Why Serve? : Part-5. Swami Chinmayananda.

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Wednesday, January 26, 2022. 06:00.

Address At Leslie Sawhny Anniversary Function On 15th May, 1983

Part-5.

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When a problem confronts us, there are two stages of our response. One, the stage of planning. At this stage, I examine the problem very carefully in the light of my past experiences; I collect all the data regarding the problem, study the problem completely, and then with my knowledge and ability, I plan for a future reward, for which I direct my entire energy. At the planning stage, let us use all our past. experiences, and our ability to visualize the future factors. After having planned, we shall roll up our sleeves and tuck in our shirts, tighten our belts and enter into our field of action. It is then that the Geeta says: now let both our ego and our anxiety and expectation of the fruit be eliminated from our concern. This is one of the greatest scientific truths that the teachers have taught us.


What is the ego ? Everybody says, "Ego is necessary and it cannot be eliminated." Admitted; everything you say is accepted. But what is the ego? Very rarely have we thought of it. Suppose you are in a train compartment and there is nobody else but you and a solitary co-passenger. For some time both of you keep quiet. But you are an Indian, and you cannot keep quiet for long without chattering. So, slowly, say after two or three stations, you get tired of the artificial physical silence and, therefore, you ask him,' "Aap kahan se? (Where are you from? I don't think we have met before.)" This is a request to explain to me who he is.



When a man then asks you, "Please explain to me who you are," meaning, your ego, your individuality, what things will you tell him? "I am the son of so and so, I was born in such and such a village. I had my early education there and then my uncle took me to Bangalore, and there I had my college education. And, in the college, I stood first class first in my final. Then, I did a course in a commerce school. My uncle himself helped me to get a job. And then the company appreciated my work and gave me my first raise. At that time my uncle suggested that I marry his daughter. So I married her. And we were living together. The company started more and more to depend upon me, as I was honestly and sincerely working for them .........


And you, the listener, get more and more enthusiastic and encourage him. He spills out his remembered experiences of his life until this date. So "I" means all lived and remembered experiences of the past. Whenever one of you says "I", it means what? It means all your memories bundled together. This total memory of the past constitutes the ego.



Desire is our ardent expectation to enjoy the fruit of our action (karma phala): To give up this anxiety (karma phala tyaga) is one of the cardinal instructions for discovering dynamism in our activities. One may ask, "without thirst for karma phala, where is the motivation to act ?" Karma phala is the result of an action. Does the result of an action come before the action, or at the time of the action, or after the action? Do you pass the exam before the exam, or in the examination hall, or days and months after the exam? Do you harvest before sowing, or at the time of the sowing, or some months after sowing? The "result of an action" can come only after the action!


We are great people, no doubt, but we cannot now act in the past, nor can we now act in the future. I have to wait until yesterday becomes today, then only can I act! We can act only in the present. The "result of an action" will come only afterwards, and therefore belongs to future periods of time. When I am working and functioning today, if I waste my mental vitality and intelligence in becoming anxious over the fruits of my actions (which means the unknown future), I am dissipating my mental vitality. My present action becomes incompetent, in every way confused, and an incompetent, slip-shod work of today can never yield great results tomorrow !


Next-Part-6.


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