Bondage and the Path

It will cease to matter what your colleagues tell your boss if you stop worrying about it. You cannot change them but you can change yourself. If you become light, darkness cannot exist around you. The best way to deal with it is to give an outstanding performance at work. Your boss is merely the medium and not the provider. It is Providence that is bringing you all that you deserve. If you do not lose sight of this truth and continue to perform you will start to feel calm.

Your boss may still not recognize your work, but he will not be able to rob you of your peace. The truthfulness of your conduct (a loyal worker) will always ensure that you are taken care of by the Supreme. If others are playing games and you join in, you accept the rules of engagement by being a party. Incidentally, the question below talks about engagement and that too adroitly. Your colleagues may engage with you or against you but that will not bother you unless you let it. For the next forty days, make a resolution that you will not highlight anyone’s shortcomings to your boss and Nature will reciprocate. Try it to believe it!

Prabhu! I met you a few days ago. I am so taken by your relating direct experiences. But I wonder for someone as you who seeks the almighty, and that being the only goal, why would you want to engage with the world? Isn’t it binding you to the world with golden chains like with iron chains? Why do you not just go your path, like Ramana Maharishi or Meera, and the world will understand and follow. In our world nothing works as well as experience. You have all this and more.

Interesting! I chuckled when I read your comment. Answering this will not help you discover your own truth. However, since you took the time to come all the way from Mumbai to visit me in person and since you have taken the time to ask the questions, I shall endeavor to address them.

Before I can answer, please allow me to divide your statement into two parts: assumptions and questions. From what I understand, your comment assumes that I still:

• Seek the almighty.
• Have some goals.
• Engage with the world.

Questions

• Is my engagement binding?
• Why don’t I choose my own path?

So, here:
Re assumptions: Please read My Truth — a post written back in June; in particular, the paragraph starting with ‘It is no longer a phantom…’ They will clear up your assumptions.

Re questions: Anything is only binding when you desire a certain outcome. The leashed dog feels bound by the chain when he longs for freedom. If he does not want freedom, there is no binding. Feeling any fetter is a state of the conditioned mind. My engagement with the world can only bind me if I want something in return. Engagement is not a problem; it is when engagement is driven by a desired outcome that it becomes constricting. Similarly, your circumstances in life can only give you the feeling of being chained if you have lost touch with your Self, your inner freedom. Please read The Desire Tree to know what actually binds an individual.

Re choosing my own path: This is my path, dear. If I go down the path of Ramana Maharishi or Meerabai, it will no longer be my path. It will be ‘their’ path. In fact, I always say, “Discover your own truth.” I encourage you to read chapter three of the Bhagavad Gita. Especially starting from the verse एवं प्रवर्तितं चक्रं नानुवर्तयतीह… (evaṁ pravartitaṁ cakraṁ nānuvartayatīha) till उत्सीदेयुरिमे लोका न कुर्यां कर्म चेदहम्… (utsīdeyurime lokā na kuryāṁ karma cedaham…) The first few verses of chapter six and chapter eighteen may help you further.

As much as I implore you to read up more on Ramana Maharishi and Meerabai to truly ascertain how they actually engaged with the world, I welcome you to tread their path if it helps you discover peace and bliss.

Besides, the names used in your comment are of the greatest saints. I am just a simple sadhu who lives in a remote place, and I do not put myself in any league. I offer my obeisance to both Ramana Maharishi and Meerabai. For centuries, millions have drawn inspiration from the lives and conduct of such saints and many others such as Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Goswami Tulsidasa, Sant Tukarama, Guru Nanak, Swami Ramakrishna Paramhamsa to name a few. I am just one of those many millions. I hold them in the greatest esteem and remain eternally indebted for their invaluable spiritual contribution.

Hare Krishna
Swami