

The next question that comes up is how does one become evil even though the person is unwilling as if impelled by some force? How to reduce the evil tendencies?

There are six enemies of every human being (internal forces include these six enemies, the mind, the intellect and the Ultimate Reality). The six enemies are all inside the human being: Kaama (desire), krodha (anger), lobha (greed), moha (delusion), mada (pride and arrogance) and maatsarya (jealousy). The human being alone can tackle them and defeat them with spiritual strength. Of these, kaama (desire) and krodha (anger) are the most important and the most dangerous. Once these two are controlled, the other four are easy to control. One should moderate desire and anger, and give it a higher dimension. Then something great will happen.

By training one’s mind, all that you do will be healthy. If you have an unhealthy mind, whatever you do will create tension in yourself and tension in society. Train the mind to increase efficiency and restrain desire. Society itself is a field for the discipline of desire. I can’t do what causes harm to somebody else. Political state (civil law and criminal law) and moral conscience are there to discipline desire. If unchecked desire prevails, my whole life becomes a waste. You are the ‘devil’ within.

How can I gain true freedom?

Gaining freedom of spirit is true freedom. To attain true freedom, one must train the mind with great effort. When the mind becomes pure, then mukti, the liberation of mind, is achieved. I have to do it myself. Nobody else can do it for me.

This training of the mind is a constant process – in work, in leisure, in human association, train the mind silently and quietly.

What is the science and technique of training the mind, and the need for it?

First we need to understand the dimensions of the human personality.

A human being has a body, followed by a sensory system (including the nervous system behind the sensory system), followed by the mind, followed by the intellect, followed by the Ultimate Reality or the Truth/Self.

If the sensory system is polluted or infected, the mind gets infected and eventually the intellect (discriminatory power between good and bad) gets infected. The Ultimate Reality is never infected but gets covered by the infected intellect.

We should discipline/regulate the sensory energies (eyes give sight, ears give hearing, nose gives smell, mouth gives taste, skin gives touch) without which it you cannot build up your character, your personality, or achieve life’s fulfillment. When the mind gets infected, it is very difficult to handle the infection. When the intellect (intelligence + will) becomes infected, it becomes still more difficult to recover yourself as it is like entering a deep abyss. It’s better to regulate at the sensory level itself. When the sensory system is free from infection, mind remains healthy, and intellect remains healthy. Your pursuit of human excellence becomes a success. Human excellence is the goal.

We feel we are the body and mind (together called the ego or the individual soul) but actually we are the Ultimate Reality or the Truth or the Self within the same body. We have to realize the Truth and just not believe in the Truth.

Our body, senses, mind and intellect have access to a finite energy. If we tap into the Ultimate Reality, we have access to infinite energy.

When the human being becomes aware of this truth, the intellect, the mind and the sensory system become invested with a new purity, a new quality of love and compassion. What a welcome change comes to human life and inter-human relations when this truth is realized even a little.

In conclusion, the journey to the Truth is not easy. One can’t take it lying down. One cannot become moral by sauntering into morality. It needs hard struggle to discipline desire and anger. That struggle gives you energy and strength.

NB:

Some more fundamental thoughts from the Gita from Chapters 1 and 2:

• Intellectual endeavour + Spiritual endeavour + Simple life = Action + Contemplation.
• Work and leisure are the same if one has the attitude of helping others with love and compassion.
• Outer world progress and inner world progress need to go hand in hand.
• Uncontrolled desire and anger can destroy a person.
• Non-violence is not a virtue in every case. Non-violence should be based on strength/fearlessness and not fear.

Source: Universal Message of the Bhagavad Gita – Volume 1 by Swami Ranganathananda, published by Advaita Ashrama, India.