| Discourses On Gita By Acharya Vinoba Bhave |
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| Discourses On Gita |
| THE GUNAS - BUILDING UP AND BREAKING DOWN |
| If the rain
falling on a mountain-top runs in all directions, it disappears, leaving no trace behind; the water is
scattered and wasted. But when the same water flows in one direction, it becomes a river. A
power springs from it. It brings blessing to the land. So too, if a man does not scatter his energies
in all sorts of efforts, but collects them and applies them in orderly
fashion to a single task only then can some good action take shape through his hands.
Hence there is great value in svadharma.
We should think constantly of our svadharma and devote all our energies to it; we should have no thought for anything else. This is the touchstone of svadharma. Karma-yoga is not action which is great or weighty. The karma-yoga of the Gita is something quite different. Its distinctive virtue consists in progressively acquiring chittashuddhi, inner purity, through performing, without any thought of fruit, the svadharma that comes to one naturally and inescapably. Endless activities go on all the time throughout creation. But karma-yoga means performing all actions with a special mental attitude. To sow seed in a field and to scatter a handful of grain somewhere - these are entirely distinct actions. The difference between them is great; we know how much we gain by sowing the seed and what we lose by throwing it away. The karma that the Gita teaches is like the sowing of seed. There is an unlimited power in carrying out one's duty, one's svadharma. Here, no effort can be too great, there is no excuse for running around. |
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