Neither the fear of loss nor the lure of gain – Bhagavad Gita 3.18-3.19

Shakespeare’s crafty handling of the character of Othello, who has now become synonymous with dilemma, is more to be pitied than censured. Basically a gentle and reasonable man, he allows himself to be manipulated by the villainous Iago to a point of no-return. Iago’s skilful lies create in Othello such an emotional imbalance that makes him murder Desdemona in the end. The Oxford English dictionary defines a ‘Dilemma’ as a situation in which a difficult choice has to be made between alternatives that are equally undesirable. Standing in the front of the battlefield of Kurukshetra, that is what Arjuana is facing, or thinks that he is facing. But unlike Othello, Arjuna is soon retrieved from his terrible dilemma by the Lord Himself through some extremely wise counselling which has withstood the test of time.

To be in a dilemma is fundamentally a human weakness. A well-balanced person will never be in a dilemma and even if he is, he will either resolve it himself or take guidance from someone who is more balanced than him. It is bad to be in a dilemma but worse still is letting unscrupulous people take advantage of it and create a mire from which it will be a Herculean task to emerge unscathed.

Dilemma is a result of indecisiveness. Indecisiveness results from apprehension of the result of our action and the apprehension arises out of too much emotional attachment to the result. That is why, the Lord repeatedly stresses on the need to steer our mind clear of the effects of our actions. Once we develop a Yogic attitude of non-attachment to the results of our actions, the mind will no longer feel turbulent about it.

All spiritualists consider contemplation as the end and purpose of an action. All actions spur them on to further contemplation. The materialists, on the other hand, consider action particularly directed towards material and social progress as the very end. For example, let us take the Large Hadron Collidor experiment being conducted at the Swiss-French border that will help scientists understand the gaps in our understanding of the cosmos. The scientists will be happy with the purpose and result of this experiment but the spiritualists will extend their spiritual enquiry from where the scientists conclude. They know that these experiments will throw light on only an infinitesimal aspect of God’s mighty Domain. Their spiritual quest will eventually lead them on to a greater understanding of the Divine Ground while the materialists will be nowhere near it.

The Lord’s advice to Arjuna must also be understood in this context. All attachment to action will deter our progress beyond the action itself and its results. Contemplation beyond action is possible only when we remain unattached to the results of action. As a corollary, when we start getting more and more contemplative, our attachment to our action may get lesser and lesser.

 

Dear Corallux

I loved your summing up
'Scriptures say that instead of exhausting our energies in thinking the pros & cons,to just "Go with the flow," i.e., do what you feel is the best & let the results rest in the hands of Divinity'.

What is most important is not 'going with the flow' like a log of wood but doing so in the best manner possible by summoning all that God has blessed us with. It is interesting to note your speculation on the origin of life. It is interesting that the scientists who are part of the LHC experiment also talk of the 'God particle' that may have triggered the first life forms.

Shri Sai acknowledging the hand of the Divine in whatever he did had a parallel in what Yogi Ram Surat Kumar of Tiruvannamalai always used to say when we paid our obeisance to him. "My Master blesses you' he would say.
Sri

 

Dear Malathi
That FB of yours sets me thinking.
It is true that more often than not, we are forced to take certain decisions the results of which may be quite unpalatable to us. If you will carefully analyse the content of Gita, you'll know that pain and pleasure are the result of our egocentric involvement in our actions. When the Lord says 'Dont bother about the results' , it would only mean that we should remain unattached to the action. We are,here, more like an arrow in the hands of a skillful archer. The arrow may be on its way to take someone's life or to pluck a fruit from a tree. It matters very little to the arrow. Gita suggests that we develop an attitude similar to that of an arrow. He is the Skillful Archer and He decides the purpose of our journey.

Malathi, I agree that it is difficult to follow Gita particularly when we face a piquant situation in life. Gita can certainly serve as an effective sheet anchor when our emotions go haywire due to the turbulent happenings in our life. It prevents us from going overboard in letting our emotions get the better of us.
Sri

 

Dear Vidhi
When our perceptions are very clear and our actions are taken in strict conformity with the moral and ethical standards laid down for our pursuit, it is unlikely that we may face a dilemma. Dilemma is the hallmark of our egocentric involvement in our actions. When He is ready to own up responsibility for our actions, why should we have dilemma at all assuming, of course, that we do not swerve from the Divine Laws?
Sri?