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Man is not the doer of work. The elements of Nature conduct this cosmic show, the vast spectacle of phenomena, the universal play. The field causes the particles to move, to interact, to play, nay, even exist. It is the field that acts and not the insentient matter in it although the relation between the two is quite intricate and often mystifying, each being in some way dependent on the other and therefore determining the other's course. However, broadly speaking and for ease of understanding, we may safely regard the field as the orchestrator of events at least at the macroscopic level.
The three modes of Nature, the sattva, the rajas and the tamas are, thus, credited in the Gita as the executors of work and the soul that thinks it is the doer of work is denigrated as the deluded self perplexed by egoism. This being the envisioned truth of the nature of work, it stands to reason to then distance oneself from the consequences or what in common parlance is referred to as the fruits of work if we are to escape the bondage of work.
Work we must and work we ought to, both for self-liberation and for world-maintenance. Abstinence from work steeps the soul deeper into the mire of phenomenal existence for the plan of Nature is to give the entrapped soul the manifold experience of Maya before releasing it into freedom when its day is done. And this experience can come only through working one's way through Maya to eventual freedom.
The whole of Nature is fraught with the vibrations of work. Therefore, work is a structural imperative in Maya, a nervous necessity in man. Survival and sustenance in this universe being work-dependent, to shun work is to sink into self-oblivion which being opposed to the evolving karmic principle is considered unethical and blameworthy. To work, therefore, is mandatory for it is the basis of phenomenal life. But such work must be performed as a science, with deliberation and with detachment, knowing oneself to be the instrument in the hands of the Divine and not as the doer. Then work will not bind the soul but will free it for the fruits of work having been given up, there remains nothing to bind the soul with.
The free worker has tremendous energy and within a short span of time his concentrated efforts enable him to unshackle his soul from cosmic bondage. The bondage of work overcome, the whole universe is overcome for it is work that holds one to the universe by breeding attachment and in its wake, delusion. Work done as a science breaks the eight fetters of man and frees him to realise the infinitude of his being. Man transcends his limitations to attain to the bliss of his Self, the pure, the untainted, the unblemished One. And this he attains by following the scriptural prescription of work --- KARMA YOGA.
The three modes of Nature, the sattva, the rajas and the tamas are, thus, credited in the Gita as the executors of work and the soul that thinks it is the doer of work is denigrated as the deluded self perplexed by egoism. This being the envisioned truth of the nature of work, it stands to reason to then distance oneself from the consequences or what in common parlance is referred to as the fruits of work if we are to escape the bondage of work.
Work we must and work we ought to, both for self-liberation and for world-maintenance. Abstinence from work steeps the soul deeper into the mire of phenomenal existence for the plan of Nature is to give the entrapped soul the manifold experience of Maya before releasing it into freedom when its day is done. And this experience can come only through working one's way through Maya to eventual freedom.
The whole of Nature is fraught with the vibrations of work. Therefore, work is a structural imperative in Maya, a nervous necessity in man. Survival and sustenance in this universe being work-dependent, to shun work is to sink into self-oblivion which being opposed to the evolving karmic principle is considered unethical and blameworthy. To work, therefore, is mandatory for it is the basis of phenomenal life. But such work must be performed as a science, with deliberation and with detachment, knowing oneself to be the instrument in the hands of the Divine and not as the doer. Then work will not bind the soul but will free it for the fruits of work having been given up, there remains nothing to bind the soul with.
The free worker has tremendous energy and within a short span of time his concentrated efforts enable him to unshackle his soul from cosmic bondage. The bondage of work overcome, the whole universe is overcome for it is work that holds one to the universe by breeding attachment and in its wake, delusion. Work done as a science breaks the eight fetters of man and frees him to realise the infinitude of his being. Man transcends his limitations to attain to the bliss of his Self, the pure, the untainted, the unblemished One. And this he attains by following the scriptural prescription of work --- KARMA YOGA.
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