Bhagwad Gita Transcribed from Parisamvad at The Yoga Institute.
Chapter 3, Sloka 4
Chapter 3, Sloka 5
Verily, none can ever remain, even for a moment, without performing action; for , everyone is made to act helplessly, indeed , by the qualities born of Prakrti.
“This is all connected with the Karma Yoga idea. Not doing any action is not Karma Yoga. There is a certain attitude that is involved. That is to be learnt. Do your action, do your work, do your duties but take away the desires of result which is very very difficult. No sooner we touch anything and want to do something, we are always looking for the result. Here we are given a training where work is done but in a totally disinterested manner. In fact a good Yogic teacher functions like that in life. They do work but there is no desire. A man like Paramhamsa Madhavdasji had to work – he had to look after a big establishment – 700 people living there – but he had no desires – no big plans, no great joy. Things happened and he saw them happen and that was the end. So this is a different attitude.
In our case , we do something and we immediately have ideas about what should be happening. This is wrong. To reach a position where you carry out your action, carry out your work but don’t think about it next moment, is extremely difficult. Our mind works in a very different way – action-reaction. We can’t just do an action as it has to done and forget.
The 2nd Shloka tells us that a human being doesn’t stop even for a moment without action. This is the truth. We are thinking, feeling, planning, doing something – we are all the time busy. Never for a moment without any desires, any thought, any plans – that is not our nature. Ultimately everything is occurring after the larger plan of Prakrti. This we forget. We don’t see our very very minimum role in the life processes. We are father, mother, brother, sister, whatever, but we are pushing ourselves. We have a role and we should carry it out and that’s the end. We should forget about the results. These are the suggestions given here. We have to accept that there is a larger process that is carrying on. It is good to remind ourselves everyday of the existence of a larger process which we are likely to forget. Right from the morning, I decide, I want, this is my plan – that is the way the thinking starts.
If we observe the life of a person like Madhavdasji, the way he functioned in life, he had responsibilities. He used to be busy whole day. His attitude was of doing whatever was required to be done – no planning or thinking or worrying. Anything that happened, he just accepted. He didn’t show any sadness and no arguments. Right to the end, he took up a young man, trained him to become a good Yogi and to take over the entire working of the Ashram – that was Yogendraji (Founder). In the end Yogendraji told the teacher that I am not going to become a hermit, a Sanyasi and then become the head of the organization. I will remain an ordinary individual, I will marry, have a family and that doesn’t go with this concept of hermitage Ashram. Now this was a shock. He was the only student that Madhavdasji had prepared to carry on. He accepted it. In fact when Yogendraji returned to his village in a thatched hut where he lived, Madhavdasji came there, practically walking all he way and informed him that “You have learnt enough. There are some little things you still have to learn but it doesn’t matter. Whatever you have learnt can help in continuing with yoga, spreading yoga and doing good to humanity. Be sure that you have my full blessings. There is no ill feeling.” He came down personally to tell this. He wrote a letter which is with us. Now here is a man, at the end of his life, he had a tradition, he wanted the tradition to continue, he picked up a person, trained him and at the end the person doesn’t want to continue, but he is not unhappy. This kind of attitude has to come. Do your work and leave it.”
“A human has to be always working and never think of retirement. Only through work, understanding will come, knowledge will come, freedom will come. The moment one is born – three things are fixed – Jati (type of personality – somebody just thinks and thinks, somebody is touchy, somebody gets angry easily, etc., Age and the Suffering that one has to undergo. We have to work on ourselves and we can change ourselves.”
About Parisamvad
On every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, The Yoga Institute, Santacruz holds Parisamvad sessions – Free interactive sessions that are open to all. These session begin at 7:20 am and end around 7:45 am.
The Tuesday Parisamvad is dedicated to explanation of the the Bhagwad Gita by our esteemed Gurus, Dr. Jayadeva and Smt. Hansaji.
All are welcome to attend.Click Here to learn more about The Yoga Institute, Santacruz, Mumbai.
(Picture credit http://www.ishwar.com/hinduism/holy_bhagavad_gita).