Thursday, July 20, 2006
GITA 108 DAYS - DAY 26
26. Mind is at work, not the senses
One who acts in the world without attachment by controlling his senses with his mental determination is indeed a great person. Even while his senses are immersed in the working world, he is not entangled by the worldly attachments. When we see the beauty queen of the universe, we should also see the universal hands that created the beauty in her to complete the vision. As soon as we desire to ‘own’ what we see, notions of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ will over power our vision and they create division, separation, sorrow and even war.
There is no point in dividing duties (Karmas) in to ‘good’ and ‘bad’ actions. Work is worship. One must have the same attitude in cleaning a bathroom or a prayer room. What we get from the temple is holy water, not mere water. We have temples in order to give us this vision. A temple is the ultimate in this vision. If one ‘knows’ that a piece of stone is God, is there anything that is not God?
If we cannot see holiness in the waters outside the temples, we must question whether it is worth allowing the existence of temples at all. We must be able to consider whatever we eat as a sacred gift from God (prasadam), not just mere food items obtained from the temple. Food is the result of a great cooperative endeavor undertaken by the society. Our works are to be performed as a Yagna because whatever we do without this attitude will end up in attachment to worldly objects. In order to attain liberation, we must act diligently in the world without wishing for results. Every one of us has our own duties to perform although nowadays people seem to be paying more attention to other person’s duties. This will not help anyone. Yagna is to renounce the imperfect to attain perfection and if we realize the truth that no one can ‘own’ anything permanently, we will have the attitude of renunciation (sanyasa bhavam).
In the second chapter, Lord Krishna expounded the ultimate truth. In the next chapter, the Lord explains how this can be practically applied in life.
One who acts in the world without attachment by controlling his senses with his mental determination is indeed a great person. Even while his senses are immersed in the working world, he is not entangled by the worldly attachments. When we see the beauty queen of the universe, we should also see the universal hands that created the beauty in her to complete the vision. As soon as we desire to ‘own’ what we see, notions of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ will over power our vision and they create division, separation, sorrow and even war.
There is no point in dividing duties (Karmas) in to ‘good’ and ‘bad’ actions. Work is worship. One must have the same attitude in cleaning a bathroom or a prayer room. What we get from the temple is holy water, not mere water. We have temples in order to give us this vision. A temple is the ultimate in this vision. If one ‘knows’ that a piece of stone is God, is there anything that is not God?
If we cannot see holiness in the waters outside the temples, we must question whether it is worth allowing the existence of temples at all. We must be able to consider whatever we eat as a sacred gift from God (prasadam), not just mere food items obtained from the temple. Food is the result of a great cooperative endeavor undertaken by the society. Our works are to be performed as a Yagna because whatever we do without this attitude will end up in attachment to worldly objects. In order to attain liberation, we must act diligently in the world without wishing for results. Every one of us has our own duties to perform although nowadays people seem to be paying more attention to other person’s duties. This will not help anyone. Yagna is to renounce the imperfect to attain perfection and if we realize the truth that no one can ‘own’ anything permanently, we will have the attitude of renunciation (sanyasa bhavam).
In the second chapter, Lord Krishna expounded the ultimate truth. In the next chapter, the Lord explains how this can be practically applied in life.
# posted by Sukumar Canada @ 5:39 PM 
