A Telugu Pandit asked Ramana Maharishi to explain Nishkama karma. Ramana was silent. He used to go up the hill for his usual walk and that day Pandit also followed. On way Ramana picked up a thorny rough stick and slowly started chopping off the thorns, smoothening out the knotty joints, rubbing it for six hours with a rough leaf, till it looked straight and polished. Suddenly a local shepherd appeared. He looked worried as he had lost his stick. So Ramana handed him the stick he had made so laboriously, and moved on! The Pandit ‘saw’ in action Nishkama karma.
A woman gave some money to a beggar. Soon the beggar was back and said,” I don’t want this money ,but your glittering diamond ring, I want that.” Very calmly the woman gave him that huge diamond ring. The beggar returned yet again, and giving back the ring said, “I don’t want this ring, but can you give me that ability and ease with which you could part with this ring.? Then I would be a beggar no more.”
Meditation is an excercise in Letting Go. When we drop the chains of dependence, of addiction, of attachment, then alone we soar high. There is a suffocating discomfort in clinging. The more you clutch at objects, relationships, situations, or even your own arrogant ego, the tighter gets their clutch on you! In meditation, let go of fears and expectations, tears and adorations, let go even the idea of who you are. Then carry this detached freedom daily into your working world. It is not the physical letting go, but the mental declutching. It will never impoverish, but enrich you. The ocean is sour because it only receives, the river water is sweet as it only gives. Sweeten your life, Give of yourself!
Prarthna Saran, President Chinmaya Mission Delhi.
Email: prarthnasaran@gmail.com