Unlocking Self-Mastery: How to find tranquility amidst the hustle?
By Shwetha Sivaraman
The journey to self-mastery requires us to ask a lot of hard questions and one such question is, how to unlock ease and operate from that inner spaciousness while hustling towards our goals and ambitions?
As always, I found the answer to this in a parable from the Bhagavad Gita. This one is from Swami Chidbhavanada’s commentary of the Gita which features snippets from Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa.
There was once…
“a kite that snatched a piece of meat from a butcher’s shop and flew to a branch of a tree to feast on it.
But immediately ensued a scramble when some other birds swooped in to loot it.
The kite flew from tree to tree, but there was no escape from the raiders.
To avoid this botheration it let go of the meat and perched quietly upon a bough”
A sage who saw this scene learnt a lesson from the kite — Tranquillity is born of renunciation.
Relevant Blog Links to Add
- Where is the battlefield?
- How to act in the world as per Bhagavad Gita
Let’s look at the verse from which this lesson came up, this is Chapter 12, verse 12
श्रेयो हि ज्ञानमभ्यासात् ज्ञानाद्घयानं विशिष्यते ।
ध्यानात्कर्मफलत्यागस्त्यागाच्छान्तिरनन्तरम् ॥ १२
śreyo hi jñānam abhyāsāt jñānād dhyānaṁ viśiṣyate
dhyānāt karmaphala tyāgas tyāgāc chāntir anantaram
The verse loosely translates to “Better indeed is knowledge than (formal) Abhyasa; better than knowledge is meditation; better than meditation is the renunciation of the fruit of action; peace immediately follows renunciation”
Krishna here tells Arjuna what practice is better and more efficient to reach that goal Krishna has been speaking about for so many chapters.
He says knowledge is better than mechanically practising rituals without awareness. And, then says meditation and experiencing that state of oneness is better than mere cognitive knowledge of it. Eventually, he goes on to say, that even better is to renounce the fruit of actions because peace immediately ensues.
This does not mean renunciation of action. Remember, Gita never advocates giving all our responsibilities up and taking up monkhood. Rather it’s the opposite, chapter 1 starts with Arjuna wanting to do exactly that and the entire discourse of Gita is where Krishna coaxes him to get up and fight.
What does renunciation of the fruit of the action mean in modern-day contexts?
We act to the best of our abilities and renunciate only the fruits of our actions. We do our work and give up hankering/craving or our attachment to outcomes.That’s how we unlock self-mastery and find tranquility amidst the hustle.
🕵🏽If you’re a professional working in an organisation, you go about doing your work without attachment to that promotion, raise or recognition.
🕵🏽If you’re an entrepreneur, you continue working hard to expand your business without worrying whether you’ll break even or when the company will be listed.
🕵🏽If you’re a creator or an artist, you go on creating without worrying about whether you’ll ever be famous or become super popular.
Easier said than done, but we must strive to attain this state of letting go to find that elusive peace here and now. This is why self-mastery is a journey of excellence we strive towards.
Meraklis Insight:
Act with all your presence, devotion, and involvement, and let go of the fruits of the action like the kite in the parable, then peace is ours to relish. Ask yourself, where are you holding on to the fruit of your actions and suffering in its wait? How can you detach yourself from the outcome and involve yourself more in the journey to self-mastery?
