In the previous episode, we had witnessed Arjuna asking a “smart” question to counter Bhagawan Krishna’s claim on performing the duty without expecting the result. Arjuna’s query is very simple – If I’m not the doer, why should I be present amidst the Kurukshetra battlefield? Let Bhagawan perform the action, if I do not have anything under my control! I shall happily retire to the forest and focus on spiritual growth!” For this, Bhagawan has a stern reply to Arjuna thus, “Oh Arjuna! This is the wrong attitude! You’re trying to escape from what you’re supposed to do! You’ve to do your duty and there’s no backing away from it. However, while doing it, you should do it with an attitude that you are not the doer! You should ensure that you’re putting your 100% effort at all times, with three types of sacrifices (“Thyaagam”) – First is the “Kartrutva Buddhi Thyaagam”, second is the “Mamataa Thyaagam” and the third one is the “Phala Thyaagam”!”
So what is Bhagawan Krishna highlighting through these three types of “Thyaagams”? This requires an in-depth pondering here. First one is “Kartrutva Buddhi Thyaagam”. This means, performing an action with the intention that I’m the one who is doing it and nobody else can even think of doing such great actions ever! Many of us might be falling trap to this “Kartrutva Buddhi Thyaagam” and this is something we should avoid when we are in leadership positions especially. Some leaders have this attitude – “Oh you know what? Nobody has done such a great action for the past so many years! I’m the one who has completely overhauled the system within just 1-2 years! If I wouldn’t have been in this leadership position, the organization would have gone into the dumpyard long ago!” This is “Kartrutva Buddhi”! Here we’re clearly emphasizing on the “I” attitude and we are proclaiming that I’m the doer and nobody else is! This is a very wrong attitude that a leader can have. If a leader proclaims such things in the organization in front of employee’s, he / she would become very unpopular sooner or later! Hence, if a leader has to be successful, firstly, he / she should always have a “we” attitude, rather than an “I” attitude. Secondly, a leader should always realize that everything that happens in the organization is not merely his / her effort. There are hard works and sincere efforts of many other people in the organization, with which the leader is able to claim credit. A leader should never forget this!
Second is the “Mamataa Tyaagam”. This clearly means “pride”. Many of us have this problem as well – If something ends up successfully, we tend to take immense pride for the result and will take a lot of credit too! For instance, if someone comes up to us and aprpeciates / congratulates the success of our action (result), we shall react grossly in two different ways – Firstly, we can obviously take credit for what we’ve achieved! We can say thus, “Oh yes! Indeed I’ve put in a lot of effort and I deserve this success!” Second way of reacting is thus, “Oh yes! It is only because of Bhagawan’s divine “Anugraha” that this success happened! If not for His “Anugraha”, what would be possible in this world?” If we’re taking this approach, it means that we’re ready to accept whatever result comes as Bhagawan’s “Anugraha”. Maybe today we might have tasted success and we’re attributing it to Bhagawan’s “Anugraha”. However, tomorrow if we encounter a failure, we should also be prepared to attribute this failure to Bhagawan’s “Anugraha” as well! This is why we always say in our “Sanaatana Dharma” that we should accept whatever comes out of our actions as Bhagawan’s “Prasaadham”!
Thirdly Bhagawan talks about “Phala Thyaagam”, which clearly means, not caring about the results of the action. Thus, if we perform our duty with these three “Thyaagams” in mind, we are going to be extremely balanced in our approach and as a leader, we would be greatly respected and revered by all our people around us! So for today, let us understand this point very clearly and we shall continue this discussion further in the next episode as well! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 