16 Jan 2009
[Shri R Parthasarathy asked a question: “the Gita says that we should do the action without aspiring for its fruit. How is it possible? We do any work expecting some fruit only”.]
Swami replied: Arjuna came to Kurukshetra to fight with enemies in order to get back his kingdom. He thought that the war was his case and Krishna was helping him in his case like an advocate helping the petitioner in his case filed in a court. Arjuna thought that since he was the owner of the case, he could withdraw the case whenever he liked to do so. If the petitioner is not interested to fight the case, the advocate will have no interest to argue it. Arjuna thought that it was not proper to kill his grandfather and teacher for the sake of wealth. His point was also justified. But, Krishna turned the tables diagonally opposite by enlightening Arjuna through the Gita. The analysis of Krishna revealed that the war was His work. Krishna revealed that He is God descended in human form on the earth (Manusheen Tanumashritam…) and wants to destroy the evil forces to establish justice. Therefore, the war became the work of God. The advocate turned to be the petitioner of the case and therefore, the case cannot be withdrawn. If the petitioner turns away, the advocate will introduce his name in the name of the petitioner and the case will be re-filed in the court. Krishna made it clear that He was going to destroy the evil forces and since the grandfather and the teacher were the supporters of the injustice, both had to be also killed. Arjuna thought that it is better to kill the evil forces along with his grandfather and teacher and thereby, get the grace of God. If he withdrew from the war, both would not survive in any case and unnecessarily he would be the loser of the divine grace. Hence, he changed his opinion and fought the war.
Since God is greater than any worldly bond (Natatsamah… Veda), he was prepared to kill anybody for the sake of God. Except for this one valid point, Arjuna would have not fought even if the reason were the burning heart of his beloved wife, Draupadi. Now, the point is that the war is the work of God and not the materialistic work of Arjuna. The entire message of the Gita is in this context of the work done in the mission of God. Since the war is not the personal work of Arjuna, the message of the Gita cannot apply to the context of routine materialistic works. All the routine worldly works do not fall in the context of the Gita. Only the works of God in which you participate come under the context of the Gita. Whenever you do the work of God, do not aspire for any fruit from Him. The human being may forget the work done by you and may not reward you for your work but the omniscient and most generous God will never forget your work. If you aspire for the fruit, a limited fruit, which balances the value of your work will only be given by God. If you do not aspire, you will get unimaginable fruit. Draupadi bandaged the cut finger of Krishna with a piece of cloth torn from her sari and did not aspire for any fruit for doing that little service. Krishna gave her thousands of saris when she was attempted for unclothing.
Devotion of Arjuna and Hanuman
Arjuna, being a normal devotee with little faith in Krishna, participated in the work of God since it was a Holy Mission that helps the society in establishing the justice in the world. Hanuman was a super devotee with immense faith in Rama and hence, participated in the war, which was a personal work of God. The ultimate aim of your service should be to please God, be it social work or His personal work. Such devotion is perfect as in the case of Hanuman. The war in Kurukshetra was for the social welfare in one angle and was the personal work of Arjuna only and was not at all the personal work of God. Therefore, the participation of Arjuna in the war does not involve high faith and high devotion. In the case of Hanuman, it involves immense faith and devotion. You may think that the war was personal work of Rama in one angle and killing Ravana is social welfare in another angle and therefore, Hanuman participated in the war. Rama removed the second angle when He told that He would go back without killing Ravana if he returned Sita and now, the war was confined to the first angle only. In spite of the war exposed as only the personal work of Rama, Hanuman participated in the war and His aim was to please Rama without analyzing the nature of the work. Hence, Hanuman was rewarded with unimaginable fruit of becoming the future creator of the universe.
Coming to the main point, you must understand that the context of the Gita does not apply to your worldly works by which you earn the livelihood. If you do not aspire for the livelihood by doing some worldly work, how can you sustain yourself and your family? The Gita also says that you have to do the work for earning your livelihood (Sharira Yatraapichate…). Moreover, the Gita says that you have to sacrifice the fruit of your work for the sake of God. If you apply this statement to all the works, where is the fruit with you that can be sacrificed? Therefore, the sacrifice of the fruit of work is confined to the context of God’s work only. In the case of worldly works, this does not apply and you have to earn the fruits as per your preliminary agreement with your employer. You have to enjoy the fruits to sustain yourself and your family. A part of the fruit should be sacrificed for the work of God. Both enjoyment and sacrifice are advised simultaneously by the Veda (Tyaktena Bhunjeedhaah...). The sacrifice for God’s work applies to the part of the fruit earned by your worldly work. The sacrifice does not apply to your worldly work, in which case, you have to do the work without taking the fruit at all. Then, you cannot sustain yourself and there is no fruit at all to be sacrificed for the sake of God. Hence, you are confused by applying the Gita to the worldly context. Due to this confusion, several misinterpretations have come up. People interpret that you need not sacrifice the fruit but you have to sacrifice your mental attachment for the fruit only. This is the most wonderful misinterpretation since Gita says clearly that you have to sacrifice the fruit directly (Phalam Tyaktvaa…). By this wonderful misinterpretation, people say that they have to take their salary without mental attachment. They say that they enjoy the salary also without mental attachment! Of course, if you do the work without mental attachment to the fruit, your tension is reduced and you become more energetic to do the work more effectively. You have achieved the fruit of lack of tension already in doing the work and you cannot aspire for any other fruit.
People aspire for God’s grace for taking and enjoying their salary without mental attachment! In this worldly work, there is no reference of God at all since you have not done any work of God. Hanuman attained the grace of God for doing the work of God without aspiring for any fruit. Previously, He served Sugriva also without any aspiration for fruit and for this, He has already achieved mental peace. He attained the grace of God only for serving Rama in search of Sita and further, for fighting the war. He did not achieve the grace of God for serving Sugriva without aspiration for fruit. Of course, such detached service of Sugriva gave Him perfect mental health thereby, perfect physical health also since mind and body are interlinked with each other. Such perfect health of Hanuman helped Him in the service of God for better efficiency. In fact, Hanuman served Sugriva without aspiration for fruit because His mother told Him to wait for and serve the contemporary human incarnation of God in that place of Sugriva. His preliminary association with Sugriva was also with the aim to serve the contemporary human incarnation and such direct service to God is perfect and gives immense fruit as in the case of Hanuman and Draupadi. Serving the statues in temples is also good since the worship of statues is inevitable for beginners (Pratimaa hyalpabuddhinaam…). It is not direct worship of God since it is only a representative model of God (Natasya Pratima— Veda). Such service is also good though it gives limited fruit because it is indirect worship of God.
Both the wars, in Lanka and in Kurukshetra ended in social welfare due to destruction of evil forces; social service to maintain the balance of justice is also indirect service to God. Such people will get a chance of direct service to God also either in this birth or in the future births. Mere social service without the idea of God gives only a temporary heaven. Social welfare was thus common to both the wars fought by Hanuman and Arjuna. However, the other fruit of the war in case of Arjuna, which was the attainment of kingdom, went to Arjuna only. But, the other fruit of the war in case of Hanuman, which was the attainment of Sita, went to God Rama only. Thus, the service of Hanuman was without any trace of selfishness and hence, He was given the unimaginable fruit.
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