Stop classifying action - This is challenging, that is boring!

January 24, 2011.

I have a deadline to meet. My clients are keenly following the progress of this deliverable.

Yet, I procrastinate. I somehow can't force myself to deal with that critical deliverable. OMG! This is the time that all my favorite sites, Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish blog and guardian.com have the most interesting articles on the topics I care about everyday. Can you believe it, Digital Inspiration even has an a post showing me how to block time wasting websites.!

Sound like a familiar dilemma? Don't tell me you have never experienced any of the following:

Do I really have to stay back and cleanup after volunteering at my favorite charity. I'm tired, I have a family, have to get my kids going in the morning.....
Ever been single and lived by yourself abroad? Remember those visions of the sink piled high with unwashed dishes? You wash up only when you can't even find a clean cup for drinking water
Paperwork? Who has time? Let it pile up, I'll shove it into a box because next Sunday, I promise I will set aside the whole day just to take care of this.

So, what is the solution? Śri Krishna as usual has the right answer. In Chapter 18, 10th shloka, He gets to the heart of the matter.

न द्वेष्ट्यकुशलं कर्म कुशले नानुषज्जते | १८-१०

na dveshTyakushala.m karma kushale naanushajjate ..

tyAgI sattvasamAvishta medhAvI Chinnasa.mshayaH .. 18-10

(The tyAgI) hates not disagreeable action, nor is he attached to agreeable action.

While Krishna refers specifically to the tyAgI or one who who is committed to renouncing the fruits of actions, the shloka is as much a caution to anyone who wishes to succeed in life.

We walk into a trap when we classify work as interesting, challenging or otherwise as routine, drudgery, etc. Śri Krishna says, "Stop! All those are nothing but different terms for likes & dislikes - राग द्वेश। Look at all work simply as something that must be done - नियतं कर्म (niyatam karma) or duties". Niyatam karma, consists of the following:

Daily obligatory duties - having a shower, eating proper meals (healthy, too!), we all know what these are
Obligatory duties arising from the mix of roles we play - parent, child, spouse / employee / employer, student, citizen, etc.
Special obligations that arise because of circumstances such as a major celebration for a milestone, a death in the family, a social crisis, a natural calamity, illness, etc.

There is only one rule that applies to all of the above - DO THEM as soon and as best as you can. That is why Śri Krishna constantly advises Arjuna: युध्यस्व - Fight! The other funny thing - these duties never go away by themselves. They simply hang around and let the guilt pile up in my mind.

For instance, the obligation to pay taxes on time rises from my obligations as a user of services and as a citizen of the country / resident in society. Not something that you need to like or dislike.

Now, much as I like to hold forth on Gita and Śri Krishna, I have that deadline to meet.

Hari Om. Namaskar until the next post.

Geeta Dhyānaṁ 2 - Vyāsā's Vast Intellect

January 7, 2013 Previously on Geeta Jayanti, I had posted on the eternal debt of gratitude to Mother Geeta that is the basis of Geeta Dhyānaṁ. I love Param Pujya Gurudev 's commentary on the Geeta Dhyānaṁ. Pujya Gurudev's commentary is after the introduction to the Bhagavad Geeta in the commentary on Chapters 1 & 2 published by the the Chinmaya Mission. I personally believe it should be a book by itself. After invoking Mother Geeta, we now pay tribute to the wise Vyāsa Rishi - the Guru whose Jayanti marks Guru Pūrnima every year. Pujya Gurudev starts His tribute to Veda Vyāsā in his commentary on the 1st verse of the Dhyānaṁ. Vyāsa, the father of the Vedās, who, first collected, edited and published the Veda texts and who thereafter, gave us the dialectics of Vedānta in his Brahma Sūtra, himself a great man of realization, was indeed well fitted for the job. The ancient seer had both the mastery of the theoretical science of religion - Hinduism and also the practical expe...

In every field, let Dharma flourish - क्षेत्रे क्षेत्रे धर्म कुरु

August 9, 2012 Swamini Vimalanandaji has done a series of talks at the Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA) called "406 SMS – Sure Mantras for Success from Bhagwad Geeta" (item 406 at this AMA link ). In this she has a very interesting take on the 1st line of the Bhagavad Geeta. धर्मक्षेत्रे कुरुक्षेत्रे १-१ dharmakShetre kurukShetre 1-1 <i> on the holy plain of Kurukshetra... </i> Swamini turns that slightly and says, क्षेत्रे क्षेत्रे धर्म कुरु - kShetre kShetre dharma kuru. Swamini goes on to establish that we can use this mantra to make that: "In every aspect of society, must be pervaded by Dharma" Hari Om and Namaskaar until the next post

Geeta in Literature - IF by Rudyard Kipling

September 12, 2011 I came across a nice YouTube video that is an animation of Rudyard Kipling reading his famous poem IF . The full text sourced from wikisource is below: If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too: If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, Or being hated, don’t give way to hating, And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise; If you can dream—and not make dreams your master; If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim, If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same: If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools; If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And los...

Everyday Geeta

Search This Blog