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Source: The Hindu (http://www.hinduonnet.com)

 

Three levels of work mentioned in the Gita

 

CHENNAI, SEPT. 19. Scriptures have arranged the myriad of

varieties of ``work'' into groups according to their results.

``Natural work'' is being carried out by a majority of people

without any enquiry about the ``why'' of it. There are duties,

approved by scriptures, which say that if one wants to live for

100 years meaningfully, he should do them and they are grouped as

belonging to a higher dimension. In the third category, the

secret of works is mentioned as those for which a person should

muster all the help that is available. The most valuable one is

God's help as it infuses a sense of security in him.

 

The next refers to a combination of work and contemplation, the

most significant one is to do a work without the desire for the

fruits. Swami Vivekananda has termed it as one that requires the

use of head, heart and hand. Poverty will brutalise and

prosperity will barbarise man if he has no heart to feel and no

head to think. What he should realise is that all the assets in

the world are creations of God and so, everyone has equal rights

over them and that they do not belong to any particular

individual. This attitude will lead him to ask ``why this

creation and who does it'' which will put him on the path of

self-enquiry. The next in the order is ``inaction'' which has two

aspects - a lazy person shunning his or her duty in the name of

contemplation which is denounced by the Lord and all spiritual

leaders. The other is about a wise man remaining unattached to

work and the fruit thereof. The final category is about

``prohibited actions'' which include injury to life, and all

kinds of unethical deeds. Lord Krishna gives a complete

definition embracing the whole gamut of ``work'' in the Gita in

an indirect manner: ``No one can spend a moment without doing

work''.

 

In a lecture, Swami Baneshananda referred to Lord Krishna's

statement ``Even though I have no duty to perform in the three

worlds, still I do incessant work''. The Gita addresses men and

women at work, thereby giving it a spiritual dimension. It should

also be noticed that there are three levels of work, viz. moral,

philosophical and practical. The first involves the individual.

One's character is the refinery which receives all sense data and

turns them into finished products of absorption, forgiveness and

finally love. The head of a family represents this. The

philosophic aspect says that we are all one and form a part of

one universal self or creatures of one ``Reality''. Practical

work represents spiritual activity. All of us should burn

ourselves in the fire of Yoga, extract our essence from the dross

and shine as pure gold and provide light to others.

 

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