In considering our setback during Tuesday's elections, the words of Gandhi in his commentary on the Bhagavad Gita came to my mind, and they have proved to be helpful in providing some greatly-needed perspective. The relevant passages are excerpted below. My own comments and paraphrases are in square brackets.
--- >From "The Bhagavad Gita According to Gandhi," pp. 17-21. --- The object of the Gita apears to me to be that of showing the most excellent way to attain self-realization [i.e., the manifestation of Divine qualities in one's life]. The way to self realization is renunciation of fruits of action [i.e., renouncing one's emotional attachment to specific outcomes, so that one will not feel rewarded by a sought outcome or punished by an unsought outcome]. There must be action where there is body. Not one embodied being is exempted from labor, [and] every action is tainted [i.e., imperfect], be it ever so trivial. [How can we manifest the Divine qualities when we are not] free from action, [which carries] the taint of sin [i.e., imperfection]? The Gita has answered the question in decisive language: By desireless action; by renouncing fruits of action [i.e., renouncing the specific results, which may or may not match with our goals]; by dedicating all activities to God, i.e., surrendering oneself to [God] body and soul. [A person] is [such a] devotee...who is not afraid of others, who is free from exultation, sorrow and fear, who is pure, who is versed in action and yet remains unaffected by it, who renounces all fruit, good or bad, who treats friend and foe alike, who is untouched by respect or disrespect, who is not puffed up by praise, who does not go under when people speak ill of [them], who loves silence and solitude, who has a disciplined reason. Such devotion is inconsistent with the existence at the same time of strong attachments [e.g., attachments to specific outcomes]. We thus see, that to be a real devotee is to realize one-self [i.e., to make one's self an instrument of the Divine]. Self-realization is not something apart. Knowledge or devotion...are not media of exchange. They are themselves the thing we want. In other words, if the means and end are not identical, they are almost so. Mere knowledge of right and wrong will not make one fit for salvation. [As] the Gita says, "No one has attained [their] goal without action. If even I [Krishna, a manifestation of the Divine] were lazily to cease working, the world would perish. How much more necessary then for the people at large to engage in action?" How is one to be free from the bondage of action, [and yet at the same time continue to act]? The manner in which the Gita has solved the problem is, to my knowledge, unique. The Gita says, "Do your allotted work but renounce its fruit. Be detached and work. Have no desire for reward, and work." But renunciation of the fruit in no way means indifference to the result. In regard to every action one must know the result that is expected to follow, the means thereto, and the capacity for it. [That person] who, being thus equipped, is without desire for the result, and is yet wholly engrossed in the due fulfillment of the task before [them], is said to have renounced the fruits of [their] action. Let no one consider renunciation to mean want of fruit for the renouncer. Renunciation means the absence of *hankering* after fruit. As a matter of fact, [the person] who renounces reaps a thousandfold. The renunciation [described by] the Gita is the acid test of faith. [The person] who is ever brooding over result often loses nerve in the performance of [that person's] duty. [Such a person] becomes impatient and then gives vent to anger and begins to do unworthy things; [jumping] from action to action, never remaining faithful to any. [The person] who broods over results is like [the person who is] given to objects of senses; ever distracted. [That person] says good-bye to all scruples, every [action becomes justifiable], and [that person] therefore resorts to means fair and foul to attain [their ends]. --- It seems to me that the application of this wisdom to our failure to obtain the fruit of an electoral victory in the recent elections is clear. Our chief concern must be our own integrity; the consistency of our actions with the well-being of the larger entities that include us--family, community, nation, world, ecology. While we work toward improvements that are consistent with the health of all of those more inclusive entities, we will only be at peace when we realize that our emotional well-being does not hinge upon the success or failure of our actions, but rather upon continuing to act with the intent of having such a beneficial effect with respect to all of those things that are greater than we are as individuals. Carl ------------------------ Yahoo! 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