{"id":10259,"date":"2012-02-03T13:37:45","date_gmt":"2012-02-03T12:37:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=10259"},"modified":"2012-02-03T13:37:45","modified_gmt":"2012-02-03T12:37:45","slug":"is-work-worship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=10259","title":{"rendered":"Is Work Worship?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Gautam Saha <\/strong><\/p>\n

A MAN\u2019S WORK IS HIS LIFE
\nA man\u2019s work is the centre of his life ( unless he is a gentleman of leisure and does not need to earn a living, for one or more of a variety of reasons ). His interests, leanings, education, hobbies, lifestyle all revolve around and are centred on his work. In time, a man\u2019s work becomes his passion. He is identified by his work, and the more successful he is seen in that work, the more successful is his life supposed to be. <\/p>\n

WHAT IS WORK AND WHAT IS WORSHIP ?
\nThere is a common saying, popularized by Mahatma Gandhi, \u201cwork is worship\u201d. The word \u2018worship\u2019 is defined as \u201creverent honour and homage paid to God or a sacred personage\u201d. On the other hand \u2018work\u2019 in its most generalized conception is defined as \u201cexertion or effort directed to produce or accomplish something tangible or concrete\u201d. Unless there is a defined connection or equation between the two words \u2018work\u2019 and \u2018worship\u2019, the saying \u2018work is worship\u2019 is, in all probability, a random connection, and, taken by itself, lacks authenticity or logic.
\nAn ass works very hard throughout the day. If he does not, his master will beat him with a stick. Why does he work ? At the end of the working day, he gets some food to eat, and probably wants to have some sex with the she donkey, at the risk of being kicked repeatedly by her. Some hard earned sleep, and then back to the grind the next day. Can this work be called worship ?
\nA robber works to feed his family and himself, a prostitute also does the same. A butcher, who may apparently be a nice person, also slaughters many animals everyday to feed himself and his family. Can we call this work worship ? As we move up the social and educational order, the type of work becomes more and more \u2018sophisticated\u2019. A doctor cures many patients everyday and in the process amasses a lot of wealth for himself. Is this work worship ? A chief executive has to take decisions which affect his own ( very high ) income and the incomes of others. He might resign if his income is sought to be reduced. Where is the worship in his work ? So where should we draw the line ? What is the differential due to which work actually becomes worship ? <\/p>\n

WHAT IS THE SRIMAD BHAGAVAD- GITA ?
\nThe context of the Srimad Bhagavad \u2013 Gita is a conversation between\u00a0Lord Krishna\u00a0and the Pandava prince\u00a0Arjuna\u00a0taking place in the middle of the battlefield before the start of the\u00a0battle of Kurukshetra, with armies on both sides ready to battle. Responding to Arjuna’s confusion and moral dilemma about fighting his own cousins who command a tyranny imposed on a disputed empire, Lord Krishna explains to Arjuna his duties as a warrior and prince, and elaborates on different\u00a0Yogic\u00a0and\u00a0Vedantic\u00a0philosophies, and explains different ways in which the soul can reach the Supreme Being. This has led to the Srimad Bhagavad \u2013 Gita often being described as a concise guide to\u00a0Hindu theology and also as a practical, self contained guide to life. During the discourse, Lord Krishna reveals his identity as the Supreme Being himself (Svayam Bhagavan), blessing Arjuna with an awe inspiring vision of His divine universal form.<\/p>\n

((( The\u00a0Srimad Bhagavad – Gita\u00a0is universally renowned as the jewel of India’s spiritual wisdom and its seven hundred concise verses provide a definitive guide to the science of self realization. No other philosophical or religious work reveals, in such a lucid and profound way, the nature of consciousness, the self, the universe and the Supreme. ( from www.asitis.com ) )))<\/p>\n

WHAT DOES THE SRIMAD BHAGAVAD \u2013 GITA STATE ABOUT WORK ?
\n(2.47)
\nkarmany evadhikaras te
\nma phalesu kadacana
\nma karma-phala-hetur bhur
\nma te sango ‘stv akarmani
\nYou have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty.
\nThere are three considerations here : prescribed duties, capricious work, and inaction ( karma, vikarma and akarma ). Prescribed duties refer to activities performed while one is entangled in the modes of material nature. Capricious work means actions without the sanction of scripture, and inaction means not performing one’s prescribed duties. The Lord advised that Arjuna be not inactive, but that he perform his prescribed duty without being attached to the result. One who is attached to the result of his work is also the cause of the action. Thus he is the enjoyer or sufferer of the result of such actions. <\/p>\n

How many of us work without being attached to the result of such work ? Hardly anyone, one should imagine. In fact, modern management pundits point to the necessity of a tangible material goal to every action and every work, in order to make work more \u2018efficient\u2019. This itself is a form of attachment and cannot be called detachment in any sense of the term. Hence most work by modern man is in the state of attachment to results and are not aligned to the injunction of scripture, and therefore, certainly not worship. Thus, this shloka of the Srimad Bhagavad \u2013 Gita, though perhaps the most quoted, is the least understood, and given the least relevance in material life. <\/p>\n

(3.9)
\npyajnarthat karmano ‘nyatra
\nloko ‘yam karma-bandhanah
\ntad-artham karma kaunteya
\nmukta-sangah samacara
\nWork done as a sacrifice for Vishnu has to be performed, otherwise work binds one to this material world. Therefore, O son of Kunti, perform your prescribed duties for His satisfaction, and in that way you will always remain unattached and free from bondage.
\nOne has to work for the satisfaction of the Lord. While performing such activities, one is in the liberated stage. Any other work done in this material world will be a cause of bondage, since both good and evil work have their reactions, and any reaction binds the performer to material life. This is the art of doing work, and in the beginning this process requires very expert guidance. One should therefore act very diligently, preferably under the direct instruction of Lord Krsna Himself ( under whom Arjuna had the opportunity to work ) \u2013 by following the Srimad Bhagavad \u2013 Gita, and \/ or under the guidance of a bonafide spiritual master. Nothing should be performed for one\u2019s personal sense gratification. <\/p>\n

ONLY WORK DONE FOR THE SATISFACTION OF THE LORD IS WORSHIP
\nAny work, however beneficial it may be in the material sense, unless conjoined with or dovetailed into service offered to the Lord, cannot be called worship, whatever be the intentions of the doer. If the beneficiary of the work is seen by the worker as having the Lord seated within his heart, then of course, the worker is working directly for the Lord Himself. Mother Teresa saw Lord Jesus Christ in every human she served, however humble that person, or however pitiable his condition. She was therefore serving Lord Jesus Christ personally, lovingly and directly ( acting in bhakti yoga ). Mother Teresa is therefore a classic and contemporary example of a highly advanced bhakta yogi, whose work was her worship to the Lord.
\nHowever, if the worker, however hard he works, does not see or refuses to see the Lord seated within the heart of the beneficiary of the work, then that work binds him to the material world and cannot be called worship by any stretch of the imagination. A stubborn refusal to see the Lord in His paramatma swarup in other living beings will not elevate the worker spiritually, and will bind him perennially to material nature and the chakravyuh of the material condition.
\nHence the Srimad Bhagavad \u2013 Gita states (5.18) :
\nvidya-vinaya-sampanne\u00a0
\nbrahmane gavi hastini\u00a0
\nsuni caiva sva-pake ca\u00a0
\npanditah sama-darsinah
\nThe humble sage, by virtue of true knowledge, sees with equal vision a learned and gentle brahmana, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog eater ( chandaal ).
\nA God conscious person does not make any distinction between species or castes. The brahmana\u00a0and the outcaste ( chandaal ) may be different from the social point of view, or a dog, a cow, or an elephant may be different from the point of view of biological difference of species, but these differences of body are meaningless or insignificant from the viewpoint of a transcendentalist. As far as the bodies in different social divisions or different species of life are concerned, the Lord is equally disposed to each and every one of them. The bodies are material productions of different modes of material nature, but the soul and the Supersoul within the body are of the same spiritual quality. The Supersoul ( Paramatma ) is present in all bodies without distinction, as the witness and permitter.<\/p>\n

THE THREE KINDS OF KNOWLEDGE
\n(18.20-22)
\nsarva-bhutesu yenaikam
\nbhavam avyayam iksate
\navibhaktam vibhaktesu
\ntaj jnanam viddhi sattvikam
\nprthaktvena tu yaj jnanam
\nnana-bhavan prthag-vidhan
\nvetti sarvesu bhutesu
\ntaj jnanam viddhi rajasam
\nyat tu krtsna-vad ekasmin
\nkarye saktam ahaitukam
\natattvartha-vad alpam ca
\ntat tamasam udahrtam
\nThat knowledge by which one undivided spiritual nature is seen in all existences, undivided in the divided, is knowledge in the mode of goodness ( satt gunn ).
\nThat knowledge by which a different type of living entity is seen to be dwelling in different bodies is knowledge in the mode of passion ( rajah gunn ).
\nAnd that knowledge by which one is attached to one kind of work as the all in all, without knowledge of the truth, and which is very meager, is said to be in the mode of darkness ( tamah gunn ).
\nThe “knowledge” of the common man is almost always in the mode of darkness or ignorance because every living entity in conditional life is born into the mode of ignorance ( tamah gunn ). One who does not develop knowledge through the authorities or scriptural injunctions has knowledge ( however sophisticated, \u2018advanced\u2019, or deep that knowledge ) that is limited to the body, or the material world. He is not much concerned about acting in terms of the directions of scripture. For such persons, God is money, and knowledge is the means to the ultimate satisfaction of bodily demands and sense gratification. The more money he has, the more \u2018refined\u2019 or \u2018sophisticated\u2019 the quality of the sense gratification. Such knowledge has no connection with the Absolute Truth. It is more or less like the knowledge of the animals : the knowledge of eating, sleeping, mating and defending. Such knowledge is described by the Lord as the product of the mode of darkness.
\nIn summary, knowledge concerning the spirit soul beyond this body is called knowledge in the mode of goodness, knowledge producing many theories and doctrines by dint of mundane logic and mental speculation is the product of the mode of passion, and knowledge concerned with only keeping the body comfortable is said to be in the mode of ignorance.<\/p>\n

WORK AS A SERVICE TO THE LORD IS WORK FOR MANKIND
\n(2.48)
\nyoga-sthah kuru karmani
\nsangam tyaktva dhananjaya
\nsiddhy-asiddhyoh samo bhutva
\nsamatvam yoga ucyate
\nBe steadfast in yoga, O Arjuna. Perform your duty and abandon all attachment to success or failure. Such evenness of mind is called yoga.
\nYoga means to concentrate the mind upon the Supreme by controlling the ever restless senses. And who is the Supreme? The Supreme is the Lord. And because He Himself is telling Arjuna to fight, Arjuna has nothing to do with the results of the fight. Gain or victory are not supposed to be Arjuna\u2019s concern. His concern should only be to satisfy the Lord by his determination and actions.
\n\u201cMadhav seva is manav seva\u201d and not vice versa. Serving man in whatever form of work, however exalted, or seemingly very benevolent or beneficial, if not dovetailed into service for the Lord, only binds one to the material world and cannot be considered as work in transcendence, neither is there any element of worship about it. <\/p>\n

Gautam Saha <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Gautam Saha <\/strong><\/p>\n

A man\u2019s work is the centre of his life ( unless he is a gentleman of leisure and does not need to earn a living, for one or more of a variety of reasons ). His interests, leanings, education, hobbies, lifestyle all revolve around and are centred on his work. In time, a man\u2019s work becomes his passion. He is identified by his work, and the more successful he is seen in that work, the more successful is his life supposed to be<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10259\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}