If Your Path is Right, Your Destination Will Be Right🔗

Q: Master, It is a natural response to look towards the end result whenever we do something. How can we give up thinking about the outcome?

We always work for an outcome. We don' realize the irrationality of focusing our mind on the result before we even embark on the activity. We are so conditioned to this response that anything else seems bizarre. How can we even consider doing something if we do not know what we are going to get out it, you will ask?

What is wrong if you do something just for the sake of its own enjoyment? What about looking at the sunset or sunrise, for example? Can you even think of a result of watching the sun? Those of you who are so conditioned to the goal response may say, yes, we need to feel happy watching the sun. How then are you going to measure that happiness factor? What are you going to compare it against?

Let us learn from children and from enlightened Masters who have become children again. Children are so curious and carefree. They have no expectations. They do things without knowing what will come out of it. They don't even have an idea of what an outcome is. Gradually, unfortunately, they learn from elders that each activity has an outcome. Then they start placing the outcome ahead of the activity. Then, and only then, do they lose their innate happiness.

Can we say that we shall live today only if we have a guarantee of tomorrow? Do we even know for sure that the sun will rise tomorrow? Do we know whether or not we will be breathing to see the sunrise tomorrow?

A small story:

Birbal, the wise minister of emperor Akbar, often got into trouble because the other ministers were jealous of him.

They told Akbar that Birbal could do anything. Akbar said, 'How can he do anything, he is only human?' They said, 'No, he is super human. See, he can make even a dog talk.' They pointed to a stray dog that was passing by the palace and said, 'Just threaten him, he can do it.'

Akbar called Birbal and told him that he knew Birbal had super human powers and unless he made the dog talk he would be put to death.

Birbal said, 'Sire, even with my powers I cannot do it immediately. Give me one year and I shall make the dog talk.'

Birbal's friends were shocked. They said, 'Birbal, what have you done? How can you make a dog talk? You will surely die!'

Birbal said, 'In a year's time many things can happen. The dog may die. The king may die. I may die. Who knows, the dog may even learn to talk!'

When you go with no expectations, whatever happens is a miracle.

There is a very deep truth that is embedded in this statement of Krishna. The core of all Karma Yoga is that you must act without expectation of result.

When we perform with expectation we are always focused on the future. We are in speculation. We are in greed. We are in fear as to whether we can achieve or not. The more we expect the more stressed we become. We cannot focus on what we are doing. The chances of a positive outcome diminish when we place excessive importance on the outcome.

When you are focused on the outcome, you lose the journey. When you are so focused on the destination you miss all the scenery that you pass by. Imagine that you are driving through a beautiful scenic road, by a seaside or a mountainside. There is so much to see and enjoy. You can only enjoy the scenery if your mind is attentive to the scenery. If instead, all that you can think of is when you would reach your destination and you are impatient, you may not even notice the landscape you are passing through.

When you are on a project under time pressure and someone is constantly looking over your shoulder to see whether you are performing right and performing on time, do you really think that you can perform well? The next time you are on such an assignment, convince yourself that you have all the time in the world and just focus on what you need to do instead of worrying about when you have to finish. You will find that you will complete the job in less time and in a better manner.

People think that living in an ashram is easy, especially when I have said in public that no one will be pressured to work. That is true, no one is pressured. But if you ask my ashramites they will tell you that they rarely go to bed before two or three early morning, and they are up again at dawn for Gurupuja! There is no pressure. I never ask them why they are not at Gurupuja or why they have not completed some work. They do it because that is their passion. When you are engaged in what you are passionate about and yet not worried about the outcome, you can never be stressed. You will only be in bliss instead.

Working without a goal keeps you in the present moment. That is the secret. That is why time and again in the Gita, Krishna pleads with Arjuna to drop all expectations of outcome while in action. Action carried out this way is meditation. That is Karma Yoga. There is no better route to liberation than this.

Activity is a natural attribute of any living being. Otherwise you would be dead. Not acting is the state of tamas, of passive inaction and ignorance. You are in darkness. On the other hand, acting with a goal is rajas, of aggressive intent and activity. When you act without a goal, you are in the present moment, in satva, in peace and bliss. You are in the realm of light.

The Master, the supreme Guru, is leading you from darkness into light, from tamas into satva and beyond, by telling you to drop all expectations and act.

The highest state of satva is when you act without any expectation and with the outcome dedicated to the Divine. You then transcend satva and go beyond the three attributes. Krishna says, 'Do what you have to do and leave the result to Me.' He says, 'The fruits of your action belong to me.' This is the state of true surrender.

In Mahabharata, one of the most poignant scenes is when Draupadi is insulted in Duryodhana's court when his brother Dushassana tries to disrobe her. Draupadi cries out to Krishna, ‘Krishna, save me, save my honor.’ Her garment, the sari that she wears, gets longer and longer and Dushassana gives up finally. When she meets Krishna after that incident. Draupadi complains to Him and asks, ‘Krishna, what took you so long to come to my rescue?’

Krishna say, ‘My dear Draupadi, while you kept calling me, your hand was still clutching your garment in an attempt to help yourself. It is only when you gave up and completely surrendered, and with your hands held high, you called for Me, that I could come to your rescue. I could only come when you really surrendered to me.’

The Lord can only step in when your ego falls. This is the problem we all have. We are full of ego and the belief that we can control everything around us. We are so sure that we control the outcome of our actions. So, Krishna watches in compassion and waits. There is nothing He can do. Our ego prevents Him from reaching out.

Krishna has nothing to gain by telling you that you should sacrifice the results of your actions to Him. Don’t think He wants to get rich and famous by grabbing the results of what you do. Out of deep compassion He tells us, ‘Surrender to Me, surrender the outcome of all that you do to Me, drop your ego and reach out to Me; I am waiting and I shall come to you.’

When we do this, miracles happen!