to the sages, rishis and sanyassis

[Guest guest]

some have said that work without desire of reward is the most purest form of work. i am in agreement with this.

 

if our journey on the path to god realization is in such terms, work, and our quest for realization itself is our desire. we desire to know god.

 

is it better then to work towards knowing god without actually desiring to know god? just learning about Him instead of wanting to learn about him? which is better?

[Guest guest]

bhagavad gita says that the purest form of action is to act for god's pleasure whatever activity we do

 

so you have to desire god... god is absolute, he gives only liberation..so to desire him has nothing to do with the desire of material pleasure or reward that is condemned by vedic philosophy

 

so we have to work and desire firmly to know god and to surrender to him

[Guest guest]

is not one's desire for paradise with god a desire for reward from the lifetime of work that one has done spiritually?

[Guest guest]

i repeat, desire is bad when it creates bondage with the matter

 

to desire to stop material suffering and enjoyng in vaikunta with sri bhagavan cannot have any negative side effect, no bad karma, no bondage with the material world.. because vaikunta and krsna are absolute

 

there's great saints who want only to serve god without desiring liberation, but it is not a mentality that we can achieve by our simple decision

 

we have simply to practice and pray, a great fortune is to desire liberation, a greater fortune is simply to desire to serve without reward

 

but both are enough to quit material suffering who is our main concern

 

we simply have to get devotion and liberation, then everything will be allright

[Guest guest]

i believe u may have the right idea

[Guest guest]

 

some have said that work without desire of reward is the most purest form of work. i am in agreement with this.

 

if our journey on the path to god realization is in such terms, work, and our quest for realization itself is our desire. we desire to know god.

 

is it better then to work towards knowing god without actually desiring to know god? just learning about Him instead of wanting to learn about him? which is better?

[Guest guest]

 

bhagavad gita says that the purest form of action is to act for god's pleasure whatever activity we do

The BG does not say this anywhere.

 

Why would God derive pleasure form human activities? This sounds more like the old Jewish God who would get angry from time to time, showing how his mood varies depending on how humans act on earth, thus reducing him to the level fo humans. A perfect, supreme entity is above human emotions like pleasure, pain, anger, etc.

 

The BG says you should perform your prescribed duty and not to get fixated on the outcome. Specifically, in this case, your duty (as assigned to you by birth) may have undersirable consequences as int he case of Arjuna fighting, but you are not to worry about it and you should still go ahead with your duty.

 

But this is an obsolete idea relevant to society as it was several centuries ago. Back in those days, a person's career was decided by his birth. A Brahmana would not open a super market nor would a Vaishya become a temple priest. Obviously career was not a matter of choice and you had to follow a line of work whether you liked it or not. In such a scenario what The BG says makes sense. But in today's world, such a concept is outdated. If you do not like to fight, you do not have to, unless you are in a country where you are drafted into the army and required to fight against your choice.

 

Cheers

[Guest guest]

 

The BG does not say this anywhere.

 

Why would God derive pleasure form human activities? This sounds more like the old Jewish God who would get angry from time to time, showing how his mood varies depending on how humans act on earth, thus reducing him to the level fo humans. A perfect, supreme entity is above human emotions like pleasure, pain, anger, etc.

 

The BG says you should perform your prescribed duty and not to get fixated on the outcome. Specifically, in this case, your duty (as assigned to you by birth) may have undersirable consequences as int he case of Arjuna fighting, but you are not to worry about it and you should still go ahead with your duty.

 

But this is an obsolete idea relevant to society as it was several centuries ago. Back in those days, a person's career was decided by his birth. A Brahmana would not open a super market nor would a Vaishya become a temple priest. Obviously career was not a matter of choice and you had to follow a line of work whether you liked it or not. In such a scenario what The BG says makes sense. But in today's world, such a concept is outdated. If you do not like to fight, you do not have to, unless you are in a country where you are drafted into the army and required to fight against your choice.

 

Cheers

 

You must be joking.

 

while you apply the idea of do your work that you were "born" to do in the more mundane sense, it is much more than that. We are all here for some reason, born to do something, and that has been destined for us. It is to that purpose that the Bhagavad-gita is relevant, the idea that everyone has a duty, not as per any caste system, but as spiritual beings incarnate upon Earth and we have to do that task, good or bad, without consideration of the rewards of the task.

[Guest guest]

 

is not one's desire for paradise with god a desire for reward from the lifetime of work that one has done spiritually?

Hari OM

 

You had unintentionally spoken out your mind.

 

Paradise is for "your" pleasure, so you are no more working for God's sake.

 

Instead if you are roasted in hellfire and if you think that by this act you were able to create happiness for the hell worker , who is inturn God's creation and hence thank God for giving you the opportunity to give happiness to one of his creation then you are really working for God's sake and you don't worry for paradise or hell or whatever, any given situation you will take it as his prasad and thank Him for giving that prasad

 

Everything else, as per my opinion, is a farce trying to deceiving one's own self that while striving for paradise for self-satisification trying to show off as working for God's Satisfication and this may be the classical example of mind betraying (or tying to betraying) the self.

[Jahnava Nitai Das]

 

The BG does not say this anywhere... The BG says you should perform your prescribed duty and not to get fixated on the outcome.

yat karosi yad asnasiyaj juhosi dadasi yatyat 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 Kunti, as an offering to Me."

 

aham hi sarva-yajnanam

bhokta ca prabhur eva ca

na tu mam abhijananti

tattvenatas cyavanti te

 

"I am the only enjoyer and master of all sacrifices. Therefore, those who do not recognize My true transcendental nature fall down."

[Yegan]

 

is it better then to work towards knowing god without actually desiring to know god? just learning about Him instead of wanting to learn about him? which is better?

Some people may have stronger desire to know and learn about GOD than others. Some doesnt have any desire for GOD at all. The best way is to have desire in knowing/pleasing/learning about GOD.

However learning about GOD without desire at times can lead to desire for GOD.

 

For example someone knows that chanting the maha mantra for example would benefit him/her. So he/she starts the chanting (with absolutely no desire to know/please GOD), but just for duty sake or just to have some of the past karma destroyed. Sooner that person may develop desire for GOD by GOD's mercy.