| Discourses On Gita By Acharya Vinoba Bhave |
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| Discourses On Gita |
| THE YOGA OF ACTION |
| Filled with this
bhavana (feeling), he bathes in the river. The other man, regarding it as combination of hydrogen and oxygen
also bathes. Both derive the benefit of physical cleansing. But the devotee (bhakta) gets the benefit of physical
purification as well. Even a buffalo, if it bathes in the Ganga, will achieve physical cleanliness. The dirt of the
body will go. But how to wash the mind of its taint? One got the petty benefit of physical cleanliness; the other, in
addition, gained the invaluable fruit of inward purity.
When, after bathing a man performs Suryanamaskar (a strenuous form of Sun worship), he will, of course, get the benefit of physical exercise. It is not for the sake of bodily health that he performs Suryanamaskar, but he does it as worship (upasana). Of course, he gains good health, but the brightness of his intellect also increases. While he grows healthier, God as the Sun (Suryanarayana) also grants him greater awareness and imaginative power. 6. The action is the same; but a distinction arises from the difference in bhavana (in the inward attitude). The action of the man who seeks spiritual good promotes the growth of the soul; the action of the worldly man serves to bind it. If the karma-yogi is a farmer, he will till the land, considering it his svadharma. His stomach will, of course, be filled; but he does not work for filling his stomach. He looks upon food as a means by which he keeps his body fit for the task of tilling the land. |
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