The Yoga of Despondency

To put it concisely, the plot outline for the context for the Gita (and the rest of this post) is as follows:

Villains and Heroes ready for battle - hero commander goes to see who all he's going to fight - hero sees his relatives on the villains' side - hero gets the heeby-jeebies - hero questions why he has to fight

To put it as I have just done above is the equivalent of saying a Beethoven MP3 is just a series of 0's and 1's - true, but not quite true enough !

So, in slightly greater detail

7 armies on one side (for the Pandavas) , 11 armies on the other (for the Kauravas) stand armed and ready in Kurukshetra ready to annihilate each other. Arjuna, one of the greatest warriors in the Mahabharata is in the middle of no-man's land, facing the Kaurava army, ready to raze his opponents to the ground...and he raises his eyes to look at the 'enemy'.

There he sees his kinsmen - uncles, cousins, brothers, sons , lined up in row after unending row, ready to do death unto each other. His mind wavers, his body trembles and despondency takes over... "Is the end that I am fighting for (namely, kingdom) , worth killing my kinsmen?"

Following this question is a series of rants against war:

• Those for whose sake we desire kingdom are themselves here, waiting to kill each other - why should I fight?
• How can we kill our own people? They might be overpowered by greed and might be willing to kill us, but we can't do the same because we know that it is wrong to destroy a family like this
• If we kill entire families, their traditions, customs etc. are lost forever. What greater sin could I commit?
• If they should destroy me in battle when I am unresisting and unarmed, that would be better for me, rather than my taking up arms against them

It is worthwhile to note here that Arjuna would not have had any qualms killing the opponents had they NOT been his relatives. He was a warrior and it was in his blood to fight. As much as it is in a businessman's blood to trade or in a good student's blood to learn. He was trapped by the attachment to his relatives, and that prevented him from doing his duty.

The author makes a beautiful point : Arjuna was at odds with his svadharma. If he had really been converted to Non-violence, a la King Ashoka, he would not have been satisfied by Lord Krishna until his real objective was met. He was trying to talk his way out of his dilemma , out of doing his duty. His path to doing his duty was clouded by attachment, by illusion.

This 'attachment' is a common issue faced by people all over the world. And many in the corporate world can especially identify with this:

• Should I dump stocks on a distributor in order to meet the current sales target or should I find ways of creating demand?
• Should I sell this medicine even if the side effects have not been fully tested?
• Should I report higher quarterly earnings by valuing stocks higher and adjust them in time for the annual report?
• Should I recommend the client against what he/she feels is the right course of action, even if it means I won't get future work from them if I disagree with them?

All the above situations arise from an 'attachment' to the results of one's action rather than doing the right action. The right action in this case is set in the context of one's conscience. The purpose of the Gita is to rid us of our illusions and attachment in the pursuit of our svadharma. What is svadharma? Literally, it is "one's own way", determined by our unique DNA! It is what makes us tick, what makes us who we are.

Each person's svadharma is his/her own and holds the greatest attraction to him/her. However attractive/easy another person's dharma seems, you should never follow it. You should follow your true vocation. The path might be strewn with thorns but that path is yours and yours alone. By treading your own path, you never have regrets and grow as a person.

By treading your chosen path with a sense of devotion to duty, you also demonstrate a willingness to live by the consequences of your choice, as it is yours and yours alone. Nobody forced you into it, and nobody can force you out of it. So if it means a change in career paths, do so by all means. But once you have changed, be prepared to live with the consequences.

I chose consulting as a career because I felt it represented the right balance between learning, business and interpersonal interactions. The path I have taken has been tough, yes, but I am proud at sticking to my choice. I have taken the rough with the smooth, and a year and a half after I joined consulting, I am completely at peace with myself. The paths are never easy, but it is your willingness to fight it out and stick to the choices that counts.

That's all fine, the reader might say. "You have got a job that you like. Great! But that is not the same for me... I was forced into a banking job because there was more money there. All I really wanted to do was marketing. I was forced into a job because of the money - I have a family to support". People often say they are 'forced' into doing certain jobs/tasks. Such short term aberrations do occur and are quite common in fact. But then, they are the outcomes of their own desires.

If I desire something and expect it to fall in my lap, it is not going to happen. I have to work to get it. If the path is tough, then I live with it. I work hard at whatever life throws at me, even if it is something that I dislike.

At the same time, if I am forced into something that I 'dislike', I have to ensure that I am always on the lookout for something that my heart lies in, so that, if the opportunity presents itself I am not found napping.

When you do something with your heart and soul, you often end up creating a competitive advantage that none can replicate. Given that 'competitive advantage' is what businesses are endlessly in search of, finding where your heart lies and working that to your employer's advantage is something that will be mutually beneficial in the long run! This feeling of dedication of one's heart and soul is what is called vikarma elsewhere in the Gita. But then, that is the subject matter for another post :) - enough for now!