Gita 18.06 Karmic bondage is like emotional dependence – focus not just on the action but also on the motivation

Transcript

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Bhagavad Gita 18.6 etanya pitukarmani sangam tyaktva phalani cha kartavyani time partha nishitam matam uttamam Krishna is now giving his conclusion to the discussion about whether one should do work or one should renounce work in order to stay disentangled in life so Krishna has quoted earlier in 18.3 that tyajyam doshabdhitye ke karmaprahur manishnaha where some people say that yajnana tapa should be given up because it is doshabdh because in doing these activities we often have to do certain things we are karmically implicating and that we end up bound so if we do not wish to be bound we should give up these activities but on the other hand this verse states that don’t let yourself get carried away because ultimately we have to do our duty don’t get carried away by the idea that this will cause bondage and that simply giving this up will bring liberation actually liberation comes not so much by action but by intention just as bondage also comes not so much because of action as because of intention so Krishna says over here therefore you do your karma therefore give up your attachment to results and do them do your work in the mood of and this is my duty it simply needs to be done and therefore let me move forward and do it this is the understanding with which we should function and to the extent we function with this understanding to that extent we grow in life so for us during the course of our life if we wish to progress steadily towards elevation and ultimately towards liberation we need to recognize the reality of our situation just as if somebody is taking a treatment they need to understand what the actual disease is and what the symptom is if they treat the symptoms they won’t get cured so similarly if you consider bondage karmic bondage to be the disease say somebody is an alcoholic now you see they have become they are alcoholics and if they don’t want to stay alcoholics they should simply give up alcohol which is true but will their alcohol go away simply if they just decide to give it up possibly but not usually because underlying their action is their intention frequently their alcoholism serves some need and unless that need is healthily addressed they will not be able to grow unless that need is taken care of in a proper way they will end up feeling the urge for alcohol overpowering them again and they will succumb so it’s vital that each one of us move forward in our inner growth by not just superficial external observation but by serious introspection in today’s world we may not so much understand the concept of bondage but we can understand the concept of dependency say some people become emotionally dependent on someone else and co-dependency can be a big problem so a person cannot function at all unless they are seen to be they are seen to be able to please someone else so that if person A is dependent on person B then if person B is pleased with A, A just can’t function A has to somehow or the other please B so Dhritarashtra was emotionally dependent on Duryodhana emotional dependence of course is the same as attachment just put in contemporary psychological language attachment can be of various degrees and to various objects but in dependency or co-dependency it is to a person and it is a desperate need for the approval of the other person that underlies all the actions that the particular dependent person does now unless that person grows up emotionally and becomes healthier they won’t be able to resist whatever it is that they are trying to do they won’t be able to move forward in their life and focus on their inner growth unless they can recognize the inner need which needs to be addressed unless they address that inner need they will keep relapsing into their dependent behavior so kartavyaniti nepartha extending this principle to our actions if we become dependent on the results for getting a sense of worth for those actions then we will stay bound but instead instead of becoming dependent on our results we focus on our spirituality and on the purpose of realizing our spirituality then whatever happens we won’t get that agitated we would stay purposefully driven in moving towards our those activities which further our emotional and spiritual growth so when Krishna is telling Arjuna that you are concerned about whether you will be bound by fighting in the Kurukshetra war Krishna tells him that if you fight in a mood of attached dutifulness kartavyaniti nepartha sangam tattva phalancha giving up your attachment to results then you will not become bound because in that case what gets bound we don’t get physically bound what gets bound is our consciousness and if we learn to be attached and dutiful in performing our activities then our consciousness won’t get bound and that’s how we will stay free