Krishna’s vision of action without attachment to results is clear. He tells us to be totally in the present, in the moment. He tells us not to divide ourselves between present and future. Not even a fraction of our attention should be passed on to the future. Then only we can act wholly and joyously, and then only will our action be total. Desire for results is a distraction from action, so we must try and give up our attachment to results and be totally in action. Leave future to future, to existence. Otherwise our habit of being fragmentary will pursue us through out. And this wholeness, not our desire, will bear fruit. So we can trustfully leave the matter of fruit in the hands of God or existence or whatsoever we like to call it. I would like to explain it in a different way. Unless we make action our joy, unless we love what we do, unless we do something for the love of it, we cannot be free of our attachment to the future, to result. And unless our action flows from our being, our blissfulness, like a stream flows from its source, we cannot be totally into it. We will always tend be pulled by the future.
Do you think a stream is flowing towards some future? Do you think a river is running to the sea? You are mistaken if you think so. It is another matter that the river reaches the ocean- but is certainly not flowing for the sake of the ocean. A river flows for the love of flowing, and this energy, this force, this strength of a river comes from its source, its original source. Of course the river reaches the sea, but it is just a by product, it is inconsequential.
Life is a play of energy- like a river it moves with its own energy. Krishna says man should live so that his action stems from his own energy, from its innermost source. The river Ganga dances not only when she reaches the shore of the ocean, she dances on every bank. She dances through hills and valleys, through green forests and dry deserts, through cities and villages, through happiness and misery, through human beings and animals. She dances and rejoices where ever she happens to be. And if she reaches the ocean it is just a consequence which she neither desired nor expected. It is the culmination of her life’s journey. It is existence’s echo, its answer to her.
In my view there is only one difference between a house holder and a sannyasin: a house holder lives for tomorrow, he is future oriented. A sannyasin lives and flowers now and here. He derives his strength from his today. For his today, now is enough unto itself. And when a sannyasin’s tomorrow comes, it will come in the form of his today, and he will live it the way he lives his today. In the next week I wish to share a significant episode in the life of Mohammed. Mohammed is a rare kind of sannyasin.
Wishing you good health & happiness,
Dr. Dwarakanath, Director, Mitran foundation- the stress management people
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