Our Duty

Duties may be described as a set of actions that one must perform according to certain rules and regulations mostly on a daily basis and some of them on an occasional basis. Krishna has divided the society into four classes according to the qualities one is born with and the work associated with those qualities, as stated in verse 4.13 of the Bhagavad Gita. Lord Krishna says – ‘cāturvar nyaḿ mayā srstaḿ guna-karma-vibhāgaśah’-‘ according to the three modes of material nature and the work associated with them, the four divisions of human society are created by Me’

We already know that we are given a certain type of body by the Supreme according to the debits and credits we have accumulated over many births. And depending on our birth in a particular environment we have certain natural tendencies whether it be in the mode of goodness-Sattva, mode of passion-Rajas, mode of ignorance-Tamas or a mixture of more than one quality. Therefore each one of us has certain duties allocated to us by Krishna according to our basic personalities. And that can be termed as Prescribed Duties. More details of the said classification and the associated duties thereof are detailed in the eighteenth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita.

Now, Krishna says when it comes to performing those duties we must keep the following in mind:

Verse 2.47

karmany evādhikāras te

mā phalesu kadācana

mā karma-phala-hetur bhūr

mā te sańgo'stvakarmani

Translation

You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty.

 Since this sounds like a very difficult proposition for all of us materially oriented people, let us try to understand how this can be achieved. The result of every action we perform is influenced by two factors - our efforts and the Supreme sanction as no effort can be completed without the Supreme Will.  The efforts that we put into any activity should not be motivated by the results as that is not in our control. This may force some of us to think-given that the result, whether desirable or undesirable, no matter what I do, is out of my control, I may as well put in a little effort or no effort towards the completion of that activity.  But the point is, without activity nothing can be achieved and we cannot remain inactive even for a moment. Krishna states in verse 3.5 of the Bhagavad Gita -‘na hi kaścit ksanam api jātu tisthaty akarma-krt’ – no one can refrain from doing something, not even for a moment. The same is also confirmed in verse 6.1.53 of the Srimad Bhagavatam - na hi kaścit ksanam api jātu tisthaty akarma-krt.

Let us look at an example – if you walk into a job interview without any preparation thinking that there is no use preparing as I may not get the job, then very likely you will not get  the job. We usually don’t do that right? We prepare really well regardless of whether the job is going to be awarded to us or not. Another example on a material plane could be getting a bonus at our workplace. Being awarded a bonus is a combination of our efforts and the Manager’s sanction. Whilst being awarded a bonus is entirely up to the manager, doing our duty with 100% efficiency is up to the individual. The manager might provide the facilities in which one can work well but the responsibility of working efficiently with those facilities lies with the employee.

Likewise, Krishna is the Supreme maintainer of all living entities and he has provided all the necessary facilities in which to do our duties properly. And by doing so, we will suitably be rewarded as we surrender everything we do unto the Lord as stated in Verse 4.11 - ye yathā māḿ prapadyante tāḿs tathaiva bhajāmy aham - As all surrender unto Me, I reward them accordingly. We have to do it and do it well without expectation or attachment to the results thereof. Krishna explains this further in the following verse.

Verse 3.9

yajñārthāt karmano 'nyatra

loko'yaḿ karma-bandhanaḥ

tad-arthaḿ karma kaunteya

mukta-sańgah samācara

Work done as a sacrifice for Visnu has to be performed; otherwise work causes bondage in this material world. Therefore, O son of Kuntī, perform your prescribed duties for His satisfaction, and in that way you will always remain free from bondage.

Lord Krishna reiterates this fact yet again in verse 9.27

yat karosi yad aśnāsi

yaj juhosi dadāsi yat

yat tapasyasi kaunteya

tat kurusva mad-arpanam

Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer or give away, and whatever austerities you perform — do that, O son of Kuntī, as an offering to Me.

                                                                                                                                                          

A duty therefore, must be performed by giving up all sense of proprietorship and without attachment to its results and most important of all surrendering all works to Krishna – Bhagavad Gita verse 3.30. Krishna also warns us not to stray away from doing our duty in order to escape the consequences, because it is a general human tendency to avoid an action if the result is not going to be desirable. Therefore, not performing our duty is not an option at all.

Therefore let us just do our duty the way the Supreme Master has instructed us to do for doing so will free us from this material bondage. All living entities are doing their duty in some way or the other but we who have been awarded this very special human body have an opportunity to do our duty as an offering to the Lord and that will get us out of this material cycle.

 Hare Krishna

  

ANGER MANAGEMENT - PART II

Consequences

Verse 2.63

krodhād bhavati sammohaḥ

sammohāt smrti-vibhramaḥ

smrti-bhraḿśād buddhi-nāśo

buddhi-nāśāt pranaśyati

Translation

From anger arises delusion, and from delusion, bewilderment of memory. When memory is bewildered, intelligence is lost, and when intelligence is lost, one falls down again into the material pool.

This is also a four step process as illustrated below:

1.      When anger takes over the better side of us, we are in total delusion.

2.      We feel disoriented, completely confused and unsure as to what is going through our minds.

3.      We lose our capacity to use our intelligence diligently and end up doing things we shouldn’t do.

4.      This results in our final fall down to a point of no recovery.

Solution

Each of us might have our own way of controlling anger like going for a walk, reading a book, listening to music or just remaining silent.  Each of these techniques might be working very well for us. But do they work all the time? That is something known only to the individual exercising those techniques.

Although these options may work at times, they are not foolproof. This is because we are trying to exercise the techniques after anger has taken over our intelligence, basically to suppress the emotion rather than stopping it from arising in the first place. The reason that these options are not faultless is because we try to fight our senses singlehandedly.

We pretty much underestimate the power of our senses. Krishna says that the senses are so strong and impetuous that they forcibly carry away the mind even of a man of discrimination who is endeavoring to control them – verse 2.60. And that even one roaming sense is enough to sway our intelligence – verse 2.67.

Our senses are responsible for our incessant flow of desires and we have to remain undisturbed, just as an ocean, which is ever still even when the rivers flow into it.

In fact, Arjuna asks this very same question to Krishna,

‘Why do we still commit sinful acts as if engaged by force?’

Krishna answers that the root cause of this problem is lust or desire alone, which when unsatisfied, turns into anger. This is stated beautifully in the following verse:

Verse 3.37

kāma esa krodha esa

rajo-guna-samudbhavaḥ

mahāśano mahā-pāpmā

viddhy enam iha vairinam

Translation

It is lust only, Arjuna, which is born of contact with the material modes of passion and later transformed into wrath, and which is the all-devouring, sinful enemy of this world.

Lust is our eternal enemy that can never be satisfied. Our senses are responsible for our incessant flow of desires. This being the cause of wrath, we have to understand where lust actually resides within this human body and then how to curb it. 

Verse 3.40 of the Bhagavad Gita explains that the residential quarters of lust are our senses, mind and intelligence.

Now that we have identified our true enemy, we have to look at ways to conquer this very powerful enemy in the form of lust, and the good news is that we don’t have to do it all alone.

Verse 6.35

asamsayam maha-baho
mano durnigraham calam
abhyasena tu kaunteya
vairagyena ca grhyate

Translation

O mighty-armed son of Kunti, it is undoubtedly very difficult to curb the restless mind, but it is possible by constant practice and by detachment.

Krishna advises us to do that by-

Ø  Regulating our senses by engaging them in the service of the Lord. Or at least withdraw our senses when they should not be used – remember the example of the tortoise we spoke about in the introduction? Withdrawing our senses can be very difficult, given our mind does the job of all our senses singlehandedly - at times by imagining and concocting things. Therefore,

Ø  We must endeavour to steady our minds by deliberate spiritual intelligence – Verse 3.43 - evaḿ buddhehparaḿ buddhvā saḿstabhyātmānam ātmanā.

Thus knowing oneself to be transcendental to material senses, mind and intelligence, one should control the lower self by the higher self and thus--by spiritual strength, conquer this insatiable enemy known as lust.

Ø  Spiritual strength is the only way to conquer this eternal enemy. Therefore it is absolutely essential that each and every one of us look at ways to develop this strength which lies dormant within us.

And unless we curb lust, it is next to impossible to conquer anger which is simply a manifestation of unsatisfied desires.

In the posts to come, we will talk about how we can develop our spiritual strength by developing a higher taste.

ANGER MANAGEMENT-PART I

Anger. Isn’t this something each one of us wants to have control over? Undoubtedly, anger can be safely declared as one of the immediate causes of a lot of heartache and ruin. In fact, it has been declared as one of the three gateways to hell in Bhagavad Gita, verse 16.21.  

Krishna’s advice to us is –

tri-vidhaḿ narakasyedaḿ

dvāraḿ nāśanam ātmanaḥ

kāmah krodhas tathā lobhas

tasmād etat trayaḿ tyajet

Translation

‘There are three gates leading to this hell--lust, anger and greed. Every sane man should give these up, for they lead to the degradation of the soul.’

Although we do not want to be a slave to this emotion, we end up being one, more often than not. So, let us look at what Krishna’s Rule Book says about anger and how it can be conquered.

In order to control our anger it is important to look at the root cause of it. Merely treating the symptom is not enough.  Krishna has explained the three aspects of anger in the Bhagavad Gita:

Ø  What causes one to get angry

Ø  Consequences of falling prey to this emotion, and

Ø  Of course, the solution to curb it.

  

Cause-Verse 2.62

dhyāyato visayān puḿsaḥ

sańgas tesūpajāyate

sańgāt sañjāyate kāmaḥ

kāmāt krodho 'bhijāyate

Translation

While contemplating the objects of the senses, a person develops attachment for them, and from such attachment lust develops, and from lust anger arises.

Lord Krishna explains in the above verse that getting angry is a four step process. Let us follow the illustration below – 

1.    Our senses come In contact with a sense object. Sense object refers to anything that we see, hear, taste, touch or smell or even something that we think of in our minds.

2.    After the first point of contact we develop an attachment or liking for it.

3.    The obvious third step is to develop a desire (lust) to possess it or have it done our way.

4.     And finally when that does not occur, the emotion manifests as anger.

So it appears as though the problem first arises when the senses come in contact with their sense objects. Therefore, the easiest solution must be to just control our senses and nip it in the bud. Well, that’s easier said than done!

We will discuss about the solution shortly, but let us look at the consequences of being a slave to this emotion and the damage it brings on.