Lord Krishna’s birthday is being celebrated throughout the length and breadth of India. There is a lot of excitement as also enthusiasm on this occasion. Impressive shoba yatras have been taken out and people are making a bee line before the temples to have the darshan of the deity. So far so good.
Janamashtami is not only about kite flying, observing fast and singing hymns in praise of the Lord of the Universe. On this day, it is very important to revisit the message of the Lord Krishna for the world. It is a profound message for the entire human race and some love to read the Gita as a part of their daily regimen.
Today is the day to concentrate on a Shaloka in Chapter-2 of The Bhagwat Gita, which read as under:
कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन!
You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action.
Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty. – Bhagavad Gita, Chapter II, Verse 47. Stress has been laid on performing our day to day duties not consigning ourselves to inaction and lethargy. Running from our assigned duties is sin in itself as Lord is always on the job 24X7.
The important point is that while performing our duties to the best of our capabilities and potentialities, the result of the work performed has to be left to the sweet will of the God as He is the sole master to examine our intent. One is just a facilitator or an instrument of the Divine.
It is a tragedy that most of us consider ourselves to be powerful enough to control the affairs but it is the other way round. We want to wear a halo of glory and earn name and fame. All this is immaterial in the divine scheme of things and man has been instructed only to perform duty in the truest sense. Here a word or two about Nish Kaam Karma must be put: “Nishkama karma or karma yoga, is a method whereby energy, anxieties and obsessive analysis that would otherwise have been expended on brooding over the results are now channelled to constructive and effective work. This actually serves to contribute to the favourable final outcome”.
It is easily written but in practical life this is a razor’s edge. Tragically, in our schools and colleges as also Universities hardly any teacher speaks on the aforesaid lines as education in our country has been totally commercialised.
“While Indians aspire to bag a foreign degree, some Harvard University students, on the other hand, are studying the Bhagavad Gita and Ramayana”.
“Srimad Bhagavad Gita is being taught as an elective in Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani campus (which started in 1964) for several decades now”.
What has happened to our NAAC accredited Jammu University as also SMVDU and scores of Govt colleges ?
L-G Mr. Manoj Sinha on this auspicious day is expected to ensure that Birla/Harvard model be replicated under his chancellorship in our UT. Lord Krishna shall definitely bless him and his Team.
Satayameva Jayate!