In the previous episode, we had witnessed Bhagawan Krishna explaining how our mind can be both a friend and a foe to us at the same time. If our mind is a detached one from all the worldly affairs, our mind can be a great friend for us in enabling us to execute our “Karma Yoga” with 100% effort and sincerity. However, if our mind is going to get into the trap of worldly pleasures and affairs, it is only going to go deeper and deeper into this pit and is never going to recover from it. Thus, in this situation, our efficiency and dedication towards our “Karma Yoga” comes down drastically, which indicates that our mind has clearly become our enemy here! Hence, it is up to us to channelize our mind in such a way that our ultimate purpose of realizing our “Atman” is achieved. This should be our end goal, rather than the end result of our actions that we perform.
Here is where we might have a confusion – What is “end goal” and “end result of our actions”? Are these two terms same or different? For this, we can have multiple answers, but my take on this is very simple – When Bhagawan says that we should not look at the “end result of our actions”, He refers to the short-term goals that we have in our mind while performing our actions. Whereas, when Bhagawan talks about the “end goal”, He refers to the ultimate realization of the “Atman”. There is a clear demarcation here – The latter refers to the long-term goal, which Bhagawan Krishna is very particular about, right from the second “Adhyaaya”. In this context, readers might also remember that we’ve clarified an important doubt when it comes to the “Karmanyevaadhikaarasthe…” shloka. Just recalling the earlier discussion, when Bhagawan says that we should not look at the end result while performing our actions, Bhagawan refers to the “end result of our actions” (Short-term goals) and not the “Ultimate end result” (Long-term goal) of “Atman” realization. Of course, with every action that we perform, we should always have the “Ultimate end result” in our mind, which means that we are dedicating all our actions to Bhagawan’s divine lotus feet. By cultivating this mindset, our actions would automatically become a spiritual offering to Bhagawan. This is something that we need to understand in clarity – Bhagawan is more interested in the long-term goal of “Atman” realization, and not on the short-term goals, which are the end-results of our individual actions that we perform.
Secondly, we should also understand the true meaning of the term “Detachment”. When Bhagawan explains that a “Detached mind” is our friend, what does He mean here? As we’ve seen earlier, a “Detached” mind is something that is free from the cusp of worldly desires. Now, we might think that it is very easy to say all this, but is it practically implementable? Given the advent of technology, social media, the urge to stay connected all the time with people, the urge to enjoy some pleasurable experiences in our life, etc. how do we practise “detachment” in today’s scenario? Of course, I totally agree that it is easier said than done. However, it is all up to our mindset for everything, isn’t it? 🙂 If we develop the right mindset for practising “detachment”, obviously we’re going to be able to live up to Bhagawan’s expectation. For instance, if we take the usage of technology and social media, we can use it for all the right purposes, can’t we? We can take the “Bhagawad-Vishayam” (Significance of Bhagawan) to a different level altogether, by making it reach hundreds and thousands of people with just a press of a button today. We can use our senses to see, talk and listen about Bhagawan all times. We can also use social media to reach out to as many people as we want and create “Satsangs” effectively from all corners of the world! Hence, if we take the right effort, technology and social media can be employed effectively to spread “Bhakti”, rather than involving ourselves in unwanted gossipping and wasting our time in certain wrong ways.
Moreover, the term “detachment” has a myth – Many people have this notion that when Bhagawan says “detachment”, we should renounce our family life (“Grihasta-Ashrama”) and become “Sanyasins”. This is a wrong interpretation altogether. We can still be part of the “Grihasta-Ashrama” and practise “Detachment”. For instance, we want to experience certain pleasures in life which would lead us to having children – We can do this also with a detached mindset. Our ultimate purpose of marriage is to carry the “Bhakti” movement forward, isn’t it? Both the husband and wife should join hands together and carry forward the “Bhakti” and in due course, it is also necessary that the next generation of people are created in this world, so that this “Bhakti” movement can be taken forward by them for the next 40-50 years. For this, we need to have children and if this is the mindset, we can obviously go for it and still be in “Detachment”, can’t we? Hence, we should realize that “Detachment” is not merely going to “Sanyaasa” mode. “Detachment” can be practised even by normal people like us as part of our “Grihasta-Ashrama” as well. For another instance, even while we perform our everyday duty of bringing up our children with the right education, we should not have a selfish motive that only our child should shine and the others should go down. Rather, if we have a “Paropakara” intention that Bhagawan has given us this duty of evolving the next generation with regards to health, education, etc. channelled through the “Bhakti Maarga”, this itself is “Detachment”. This is because we’re growing up and raising our children not merely with an expectation that they will take care of us during our old age (Which is of course important as well), but with a mindset that this is a duty given to us by Bhagawan Krishna as a part of my “Karma Yoga”. If we do this with this mindset, automatically our actions are going to be performed with a detached mind, which in turn is going to make us attain our ultimate goal, which is the “Atman” realisation!
So for today, let us understand the concept of “Detachment” very clearly and let us start implementing this in our everyday life as well. We shall continue this discussion forward in the next episode as well! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 