Go with the Wheel of Action or get crushed! – Bhagavad gita 3.16-3.17

The Lord warns Arjuna and thereby mankind of all time, that self-destruction and dire annihilation alone will be the result, if man ventures to stand against this mighty wheel of action.

Aevam pravarthitham chakram nanuvarthatheeha ya:
AghyaayurindriyaraamO mOgham partha sa jeevathi - 3.16

He who does not follow here the wheel thus set revolving, is of a sinful life; rejoicing in the senses, he lives in vain, Oh Son of Partha!

Having come into this world if man does not do what is expected of him, his advent amounts to nothing. As a drone, he drags on a wretched existence. He is no asset, but a burden and dead weight to society.
A student who declines to be educated does not derive the benefit of his being schooled.
Instead of fulfilling, a human being has no right to frustrate the divine plan and purpose of nature. Only if the individuals are perfect, the community works smoothly.
Man ought to be a fulfilment and not a failure in life. Such a man lives in vain, indeed.

Is there nobody who is an exception to the wheel of action revolving to progression?
Here comes the answer:

Yasthvathmarathireva syaadaathmathrpthas(h)cha maanava:
Athmsnyeva cha santhshtasthasya karyam na vidyathae 3.17

But, the man who rejoices only in the Self, who is satisfied with the Self, who is content in the Self alone, for Him, verily there is nothing (more) to be done.

The wheel-of-action explained above is generally applicable to the majority of seekers; actions in the world, undertaken in a spirit of yajna integrate their personality and make them more and more prepared for the highest vocation in life, meditation.
Through selfless work, an individual gains an increasing amount of inner poise and when such a single-pointed-mind is brought to function at the meditation seat, the meditator gains the experience of transcending his limited ego. To such a perfected one, work is not a training to purify himself but it is a fulfilment of his own God-realisation.


Love,
Chithra.

When the famous Sachin Tendulkar landed in Srilanka recently for the 3 Test Series, all eyes were on him. He was just 171 runs short of breaking Brian Lara’s world record of 11953 Test runs. Even the Government of Srilanka took advantage of this expectation to boost up its tourist traffic particularly from India. The whole of India waited with bated breath for the great cricketer to overhaul Lara’s record. At the end of the first Test, Sachin was still way behind the tantalisingly close target. At the end of the Second Test, he stayed rooted to his spot behind Lara. At the end of the third and final Test, people were just disgusted that he could not get those paltry 171 runs in six innings. Much to the country’s dismay, Lara continues to be the numero uno in Test cricket. This sporting episode will enable you to understand the crux of these verses of Gita and the line in Chithra’s commentary “Having come into this world if man does not do what is expected of him, his advent amounts to nothing”

All of us are caused to be born here for a definite purpose by the Almighty. Unlike Sachin, we have no clue about what is expected of us and we go about our lives in utter ignorance. But from the lives of our Spiritual leaders, we realise that by merely following the laws of the Divine in all our actions, the purpose of our life is served. To most of us, our engagement with God is restricted to the few minutes that we spend in our Pooja room or in a Temple of Worship. Thereafter, we go about the rest of our life unmindful of the Divine Laws. We must know that our actions, professional or otherwise, must be an extension of our engagement with the Divine in a place of worship. The code of conduct laid down for our pursuit while in a place of worship must be followed in all our actions.

St.Thomas Aquinas, an Italian Priest who lived in the 13^th Century, has a profound suggestion for us in his following words:
“Those who are more adapted to the active life can prepare themselves for contemplation in the practice of the active life, while those who are more adapted to the contemplative life can take upon themselves the works of the active life so as to become yet more apt for contemplation”
He further goes on to say that action should be something added to the life of prayer, not something taken away from it. I should think that this recommendation is quite utilitarian. Action that is taken ‘away from the life of prayer’ is action unenlightened by contact with Reality, uninspired and unguided. Consequently, it is apt to be ineffective, ungodly and harmful.

De Caussade, a French Jesuite writer recommends total abandonment to God. His plea to us is “Do what you are doing now, suffer what you are suffering now; to do all this with holiness, nothing need be changed but your hearts. Sanctity consists in willing what happens to us by God’s order”
What a remarkable piece of advice that is! In this great drama called Life, all the actions are caused by His Order. Some may appear good, some bad, some holy and some unholy. Each action does not form a complete picture but without it no picture can be complete. It is not for us to question them but submit to them in total surrender.

Dear C & C
Solid title to a solid post :)) I almost imagined a road roller crushing the gravel and stones under it !! hahaha
Coming to the serious point...yes, none of us can escape the divine plan that we are part of. If we ever imagine that we can, then we will be sorry.
In this regard, I always admire the 4 stages of life prescribed by Hinduism - Brahmacharya, Grihasta, Vanaprastha, Sanyasa. There are specific codes of conduct, roles and responsibilities, rights and duties at each stage. Those who choose to NOT follow these, end up in a mess.
How many students there are that do not study when they ought to, fail in their exams, fritter away their time, cause agony to their families and become anti-social elements?
How many families there are where husband and/or wife does not do their duties and cause tensions leading to divorce, uncared for children etc!!
How many elderly people there are that spend their old years complaining about their Daughter-in-laws and Son-in-laws and brooding on family politics, when they could be spending their time in sharing their wisdom and experience for their families and for the larger society !!!
Many of us feel directionless....but there can be a starting point when we look at our sccriptures and the method and order prescribed by our ancestors. I am sure that, not only in Hinduism, but in all other major religious, such duties are specified. We may not know what we will become in the future, but we do know that our experiences of the past and the time we have at present, can be good learning points and guidelines for our future.
Thanks for your lovely posts again.
With love
Your IL disciple
Pavithra

Dear Chith

Again you have stress the importance of action without which this world comes to a standstill. If we all know our responsibility of the role played by us and do our work punctually then everything will go smoothly. But most of the time man forgets this responsibility and gets into trouble.

I liked the following line “work is not a training to purify himself but it is a fulfilment of his own God-realization”. The divine wheel of action gets us into the right path. Thank you.

Love
Vidhi

Dear Cheeniya Sir

As usual your quotes are superb. As the French Jesuite writer puts it nothing needs to be changed but our hearts. It is the willingness to under go what is planned for us by God. Most of the time we wish for something else without knowing the divine plan and suffer miserably. Only by following the laws of the divine in all our actions we can get on to the right path. And our scriptures helps us in this only thing is we have to look into it.

regards
Vidhi

My dear Gita Gurus,

When I had asked my Dad the significance of 3 threads in a "Janeu," his explanation was that every human had 3 debts to pay in his/her lifetime: Daiva Runa, Pitr Runa & Acharya Runa. Matru runa is something no one can repay hence that is why Hinduism says "One mother equals two fathers as she moulds the character of a child right from conception."

Many people we see love to spend a life of idleness given away to sensual pleasures. This we see leads them on the path of destruction.

Dear Chithraji, I agree with you with your title, "Go with the wheel of action or get crushed." Action is what keeps the world moving. If a person sits idle, there is no difference between him and a lump of clay.

Some people are fortunate to get the company of people engaged in spiritual activities & under their influence start to perform their duties in harmony with the cosmos.

Dear Cheeniyaji,

Being a Sai bhakt, you will agree this is similar to Sri Sai's teachings when he says, we have to perform our duties as laid down by society. A simple act of feeding the poor is meritorious than hoarding the grain & worshipping the Lord.

Reminds me of an IL's signature : Hands that serve are more powerful than the hands that pray.

Nothing is gained by idleness I believe. Many a times, we come across rags-to-riches stories, have we ever stopped to wonder as to how it happened? We forget to calculate the amount of hard work, the sacrifices etc that person put in.

The Holy Gita has tons of material that even the best of Life coaches/MBA academies can make use of.

Regards,

Corallux

Dear Pavi,
As usual, a very pertinent FB from you, thanks.
Factories are set up for curing, treating and processing the things. The Wheel of Nature is likewise set up by the Lord for nursing, training, disciplining and elevating all beings at various levels of existence.
One who does not live in accordance with this law and who is selfish, commits sin. He violates the Law of the Creator and that is the worst sin!!
Love,
Chithra.

Originally Posted by mkthpavi

Dear C & C
Solid title to a solid post :)) I almost imagined a road roller crushing the gravel and stones under it !! hahaha
Coming to the serious point...yes, none of us can escape the divine plan that we are part of. If we ever imagine that we can, then we will be sorry.
In this regard, I always admire the 4 stages of life prescribed by Hinduism - Brahmacharya, Grihasta, Vanaprastha, Sanyasa. There are specific codes of conduct, roles and responsibilities, rights and duties at each stage. Those who choose to NOT follow these, end up in a mess.
How many students there are that do not study when they ought to, fail in their exams, fritter away their time, cause agony to their families and become anti-social elements?
How many families there are where husband and/or wife does not do their duties and cause tensions leading to divorce, uncared for children etc!!
How many elderly people there are that spend their old years complaining about their Daughter-in-laws and Son-in-laws and brooding on family politics, when they could be spending their time in sharing their wisdom and experience for their families and for the larger society !!!
Many of us feel directionless....but there can be a starting point when we look at our sccriptures and the method and order prescribed by our ancestors. I am sure that, not only in Hinduism, but in all other major religious, such duties are specified. We may not know what we will become in the future, but we do know that our experiences of the past and the time we have at present, can be good learning points and guidelines for our future.
Thanks for your lovely posts again.
With love
Your IL disciple
Pavithra

Dear Vidhi,
The whole universe, the whole planetary system, operates by mutual attraction. Every planet, the sun, moon and the earth move in their respective orbits because of the force of attraction that keeps the whole system going. Otherwise it would collapse.
The entire cosmos is nothing but a force of attraction operating in a most intelligent manner.
Living beings who are not mere physical entities are conscious beings mutually related to the devatas. Since this is how the order is set up, we recognise them, acknowledge them. The wheel spoken here is much more than a cosmic wheel. This is an order set up by the Lord, the efficient & material cause of it all!
Love,
Chithra.

Originally Posted by vidhi

Dear Chith

Again you have stress the importance of action without which this world comes to a standstill. If we all know our responsibility of the role played by us and do our work punctually then everything will go smoothly. But most of the time man forgets this responsibility and gets into trouble.

I liked the following line “work is not a training to purify himself but it is a fulfilment of his own God-realization”. The divine wheel of action gets us into the right path. Thank you.

Love
Vidhi

Dear Lux,
This interesting story was narrated by my teacher:
A king took a bet with his chief minister that ALL HIS CITIZENS were excellent, upright people, which the latter did not agree with.
So they erected a huge tank & ordered that every citizen must deposit a cup of milk on a particular day - the citizens dutifully did it. The tank was very huge & none could see inside.
That evening when the king & minister visited, they found, there was no milk, but only water! The king enquired and the minister explained to him that each person, thinking that that his water will not make any difference to so much milk, opted not to give any milk at all!
This shows that if you think, that you need not do what has to be done because everyone else will do it, and if that is the thinking of everyone, everything comes to a halt. And if all, but one person does do what is to be done, the one who does not do it and who partakes of the benefit becomes a cheat!!
Love,
Chithra.

Originally Posted by corallux

My dear Gita Gurus,

When I had asked my Dad the significance of 3 threads in a "Janeu," his explanation was that every human had 3 debts to pay in his/her lifetime: Daiva Runa, Pitr Runa & Acharya Runa. Matru runa is something no one can repay hence that is why Hinduism says "One mother equals two fathers as she moulds the character of a child right from conception."

Many people we see love to spend a life of idleness given away to sensual pleasures. This we see leads them on the path of destruction.

Dear Chithraji, I agree with you with your title, "Go with the wheel of action or get crushed." Action is what keeps the world moving. If a person sits idle, there is no difference between him and a lump of clay.

Some people are fortunate to get the company of people engaged in spiritual activities & under their influence start to perform their duties in harmony with the cosmos.

Dear Cheeniyaji,

Being a Sai bhakt, you will agree this is similar to Sri Sai's teachings when he says, we have to perform our duties as laid down by society. A simple act of feeding the poor is meritorious than hoarding the grain & worshipping the Lord.

Reminds me of an IL's signature : Hands that serve are more powerful than the hands that pray.

Nothing is gained by idleness I believe. Many a times, we come across rags-to-riches stories, have we ever stopped to wonder as to how it happened? We forget to calculate the amount of hard work, the sacrifices etc that person put in.

The Holy Gita has tons of material that even the best of Life coaches/MBA academies can make use of.

Regards,

Corallux

Dear Chithra,
First,my apologies.I overlooked that yesterday was Monday after a holiday on Ganesh Chaturthi.Well,i realised and here i am to learn a lesson.

The title is quite terrifying.Man has to live according to the rules of nature and god.The wheel of action is mighty- yes and we are no competition to go against it.. rather live by it. Every man is assgined with a task to complete before his janma is over.Some tasks has to be done through us for "lokashemam" and ofcourse for self.
A person who is of no use to himself and to others is nothing but a dead weight as aptly described by you - boomikku baaram!
We need not be a great contributor to the society , but atleast can do the best of what we can and give it to the society -like the squirrel's job(bringing mud) in Ramayana.

"Fulfilment of his own realisation" - Thoughtful words.

Thanks Chithra, we better go with the Wheel of action and not get crushed and carried away.Great lesson today!