We were discussing the three alternatives given by the Lord in our previous posts. He first said “employ your mind and intellect for me”. Then he said, “if it is difficult, don’t worry, it can be done by practice”. After this he said, “even if the practice is difficult, do not worry. If every action is done with love and happiness, then in each action, you experience the Lord”. Now, we shall discuss a fourth alternative:
अथैतदप्यशक्तोऽसि कर्तुं मद्योगमाश्रितः ।
सर्वकर्मफलत्यागं ततः कुरु यतात्मवान् ॥१२- ११॥
Athaiadapyashaktho,asi kartuM madyogamaashritaH
SarvakarmaphalatyaagaM tataH kuru yataatmavaan.h
AthaH – If : etadapi - even that : kartuM – to perform : asaktaH asi – you are incapable : tataH – then : madyogamaasritaH – one taking refuge in Me : – yataatmavaan – one who becomes self-controlled : sarvakarma phalatyaagaM – surrender of the fruits of all actions to Me: kuru – perform
The Lord says here “Even if performing all actions for Me is difficult, do all the actions that you normally do but offer the fruit of action to Me”. When doership is attached to our work, it becomes Karma. Many changes in our body come with age – for eg., the teeth fall, or the hair becomes grey – but do we get papa or punya due to this? Neither is associated with this only because there is no doership. Therefore, it follows that, we associate with the fruits of those actions only where we have a doership notion.
Once there was a footballer. Such a person has only one dream – that he has got a penalty corner!. This footballer was once dreaming his favorite dream and thinking of his penalty corner, he kicked his friend who was sleeping alongside. When he woke up the next morning, his friend asked him, “looks like you must have been a donkey in your previous birth & you have not lost your vasanas! How come you were kicking me?” Since he was sleeping, he did not realize he was kicking and so he did not associate himself with the action, though he was performing it. After waking up, the moment he associated himself with the action in his dream, he becomes sad.
When we give up doership notion, we become released from the papa or puNya of action and we understand the truth. The Lord says.
“prakR^ite kriya maaNaani, guaNaiH karmaaNi sarvashaH
ahaMkaara vimuuDhaatmaa kartaahaM iti manyate”
Everything is done by nature, but because of the ego that we have, we think that we are the doers. When we see a drama, it is the director who decides which actor comes on stage and who goes out. When the actors don’t even have control over when they have to come and go, what independence do they have in what they speak?
Has the Lord ever asked any of us, “Excuse me, would you like to be born in Bahrain, or would you prefer somewhere else?”. Nobody asked us our choices. Our opinion is not sought. We are pushed in this world and then kicked out without asking our permission. So assuming we have control over anything in this world is nothing but Ego!
The only way to give up our doership notion is wherever the Lord has placed us, our job is to do the role that has been given by the Lord to us in the best way that we can.
The Lord says, offer fruits of all actions. Whatever action we do, if we do for the lord, the fruits of the action will also go the Lord, not come to us. The problem is, more often than not, we make descriptions and designs of what fruits of action we want and then start expecting it, which then leads to disappointment!
Whenever we perform action, it is not that we will not get the fruits of action, when we have offered the fruits to the Lord. It means that we will not be affected by it. If we expect something and that does not happen, we feel sad. If we get more than we expect, we become happy. So expectation is linked to action.
We should learn to accept everything that happens to us as the prasaad of the Lord. When we go to the temple, the priest gives us prasad. Now what is our attitude to it?
- Accept with respect.
- Do not feel upset with what we receive
- Do not modify to suit our taste. If channa is given, we don’t say let me add garlic and ginger;)
- Don’t complain that it is less or more.
- Feel satisfied.
This should be adapted to life. If we are happy with whatever the Lord has given us, then we will always be happy. But our attitude is like that of a child which has lost its tooth. Just as the child’s tongue goes only to the spot where the tooth is not there, we always tell Lord about what we don’t have and complain about it.
When we go to the temple, we go and buy fruits or sweets in the market to take to the temple. We then take it to the temple and give it to the priest, who puts a tulsi in it and returns to us and suddenly that sweet becomes prasad. There is air outside but when it goes inside our body, it becomes prana sakthi. When the sweets were bought by us, we had the feeling I bought it. But when it was offered to the Lord, the ego associated with it was lost. The Lord does not take anything because everything is in the Lord and nothing is apart from the Lord. So the sweets come back to us but does not belong to us. It becomes purified and becomes prasad.
This is what we need to adapt in our lives. We should be thankful for what the Lord has given us and be happy. Therefore offering the fruits of action to the Lord is the easiest Sadhana. This does not mean we should do work and not take salary. It means if we do our job well, we don’t have to worry about the results.
In our life whatever we get we should accept with love, respect, peace and happiness. That person becomes connected with God. How do we know in our life we have established connection with God? Just as the Lord is the embodiment of happiness, all our actions will reflect this happiness. In our life if we want eternal happiness, we should offer the fruits of our action to Him.
