Lord Krishna talks to Arjuna in Bhagavad Gita
Chapter 2 Verse 50 about “Yogah Karmasu Kaushalam” – Yoga is excellence at
work.
- This verse advices us to perform our allocated duty in an excellent manner.
- Kaushalam signifies doing work with devotion and without attachment i.e. without becoming a workaholic.
- Such detached attitude enhances its values and improves the concentration and skill of the worker.
- If we work with elegance, fortitude, and skill our Body-Mind-Soul will co-operate with our hands.
- By becoming a tool in the hands of Supreme one has to perform the work.
- Any work becomes valuable if carried out with full concentration, dedication, and abilities and also helps us to become valuable to others as well as to society.
- We should never yearn over the fruits of action.
- The extrinsic incentives e.g., money, other bonus, etc. play a very minor role as motivators.
- The reward of a thing well done is to have done it says Ralph Waldo Emerson.
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“Yogah Karmasu Kaushalam” and Civil Services !!!
We have failed to convert knowledge into wisdom. To convert
knowledge into wisdom, so essential for obtaining a dynamic personality, it is
essential to rise to the level of Buddhi. At this level, it is possible to combine
executive efficiency with social efficiency and transform brute efficiency into
humanized efficiency. This requirement of the two-fold efficiency persuaded the
founding fathers of the Indian Administrative Service to adopt another powerful
concept of Gita, Yogah Karmasu Kaushalam, as the motto of the
service. It means that yoga should be the technique of doing work.
What is Yoga?
Yoga literally means Yukta (united) with self. To understand the
implication of the motto, we have to see the full verse along with the two
preceding verses:
Yogastha kuru karmani sangang tyaktva Dhananjaya l
Sidhyasidhyoh samo bhutva samatvang yoga uchyate ll 2/48
Sidhyasidhyoh samo bhutva samatvang yoga uchyate ll 2/48
Be steady in yoga, Arjun, do whatever you must do; give up attachment, be indifferent to failure and success. This stability (samatva-buddhi) is yoga. (P. Lal's translation)
Durena hyabarang karma buddhiyogat Dhananjaya l
Buddhau saranamanviccha kripana phalahetaba ll 2/49
Buddhau saranamanviccha kripana phalahetaba ll 2/49
Selfish work is inferior to the work of a balanced uncoveting mind; shelter yourself in this mental stability (samatva-buddhi), Arjuna. Harassed are the seekers of the fruits of action. (P. Lal)
Buddhiyukto jahatiha ubhe sukritadushkrite l
Tasmadyogaya yujyaswa yogah karmasu kaushalam ll 2/50
Tasmadyogaya yujyaswa yogah karmasu kaushalam ll 2/50
With this mental poise, you will free your self from good deeds and ill deeds. Devote yourself to this yoga; it is the secret of success in work.
This mental poise is buddhi. This buddhi or 'intelligent will' as
Sri Aurobindo calls it, is not affected by good work or bad work or with their
result. Buddhi is indifferent to results. Here, there is no desire of fruits or
desire for power. Buddhi is samabuddhi - looking at everyone
and everything with the same eye. That is Yoga and that is the technique that
is to be adopted for doing work. Buddhi guides one to be united with the higher
self. And therefore this buddhi is yoga and yoga is the skill of performing,
remaining united with yoga. Meaning of yoga is made clear by Krishna in verse
48. The samatva-buddhi or stability is yoga.
Swami Ranganathananda describes yoga as 'the path to achieve a
fullness of personality development. That, when transferred to work, helps one
to achieve all-round excellence in performance.' Elsewhere he says, 'Yoga is
the philosophy of life and action capable of ensuring individual and collective
welfare. It makes one work without discrimination and with equality achieving
samatva (Justice). Yoga gives one the power of concentration, single-minded
devotion, full control of mind and body and increases insight and
understanding.'
Dr. S. Radhakrishnan says, ' He is rid of selfishness and
therefore is incapable of evil' yoga is evenness of mind in success or failure,
possessed by one who is engaged in the performance of his proper duties, while
his mind rests in God.'
Work is also explained in verse 49. Any work is not
work. Selfish work is inferior to the work of a balanced and uncoveting mind
(buddhiyoga or buddhiyukta mind). Therefore, one must take shelter in this
mental stability. Work therefore is not as important as the buddhi of the
worker. If the worker is endowed with buddhi then whatever he does is bound to
be relevant. Buddhi is intellect, which is capable of making a choice between,
relevant and irrelevant and chooses self-realization as the only guiding factor
determining action. It makes a person wise enabling him to shed both sukrita (good
deeds) and duskrita (ill deeds), leaving only one alternative
with man, i.e., self-realization. Therefore the buddhiyukta,
hopefully, our civil servant, will have the capacity to shed choices, adopt
yoga which will make him incapable of taking evil action and enable him to
strive for self-realization by doing his duties successfully through yoga.
It becomes obvious why these few words were chosen as the motto of
the service. The founding fathers dreamt that they were laying the foundation
of a public service for independent India, which would be able to combine work
efficiency with insight and social awareness by working through yoga. That would
ensure justice for all and maximum concern for people. And it was perhaps also
expected that these Yogastha people, the civil servants, would
also not hanker for possessions and power!
What finally is aimed at is the concept of Rajarshi,
enshrined in Chapter 4 of Gita. A public servant should be like Gita's
Rajarshi. A Rajarshi is a combination of the qualities of a Raja, a King and a
Rishi, a sage. Raja is one who shines in responsibility, Ranjate
Virajate. He also pleases, ranjate. Mahabharata (Shantiparva)
describes the king thus: Ranjitascha prajah sarvastena rajeti
shabdayate (one who pleases his subjects is called a Raja). His
qualities are power and efficiency. On the other hand, the principal quality of
a sage is his wisdom. A Rajarshi therefore has the power and efficiency of a
king and the wisdom of a Rishi. His efficiency and energy enables him to
perform and his wisdom, his darshan, guides him in that performance
of duties. The civil servant must be able to become a Rajarshi ' a combination
of power, efficiency, professionalism and wisdom to achieve welfare of people.
If the administrator has a small darshan, he becomes static, a
burden. With a large darshan, he is Rajarshi, a dynamic force with wisdom and
the sense and capability of taking responsibility of the masses. Obviously
extraordinary effort is required to achieve this extraordinary energy and this
synthesis of power with responsibility, strength of character, clear thinking,
dedication and practical efficiency.
And the secret of secrets, the essence, is in the last verse of
Gita:
Yatra yogeshwara Krishno yatra Partho dhanurdharah l
Jatra srirvijayo bhutirdhruba nitirmatirmama ll 18/78
Jatra srirvijayo bhutirdhruba nitirmatirmama ll 18/78
'Where Krishna, lord of yoga, is,
Where Arjun, wielder of the bow, is,
Are victory, success, prosperity and law,
I am convinced of this.' (the P. Lal transcreation)
We too are convinced of this: if the civil servant can transform
himself into a Rajarshi, then doubtless he will have the qualities of both
Krishna, the master of yoga, with the energy of vision and calm spirituality
and Arjun, wielder of the bow, with the energy of intense action and
efficiency. This will also ensure the achievement of lokasangraha of
which Gita says in chapter III
Sakta karmayavidyanso yatha kurvanti Bharata l
Kuryatvidvangstathasaktaschikirshulokasangraham ll 3/25
Kuryatvidvangstathasaktaschikirshulokasangraham ll 3/25
The wise man must act even as the work-obsessed fool does
But shedding selfishness and pursuing knowledge ll (P. Lal)
Lokaraksha implies that people without
wisdom work for self. Wise people work for others. Lokasamgraha is
holding together of people in the way of dharma. How does one do that? Just
before this verse Krishna speaks about setting an example ' 'I do not need to
work but still I do just to set an example for other people to follow, because
people will always imitate a superior, following the example set by his
action.' (21-23/3). Therefore, the civil servant must set an example for people
that increases his credibility and while doing work uses state-power for the
fulfillment of the desires of the people thereby pleasing them. All this will
work towards the achievement of the ideal of lokasamgraha, which is
in any case one of the responsibilities of the civil servant.
The civil servant therefore has an onerous task before him. He has
to prepare himself for a very difficult but a very significant role in society.
He has the politician to handle. He has various lobbies and vested interests to
face. Above all, he has his own shortcomings, weaknesses and inhibitions to
handle. Who will prepare him for all this? Who will bell the cat?
Buddha, while lying on his deathbed, was asked by Ananda, his
disciple,
'Lord, after your departure who should we go to clear our
doubts?'
Buddha said, 'Atmano Deepo Bhava' (Be like a lamp; be a light unto thyself).
Buddha said, 'Atmano Deepo Bhava' (Be like a lamp; be a light unto thyself).
Thus, the responsibility of training the civil servant lies with
the civil servant himself. He has to strengthen himself and empower himself
with such energy of the inner self that he can rise above all adversities and
crisis of conscience and be of great ability and help to society.
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