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The Bhagavad Gita on Fire & Smoke - Article from our Life Coaching Programs
The Bhagavad Gita on Fire & Smoke
It is better to perform one's own duties imperfectly than to master the duties of another. By fulfilling the obligations he is born with, a person never comes to grief. No one should abandon duties because he sees defects in them. Every action, every activity, is surrounded by defects as a fire is surrounded by smoke. ~ Krishna from The Bhagavad Gita
So, we've established the importance of following YOUR dharma and not someone else's. Sweet. Now, what about if you're not perfectly following your path?
Well, that's a good time to check in with the Gita and remember: No one should abandon duties because he sees defects in them. Every action, every activity, is surrounded by defects as a fire is surrounded by smoke.
And how about Abraham Maslow who studied the greatest people of his generation (from Einstein to Eleanor Roosevelt) as he identified the hallmarks of what he called "self-actualizing" individuals? He taught us: There are no perfect human beings! Persons can be found who are good, very good indeed, in fact, great. There do in fact exist creators, seers, sages, saints, shakers, and movers...even if they are uncommon and do not come by the dozen. And yet these very same people can at times be boring, irritating, petulant, selfish, angry, or depressed. To avoid disillusionment with human nature, we must first give up our illusions about it.
And Rumi who advises: There is no worse sickness for the soul, o you who are proud, than this pretense of perfection.
The moment we allow ourselves to be less than perfect, we open ourselves up to the opportunity to grow...
Here's to many of those moments! :)
Bri
Im very pleased to see the Bhagavad Gita quoted as an inspirational text . This quote that Bri has quoted is so important, that it appears twice in the Gita, both in chapter 3 verse 35 and chapter 18 verse 47.
Duty, like medicine prescribed by a physician, has its proper, curative effect only upon the patient to whom it has been prescribed. A spiritual master prescribes different duties for different individuals according to their nature.
There are four didvisions of labor according to the three modes of material nature, goodness , passion, and ignorance.. Those who are in the mode of goodness or sattva should work as brahmans or teachers, intellectuals, priests, doctors, astrologers, etc...those in goodness and passion should work as ksatriyas or admiisitrators who are guided by the brahmanas, those are are in mixed ignorance and passion should work as vaisyas or agriculturalists, producting food and caring for cows, not butchering them, and finally those who are primarily in ignorance should work as sudras or laborers assisting the other orders. This is a scientific division of labor according to levels of consciousness and is not the present day degraded cste system which delcares everything by birth in a certain family.
In my teacher's commentary on the Bhagavad Gita As It Is , he mentions " A man who is by nature attracted to the kind of work done by sudras should not artificially claim himself to be a brahmana, although he may be born into a brahmana family. In this way one should work according to his own nature; no work is abominable, if performed in the service of the Supreme Lord. The occupational duty of a brahmana is certainly in the mode of goodness, but if a person is not by nature in the mode of goodness, he should not imitate the occupational duty of a brahmana. For a ksatriya, or administrator, there are so many abominable things; a ksatriya has to be violent to kill his enemies, and sometimes a ksatriya has to tell lies for the sake of diplomacy. Such violence and duplicity accompany political affairs, but a ksatriya is not supposed to give up his occupational duty and try to perform the duties of a brahmana. Bg 18.47
Anything done for personal sense gratification is a cause of bondage. The conclusion is that everyone should be engaged according to the particular mode of nature he has acquired, and he should decide to work only to serve the supreme cause of the Supreme Lord.
Krsna confirms that all prescribed duties, not only the work of a ksatriya, contain faults, or ‘smoke.' Even a brahmana's work has defects. One should therefore cleanse away the faulty part of one's duty by offering the duty to the Supreme Lord.
If and when I do something good, something with my talents, I tend to be extremely proud of it. I want to show everybody in the immediate surrounding. Even though I didn't start the project with this intend. Does this imply that I do it with a bondage of self?
Thank you for your question Benny. Ragarding our talents, according to Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita, He says, "I am the sound in ether and ability in man." Bg 7.8 A man's ability is the essential quality he possesses by which he can become great. All these essential ingredients are Krsna. We could become paralyzed in a moment, so we are obviously dependent on a source much greater than ourselves for our talents or abilities.
According to Bg 17.18 "Penance performed out of pride and for the sake of gaining respect, honor and worship is said to be in the mode of passion. It is neither stable nor permanent, and so is a cause of bondage, or repeated birth and death in this material world.
Our consciousness is always working in two ways -- the right way and the wrong way. When one becomes too proud of his position, influenced by the mode of passion, he gives up the right path and accepts the wrong one.
For material sense gratification, a man in the mode of passion wants some honor in society, or in the nation. Modern civilization is considered to be advanced in the standard of the mode of passion. Formerly, the advanced condition was considered to be in the mode of goodness. If there is no liberation for those in the mode of goodness, what to speak of those who are entangled in the mode of passion?
The Bhagavad Gita recommends that we give credit where credit is due, and give the glory and a portion of the fruits of our labor we receive from our talents to God . THis will keep us from bondage.