Rightful Conduct, Not To Perfection🔗

18.41 Brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas, vaiśyas and sūdras are divided in the work they do based on their nature, Arjuna.

18.42 The nature of Brāhmaṇa is characterized by calmness, discipline, austerity, tolerance, honesty, knowledge, wisdom and belief in God.

18.43 Kṣatriya are characterized by their qualities of heroism, vigor, firmness, dexterity, and steadfastness in battle, leadership and generosity.

18.44 Those who are good at cultivation, cattle rearing and trade are known as Vaiśya. Those who are very good in service are classified as Sūdra.

18.45 One can attain the highest perfection by devotion to one's natural work. Listen to Me about how one attains perfection while engaged in one's natural work.

18.46 One attains perfection by worshipping the supreme Being, from whom all beings originate and by whom this entire universe is pervaded, through performance of one's natural duty for Him.

18.47 It is better to engage in one's rightful conduct, even though one may not perform it to perfection, rather than to accept another's conduct and perform it perfectly. Duties prescribed according to one's nature are never affected by sinful reactions.

18.48 Every work has some defect, just as fire is covered by smoke. One should not give up the work that is born of his own nature, even if such work is full of fault, Arjuna.

‘Śreyān svadharmo viguṇaḥ paradharmāt svanuṣṭhitāt,’ says Krishna.

So-called scholars have interpreted this verse in a very inappropriate way compared to the other verses of the Gita. The uneducated have also used this verse in order to condemn the vedic culture.

Some have used it to justify the Hindu caste system. Others have denigrated the Gita and Krishna by saying, ‘How can He be God? How can this be God’s scripture when He condones such a social system as the caste system?’

First of all, one must understand how the caste system originated, as well as realize how it became corrupted. In the vedic culture, under the gurukul tradition, young children were left in the care of the master. Most great masters were married and also had children of their own. This is how Arjuna grew up with Ashwattama, Drona’s son.

All the children were taught the Gayatri mantra at the age of seven to awaken their inner intelligence. All the children were trained the same way until age fourteen or so. Then the master decided what they should be trained in next, depending upon their spiritual progress and whether they had had any spiritual experiences by then.

The master studied the child and his progress. He also used astrology as a guide to each child’s character and aptitude. In this way, the master was able to separate the children into potential scholars, leaders, traders and workers. He then trained them accordingly. No preference was given based on heredity for this selection and training. Of course, it is possible that a scholar’s child had a better chance of becoming a scholar due to his genes and liking, but this was not a limiting condition. Were this to be so, Drona, a brāhmaṇa, would never have become a warrior.

Scholars were selected based upon their aptitude to learn, their belief in God, knowledge and their satvic nature. They were taught the scriptures and they became the brāhmaṇa. Those who exhibited courage and leadership qualities were taught martial arts and became kṣatriya. Those who showed a preference for farming or business were trained in those fields as kṣatriya. Those who were ready to serve others and showed an aptitude to work with their hands were classified as sūdra.

No caste was considered inferior or superior to another. No caste was hereditary. The selection and training was scientific and done impartially. It served society well since everyone was living and expressing themselves according to their aptitudes and their unique path towards liberation.

This is why Krishna says it is better to do one's assigned work imperfectly rather than do another's work perfectly. It is possible that one can perform elements of another's work well. A brāhmaṇa, being a scholar, may excel as a vaiśya in commercial calculations; however, he will have neither the heart nor the head to be a businessman.

This system also allowed a child to select. It was not a one-way selection by the master alone. The child was taken into confidence and became a partner in the selection process. After all, the child's life was being structured. The child could express its passion and decide.

Especially in India, many children today are unhappy because they must study what their fathers want them to study, not what they wish to study. It is the job of the parent to explain various options to the child, assess the child's aptitude and then help him decide the field of study and training. Instead the father says, 'Become an engineer because that fetches the maximum dowry in the marriage market, or because that is what I wanted to study and couldn't study!'

Over time, this classification of selection and training became corrupted. Those who were brāhmaṇa wanted their children to be brāhmaṇa and so on. People used their influence to bend the system. The varṇa or caste system that had originally been a selection and training system in education led to the stratification of society based upon birth.

Before we condemn the caste system, realize that every society has stratification. Wherever equality has been forced on society, as in Communism, it has been a failure. Each person is unique and when similar people form groups, there will be stratification and classification. In vedic India this classification was based upon talents and intelligence. In modern society it is based on money and power. Which is better?

Without this caste system, without the brāhmaṇa being the keepers of knowledge, our vedic treasures would have disappeared thousands of years ago. Do you know that there is a group of scholars in Chidambaram even today, and similarly in other places, who take their traditional job of preserving vedic wisdom so seriously that they will not travel out of their town limits? They have made this sacrifice for generations and for thousands of years so that this knowledge could be preserved for posterity. Who will spend his life staying within a ten-mile radius to guard the wisdom that was revealed many thousands of years ago? They do not benefit from this. No one pays them. What do we do in gratitude? We make fun of them, revile them and denounce the system.

The people who denounce the system do it for power and money, not for any selfless reasons. They recommend no alternative means of preserving traditional knowledge.

I am not a brāhmaṇa. Brāhmaṇas have come to me and hinted at their discomfort at being termed brāhmaṇas. They are well-educated people. I tell them, ‘Be proud of your culture, your tradition. Without brāhmaṇas, the vedic tradition would have died long ago.’

This praise is for those brāhmaṇas who have remained true to their scholarship. Those who have succumbed to the lure of wealth have no right to be called brāhmaṇas.

This is where the varṇa system has failed. From a scientific and efficient work system, it has deteriorated into a power broking system. We need to fix that. Actually, today a brāhmaṇa gains nothing by calling himself a brāhmaṇa. Those who are true to their tradition are poor and disrespected. Only those who use their scholarly skills to become kṣatriyas and vaiśyas have gained power, money and respect. It is better they continue to be where they are respected and happy!

The problem with society and the societal structure is that they become exclusive; good societies should be inclusive. Today in the West as well as in other places including India, if we have money or power, we are respected. Does anyone rebel against that? No! How can we call a society advanced or progressive when its main criterion for respect is money?

By that logic, I would have been denounced had I been born in any country other than India. For nearly ten years I was homeless! For nine years I traveled the length and breadth of India without carrying money. I never bought train tickets and never paid for meals or lodging. People welcomed me and offered me transport, shelter and food. In the West I would have been locked up in a jail or a shelter!

There is no violence in the Indian system. There is no desperation to reach some place. By comparison, when you see a homeless person approaching your car in the USA, you instinctively raise your windows and lock your doors. You are so afraid. In India, is anyone afraid of a beggar coming and standing in front of them? You may shoo them off, but you are not afraid that they will become violent. Why? There is acceptance. People in the West say that acceptance is weakness, not violence. How strange societal values have become! You respect a person only when you are afraid of him.

We cannot evolve unless there is a fundamental change in our thinking. We have come to a stage where negative qualities are the hallmark of respectability. Jesus said, ‘The meek shall inherit the earth,’ not the aggressive or violent people. That is true. Violence and aggression never win. Acceptance and compassion do.

Q: Krishna says surrender is the route to enlightenment, to reach Him. But doesn't surrender and renunciation mean surrender of the desire to be enlightened as well?

A beautiful question!

Ananda was one of the most significant of Buddha’s disciples, one of the most intimate and closest disciples. For forty-two years he served Buddha like a shadow. Nobody has served a master in that way for so long. He served Buddha as if he were absolutely absent. Nobody felt his presence: he moved silently. He did the work silently. By serving Buddha, he became more and more silent and peaceful. He became more and more graceful. Ananda became imbued with Buddha’s spirit by being in that close, intimate relationship and remaining constantly under his energy, in his Buddhafield. He completely forgot about himself. He even forgot that he had to become enlightened.

Buddha reminded him again and again, ‘Ananda, it is good to serve the master. I am immensely pleased with you, but don’t forget that you must become enlightened.’

Ananda would laugh and say, ‘To serve you is enough. Who cares about enlightenment?’

Ananda became enlightened when Buddha died. He became enlightened within twenty-four hours. His sacrifice was immense. Ananda’s self-sacrifice is so rare; there is no record of anyone else in the whole history of humanity sacrificing his own enlightenment.

In fact, many times Ananda said to Buddha, ‘Please don’t insist on my enlightenment. When you order something, I must do it and this is one thing that I cannot do because you will send me away if I become enlightened. You will tell me to go to the masses, help others become awakened and spread your message. So let me remain ignorant and continue serving you. Enlightenment can happen later. What is the hurry? I am completely content just being with you.’

Many times Ananda had seen Buddha send a disciple away as soon as he became enlightened, when he was ready to become the vehicle and carry the message. Buddha would say, 'Now, you are ready; go to the farthest corner of the world to help people who are fast asleep. Wake them up!'

Every night before going to sleep, Ananda would pray so that Buddha heard his prayer: 'My lord, help me remain unenlightened because I don't want to go away from you.'

Before Buddha died, he declared, 'Today is my last day.' Ananda began to cry. Buddha said, 'Don't cry and weep, Ananda. Only my death can make you enlightened. Otherwise, you will never become enlightened. When I am gone, there will be nothing left for you to cling to. I am grateful you have served me so long.'

As Buddha predicted, within twenty four hours Ananda became enlightened. Ananda closed his eyes the moment Buddha died and didn't open them until he became enlightened. People asked him, 'Why don't you open your eyes?'

He said, 'I have seen the most beautiful man in the world. What is left to see? Now I can afford enlightenment. My only attachment was to Buddha. That too has been broken.'

Ananda said, 'Maybe he has died only to help me become enlightened.'

This is a beautiful story of a master and disciple. This is the story of a rare one who renounced enlightenment out of gratitude for his master.

Bliss is a by-product of becoming totally conscious. Enlightenment is another name for total consciousness. It simply means becoming full of light.

Light represents awareness and darkness represents unawareness. Ordinarily, we are like a dark night. Everything is dark inside and it has been that way for many lives. The sun has not yet risen there. Outside there is much light. Inside there is only darkness.

That's why very few people venture inwards. They fear the darkness. They don't realize why they should go into the dark tunnel of their being. Why should they bother doing that? They listen to the Buddhas saying, 'Go within,' 'Know thyself,' but they feel puzzled and confused because whenever they look within, they don't find anything resembling what the masters or Buddhas talk about.

The Buddhas say, 'Inside you will find light,' but they find darkness. The Buddhas say, 'Inside you will find immortality.' Instead, they find themselves surrounded by death. Inside there seems to be no life, only death. In darkness they can feel death becoming almost tangible. The Buddhas say, ‘Inside you will find bliss,’ but they find suffering and nightmares.

There does not seem to be any silence. All is turmoil and chaos. That’s why throughout the ages and across all the cultures, people have concluded, ‘The Buddhas of the world belong to a different category. Perhaps they were able to find light inside because they are not human. Maybe they are divine.’ Not so, we are all ordinary beings.

It is impossible to deny that the Buddhas are speaking the truth, because we can feel what they say in our own lives. People who have seen Jesus, Gautama Buddha, Zarathustra and Lao Tzu have seen their bliss and luminosity. They have heard their songs. It is impossible to deny their truth.

People witnessed the compassion and love of Jesus even towards the crowd that was intent on killing him. Jesus prayed, ‘Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.’ He asked that they be forgiven because they were unconscious. What they were doing was expected. What else could they do? They were driven by their unconscious impulses, the fear and greed that controlled them.

The last words of Jesus are a prayer to God that his tormentors should be forgiven. He prayed that they should not be punished because it was unfair to punish unconscious people. They were not responsible for their actions.

Since it is impossible to deny the Buddhas, people logically create a separate category for enlightened people. They say, ‘We are seeds and He is a rosebud. How can we grow into roses? We are merely seeds. We can bow down to the roses. We can respect the roses but we cannot expect to become roses.’

This is the logic people use to console themselves and accept that this division is natural. This is not natural. This whole division is absolutely ridiculous. They belong to us; they have been as ordinary as we are. One day they were ordinary and then another day they became extraordinary. Something happened and that something can happen to everyone. They were ordinary when they were just seeds. When they became aware of their potential, when they started transforming their potential into actuality, they became luminous beings. They appeared to come from the beyond. They became a bridge between this world and that, between this shore and the farther shore. Everyone is entitled to the same. Everyone carries a seed of Buddhahood within himself.

Never for a moment think that there are categories. Yes, there is a difference because they are awakened. However, this is simply the difference between somebody who is asleep and somebody who is awakened. And the one who is asleep can wake up. The phenomenon of sleep proves that he has the capacity to come out of it.

Unless one can become awake, one cannot fall asleep either. These are two sides of the same coin. Becoming spiritual means that we recognize the potential in us. We are pouring our attention and efforts into the search for our inner treasure. Right now we may find darkness but if we keep searching, we soon stumble upon an infinite source of light.

So what if there is darkness? What if enlightenment is endarkenment? Who decides when you are enlightened or endarkened? In Sanskrit the word used to describe the Buddha state is beautiful. It is samādhi. It means 'to return to the original state.' It does not mean Light.

We have the wrong notion about darkness. The idea that darkness is evil has been brought forward from the Old Testament times. Darkness is energy, just as light is energy. The entire outer space is darkness. It is pure energy. When we differentiate between light as good and darkness as bad, we have problems reaching inside.

As we reach inside, we initially find thoughts, fantasies, dreams and memories. Nevertheless, if we continue digging, they disappear. Ultimately, pure consciousness remains. In that moment one becomes a Buddha. We turn into the consciousness of enlightenment and bliss starts to shower on us.

Right now, we are as unaware as someone standing on his head. It is possible to stand on our head, but our head is not made to do that. That's how people become upside-down. Their whole life becomes upside-down. They do things they should not do while they do not do things that they should do.

They are interested in things that are futile and meaningless; at the same time, they are absolutely uninterested in anything really significant. People live accidentally. They don't have any sense of direction. They don't have an inner discipline for growth. Besides that, they don't have a specific target. They simply go on living, not even knowing why. Maybe they go on doing this and that because they are restless. Restlessness needs some kind of occupation. Any kind of occupation will do. But any kind of occupation does not help us grow. Growth requires a selective life. Otherwise we don't grow; we die.

Each moment we become less and less and less. Each moment we die a little bit more. Death comes closer with every moment. Time is not something to be killed; time is something to be used. Time is a great opportunity. It must not be wasted. But if we observe people, we will be surprised: 99.9% waste their time because they have never given a second thought to what they are doing and why. Others may do it so they just imitate. People are nearly living the life of sleepwalkers.

This is like the two drunkards who are sitting in a car and going nearly over the speed limit. One drunkard says to the other, ‘Now at the next cross-road, turn left and then turn right.’ The other drunkard replies, ‘Why do you keep telling me these things, you are the one who is driving!’

The majority of the people live their lives no differently. Nobody is conscious. They neither know who is driving nor who is being driven. In addition, they all go in a certain direction without knowing why. Why is everybody interested in money? It is because all others are interested. Why is everybody interested in fame? Simply because everyone else is interested. And we must be in tune with the others because they surround us.

An intelligent person moves consciously moment to moment. He does everything for a specific reason. He has an intrinsic value system. He lives according to an inner discipline based upon his own awareness and not based upon what is imposed on him by others.

In the beginning we may be groping, but soon we become more and more clear. We go astray less and less. Things settle down and we start following the right path towards inner growth. And then it becomes clear to us: As we move closer to our nature, as things are less chaotic and our life becomes more harmonious, we feel more bliss and peace. That is a clear-cut indication that we are on the right track.

If we feel miserable in life that means we are going astray. Misery is an indicator, but so is bliss. They are real indicators. If people are miserable, that shows they are upside-down; if they are blissful, they have formed into an organic unity. They are no more a crowd of diverse impulses and ideas. They are an integral whole. They now have a center. They are rooted and grounded.

The bliss starts happening naturally and simply. It does not come from anywhere else; it arises out of our own inner being of its own accord. It is like a beautiful car’s engine humming. An alert driver knows when something goes wrong with his car; he becomes aware because the engine no longer hums the same way. He detects a disturbing note. Nobody else riding in the car will be aware, even so, the driver becomes alert: something is wrong, something is not functioning well, something is not in tune.

Similarly, a conscious person immediately knows that something has gone wrong and he puts it right. Ordinarily people are not aware at all. They keep thinking that others are responsible for their misery. That is simply the mind's strategy for remaining unconscious. Then what do they do? The unconscious person says, 'My wife makes me miserable. My children make me miserable. My neighbors make me miserable.'

We continue throwing the responsibility onto somebody else. We ourselves must take responsibility. We must become conscious. Bliss is a gift of nature for those who live consciously. It can be given only to people who live consciously because they can appreciate and understand it. It cannot be given to fools. They will throw it away. We can't give precious diamonds to children. They cannot distinguish between precious diamonds and colored stones. To understand a precious stone, we need a jeweler.

As we become more and more conscious, we understand the great gift of bliss that nature always has ready for us. Whenever we are ripe, whenever we are ready, it is ours.