To be a being on the planet earth is to fight for your survival. At least this is what it seems. Whether you’re a squirrel gathering nuts to enjoy later or a human toiling away 40+ hours a week for your paycheck, your main motivation is the fruit of your action. You count on this fruit to sustain you.
If you really start to think about it, we spend the vast majority of our lives focused on the prize of our work. Often we refuse to work unless we believe it’s going to payoff for us in some way. Not just financially but emotionally. When we don’t see the results we’re looking for, we often give up the work, even if it’s something we enjoy doing and begin to chase other fruits.
So what’s the problem? We can see how effective this manner of living is. If beings didn’t have an interest in working toward survival, what would be the motivation to work at all? The entire process is actually an extremely intelligent system on this planet. In order for things to get done, for the cycle of life to be maintained, plants and animals, motivated by survival all do their part is this vast orchestra. This is the way it’s been for millenniums, so who am I or anyone else to question this way of living?
The main problem with being constantly consumed with survival is that not only is it a very unpleasant way to live bit it also causes an immense amount of stress, most especially fir humans. While animals are able to plan ahead by storing food for winter, they do so without psychological fear of the future – in their case, it’s extremely instinctual to work in this manner. For a squirrel gathering nuts, there is not a story about what will happen if they don’t, there is simply the impulse to collect food and thus they do. For humans, language and stories in the head rule our experience and we often find ourselves frantically contemplating the possibility of everything going wrong. “What if I lose my job? The economy takes another nose dive? War takes place and destroys everything I own?” These are realities for many people across the nation and world and so it’s not out of the realm of possibilities that they could happen to any one of us – it’s understandable. However, how much energy do we spend worrying about such predicaments, especially when they are not happening now to us at this moment? There’s planning for the future which can be productive and then there’s worrying about the future which can be highly unproductive. This sort of worry and stress affects our actions. The more we fear and worry, the more our actions are motivated by this fearful energy of concern.
When we take action due to fear or anxiety, we cannot help but become highly attached to the fruits of our actions. Every thing we do, because it’s based out of fear, is then closely monitored to see if we obtain the results we desire. The desires are many in this game: money, attention and approval, status, importance, honor, and power – just to name a few.
What if there were a way to work and act however, that were less attached to getting what we want? Even so unattached that the the reward of the work itself wasn’t just another desire we sought to fulfill?
The Bhagavad Gita states:
“There is no work that affects Me; nor do I aspire for the fruits of action. One who understands this truth about Me also does not become entangled in the fruitive reactions of work.”
Here, ‘Me’ is the indescribable part of you that can see, feel, hear, or touch. As we begin to let go of more of our attachments a interactions with the outside and can sit in a state of silence, we may begin to see that the ‘Me’ within is has no real desire for anything. This is our true nature underneath the masks of our personality. Nonetheless this ‘me’ continues to be the source of all action, not only in ourselves but in the entire universe. Why does it bother acting it has not desires to be fulfilled? No one fan really know. What’s important is to notice this action start to take place inside of you- this desireless, simple action simply takes place whether you mean it to or not.
The message here is all about watching and letting go, more, and more, and more. Watch and question the motivation of your actions – be they survival or adoration – and be willing to let go of them until all that is left is movement without any justification necessary.
This is grace.
