| We are now told
by social and economic reformers that the State should see to it that men and women work
without aiming only at personal gain but with an eye also to the welfare of the community.
And this is just what the Bhaga vad Gita laid down. He way of life taught in this living
spring of Hindu ethics is based expressly on the equal dignity and sacredness of every
form of labour that falls to one’s lot. All
work, it reiterates with solemn emphasis, should be done honestly and disinterestedly for
lokasangraha -welfare of the community-and not for the satisfaction of personal desires.
Indeed, the Gita lays down in a unique manner the whole socialist doctrine by
characterizing work as a religious offering in the truest sense. The performance of
one’s allotted task is specifically described in the Gita as an authorized and
accepted form of worship:
If a man is devoted to his particular duties and performs
them, he wins beatitude. When a man performs his proper duty, he worships Him from whom
the world has issued and by whom all that we see is pervaded, and thereby he attains
beatitude. |
