In the previous episode, we had commenced an important discussion on why shouldn’t we possess the “Karthrutva Buddhi” while performing any action. In other words, Bhagawan Krishna is emphasizing the point that we should not have this attitude of “I am doing something” while performing our “Karma” our duties. Instead, we should always have the attitude of “Bhagawan is enabling me to peforming this”. This is where, we surrender our personal ego behind performing something and experiencing the results of our actions. This is what Bhagawan Krishna refers to letting go off our “Karthrutva Buddhi”.
In fact, this is not the first time that Bhagawan is talking about this point. In His Bhagawad Gita too, Bhagawan had spoken about this point at length to Arjuna. We might know this famous sloka from Bhagawd Gita:
“Karmanyeva adhikaaraste maa phaleshu kadaachana!”
Here, Bhagawan Krishna advises Arjuna that he shouldn’t worry about the fruits of the actions that he is going to perform. He should surrender all actions to Bhagawan’s lotus feet, take the “Gaandipa” (Bow) and start waging the battle. This was at a time when Arjuna got emotional upon seeing Bhishmaachaarya, Guru Dhronaachaarya and all his brothers standing in front of him on the opposition side. Arjuna loses himself and drops down the bow, coming to a conclusion that he’s not going to wage any battle against all his relatives and his own teacher! This is where, Bhagawan Krishna is motivating Arjuna to commence the fight. This is where the context becomes very important – Although Arjuna’s “Karma” as a “Kshatriya” prince was to wage wars and protect the country, he failed to commence his duties because of the “Maya” (Illusion) that he is going to be responsible for the demise of hundreds of innocent lives, including his own family members. Arjuna is getting to this state because he was high on the “Kartruthva Buddhi”, that it is he who is waging the war against Duryodhana and Co. Little did he remember and realize that it was Bhagawan Krishna who is using Arjuna and Co. as instruments to establish “Dharma” in the name of war.
Thus, if we’re able to develop this attitude that Bhagawan is the one who is executing all our actions through us, we would be letting off our “Kartruthva Buddhi” completely, and this is very important. But however, as I had mentioned in the yesterday’s episode itself, readers shouldn’t mistake this point by thinking, “Oh! We do not need to perform any of our duties and it is upto Bhagawan to take care of everything!” This is a wrong perspective here. We’ve to understand that the onus of performing our “Karma” is upon us, but the main point is that, we should perform our duties without expectations of the result or fruit of our “Karma”.
We can relate this point to Hanuman’s instances in the Ramayana as well – Initially when Hanuman crosses over the ocean and commences his “mega-search” for Mother Sita, he wasn’t able to find Her anywhere! He had gone lane after lane, street after street, passage after passage, house after house, palace after palace, etc. In fact, Hanuman had even searched every nook and corner of Ravana’s palace, but all his efforts went in vain! At this juncture, he starts getting demotivated and he doesn’t know what to do next. It is at this time, Hanuman suddenly realizes that till this moment, he had been searching for Mother Sita with the intent that “I’m the one who has taken this upon me and is doing it!” Now he changes his attitude a bit and prays to Bhagawan Rama thus, “Oh Bhagawan! Please forgive me for my selfish attitude! Till now I’ve made a great mistake! Now I’m realizing that it is you who’ve to show me the whereabouts of Mother Sita! It is you who’ve to enable me to obtain Her divine darshan!” Hanuman also prays to Mother Sita thus, “Oh Mother! If not anybody else, it is only you who should give me your divine darshan to this yearning child of yours! Please forgive me for my selfish attitude!”
As Hanuman prays thus to both Bhagawan Rama and Mother Sita, sitting on top of the “Simshupa Vriksha”, he was able to have the divine darshan of Mother Sita, just at the bottom of that very same tree! Thus, we can witness here too that when Hanuman was high on “Kartruthva Buddhi”, he wasn’t able to bare any fruit of his actions. However, the moment Hanuman let go off it, he was immediately able to see Mother Sita right below him! So from these two instances, we should understand that “Kartruthva Buddhi” is something that we’ve to discard, as we move on. Of course, it is easier said than done – Our ego wouldn’t enable us to do it right away! But we’ve to keep on trying. This is where we grow up spiritually.
So for today, let us realize and understand this important point emphasized by Bhagawan Krishna and we shall wait till the next episode to continue further! Stay tuned! 😊
The Indian Dharma 