Arjun is not ready to perform his duties due to two inter-related moral dilemmas.
One is led by an emotional attachment towards his extended family and second is the instinctive urge to not fight for kingdom in which he will have to kill his elders. Krishna is clearly laying out that the priority in work-life balance is always work. When work is done properly, personal life can be wisely sorted but the opposite is never true. The dedication has to be towards work first and your duty is your swadharma which you cannot escape from as it will be akin to a sin.
Pitch Condition – Bhagwad Gita in the 32nd and 33rd shloka of the second chapter, discusses about the philosophy of work via karma yog. Krishna, who is wearing that hat of an industrial psychologist is trying to guide the highly talented but confused Arjun.
So paraphrasing what Krishna says in 2.32 is that there are three aspects to work:
- Your skill makes you very significant at your place of work and just like Arjun you are admired and wanted for your special skills.
- You are excited about the work you do because you are skilled at it you want to excel and improvise every time you are on it.
- Now considering the above two, imagine if you were jobless !
So it boils down to what Krishna is telling Arjun – when you are skilled at something and you are willing to do that work sincerely and you have some work to do, you are very lucky and be thankful. Imagine the mental state of people who were victims of Covid-19 situation or office politics, who had no work inspite of qualifying the above two parameters.
Quality of Work – Bhagwad Gita, in the eighteenth chapter talks about the categories of quality of work. We can take an example of a surgeon to understand this.
- Rajasik karma – Suppose there is a patient in the middle of the night who needs urgent surgery or else his survival might be at stake. The doctor agrees to execute the surgery obviously for a due or in a special case, extra fees because of an emergency.
- Tamsik karma – In the same scenario, suppose if the patient is poor and doesn’t have the money to pay and if the doctor refuses to operate without fees even though he knows that the patient will surely die if not operated upon urgently.
- Saatvik karma – This is a scenario where the doctor agrees to treat the poor patient inspite of his inability to pay. This is because the doctor cannot let the man die inspite of his ability to cure him.
Krishna says, there is not so much wrong with the Rajasik person who is engrossed in the moh-maya circle of life. To ask for survival needs is absolutely alright. But tamsik attitude towards your duties is very selfish and going to also spoil the karmic balance sheet of life.
Remember Krishna is saying to Arjun you are lucky that you have work that you are skilled at. You are not given the responsibility of plumbing or cooking. All you have to do is to execute your swadharma (2.32)! If you don’t, that will be a huge sin (2.33)!
The Saatvik Way of Work – The best attitude at work is obviously Saatvik but that is difficult to possess is what Bhagwad Gita agrees. But there is a way out as shown here.
It is only when work is done with an attitude to serve (sewa) and not as a method to earn a living that the equation changes. As we saw in a movie – focus on excellence, success will automatically follow when your sincerity towards work is high and you are best in your work.
When you enter your workplace every morning, have an intention to serve the organisation and the stakeholders with the skills you have. Nothing wrong with that humbleness in your attitude but the vibe the stakeholders, boss and colleagues catch makes all the difference. The quality of your work and acceptance for your work in the surroundings is extremely positive.
Conclusion – All you did is shift your focus towards the attitude to give out what you have instead of taking. The attitude of giving comes from abundance while the one of taking from scarcity. Success will follow effortlessly when your equation with your work is positive. Remember, no one likes to mess with a qualified individual. It is just that you should know how to deal with people !
The rule is where you come from is what you keep receiving. Where are you in this equation – abundance or scarcity?
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