'Work Without Desire' — The Most Misunderstood Teaching of the Gita

Acharya Prashant: Glad to be here with all of you and let's have a deep, real, intense conversation, with a lot of tools and shows on anything that you consider important to yourself. It doesn't matter if the thing looks small or big, but if it's important to you, it deserves to be taken up today. The session is all yours. Let's begin with your questions, please.

Questioner: Good evening Acharya Prashant Ji. A very warm welcome to IIIT Bangalore. We are privileged to have you here. So, I am Shrutanuka. I'm from the outreach and media department of IIIT Bangalore. So, a very common question and a common doubt among students is that you talk a lot about the Bhagavad Gita and the Vedanta, which focuses on doing work without any attachment to the rewards.

But nowadays students' lives are very much attached to the rewards, the grades, the placements, the opportunities. So, in this world where we are constantly chasing these things, how can a student keep going towards knowledge without the expectation of getting rewards at each stage? How to keep them motivated? That's my question. Thank you.

Acharya Prashant: See, the Gita doesn't start with work. It doesn't say, all right, you have chosen your work, whatever it is, and now get into it. Do it without any expectations. Do not clamour for results and just keep doing whatever you are doing. No, that's not what Gita says. The starting point is not work or action. The starting point is the choice of work.

The Gita says that your work must be a result of deep self-awareness. You cannot just get into something, invest your energy there, invest time, resources, life itself without knowing why you are getting into it. And you cannot prescribe particular types of work as universally good and other types as universally not good or undesirable.

So, how do I know what I must do? How do I know the right action to undertake?

The Gita says, know yourself. Because action cannot be random. Action has to be in the context of who you are.

I must know what I am internally — my fears, my perceived weaknesses, my troubles, my scars, my hopes. And I must know what these things are and where they are coming from. Out of this self-awareness emerges a spontaneous choice of work.

Now this work has not even been very deliberately chosen. This work has spontaneously emerged because I deeply know who I am, and I also see what my relationship with the world currently is. And 'world' includes everything: my family, my past, the environment, the state of the nation, the state of other countries, climate change, everything. That's all included in the world.

So I know myself, and I also see the situation of the world. And from this awareness emerges, we are saying, a spontaneous choice of work. It's so spontaneous that it can't even be called a choice. So it's a choiceless choice. You are helpless in front of this choice. You cannot refuse this choice.

The matter has become so clear in front of you, like the sun shining, that you cannot even attempt to hide behind any kind of screen. There is no darkness left available anywhere. Everything is now crystal clear like daylight. So, you're choiceless. In that sense you are helpless. You'll have to do this.

When you know that you have to do this, this choicelessness leaves you with no scope to worry about the future.

Work itself becomes so important because that work is arising from your own core. That work has not been imposed on you. You are not blindly getting into that work. You have a very deep, heartful relationship with that work. So, now that work consumes you so much, and you get so deeply immersed in it, that there is no time, space, energy, or need left to worry for the results in future.

Now, this is niṣkāma karma of the Bhagavad Gita. When work has been chosen rightly, when it's a choiceless choice emerging out of awareness, then you will have no need and no desire to worry about the future or what you will get from the work. The work becomes its own reward. You can call it love. There is so much love in the action itself that there is no need left to desire anything from the future. Whatever could have been obtained is being obtained right now in the process of the work itself. One says, "It is sufficient that I'm able to act rightly. It would be ingratitude to ask for more." So that is niṣkāma karma.

Now, instead, how has niṣkāma karma been popularly interpreted? "You do whatever you are doing, any random blind action, coming from ignorance, coming from social pressure or familial pressure or peer pressure, social trends, whatever." That's how most people decide what to do. It's not even a decision. It's a kind of sleepwalk. You are being carried with the flow. Everybody is getting into that particular line of vocational education, I too will get into it. Everybody is taking such kind of career or life decisions, so I too feel internally pressured to make those decisions. That's how we decide on our actions.

Now, when such actions are there, obviously you will worry about the result, because how do you first of all commit yourself to such actions? Somebody tells you, "You see, if you choose a certain branch of engineering or management or any other professional education, then you will get such and such results.” Right? So, the desire for results comes first. And with a view, with an eye on the results, you decide the action. Isn't that how the common mind, the common man works?

First of all you say, "I want to go there." So the desire comes first, and then you figure out the action. "So should I walk like this? A serpentine walk, a haphazard walk, a straight line? Or should I fly over? Should I dig a tunnel underneath?" So, these are the possible options.

Whatever be the options, the fact remains that first of all the common man says, "That is my desire, now that is my desire, and I want to obtain that thing. I want to reach that point. So I will now undertake action." That's how we commonly work, right? And we are asking, where did that desire come from in the first place? It's not your desire. We said, social pressures, general trends, internal laziness. Yes. Why try to figure out what life is all about? Just do what everybody else is doing. So, that's where that target comes from — internal laziness, fear, pressure, ignorance, and greed. That's what sets that target. The target is the first thing, and then comes the action.

Now with this kind of action, in this framework, how are you going to act without concern for the result? Because the concern for the result is what has decided the action. The concern for the result came first, and then came the action. And now some wise man comes to you and says, "You know, Bhagavad Gita says, do what you are doing and don't worry about the result." But the fact is, I am already worried about the result. That's why I'm doing what I'm doing. So what nonsense is being preached? What nonsense is being preached?

That's not Bhagavad Gita. That's not what Shri Krishna had to offer. What he's saying is something totally different, dimensionally different. But we have totally missed it and misinterpreted it according to our own convenience. So unless your action is coming from internal clarity, desireless action is impossible.

Without internal clarity, you cannot have niṣkāma karma.

From internal clarity comes the type of action that doesn't worry about results. But the common kind of action — you will have to worry about results, because it is for the sake of results that most people work. They will not work if the result is guaranteed without working.

If students are told, "Grades are assured, you don't need to write the exams," how many would still write the exams? Because they are not writing the exams for the sake of enjoying the examination. They are writing the exam for the sake of the degree or the placement. Right? On the day of admission, if you are told, "Placement is guaranteed, you don't need to attend the classes," you will struggle to find even five students in the classes.

Even at places like IITs and IIMs, attendance has to be made compulsory. And wherever attendance is not compulsory, the classrooms struggle to see even 20% occupancy. Why? Because it is not for the love of learning that we join an institution. We join an institution for the sake of placement, or degree, or reputation, or something, money or pressure, something.

You tell people, "Salary is guaranteed even without working." How many people would turn up at the office? Because it was not for the love of the work that they were reaching the office. They were coming to the office just so that on the 30th they could get a paycheck. That's how the common mind works. The desire comes first, the action comes later. That's not what Gita is talking about.

The Gita is talking about a totally different framework. It's a different dimension. The whole paradigm is not what we think it to be. The Gita starts with internal clarity. Please understand where you stand. Please see who you are. Then look at your relationship with everything around you. And from this understanding it will become automatically clear what you must do now.

And when action comes from such clarity, then it becomes unstoppable. Desirous action is very vulnerable. It can be stopped very easily. You're going to that point and somebody comes and tells you, "Irrespective of how much you walk, that point can never be attained," you will stop. Your action has no energy.

But when your action is not for the sake of a particular point there (pointing towards the outside), rather your action is emanating from a deep point here (pointing towards oneself), then your action becomes unstoppable. What will you tell this person? He's already in love. He's in love with what he's doing. How will you stop him? You'll tell him, "You know, you'll not reach anywhere." He says, "I don't care about reaching, I care about walking."

"You know, people will obstruct you. They'll hate you. You might face repercussions." You will say, "You know, the biggest harm that can come to me is that I stop. I'll not let this harm happen. Other things I can manage and tolerate." So, you cannot stop this person.

So, you cannot just wish that by doing any random thing you'll be able to not worry about the result. Worrying about the result will become a compulsion with you if your action is not coming from the point of inner clarity, lucidity. So before committing yourself to any action, ask yourself, "Why must I? Is this worth doing? What am I getting into it for?" Those are very important questions to be asked, especially as a youngster.

Otherwise we make decisions that are sometimes irreversible. And if you get into something and stay there for long enough, sometimes you even stop feeling bad about it. Because you get conditioned, because you get habituated. You've been doing something for the last 20 years, for the first one or two years you knew it was not the right thing to do, but now the sheer force of habit keeps you going, like the momentum of a thing going down a slope. Nobody has to push it. Just the slope and the existing momentum will keep it going. After a while, not even the slope is needed. It has gained so much from the past that it can keep going for another five years just out of the pre-existing momentum.

Don't let that happen to you.

Questioner: Good evening sir. My question is regarding Truth and self-observation. So, we say that Truth never dies, but the one who is observing is in itself the perishable one, and the things that are being observed are also the perishable ones. But at the same time the one who is observing does not see even the things that are perishable as perishable, and the Truth that is there we don't know about at all. So, ultimately the more we self-inquire, the conclusion or the observation that we come to is — we don't know anything, neither the self nor the world exactly as it is, nor the Truth. So, could you please throw some light on this?

Acharya Prashant: Why did you say when the observer looks at perishable things, he does not see them as perishable?

Questioner: Because while we are working, or doing anything, or being with people, then we are just engrossed with them.

Acharya Prashant: So, then you are not seeing. That's where the catch is. You're not seeing. If something is perishable and you see, you'll see it is perishable. Aren't mangoes perishable? Don't you see they are perishable? You don't see mangoes are perishable? You assume they are eternal? Do you do that?

Questioner: No, we don't assume them to be eternal.

Acharya Prashant: Why don't you assume them to be eternal?

Questioner: Because they're not.

Acharya Prashant: No, no, because there is no great identification or association with a mango. But when there are great stakes involved in a relationship, then you do not want to see the fact. If a mango too becomes something that contains the very gem of your life, then you will stop seeing the fact of even a mango, an ordinary mango. Even there you will find your vision blurred.

Facts are obvious. It's just that we choose to look at them with self-interest.

And wherever there is self-interest, there the fact, in spite of being right in front of your eyes, will be missed. It's all here. I mean, who else is in a great position to see how things rise and fall, come and go? It's all happening to us, outside of us, within us, to us, along with us. It's all happening continuously. Right?

Why do we still miss it? Because we don't want to see. Instead, you're putting it as if it is difficult to see. No, it's not difficult to see. It's very easy to see. It's easier than easy. You will obviously see. You're looking at me. What kind of effort is it taking? There is no effort required. Right? But if you don't want to see, who can push you to see? The word here is honesty, intent. And nobody can force you to forcefully do things that you have decided not to do, because you have chosen something else to be greatly important.

I choose my proclivity for luxurious goods to be so important that I refuse to look at the fact of climate change, even though the data is very easily, widely available. I will not look at that data. Why? Because I want to burn fuel. I don't want to look at that data. And even if somebody forcefully tries to show me that data, I will say, "Hoax. There is nothing called climate change. This is not happening at all." Why? Because there is just so much desire, that it blocks your vision.

Anybody from the Gita community here? So many. Jab kaam bhara ho aankh mei, sach nazar nahi aata hai. Aag dehke par dhuen se prakash dhak sa jaata hai. Jab kaam bhara ho aankh mei tab sach nazar nahi aata hai. It’s obvious, pratyaksh, right here in front of you, but you'll still not see because you don't want to see, and nobody can do anything about it, because it's your intention, your wish. And only you have to come to a point where you say, "I don't want to miss the Truth."

Questioner: Just one follow-up to this. When I'm even talking to you, at that point in time, when I'm talking to you, I see you or me as mortal beings, and nor do I see the Truth, or whatever it is. I don't know exactly.”

Acharya Prashant: So, how do you know that there is something called the Truth?

Questioner: By self-inquiry you're questioning the self or the image — neither the name nor the body.

Acharya Prashant: Seriously, is it coming from there? Or coming from what you have heard, or read, or seen on YouTube? By no stretch of imagination do I see myself or you as the great Truth. How have you managed to do that?

Questioner: No, definitely we are not even coming into that fold. However, whatever it might be, I don't either see that, nor the things that are here as they are. That's, I think, what's Maya.

Acharya Prashant: So when I say "Hello," what do you hear?

Questioner: Hello.

Acharya Prashant: That's it. Or do you hear the Truth ringing? So when I say hello, I have said hello, not satyam eva jayate. It's as simple as this. Let facts be facts. And when facts remain facts, then satyam eva jayate. But if facts are overruled, then no satyam eva jayate.

Questioner: But there is something like Truth. When I listen to you, I read about Swami Vivekanada, Swami Ramakrishna Paramahansa, and Jiddu Krishnamurti — I'm not exactly looking at those personalities. What I'm exactly interested in is the solution for the suffering being.

Acharya Prashant: How will the solution come if, instead of hearing what the doctor is saying, you start thinking that the doctor is truth personified? And the doctor is talking about very mundane and mortal things. He's talking about your liver. He's talking about your dietary habits. He's talking about your report. He's talking about very ordinary, factual, material, tangible things. But you are saying, "No sir, you are the great Truth, and I'm also that same great Truth — tat tvam asi." How will any solution come if you don't remain in the fact?

Were you born with this thing, that “you know, when I look at a teacher I do not look at him as a person, instead I look at some kind of great mass of light, truth-radiating something?” I understand you have not said that, but what I'm asking is, were you born with this knowledge? No. It has come to you from this and that place. And that is not called enlightenment or illumination. That is called conditioning.

One of the worst forms of conditioning is this spiritual conditioning.

So many people have told me, "There's a great aura here." (laughter).

Questioner: That's more stupid.

Acharya Prashant: There is nothing. "Sir, you know when you are speaking you look like that, this, whatever." Go and ask those who hate me. They too feel I look like something else when I'm speaking. How is it that there is such a contrast? To you I am goodness personified. To them I am veritably evil. No, I am neither goodness personified nor evil. I'm this simple man standing in front of you. Listen to the fact. Don't superimpose what you already have in your mind. That's not the way of science. That's not the way of Truth.

"You know, this was highly symbolic (pointing towards the background), the lights — that's a message from the beyond. It's not for nothing." See, lights are just lights. There is nothing mystical behind them. There is nothing mystical there.

Questioner: So then, why do you, like yesterday also in the session, say that there comes a point when the ‘I’ dissolves, when the question ‘Who am I?’ does not remain, is the point.

Acharya Prashant: So my question to you is: I'm talking of an entire journey from here till I don't know where. And then I'm saying, there is a point that something…you're here, and I'm talking of a point infinite miles down the line, if there is such a line at all. Why are you not concerned with where you are? Why are you thinking so much about that point? And will you ever reach there if you do not know where you are?

How do you operate your GPS system? What are the two things it asks?

Questioner: Start position and the destination.

Acharya Prashant: Your location. What's your location? If you are internally dislocated, how will you reach any destination? The first thing is to know the fact right under your feet. Your location. This is the fact. This is where I am. This is what is happening within me. This is what is happening around me. The bare naked fact.

Instead, spirituality has become something of imaginations and hallucinations and projections and superimpositions, and saying, "You know, I close my eyes and I see divine lights, and I hear holy bells. I also experienced something rising within or moving zigzag."

You'll hate me.

Questioner: Never. Thank you, sir.

Questioner: When we know that we are looking for answers, in some way we are searching for something deeper, then we look outside for external sources — people, books, it can be anything. Then in that case, what should be our stance? Because there is a certain form of acceptance that we don't know, but also we need to see it clearly, objectively.

Acharya Prashant: You have a problem, and you're looking for a solution outside.

Questioner: Yes.

Acharya Prashant: Now, what is the problem?

Questioner: So how do we know this is the right solution?

Acharya Prashant: For that you need to know the problem. How do you know whether something is a solution? Before asking whether I know the solution, you have to ask: do I know the problem? If you know the problem, that which is a solution to that problem will immediately become attractive and valuable. Why do we miss out on solutions? Because we have missed out on the problem itself.

If even the diagnosis is not right, how can the treatment plan be all right? We miss out on the diagnosis. We very quickly say, "Oh, I have a problem," as if just because I have a problem I do know what the problem is. None of us know what our real problem is. Very superficially, like the tip of an iceberg, do we know of our problems?

Go deeply into the root of your problem. And from there you will find the solution very easy. Maybe the root of the problem itself contains the solution. Maybe. I don't know. Go into the problem. Don't just run away from it and say, "Where is the solution, where is the solution, solution?" Understand your problem more deeply.

Questioner: So does going deep into it require an external source?

Acharya Prashant: Yes, it may.

Questioner: Then how do you know that this source might help?

Acharya Prashant: You know your problem to an extent to the best of your ability. You tried going into it with honesty. This honesty will help you reach someone who is better placed in terms of narrating or reflecting your problem to you. But now, because you know your problem, you also know whether this person is succeeding.

That person will offer you something or tell you something. How do you know what he has given or told is of value? That can be known only in the context of the degree to which it solves your problem. But how do you know whether your problem is being solved at all? When you are in touch with your problem.

So I know my problem. I have come to you. My problem is I have a fever. This much I know of myself. Now whatever treatment you are offering me, if the fever isn't receding, then I know I have come to the wrong place. But to know that you have come to the wrong place, first of all you have to be in touch with yourself. You might not exactly know what is causing the fever, but at least you have done your best to know that you have fever. This much you can do.

The real tragedy is when we just don't want to look at the reality of the problem, and we run to external helpers, and then we are exploited.

And they will exploit, because now they can offer you anything and you won't know whether it is right or wrong, good or bad, useful or useless. How do you decide whether it is useful or useless? You don't know the use you are putting it for in the first place.

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