Chapter 18 verse 47
“It is better to do one’s own dharma, even though imperfectly, than to do another’s dharma, even though perfectly. By doing one’s innate duties, a person does not incur sin.”
This concept enumerated by Bhagwan could easily be
misconstrued as restrictive dictum from the Lord. It is very profound wisdom.
All human beings are born and develop inherent tendencies called vasanas which
act as the filter by which they view the world and act in it. Our ancient sages
understand this psychology of men and advised to exhaust these vasanas through
suitable work. This work is not your birthright but what comes naturally to a
person. A person filled with passion such as dronacharya although born a
brahmana chose to be a teacher of warfare. His passion needed an outlet for
expression and exhaustion and if he was confined to be a teacher in a gurukula
of Vedas, he would have been frustrated and led a life of unhappiness. It is a
separate matter that his ego got in his way multiple times to wreck his peace
of mind. The corollary of this concept is that once a person works as per his
innate tendencies and exhaust those tendencies, they advance on the spiritual
path and would naturally be ready for devotion to the supreme and would be able
to search for true meaning in life by going inwards. By doing one'duty as
prescribed by society and what comes naturally to them without ego, they reach
a state where there is no doer ship attached to their work and hence no further
impact on their psyche or what is called sin or merit (paapa and punya).
No comments:
Post a Comment