| Discourses On Gita By Acharya Vinoba Bhave |
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| Discourses On Gita |
| THE TWO ASPECTS OF AKARMA - YOGA AND SANNYASA |
| The state of akarma 7. To understand the naturalness of action, let us take a familiar example. When a child first learns to walk, how much effort he has to put into it! But to us it is a delight to watch this game. We say, "Look, baby is beginning to walk!" But later, walking becomes natural. He walks and he talks. He does not think about it. It is the same with eating. We celebrate "annaprasan" (a ceremony performed when the child is first given solid food), as if eating is a great accomplishment. But, in course of time eating becomes quite natural. How hard it is to learn to swim! At first, we struggle for breath, but a time comes when we go for a swim to shake off fatigue. Now, swimming is no effort; swimming has become second nature to the body. Fatigue is a state of mind. When the mind is consciously engaged in the action it feels tired, but when action becomes natural, it ceases to weigh on us. Karma has become akarma. It is full of joy. 8. Our ideal is to make karmaturn into akarma - to this end, we should perform the karma in accordance with our svadharma. In doing so, our failings come to light, and to remove these, we should hold on to vikarma. Through such continuous practice, the mind will reach a stage where it will not feel the slightest effort or disgust in action. Though thousands of actions are done by our hands, the mind remains clear and calm. If you look up and question the sky, "Brother sky, do you not get scorched by the sun? Don't you shiver with the cold?" |
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