Skip to main content

This Too Shall Pass, On Changing Jobs...

March 27, 2013

Recently I changed my job of 20+years. As I rode up the escalator on the day of reckoning, what do I find but this...A lady in front of me who had a tattoo <i>"and this too shall pass"</i>.


As I always say, there is a Geeta shloka for every occasion. There are at least two that apply here. The easy one is:
मात्रास्पर्शास्तु कौन्तेय शीतोष्णसुखदुःखदाः |
आगमापायिनोऽनित्यास्तांस्तितिक्षस्व भारत ||२-१४||

maatraasparshaastu kaunteya shiitoshhNasukhaduHkhadaaH .
aagamaapaayino.anityaastaa.nstitikShasva bhaarata .. 2-14..
The contacts of senses with objects, O son of Kunti, which cause heat and cold, pleasure and pain, have a beginning and an end; they are impermanent; endure them bravely, O descendant of Bharata.
The need for a job, brings one to an employer assuming you have the right skill set. That job must have a start date and end date, it will have its share of joys and sorrows, highs and lows. It is only the foolish who act as if their jobs are guaranteed for life.

The more interesting one is:
ते तं भुक्त्वा स्वर्गलोकं विशालं क्षीणे पुण्ये मर्त्यलोकं विशन्ति |
एवं त्रयीधर्ममनुप्रपन्ना गतागतं कामकामा लभन्ते ||९-२१||

te taM bhuktvaa svargalokaM vishaalaM
kShiiNe puNye martyalokaM vishanti .
evaM trayiidharmamanuprapannaa
gataagataM kaamakaamaa labhante .. 9\-21..
They, having enjoyed the vast heaven-world, when their merits are exhausted, enter the world-of-the-mortals; thus abiding by the injunctions of the three(Vedas), desiring(objects of) desires, they attain to the state of "going-and-returning"(Samsara - transmigration).
Having exhausted the use of one's skills & competencies in the service of one employer, the employee soon either loses his job or decides it is time to move on. Once that happens, in keeping with the laws of this world, he returns to the job market, once again seeking and getting, when circumstances are suitable, the next job. In the same way that every jivatma, gains heaven or swarga, enjoys the glories of heaven for as long as his good deeds earned, and then pops back at the appropriate time into a different body. The story of transmigration is the same, whether applied across jobs or across lifetimes!

A friend pragmatically pointed out that the attractive lady in the picture may not exactly be quoting from the Bhagavad Gita. She may simply be a great fan of Imogen Heap's song. When I googled the phrade, I found a great video by Ok Go, the Rube Goldberg machine version of "This Too Shall Pass". Here it is. Enjoy!



Hari Om and Namaskaar until the next post


!-- http://www.chinmayamission.com/who-we-are/swami-chinmayananda/ > <
!-- http://www.chinmayamission.com/who-we-are/swami-tejomayananda/>

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

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