The Divinity of our daily chores-Bhagavad Gita verse 3.8

Have you seen the picture of the great Saivaite Saint Thirunavukkarasar, popularly known as Appar? In most of the paintings depicting him, he would be seen carrying a shovel on his shoulder, for keeping the corridors of Siva temples clean with that shovel was a job he was constantly engaged in besides singing songs praising the Lord. That old and withered erudite Saint was so drawn to the teen aged Sambandar, another great Saint, that he offered himself as one of the palanquin bearers of the young Sambandar.

Thus two great lessons can be learnt from the life of Appar. The first is that no job is mean for a person who puts his heart into it and derives great joy from performing it. That Appar was always seen with the shovel on his shoulder was an indication of the importance that he attached to his job and he did not consider the shovel as an instrument of a lowly job. Secondly a truly erudite person would be drawn to another as a bee to a flower. There will be no professional jealousies there. Appar was in such awe of Sambandar’s learning that he derived great pleasure in being one of his palanquin bearers. Sambandar who was aware of the greatness of Thirunavukkarasar forbade him from shouldering his palanquin and christened him ‘Appar’ to show that he was a towering ‘father figure’ to all.

A study of the lives of the 63 Saivaite Saints called ‘Nayanmars’ would throw ample light on the import of this particular Verse in Gita. Most of these Nayanmars were engaged in manual labour for their livelihood and did not enjoy any special privileges. For example, Nandanar, one of the most celebrated and talked about Nayanmars, was a poor farm worker and being of a very low caste, he was shunned by the society and barred from entering a <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" /><st1:City><st1lace>Temple</st1lace></st1:City> where the high caste Hindus thronged to pay their obeisance to the Lord. When he could not worship the Lord from outside the <st1:City><st1lace>Temple</st1lace></st1:City>, as his vision was obstructed by the ‘Nandi’, the Lord made His Nandi move aside to make Himself visible to His devotee.

These Nayanmars have shown that no special effort is needed to feel the presence of God in us and around us. They considered whatever they did as service to the Lord. To Appar, for example, cleaning the <st1:City><st1lace>Temple</st1lace></st1:City> corridors was as sacred as performing Pooja to the presiding deity. While the persons offering worship to the Lord in great pomp and show remained clueless about the Divine Presence, the Lord appeared to His ardent devotees without any special effort on their part.

Performing our tasks with selflessness and detachment may appear daunting but if we understand that all that we do is pre-ordained and part of the Grand Scheme, it becomes that much easier to launch ourselves into a Spiritual journey. It will be pertinent to remember here that no Spiritual pursuit is going to be possible if we are more interested in an outward manifestation of such a pursuit. For what we are looking for is not out there yonder but is deep within us.

 

Dear Usha
That advice of your friend is very profound indeed particularly for the seekers of excellence. We tend to ridicule such an advice saying that it will scuttle the ambitions of people. They just forget that no progress is possible for anyone unless he is in pursuit of excellence.
We have some great examples of yore to show how mere performance of our daily chore with devotion can take us on our Spiritual voyage.
Sri

 

Dear Corallux
Sai always preferred to be called a 'fakir' though his disciples kept him on the throne of their hearts. It is not mere coincidence that most of the great religious leaders were in poverty. Through their lives, they emphasised what the Prophet taught that it would be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to pass through the gates of Heaven. This is not to cast any aspersions on the rich but merely to point out that materialism and Spiritual quest cannot go hand in hand. So the aforesaid saying of Baba about the begging bowl must be viewed in this context.
But in the days of yore, even Emperors led a simple and ascetic life. King Janaka was a great Saint himself. The post-Kalinga Asoka is as revered as Buddha himself.
Bud today, the self-styled godmen own huge mansions, fleets of cars and even private jets. How sensible is it to look upto such men to lead us in our Spiritual journey?
Sri

 

Dear Lalitha
I am happy that you have mentioned one of the greatest spiritualists of Karnataka, Shri Basavanna. Centuries later, a Saint of similar disposition, Shri Narayana Guru adorned the land of Kerala. Shri Ramanuja himself is hailed as a Social reformer besides being a Spiritual leader par excellence. Not only these Gurus but many others before and after them used their Spiritual guidance to decimate the rampant social inequalities of those days.

In this context, it will be interesting to recall an incident about Adi Sankara when Lord Siva Himself appeared before Sankara as an 'untouchable' at Kashi on the banks of The Ganga. Sankara asks Him to move out of his path and Siva smilingly asks Sankara who should move out of his way, His body or soul. Adi Sankara instantly realises his own ignorance and prostrates before the Lord.

There is an abiding truth in all these stories. God sees no distinction among His creations and it is just our own making.
Sri