WHY GITA IS IMPORTANT TO US? – 8 — NANGANALLUR J K SIVAN
IT is our habit and it is customary for us to guard the fruits of our actions, so that no one could share it. Because of this nature, we are in fact, great losers. The infinite gains which we could get by sharing it is lost. A real Karmayogi receives infinite gains with little effort. The difference in mental attitude between them and us makes it
Everyone in this world puts in his labour. Many obtain petty gains. We reap what we sow. As is the desire, so is the fruit. The world will not pay more for our goods than the price we demand.Kuchela, known also as Sudama , went to Lord Krishna with the offering of a handful of parched rice. It was worth nothing for others, but for Sudhama, the poorest of the poor, it was his best, priceless gift to Krishna. It had the stamp of his love and devotion to Krishna. Krishna realised it and enjoyed acceptingit whole hearted.
Idol-worship is extremely charming. Idol is nothing but just a piece of stone. We put life into it, We pour our full devotion into it. These feelings cannot be described. A stone can be broken into pieces, but not the sentiments
Our Action is like a stone, or a piece of paper. Imagine your precious parent scribbled just three or four lines on a piece of paper and sent it from your village in India, to you in America, after many decades. Another friend sent you a book of 500 pages written by him. Which has more value? Feelings expressed are sacred. Nothing can be caompared with it.
Imagine Rs 500 given by you to a labourer as wages for work done to you. The same day you give Rs 500 to your Vadhyar, Prohit of your family for the pooja performed and manthras he chanted at your house, as your Dhakshina. You dont handover Rs 500 note as you did to the labourer,.You keep the currency note on a plate,with flowers, betel leaves, sprinkle water, stand, salute, bend and then hand it with respect to the prohit. The amount given is same and valued same. What is involved in this is ‘reverence’.
Suppose two persons go to river Ganga for bathing in the holy river. One says “What, after all, is this Ganga that people talk so much about? Combine two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen, and you will have Ganga.”
The other one says, “This great river emerged from the holy lotus-feet of Lord Vishnu, she dwelt in the matted hair of Lord Shiva. Thousands of seers—both ascetic and kingly—have done penance near her. Countless holy acts have been performed by her side. Such is this sacred Mother Ganga.” He takes a bath with these feelings in mind. The other fellow, for whom Ganga’s water is just a compound of hydrogen and oxygen, also bathes in the river. Both get the benefit of physical cleansing; but it is a petty benefit. Even a bullock can get this benefit. Dirt of the body will go. But how to wash the mind of its taint? One got the petty benefit of physical cleanliness; the other, in addition, gained the invaluable fruit of inward purity.
Though the act for both referred above, is same outwardly, the difference in the inward feelings makes it wider. Action by a spiritually motivated selfless person elevates him morally and spiritually.
Gita in Karma Yoga says: ” karmayogi is asleep when others are awake whereas he is awake when others are asleep”What it means? We are ever mindful and concerned about filling our stomachs, while a karmayogi is keen about spending every moment in work and does not waste a single moment. While ordinary worldly persons live in order to eat, the karma yogi eats only because something has to be fed to the body to survive to perform his selfless service. While we all enjoy eating, for a yogi it is a burdensome task. He does not eat with relish; he has control over his palate. So the attitudes are diametrically opposite to each other between the karma yogis and ourselves. So what is pleasure to one is burdensome to the other. Krishna says this in the short form ”night for the one is a day for the other’. Being different from us in every way, each and every act of a karmayogi unites him with the whole universe.
