The Relevance of the Bhagavadgita to Humanity : 11.6. Swami Krishnananda.

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Thursday, June 17, 2021. 7:58.AM.
Chapter-11. Participating with the Intention of the Universe -6.
The First Six Chapters of the Bhagavadgita
(Spoken on Bhagavadgita Jayanti)
Post-6.
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So whenever we do any little work, we are doing a cosmical work, we are doing a universal work, we are participating in the creative activity of the cosmos. It is not my work; it is not your work. Such a thing cannot be. Even in the imagination, that kind of independence of our work cannot be permitted. Even in imagination, that is not possible. Not only is it not possible for us to work independently for our own purpose, it is not possible for us even to exist as an independent person because we are a little thread in this large fabric of the spread-out three gunas which are this world.

So prakriti determines every character, and each one of us is one particular character. The whole presentation of a dramatic performance is a total picture that is presented before an audience. That total picture assumes a meaning if every actor participates in a given manner at a given moment, but if each one independently acts – I shall do whatever I like – then there is no totality of the dramatic presentation. There is a script prepared by the director of the drama, or there is an intention of the director, we may say; that script, or the original thought which is the purposiveness of the whole presentation, will decide what sort of performance is expected from every dramatic personae. Likewise, the purpose of the universe will decide what kind of work we have to do in this world. 

We cannot say we will do what we like. There is no such thing as our liking, and such a statement has no meaning. Our liking is nothing but a liking of the universe. So we are born with a sacrifice, which means to say that our independent existence as we assume it and imagine it is actually a position that we are occupying in the large administrative setup of the cosmos whose building materials, or operation of powers, are the three gunas: sattva, rajas, tamas.

This is to explain the inner suggestiveness of that beautiful single phrase, as it were, sahayajñ??: Togetherness with sacrifice is our existence. Our existence is a togetherness with sacrifice. Therefore, without sacrifice we do not exist, and if sacrifice means cosmic cooperation, sharing with everything with which we are connected, which means to say, a universally spread out participation of ourselves, each little work of ours is the worship of the universal intention. 

This is the meaning of ‘work is worship’. How does work become worship? It is because whatever we do is an operation through the instrumentality of our particular form of individuality as a contribution for the presentation of the total picture of the intention of the whole cosmos. Each man is a cosmic man. Every little servant of the government says, “I am the government.” He is like the government. He has got authority of the government. He can summon it. So each person is a cosmic pressure point, as it were, and the whole universe, the macrocosmic existence, is microcosmically present in each person. When we say we are a pindanda, or a microcosm, we mean that in a miniature form the whole universe is within us. 

If the whole universe is within us in a pindanda form or a microcosm, the entire purpose of the cosmos is in the brain of each individual. In each cell of your body the universe is active; therefore, you have no individuality of your own. There is no such thing as your work, and there is no such thing as my work. It is the work of the whole purpose of creation.

Therefore, give up this idea “I shall do, I shall not do.” The question does not arise. Neither can we say “I shall do”, nor can we say “I shall not do”. Both these statements have no significance because perforce we have to act, as a carriage attached to a railway engine is perforce dragged by the movement of the engine. “I shall move, I shall not move,” the carriage does not say, because it is attached to the engine. Each one of us has this position of being attached to this central operative engine of the intention of the cosmos, and where it pulls, there we have to move. We cannot say, “I shall move, I shall not move.” We have no choice.

This denial of particular choice is not a denial of freedom; it is an enhancement of our freedom. The more we participate and cooperate with the intention of the universe, the greater is our freedom. An individual has less freedom, but an individual associated with an organisation has a greater freedom. Association with an organisation implies limitation also to some extent, but this limitation is a greater freedom granted from another point of view. So the denial of individual activity and the affirmation of a universal purposiveness of things is not a denial of freedom; it is an enhancement of our freedom.

Now another point is made there that God should be worshipped, and that gives significance to our work. What that is, we shall see later.

End.
Next-Chapter-12. Control of the Senses :
To be continued ...

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