In the previous episode, we had witnessed Bhagawan Krishna continuing His accord with Arjuna wherein He reasserts the point on how the “Atman” and “Deham” are different entities from each other. While the “Deham” is the one that is destroyable in nature, the “Atman” is not destroyable by any means. Bhagawan Krishna also talks about the size of the “Atman”, which is very subtle and cannot be seen with our naked eyes. Moreover, the destruction of the “Deham” is something that is not in our control and it is eventually going to happen some day or the other in future. In similar lines, Bhagawan Krishna talks about things that are to be termed as “uncontrollables”, wherein these things cannot be changed by us. Rather than brooding over these things, it is up to us to adapt ourselves and move on further. For instance, “situation” is something that is beyond our control. On many occasions, we keep worrying about so many situations that are not in our control and waste our time brooding over them. Instead, if we learn to adapt to those situations (wherever we can) and move ahead by brushing up the others, we would be able to succeed in life.
Thus, the crux of the argument is very simple here – If there is something that we can do and can create an impact, we should go for it, give our best effort and finish it. However, if there is something that we cannot do and at any point in time we can never create an impact, we should never even talk about it and waste our time and effort in it. However, what do we do? We are totally on the contrary! For those things that we can do and create an impact, we never put our 100% effort to make things happen. However, for those other things that we cannot do and which are not in our hands, we keep thinking and brooding over it again and again and keep wasting our time! This is exactly what Bhagawan doesn’t want us to do. Even for those things that are achievable by us, Bhagawan says that we should make a conscious effort towards it and should not worry about the results of our actions. Bhagawan is going to explain this in detail later on very interestingly. However, what we are doing is exactly the opposite! We end up putting effort for those which are uncontrollables, and then brood over the resultant of it! How fair is this!
For instance, a person is going to take up a tough examination in his life – Maybe a Chartered Accountancy examination. There can be only two options here – Either to go for it or leave it! If we’ve really taken the effort to prepare well for the examination, we should go ahead and give the examination. However, when it comes to the results, we shouldn’t be too worried about it. On the other hand, if we’re so worried and tense about it, it means that we’ve not prepared for the examination properly. Hence, if we do not have confidence in ourselves, it is better not to take the examination, isn’t it? For taking such a decision, we would keep on brooding over! The point here is very clear – Either you take the examination with full preparation, or you miss it! We can’t be in the middle of both, isn’t it? This is exactly what many of us keep doing – We keep floating in the middle and it is because of this reason, we are in a lot of tension and stress! This is exactly what Bhagawan Krishna is talking about to Arjuna – If you’re undertaking a task, do it with 100% perfection and do not worry too much about it thereafter. Whereas, if you’re not in a position to dedicate your 100% to it, don’t do it at all, rather than putting half the effort and keep worrying about it!
So for today, let us understand this point clearly and in the next episode, we shall continue this discussion further! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 