Blog

October 2014

Do your job well. Live straight. Devotedly pray and serve. The reward shall come to you. –  Chinmaya

The above quote says – do your part, and the Lord will do His. The results are bound to come. The Lord is all-knowing and just. Have no fears or anxieties.

A spiritual seeker is advised by the scriptures not to insist upon the results of one’s actions. The reasons are not hard to find:

i)  Results are always unpredictable. Insistence upon the results means attaching our mind to the unpredictable. A mind attached to the unpredictable results cannot but become worried and anxious, tensed and stressed.

ii) Results can be determined only by the omniscient God, and not by the individual who knows nothing about millions of factors which determine the results.

iii) An insisting mind is a worrying mind. Actions born out of an inefficient worrying mind cannot but be inferior. Inferior actions can only bring out inferior results.

iv) The Lord does only what is good for us. When we insist upon the results, we are indirectly telling our Creator – “I know what is good for me better than You do!” Insistence upon the results only proves our stupidity and arrogance.

v) A stubborn insistence indicates the presence of a strong ego. The stronger the ego, the greater the difficulty in the spiritual path.

vi) Insistence on results also indicates that one loves the world more than God. This is the attitude of the worldly, and not of a spiritual seeker.

vii) When the instruments of action (Body-mind-intellect), the field of action (the world), the resources necessary for action (wealth etc) and the Life Principle behind the action belong to Him, how can the results alone belong to me? The results also should belong to Him. Insistence upon the results amounts to misappropriation, and hence a sin.

viii) When we insist upon the results we miss the sacred present and live in the unborn future.

ix) Insistence upon the results is born out of the misconception that the world is the source of happiness. The truth is – the Self, being the nature of Bliss, alone is the source of all happiness.

One of the best commentaries on the Brahmasutras is ‘Bhamati’. Interestingly, Bhamati is the name of a woman; and it may appear strange and weird that the commentary upon a philosophical text expounding the Immortal Truth is named after an ordinary mortal woman!

The commentary was written by a great philosopher, Vachaspati Mishra, whose wife’s name was Bhamati. It took him twelve years to write the commentary, and he decided that the day the commentary was complete, he would renounce the world and go to the Himalayas.

One day, in the middle of the night, the commentary was completed. He took the oil lamp, in whose light he had been writing the commentary, to go to his room.

 And on the way there, he found a woman and he asked, “Who are you and what are you doing here?”

She said, “My lord, you were so much immersed in writing the commentary. You forgot completely that you had married me. I am your wife.”

Vachaspati said, “I remember. And I also remember that every day… just show me your hand, because I can recognize your hand. You were the one who was putting the oil lamp by my side every day as the sun was setting. I know this hand. But it is too late. I have decided that the day the commentary is complete I will leave the house. You should have reminded me.”

Bhamati said, “It would have been very unloving to disturb you. I was waiting. And don’t be worried – if you have decided to leave, you leave without any worry. I will not come as a hindrance to your decision. It is enough that I can see that you are worried about me. This will be enough for my whole life, that you had a certain love.”

Vachaspati said, “You are a great woman. It is very rare to find such a woman. It is easy to find many commentators of my quality, but to find a woman of your quality – such love, such trust, such waiting, such patience. And such greatness of heart – without any expectation!

“I will call my commentary Bhamati, so that whoever reads this commentary is bound to be surprised by the name – because it has no relevance; the commentary is on the Brahmasutras… And, Bhamati?

“But without you, and without your love, and without your patience, and without your silent waiting… You never came in front of me, and you are so beautiful that it is certain if you had come in front of me, it would have been a disturbance. I may have forgotten about the commentary. I may have delayed in completing it just to remain with you.”

But Bhamati said, “I have received more than I deserve. You should not wait in the house any longer. Let me have the pride of having a husband who followed his decision… even though now I can see you are hesitating. Don’t hesitate. I will not allow you to remain in the house; you have to go to the Himalayas – because if you remain in the house, I will not be able to give you the same respect.”

Vachaspati left for the Himalayas, but he could not forget Bhamati… such a quality, such grace and such beauty… something beyond human qualities.

Vachaspati remained a great scholar, but Bhamati proved to be a far more divine

personality. Only such people have given proof that there is something more than human qualities, something which can only be called divine.

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