Must we run after fruits of karma… performed by us? The path of nishkama karma yoga of Bhagavad Gita clearly says indulge in karma but never attach self to fruits of karma performed. Working for results and working with unattached attitude are two different aspects of life.
King Janaka and JRD Tata, the two Karma yogis par excellence all their life indulged in nishkama karma yoga never attaching self to fruits of karma performed. King Janaka (father of Sita in Ramayana) indulged in affairs of his kingdom with an unattached attitude. JRD Tata (the erstwhile scion of Tata industry) never for a moment in the history of Tatas worked for money or wealth alone. For JRD Tata, benefit of mankind… his staff and workers were above all.
Working in a company we must aspire for best salary for our position. Why must we let go something due to us. We can always spend excess money for benefit of mankind. How does selfishness come into play? Moreover path of nishkama karma yoga primarily was meant for spiritual travelers, never travelers of mortal world. We must never try to mix manifest physical life with spiritual life. Both had distinct goals.
King Janaka revered his spiritual master Sage Yajnavalkya more than anything else. He wanted to give a big bounty to Sage Yajnavalkya for upkeep and welfare of above 3000 students in the hermitage. But not to displease more than 10,000 religious pundits of his times he organized a spiritual competition wherein the winner was supposed to take all one lakh cows with five gold coins tied to each horn.
The competition was about to start and sage Yajnavalkya entered the venue last. The moment he entered he told his disciples to untie all the cows and take them to the hermitage. There was a big uproar amongst all gathered scholars and pundits. They were offended as how could sage Yajnavalkya take the prize even before start of the competition. As ordained sage Yajnavalkya finally won the competition.
When someone asked Sage Yajnavalkya about his interest in material pursuits of life, he politely replied, “He needed money not for his personal self but for upkeep of hermitage and maintaining education for above 3000 students in the ashram (hermitage). This attitude of sage Yajnavalkya amply clarifies the in-depth definition of nishkama karma yoga. It is not the fruits but attachment to the fruits that mattered.
By: Vijay Kumar “Atma Jnani”… The Man who Realized God in 1993 – (Ref 150919)
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