Somebody says that today is Gita Jayanti. Now that Gita is mentioned, let me grill your minds a bit.
कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन।
मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि॥
Remembering this famous Shloka of Gita. One great thing about this Shloka you cannot fail to notice is its admiring master play of words. The poet says, Karmanye ie in your Karma or work you have the Adhikar or the right and Ma Phaleshu ie and not to the fruit Kadachan or ever.
However, it is often misinterpreted as in the karma lies the fruit. I used to read in my text book, with my teacher teaching that “Karm Karo Aur Fal Ki Chitna Karna Chhod Do”. Arre bhaiya phal ke tension ka bhi sawal nahi hai. Phal ka tumhein adhikar hi nahi hai to tension yaa chinta aaega hi Kyun. Phal tumhara nahi hai aur tum phal ke nahi ho. Tum bas karm ke ho aur karm tumhara hai. This line bars you away from fruit.
Again the poet only strengthens the first paragraph and goes on to say Ma Karmaphala Hetu Bhu Ma ie not let your fruit be Hetu or motive of your Karma. Significant is the usage of word Ma or not which itself gives you a strong “things not to do” feeling. Again “fruit” is a bad idea bro. Te Sang Astu Akarmani ie nor let your attachment of any kind to Akarmani ie inaction.
However all we do is never follow it. We are a country with Isme mera kya hai? Mujhe kya milega? feeling. John F. Kennedy didn’t have a creative thought when he said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”. He just repeated what is said in the Gita. Country is a Phala here. Plagiarized greats ehh? Foreigners read our Granths better than we do. They learn from us better than we do.
Why do you think god will ever listen to us? Have we ever visited a Mandir, mosque or a church without having a single desire in our mind? We even do charity thinking god will give us heaven. We give alms to the poor asking for peace and prosperity in our family. We kill people thinking we will have an afterlife sex with 72 virgins. Are we really true to this one basic thing selflessness? The Karma-centric values has turned in to the Phala-centric greed. Our youth doesn’t understand our own values. Are we losing the righteousness of our rich heritage to the Dhong of Fruits?
What we lack is resistance to our desires what we have is hidden inceptions of greed. Greed inside a greed inside a greed inside a greed. We are so messed up. Kalyuga, indeed!
Happy Gita Jayanti? indeed.
