Karma Yoga
Chapter 3, Verse 9
yajñārthāt karmaṇo’nyatra
loko’yaṁ karma bandhanaḥ
tad-arthaṁ karma kaunteya
mukta saṅgas-samācara
By doing works other than for sacrifice, this world of men is in bondage to
these works; perform your actions as sacrifice, O Arjuna, becoming free
from all attachment.
Krishna says to Arjuna, “Do your duty efficiently without any attachment, and do it for the sake of sacrifice alone.” Sacrifice here doesn’t mean that you should go and sacrifice somebody! Do your duty in a detached way, with an attitude of sacrifice. Do it in a way that will not bind you to this world. Do your action in such a way that even the past merits or the sins, which you have from past lives, won‘t affect you! And do your meditation, not to gain something, but to attain the Lord inside of you.
“Perform your actions as sacrifice,” in the state of surrender. Bhagavan Krishna sees that Arjuna is still confused. Arjuna don’t understand what He is talking about. Krishna wants to remove the confusion from the mind of Arjuna and says, “Remove the confusion from the mind and from your heart itself! Purify your heart! Remove all these sins from the past and the present which you have created! If you don’t do the duty which God has sent you here for, if you don’t do your dharma, it will be very sinful. Your dharma is to rise and do your duty in an attitude of sacrifice.” That means, “Whatever you do, surrender it to Me! Do your work, but give Me the result. Don’t hold to it. Whatever you do, your work is not for you, it is for Me.” Do your work remembering the Divine. Even if it is just for a short time, even if it is just at the end of the day, remember Him! And offer everything to Him saying, “Krishna Arpanam”. Like this, you will be free from the karma of doing whatever you did during the day.
“This world of men is in bondage to these works.” As I said earlier, human beings have discrimination and thus superiority over all other creatures, over all other beings in this world. Why then work and be a slave to work? Why do you trouble yourself? Why, when you do your sadhana, do you attach yourself to your own limited experience? Be free! And how will you be free? Know that you are doing it for God!
If you love God, it is like when you are in love with somebody. When you are in love with somebody, what are you thinking about? Only the person that you love. You eat, sit and drink, and you always wonder, “Oh, my beloved, where are you?” It is like the gopis. The gopis were such a good example! Day and night Krishna was everything to them. Whatever they were doing – eating, drinking, sleeping, dancing, cooking, looking after their children, attending to their husbands, doing their duties – everything was for Krishna! They didn’t let go of their duties, but there was not a single moment that Krishna was not in their minds. Krishna even praised them saying, “Such is the greatness of the gopis. They are great yogis.” During the Rās Leela, Krishna told them, “Go away from here! Go, you have your duty to do!” They said, “All that we do is to gain You! You are the cause of everything! You are the aim of that work what we do! We look upon our children as You.” This is a state of sacrifice.
Here Krishna reminds Arjuna, “Do your duty like the gopis.” The gopis were doing their domestic duties, but every moment they were chanting the Name of Krishna. Every time they closed their eyes, Krishna was dancing in their minds. Krishna advises all to reach Him through the yoga of single-pointed devotion, so that everywhere there will be only Him. Like this, whatever you do, it will be for Him. If during the day you are so busy doing your daily chores that you don’t think about Him, find time, even if it is just for two minutes. Make an excuse! Find excuses! Go to the toilet or whatever! Find a little place where you can find Him inside of you. The two minutes that you spend with Him are far important than anything else. That will also help you to be free.
You have many excuses for not doing your sadhana. You have many excuses for not following your spiritual path. Some people will say, “Okay, today there is a nice movie. I will not do my meditation. I will not do my sadhana. I will do it afterwards.” But later on, when you do your sadhana, your mind is still in the movie. You have interiorised the movie. But if Krishna is everything, when you close your eyes, you will see only Him, no matter what you are doing. You could be watching a horrible movie, but when you close your eyes, you will see only Krishna. The movie won’t touch you at all. The outside won’t have any effect on you. That’s why Krishna says, “First start by doing all your actions with an attitude of sacrifice.”
Bhagavad Gita
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