In the Bhagavad-gita, Krishna addresses Arjuna’s concern: Won’t work entangle me in the world? After outlining various processes for spiritual growth, Krishna recommends bhakti-yoga, or working with devotion, as the way to not just avoid entanglement but also to attain ultimate liberation.
How does bhakti-yoga achieve such miraculous-seeming results? By filling our mind with spiritually attractive stimuli, thereby crowding out the worldly stimuli that entice and entangle us. When we act in the world, what gets entangled is the mind; it becomes filled with impressions about worldly indulgence. Bhakti-yoga spiritualizes our mind in two ways:
Intensive bhakti-yoga — Providing a higher reality beyond this world as our life’s primary focus:
Bhakti-yoga involves a reasonable amount of intensive spiritual practice (sadhana), wherein we surround ourselves with divine manifestations such as Krishna’s sacred words, his holy names, his beautiful deities and his enchanting pastimes. By such focus on Krishna, our mind gradually gets attracted to him, finding higher taste in his remembrance (12.09). That taste in Krishna immunizes us from the world’s many allurements and entanglements.
Inclusive bhakti-yoga — Providing a higher purpose for our actions in this world:
Herein, we appreciate that the ambit of bhakti extends to our work too; indeed, work becomes a form of worship (18.46). This means that we no longer see our work as something done merely for earning our living or for showing the world what we can do or even for gaining personal self-actualization. We learn to see our work as our part in assisting the divine plan for maintaining the world and for raising human consciousness: both our consciousness and the consciousness of those we interact with.
When we practice intensive and inclusive bhakti-yoga steadily, our consciousness rises steadily toward absorption in Krishna, thereby going beyond the reach of worldly enticements.
One-sentence summary
When we work with devotion, our consciousness becomes increasingly filled with Krishna, leaving no space for worldly allurements and propelling us toward supreme liberation in Krishna.
Think it over:
- How does bhakti-yoga free us from entanglement?
- What is intensive bhakti-yoga? How does it help spiritualize our consciousness?
- What is inclusive bhakti-yoga? How does it help spiritualize our consciousness?
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18.46: By worship of the Lord, who is the source of all beings and who is all-pervading, a man can attain perfection through performing his own work.
To know more about this verse, please click on the image
Work is worship
The Gita explains how work can be done as a worship.
Nice ,please keep it up