Gita 03.23 – Walk your talk

Thank you Bhagavad Gita 3.23 If I did not conduct myself properly If I did not conduct myself properly If I was not absorbed in duty then that following my example my path my example my example people would follow that all people are partha Krishna is now telling the consequences that would result if the leaders did not do their duties specifically he did not do his duty so if I do not do my duty then people will see that example and they will follow that example so Krishna is saying that I do my duty absorbed, immersed in my duty meticulously I do my duty so if I don't do others will also not do we see that in our country if the boss is doing corruption, boss is taking bribe then the subordinates also feel if the boss is doing then why can't we we will also do it so if the biggest political leaders they are nepotistic they are always favoring their relatives and their family members then the subordinates also feel that oh my relatives should be favored and then they want to be nepotistic that way also so the point here is that actually we are all social we are all setting examples for others even introvert people even if they don't seem to be very visible in society still others are observing them and psychologists have said that even a introvert person on average will influence around 10,000 people living overall lifetime so all of us do set examples for others what then to speak of those who are political leaders so now in the Vedic culture Vedic culture was highly duty driven, different people had different duties and when they all do their duties properly then just as in a watch different parts of the, or in a machine well corded machine each screw plays a role and when that, the screws the parts of the machine play the roles properly then the overall machine functions well and similarly when people work properly at that time in a society, each different people doing their different roles then overall society functions properly so the important thing is that the Vedic culture was duty driven and any society that is going to be productive has to be duty driven properly so being duty driven means that people are cognizant of their responsibilities and they are conscientious in doing their responsibilities now if you study political science or civics, you understand that there are rights and there are responsibilities if you are a part of a particular kingdom if you are a part of a particular state then this is what you can expect from the state, the state will provide you this and the state will expect these responsibilities from you so actually both are important in general people agitate more for their rights then they execute their responsibilities that's why it's famously said that the American president JFK said ask not what America has done for you ask what you have done for America so the point is that people are more concerned about their rights than their responsibilities and for this self-centered ethos to change for people to learn to value contribution more than gratification contribution means what I am doing, gratification means what I am getting so for people to value contribution more than gratification it is important that they see examples of that kind of behavior so that means that when the leaders at the top are diligent in doing their duties then that leads to a top-down ethos transmission in the organization in the state and the world at large wherein people learn from their examples and internalize those examples so Krishna is saying that I as a Kshatriya fought against demons and although I am not fighting now but still I am acting as helping you in doing the duty in establishing the rule of dharma so if the kings did not do their duties then the result of that would be in society disorder will prevail lawlessness will prevail so the Vedic culture was supposed to be as I said duty-centered and the four Varanas were each expected to provide their own contribution in society and when they all did their duties then that enabled people in general the whole society to function properly and people's overall well-being was taken care of because there was a balance of contribution of what people took and what people gave now among the leaders in society the Brahmanas are the intellectual leaders they are the most respected but then in terms of social visibility and glamorization the kings were the most visible and glamorized and people would see the king and emulate the king so now the important thing was that to recognize that the way the kings behave it was the responsibility of the king to behave in such a way that others would also follow that example otherwise the society in general people would rationalize so if the king is responsible the king is negligent of responsibilities then why do I need to bother about responsibilities let me just relax let me why should I struggle because in general to do any duty requires sacrifice our tendency is often to let things glide along the path of least resistance but when we are expected to get certain things done we have to resist this tendency to be lethargic and we have to apply ourselves so Krishna is saying I apply myself and people when they see my example they will apply themselves also so the implication here is Arjuna if you do not fight then neither will others and that way a negative example will be set in society so as in today's parlance it is said walk your talk people see your walk more than your talk so walk and talk are of course rhyming words and here walk and talk basically refer to not just the sounds that come out of our mouth or the patterns which we move our feet here walk and talk are used in a symbolic or metaphorical sense to refer to walk refers to what we speak and in general the standards and the principles that we espouse by our words that is talk and that means basically in religious parlance you could say preach in secular parlance you might say teach so that is all what is referred to by talk and walk refers to how one lives so the way one brings ones ideals into action and demonstrates them through ones actions so walk your talk means that people actually demonstrate through their actions what they are doing and what they are talking about so when people walk their talk others take their talk seriously and they walk their talk but if the people just talk but don't walk then the common people also keep talking and not walk so then society, when people see such an exemplary leaders when they themselves don't follow standards so for example if there is corruption in society from top to bottom because if the top is percolating down to the bottom then the whole society it will become nearly impossible to function so Krishna is indirectly telling Arjuna that you are a Kshatriya and you have a duty to protect Dharma to protect the citizens and that duty is calling you how can you abandon that duty Arjuna set an example and do your duty and this theme Krishna will continue in the next verse.