Krishna Says:
dhyāyato viṣayānpuṁsaḥ saṅgasteṣūpajāyate,
saṅgātsaṁjāyate kāmaḥ kāmātkrodho'bhijāyate. (2:63)
krodhādbhavati saṁmohaḥ saṁmohātsmṛtivibhramaḥ,
smṛtibhraṁśād buddhināśo buddhināśātpraṇaśyati. (2:64)
Translation:
Continuous thinking about an object, creates attachment to the object. Attachment creates the desire to posses that thing, and desire (if unfulfilled) creates anger.
Anger hypnotizes the person and makes them incapable of rationality. Hypnotized and irrational, the person loses control of his mind and thoughts. One who has lost control of his mind and thoughts, soon loses his wisdom and intelligence and one who has lost his wisdom/intelligence loses everything.
This is the basic mechanism that happens for everyone. How it gets displayed varies depending on your personality.
Whenever you desire an object and get attached to it; you get angered because you don’t possess it. How that anger gets displayed differs from person to person. One who is physically strong and selfish direct the anger outwards in violence. They prefer snatching it from others and keep getting more and more violent with time until the violence totally consumes them.
One who is weak physically and emotionally directs the anger inwards. They feel they’re not as good, they’re cursed, they’re inferior, etc. Their anger is directed inwards, towards themselves only because they cannot win if they direct the anger outwards.
One who is egoistic/proud directs the anger towards circumstances. They cannot find others to be important enough to blame and cannot find themselves to be weak enough to land in a bad situation. So they blame destiny. They say it is an unfair world, or just bad luck that others have something and they don’t. This anger, directed towards something invisible is what is called as jealousy. You want what the other has, but because something else (luck, destiny) landed you in a wrong position, there is nothing you can do. You just keep cursing your luck and throw tantrum about how others get more than they deserve. That is luck.
The commonality however, is that the mind is focused on results. Something that others have and you don’t have.
So what does Krishna say about that?
yada samharate cayam, kurmo 'nganiva sarvasah;
indriyanindriyarthebhyas, tasya prajna pratisthita;
Just like the turtle withdraws its hands and legs inside its shell at the first sign of danger; so should a learned man immediately withdraw from the senses as soon as he begins getting attached.
The fact of the matter is, if you’re driving, your eyes and mind need to be on the road. If you’re walking, you need to be mindful of the next step. If there is something completely irrelevant in your mind, you will definitely fall.
Anything that you wish to possess, but which you neither have nor can you use, is just a distraction from where you actually are and what you’re doing. If you give attention to that thought, it’ll consume you. If you don’t have a bungalow but you keep thinking about it, slowly that thought will consume you. You’ll start judging yourself, pitying yourself, wanting something etc.
So the Bhagavad Gita says, withdraw your mind the moment it begins to wander.
And why exactly should you withdraw your mind from desires?
karmaṇy-evādhikāras te mā phaleṣhu kadāchana
mā karma-phala-hetur bhūr mā te saṅgo ’stvakarmaṇi
You only have the right to perform an action, not a right to the result you get. So neither get attached to the results (which you have no claim over) nor inaction.
Consequence of any action is dependent on a lot of factors. If you go about cooking food, it depends on your skills. If you are skilled, it depends on the recipe. If the recipe is good, it depends on the ingredients. If the ingredients are there, it depends on how fresh they are. If everything is fresh, it depends on what type of frying pan and stove you have. If the frying pan and stove are perfect, it depends on you being conscious and not distracted throughout the cooking process. If you’re completely focused it still depends on how well you serve the food. If you still serve it perfectly it depends on what mood the people eating the food are in. If they’re in the perfect mood, a cat might come and just throw the bowl over. Or an earthquake may make you evacuate without serving. You may even just trip while serving.
Everything other than your actions are dependent on so many external factors that almost anything can go wrong anytime. If you’re concerned about results, sooner or later you’ll fail and be miserable. You might develop anger, hatred, jealousy, inferiority and we’ll be back to square one. So best not to tempt the devil.
And why should you avoid inaction? Well, you can just sit and breathe for 60 years. Someday, you’ll need to do something. You’ll want to go out, you’ll talk, you’ll want to eat. Action is the essence of life. You can never move away from it.
So how is it that you can perform actions and give up the results?
sukha-duḥkhe same kṛitvā lābhālābhau jayājayau
tato yuddhāya yujyasva naivaṁ pāpam avāpsyasi
Treat happiness and sadness as the same. Treat victory and defeat as the same. Treat gain and loss as the same. Thereafter, whatever you do can never be a sin.
Sin is not an action, sin is a consequence. Killing, if done by a judge in court, or a doctor in a hospital becomes a good action. If done by a criminal, it becomes a sin. Sin is the state of acting without being in total control of yourself. Because no man, in their right state of mind will ever do anything sinful. If you know smoking is injurious to health and you care for your health, you’ll simply don’t do it. If you like smoking but you’re fine with cancer or dying early, you’ll not be miserable or cry when you actually suffer a painful death. Sin happens when you spend a life smoking and then cry as to why you got cancer.
When the result is not in your hand, why bother controlling it. The best you can do is control your actions, and maybe that’ll bring you better results. You can’t keep whining that you’re not smart enough, or rich enough. What purpose does it serve? How does it help anyone if you’re being jealous or miserable or feeling inferior? Does it change anything?
But maybe, just maybe, if you actually forget thinking about it, and try to do something which you’re capable of, things may change.
Finally, how do you treat happiness and sadness as the same?
yajnarthat karmano 'nyatra, loko 'yam karma-bandhanah;
tad-artham karma kaunteya, mukta-sangah samacara;
Any action which is not undertaken as a sacrifice (or more specifically, as yajna) binds the person to the world. And an action done as a sacrifice, frees you from all shackles and bondage.
Sacrifice means anything done without expecting anything in return. If you give a penny to a beggar, you don’t expect him to get rich. But if you give a rupee to your son, you expect him to spend it wisely. If the beggar uses that to start a business and become a millionaire, it doesn’t bother you at all. If your son loses the coin, you lose your sleep over how irresponsible your child is and what will happen to his future.
Whenever you have expectations, things would take a toll on your body, mind and personality. If you’re happy about giving the coin, you’re free. No matter what the person does with the coin, it isn’t your headache. But if you give a coin and want the person to use it wisely, you’re inviting trouble.
Shackles and bondage means all your pain, tension, anxiety, worries, troubles, jealousy, anger, misery, fear, inferiority etc. etc. If you do something and expect a result; you’ll get trapped. Because if someone gets the same thing or more, without doing as much; it’ll bother you. You may have a beautiful house, it may be perfect for you; but if someone builds a bigger one, you will lose your sleep over it.
Any action, should be done for the joy of doing that action. If it gives you good results, good; if it gives you bad results, hard luck. If you like cooking, cook. If people like it, good; if they don’t, you at least had a good time cooking. If you love cooking, the time you spent cooking is never wasted. If you cooked to make others appreciate your food, you’ll feel that you wasted hours for no cause if people don’t like your food.
Orignal post by: Avinash Nkumar
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Govinda!