Eating, exercising, and all activities that keep the body healthy for serving others can be considered sacraments. The implication is that bodies which are overfed, overstimulated, and underexercised are not capable of learning to act selflessly. Good health is essential if we are to lead the spiritual life.
The Lord of Love gives Arjuna an axiom now: Action is better than inaction. Eons back in our evolution, when we were rocks, it was all right for us just to sit inactively; but in the human context, inaction is a violation of the basis of our existence. The Bible tells us we must earn our bread by the sweat of our brow. Hard physical work is good for us in the early stages of our sadhana, for it keeps us from dwelling on the body, a great cause of much of our tension. Work is a particularly effective tonic when it is performed without desire for profit, prestige, or power. In order to practice the teaching contained in this verse, let us ask ourselves how much our daily work contributes to the welfare of our family and community. We are all given the choice in this life of acting for our own personal pleasure and profit, which will lead to ill will, frustration, and insecurity, or of acting for the benefit of others, which will lead to increasing health, security, and wisdom. If we lead a selfish life, by the time the body and senses wear out the story will have come to an end. If we lead a selfless life, our contribution becomes an eternal force, released into the stream of life, that will help in however small a way to elevate the consciousness of mankind. This is why people like Gandhi never die; his body was assassinated, but his spirit lives on in everyone who tries to be nonviolent.
9. The world is imprisoned in selfish action, Kaunteya; act selflessly, without any thought of personal profit.
The Lord of Love continues in the same vein by telling Arjuna, Loko ’yam karmabandhanah: “The whole world is imprisoned in action.” This may strike us as removed from the facts of life because we are all under the impression that when we are pursuing prestige, pleasure, and power we are really free agents. It never occurs to us that we are so driven we hardly have any liberty to lift even a finger to help somebody lying helpless by the roadside. We begin life with action that is motivated by selfish desire, for this is the stuff of which ego-centered life is made. But after a certain period of experimentation with money, material possessions, pleasure, and power, the Lord expects us to find out that these things are not the real goal of life.
This reminds me of the game of hide and seek called “Kooee” which we used to play in my village. We would scatter ourselves throughout my ancestral home in little rooms where people were not likely to look for us, and then, when everyone was well hidden, we would shout “Kooee.” The person who was “it” would try to locate the call, which was very difficult because the house was large and full of echoes. “Kooee . . . kooee” – he would hear the voice from all sides and lose his sense of direction. Similarly, we hear the desire for pleasure or profit calling “kooee . . . kooee . . . kooee,” and we think, “Maybe that voice is coming from under the floor.” We tear up the floor, look all around under it, and discover nothing there after all. When we climb out, we hear the call again. This time we think, “Maybe it’s above the ceiling,” so we tear down the ceiling. We go on this way, trying to follow echoes, wasting time in endless searching until life is about to ebb out. This is applicable to almost all of us, because once we get caught in the sense game, in the profit game, in the power game, or in the prestige game, it can go on and on until it becomes an inescapable compulsion.
It is necessary for us to engage ourselves in selfless action, which we can learn to do over a long period of time. Sri Krishna refers to selfless action as yajna. There are many ways in which even the busiest people can serve the welfare of others. We can give our time, our money, our skill, our land. Yajna can take any form when we give to a worthy cause without expecting any return. To give in this spirit, Sri Krishna tells us, we must develop muktasangah samacara, the capacity not to get caught in any of our actions. When we get caught in our own job, our own interests, we lose our discrimination and forget the real purpose of life. One of the ways we get caught in our actions is by bringing our work home, from our job, our campus, or our factory. We do not have to put it in a briefcase to bring it home; we carefully store it in our minds where we can dwell on it all the time. The person who can drop his work in the evening and pick it up completely the following morning is the master of his work. This capacity comes after a long time of striving to concentrate on the job at hand.
It is true that most of us are good at doing the jobs we like, but a necessary part of the spiritual life is to be able to do the things we do not like. Life has a subtle way of ferreting out what we do not like and sticking it right under our nose, where we cannot ignore or escape it. One of the eloquent laws of life is that when you do not dislike anything, only the things you like come your way, whereas if you dislike a job and quit, the next job will be even worse. Just as Gandhiji says “Taste lies in the mind,” I would say the taste for work lies in the mind. When you understand that doing a particular job will enable you to function in freedom in all matters, whether you like them or not, joy will slowly begin to rise in your heart. Then you will want to verify the truth of this timeless teaching in your own life by working in whatever way you can for the welfare of others. In this connection, Gandhi is an inspiring example, showing that when you begin a life of selfless service you really become secure, established in the center of your being, which is divine.
10. At the time of creation the Lord gave humanity the path of selfless service and said: “Through selfless service you will always be fruitful and find the fulfillment of all your desires.”
In the Hindu scriptures there is a miraculous cow, called Kamadhenu, that is said to grant all our desires. Here we have the term kamadhuk, ‘that which grants all our right desires.’ Any boon not connected with our profit or pleasure that we ask for in order to carry out spiritual work, to add to the welfare of our society or to the peace of the world, will be given to us.
In this verse Sri Krishna says that the very principle behind the individual’s growth lies in forgetting himself in living for the welfare of all. On this basis alone will we be granted peace, joy, beauty, and wisdom. Here the Gita urges us to regard our very lives as yajna by trying to act selflessly in all circumstances. When we talk about war, for example, we should include the guerilla strategies that go on in our homes. In this sense we can all claim ourselves as experts on warfare, because whenever we put ourselves first we are making war. But if we can learn to live for our family, our country, and our world, then there will be peace everywhere. So far, in thousands of years, we have verified this statement only negatively. In the last two thousand years there have been innumerable wars, and some statistician once calculated that every peace treaty has lasted, on the average, only two years. Peace treaties do not produce peace. Until we have peace in the home and on the street we cannot have peace in the world. Sri Krishna’s language is thus applicable to political turmoil, to racial strife, and to domestic friction. In all of us there is a selfless motive and a selfish motive coming together in mortal combat most of the time. To establish peace in our hearts all we need to do is identify ourselves more and more each day with our selfless Self.
11. Honor and cherish the devas as they honor and cherish you; through this honor and love you will attain the supreme good.
Sri Krishna uses the significant spiritual word deva, ‘divine being’ or ‘shining one.’ Artists often represent the splendor of the sage and the saint by the symbol of the halo, but the selfish person has his distinguishing mark, too – a dark cloud. Just as the saint radiates light, the selfish man spreads darkness; just as the saint lights up the path of ordinary people, the selfish man makes confusion worse confounded.
In Sanskrit literature, when a man addresses a woman, he often uses the title Devi. This perfect form of address is used even today in orthodox communities in India. Devi is also an epithet for the Divine Mother. When we address a wo
man as Devi, she cannot afford to be angry; she has to be patient and forgiving, she has to endure and forbear, as this is the way a devi behaves. My Grandmother, even in her seventies, took our breath away by the glow of her skin, the gentleness of her eyes, and the resolute set of her mouth which said, “Self-willed people, be careful when you come near me.” Even some of my least spiritual uncles could not stay away from her. Everyone would gather around her because all were aware that here was beauty and femininity that time could not touch.
All of us are devas and devis, and we reveal the divinity of our nature in the details of daily life by serving and loving one another. When a man and woman love and honor one another, the relationship will grow more beautiful with the passage of time. We can foster this type of relationship in many ways. In Kerala little girls look after their father, grandfather, brothers, and uncles. It is not just make-believe; they are actually learning to forget themselves by thinking about the needs of their menfolk. If I may say so, it is not easy to be looked after; it is a great art. To receive love gracefully and gratefully is one of the most difficult jobs in the world. But by trying harder each day to be loving towards those around us, we help everyone, including ourselves, to become devas and devis.
12. When you engage in selfless service, all your desires are fulfilled by the devas. But anyone who enjoys the things given by the devas without offering selfless acts in return is a thief.
The Lord declares he has sent us into this world to serve one another, and anyone who lives for pleasure, profit, power, or prestige is stena, ‘a thief.’ The greatest motive for action we can have is the awareness that the Lord has given us life, time, and energy to contribute to the welfare of those around us. Remember the words of St. Francis, “It is in giving that we receive.” It is in always trying to receive that we lose everything, but when we give to those around us, we will have more and more to give.
13. The spiritually minded, who eat in the spirit of service, are freed from all their sins; but the selfish, who prepare food for their own satisfaction, eat sin.
To eat to satisfy the palate, to crave for gourmet foods, to go to restaurants just to taste exotic food, Sri Krishna says is wrong. Food that we eat just to titillate the palate often disagrees with us, while temperate, nourishing food, cooked and served with love and eaten to strengthen our body and mind for serving others, is considered to be part of sadhana.
Eating good food is not a sin, but we should not dwell on it; we should not let our mind wander in meditation from the words of St. Francis to the cheese omelette we hope to have for breakfast. Even too much talk about food amounts to dwelling on it. See that you are eating nourishing, healthy food, and then forget about it. As the Chinese mystic Huang Po puts it aptly: “Thus there is sensual eating and wise eating. When the body composed of the four elements suffers the pangs of hunger and accordingly you provide it with food, but without greed, that is called wise eating. On the other hand, if you gluttonously delight in purity and flavor, you are permitting the distinctions which arise from wrong thinking. Merely seeking to gratify the organ of taste without realizing when you have taken enough is called sensual eating.”
What is important is what we do with the energy food gives us. As Jesus told the Pharisees: “Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.” Of what use is it to procure hand-cultivated, organically grown food when we act violently or use resentful language? If instead we use our vitality to help other people, to wipe away their tears, our eyes will become brighter and our life a source of strength to a deeply troubled world.
14. Living creatures are nourished by food, and food is nourished by the rain; this rain is the water of life that comes from selfless action, worship, and service.
Food is one of our ubiquitous topics. Here Sri Krishna reminds us that it is extremely important for us to eat the right kind of food, in the right amount, at the right time, and in the right company. Translated into daily life, this means eating healthy, nutritious food, in temperate quantities, that is prepared and served with love. It also implies that eating together is a great sacrament, a time not for acrimonious discussion but for a loving, peaceful atmosphere.
This verse suggests the delicate relationships existing throughout all nature. We know today from the work of ecologists that our actions can easily upset the balance of nature. In India vast forests have been cut down, and now people are worrying about the lack of rain. This reminds me of Gandhi, a skilled ecologist, who was so careful about using resources that he would clip the blank margins from newspapers and magazines for letter writing. I notice that little children in America write two words on a sheet of paper and throw it away, whereas Meera and Geetha, my two little nieces from India, have been taught to start writing way up in the left corner of a piece of paper and to fill the whole page down to the lower right corner. We should teach children the habit of using all resources correctly. By every economy we make in paper, we save a tree. In this connection, I would also say that many of the books written are only an injury to trees. Isn’t it Truman Capote who makes a pointed comment to the effect that many people who write are not writers but typists? We can always save a tree by not purchasing books not really necessary for our school work, our job, our wholesome entertainment, or our spiritual development.
Many of the steps we must take to preserve our environment require us to change our habits, to transform our lives, and this is what all of us can learn to do through the practice of meditation. The basis of ecological improvement is to turn what is selfish and violent in us into selflessness and compassion. We do not realize the power little people have. My Grandmother used to say that the elephant does not know its own size at all because it looks out at the world through tiny eyes, ridiculously small for its huge bulk. We, too, are much larger than we think, for the Lord lives in us. We cannot see ourselves as we really are, but if we could, we would say, “How big, how tremendous, how invincible!” Once we see who is within us, we are not afraid of any problem in the world – pollution, violence, or war. We can solve the transportation problem with our feet; we can solve the job problem with our own industries; we can change the present political framework by transforming ourselves. We shall find that everyone around us participates in the change we are able to bring about in our own lives. So whatever challenges confront us, whatever perils threaten to swallow us up, none of us need be despondent, for the Lord who is the source of all power, all wisdom, and all beauty is waiting to act through us.
15. Arjuna, understand that every selfless act is born from Brahman, the eternal, infinite Godhead, and that he is present in every act of service.
In order to be a brahmin, we do not need to wear a sacred thread or to undergo purification ceremonies. Whoever tries to know Brahman, the supreme Reality embedded within him, is a brahmin. Another name for the brahmin is dvija, ‘twice-born.’ You and I are born once and we die once, but the brahmin is born twice and does not die at all. His is a very enviable state. According to the tradition of dvija, we are born once at the hands of the doctor or midwife. This is our physical birth. But we can be born again, to the joy of the spirit, if we put our ego to death. Now we imagine that when all our selfishness and separateness die, when all the desires that torment our heart are burnt to ashes, there will be a terrible funeral pyre. Actually it is a jubilant procession with bands in the front, people singing Hare Rama, and others strewing flowers all over our path. It is a day of great celebration for the whole world, because one such person putting the ego to death in himself has done the greatest service he can render to others. Whatever his life has been, it now becomes a constant source of support and inspiration and an unending reminder that this is the supreme state we have come into the world to attain. Meister Eckhart calls the second birth “a mighty upheaval”; to bring it about requires enormous endurance, immense patience, and the resolute dedication to overcome every obstacle on the path.
The desire and the cap
acity to eliminate our ego come through the grace of the Lord. You and I are really modest, humble people, and for a long time we cannot accept the idea that the Lord of Love could want poor, paltry us. To illustrate from my own life, many mornings I used to get up and say, “Is there anyone less suited for this high destiny than I am?” Finally, with utter humility, I accepted this boundless gift of the Lord’s grace, and since then there has been a continuing spring of joy and love for him.
16. All life turns on this law, O Partha; whoever violates it, indulging his senses for his own pleasure and ignoring the needs of others, has wasted his life.
The Lord, our Creator, has written the law of selflessness into every one of our cells. This law is what the Buddha called dharma. The dharma of the human being is to turn anger into forgiveness and hatred into love. In practical, straightforward language, the mystics tell us that he who lives for himself dies, while he who lives for others lives completely and joyfully. It is all too easy to say, “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” Retaliation requires very little courage, but making the mind calm and compassionate when it is seething with fury requires tremendous courage and endurance.
The more we can reduce our ego, or self-will, the more our real personality, the Atman, can reveal all its beauty, wisdom, and love in our lives. Now we are all wearing a mask of separateness made from selfish desires for pleasure, profit, prestige, and power. To take off this mask of misery, we need only to call on the Lord and calm our mind with his Holy Name. By ceaselessly repeating the mantram when we feel a wave of anger or fear erupting in our consciousness, by using the power of the Holy Name to move closer to others when we want to go our own separate way, we will gradually pry off the ugly mask of the ego. Then we will know the boundless joy that springs from the loss of self-will.
The End of Sorrow Page 16
