What comes in between productivity and sincerity at work; that is what this post is about. It’s also about how we should work.
Names of a few great workers we know of are Mahatma Gandhi, Jesus Christ, Mother Teresa, Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda, Walt Disney(founder), Thomas Edison and a few others. Then at times, I also study lives of some people, their performance and success; and try to find the essence; the secret behind their success.
It drives us to one single point which is – How to work? Why should we work? What exactly is our duty? But let’s get one definition clear before we start. It is about our existence, the reason why we exist.
We will take up a lot of questions in this process and try to present the fact. The approach would be superficial but it will be facts which will be difficult to challenge. I will take myself for example.
Anyone who meets me perceives me like most other individuals ie. 2 hands, 2 eyes and ears, 2 legs etc. like every other person. From where did I evolve? My parents. So in other words, I could evolve because my parents were involved in my evolution.
I will make it more clear. My parents evolved from their parents. But we cannot stop their. Because they in turn evolved from their upper ancestral hiearchy. This goes on and on until we go back 3.6 billion years back when only one form of life existed and nothing else had evolved- protoplasm(a kind of algae).
Let’s come back and understand Chittaranjan(me) better. I have a particular type of body with fingers, eyes and other organs, I also have a range of emotions, feelings, ideas, happiness, fear, anger etc to reflect which gets displayed on different situations. I laugh, I cry, at times I am pessimistic and at other times I would feel like I am on top of the world.
Like we saw earlier, my existence in a way evolves out of my parents, their grandparents and still further, all the way to protoplasm.
Every cause has an effect and the effect has a cause behind it. Something cannot come out of nothing; likewise if I have certain qualities, like intelligence or emotions, then from where does it stem out? It has to be in the protoplasm in the first place which evolved later into mankind from which I evolve & manifest and display my different qualities.
If this is true for me then this is true for entire human race. Hence Chittaranjan is the protoplasm evolved and protoplasm is Chittaranjan involved.
But we go still further, 4.6 billion years ago when earth came into existence. Protoplasm evolved even after another 1 billion years. Hence the qualities I have in me was dormant and potent in earth too. Going further we find that Earth itself evolved out of Sun. In a way it follows(I wont prove this point right now in this post) that I am as much in the Sun as in this body. Only the manifestations are different. How could I have expressions of laughter, joy or sorrow and even love, if it were not already in the Sun.
But the Sun also was not the actual cause. For it is just one out of the many billion stars of Milky way galaxy. We find thus that Sun evolves out of various galaxies and that takes us to Big Bang theory. All this is known to modern Science.
There is something which Science has to say(beyond a limit modern science cannot go and hasnt gone so far) and something which scriptures too has to say. I will take up Science for this matter for further explanation. Science found thus that the entire universe comes out of a dark matter(sort of black hole) and from that everything started evolving; rather manifesting itself.
If this is true then I find my source into the same dark matter or black hole; therefore my intelligence, love and every aggregate quality, the thoughts behind my thoughts has to be in the black hole; it cannot come out of nothing.
It is that infinite intelligence, it is also infinite love, it is also aggregate, it is infinite bliss also. Slowly uncoiling itself. Till the infinite bliss gets manifested and I become one with It forever.
Why is it not infinite hatred? This question I wont take up now? But to give a hint, the difference between love and hatred only lies in degrees. Both are the endpoints of the same thread.
There will be many other questions which comes to mind but I would keep away from answering them in this particular post. But that is one single existence from which everything comes out and manifests itself only in different forms and sizes.
Time, Space & Cause are also in it because the idea of these 3 terms are impossible to explain without the aggregate. It is this existence which people try to refer as God, I am only trying to give enough reasons to make the belief strong.
If I have a quality, it is because of Him, the mighty whale and the elephant get their strength from Him, the supernovas and galaxies gain their energy from Him. If there is any goodness in a person, we find it’s roots in Him and vice versa. He is in one sense, everything. Standing like a witness in the backstage. We belong to Him until eternity.
Our main subject is Why & How to work?
As I am writing this I feel that a lot of things have to be covered so as to have all answers and give the satisfaction to an individual to get the actual essence of work. Now when it comes to me, I came in this body weak and hungry few decades ago.
By some mercy or love, its actually love, I got parents who took care of me. My joy was their joy, my sorrows became their sorrows. I received clothes, education and everything that I think are mine. Is it really mine? Will it always remain with me?
The fact is I have only received. And I have come this far with this body and survived several decades. Who would breath a second if that infinite were not filling it with air? If the sun didnt shine, if the rivers were not there, if the winds didn’t blow, if there were no energies like gravity; our existence would not be possible. All these were there and provided and we received it. I have only received. Having received so much thus, and we see that we received because of LOVE, should we not start giving hereafter, with love???
So who is a TRUE WORKER? It is actually a GIVER who works. And we should work to give. That’s only the first idea.
Should we give to return somebody? No….that Somebody never asked for it. That would not be true love. In love you do not reciprocate. That would be business otherwise. When situated in proper knowledge one will then find out that everything is actually manifestation of love.
What is Love? A relationship where you give without expectations. When there’s expectation to get something in return it’s something else. Anything but not love. That’s the purity which is indispensable in Love.
But whom should we Love? The supreme, the Truth standing behind the background, the Almighty, the essence of everything, the knower of everything, the one who gave without expecting. Sometimes loving us like a mother, sometimes father, sometimes beloved and sometimes as a friend. The actual Director behind the scene, the actual proprietor, from whom we all received. All the time we misunderstood and misinterpreted and thought everything was ours.
Why should we work? The main reason should be to work for the One who has constantly been working and will continue to work for us.
Understanding his nature is important which is difficult to brief in this mail. But it is not a measure of the size of anything that we have to give while we work. It is only to be covered with love, sincerity, honesty & integrity.
If I run a mission, then first I must know my duties and perform my duties sincerely abandoning all attachment to success or failure, happiness or distress, loss or gain; then I should work. We should perform our duties. Hence one must know his duties too. A butcher also has to know his duties, so shall the president, so shall the shopkeeper or a businessman. And he should perform his duties, free from lethargy, with full enthusiasm, without wavering in success or failure. He should work for work’s sake.
He is a true worker who doesnt have any motive attached to it; doesnt want any sort of gain out of his work; who doesnt work for sense gratification; who works because he realizes it as a part of duty.
He is not a worker who is driven by incentives, or lives with fear of getting fired and works to save his job. Rather he who works with full energy without fears or concern with right methods and a stable mind is by far superior. Such a worker might easily be seen sacrificing leaving early hours on weekends, skipping a few hours with family because work is a higher priority.
Here’s a soldier. Away from his family, his parents, wife and children whom he loves so much. For whom he can give up his life. He lives for them. But when the bitter duties and love for motherland calls, he easily gives up his life, and doesn’t wait for a second to think that he might not see his family again in this life. That’s an example of true worker. Duties exceed Love.
It would have been perfectly OK for Mahatma Gandhi if he had not fought for freedom of India. He could have led a peaceful life without any pains and avoiding jails. He fought because that is what was ought to be done. He fought with non violence. He had a goal of freedom for his country. He worked for his goal but didnt expect results out of his work. He worked for work’s sake and broke the salt law, bought the freedom movement. Today every Indian currency note has Mahatma Gandhi’s picture on it. He lives after he is gone. He did his duty. If he had not taken the trouble India probably might not have been free today.
But on the other hand if we observe, it was not even required of him to do his role. Nobody asked him to do that. He could have avoided it. No one would have blamed or expected anything out of him.
Walt Disney created Disney World, Disney Pictures and other ventures, simply to give happiness. What does Walt Disney make? It makes people happy. It exists for that reason and less for profits.
Realizing our duties, we should work, ceaselessly.
