Joy of working according to Krishna

There are many people doing different kinds of jobs, many more job seekers and of course, even more jobless. They all seem to have one thing in common-they have no JOY. As Soichiro Honda said, one must be happy at work. That is the most important thing.The corporate world is populated by thousands of workers who have no joy of working. There is a lot of frustration, harassment and disasitfaction.Money is rarely the motivation beyond a certain point. Disgruntled employees pollute the environment at work, making even those few who are dedicated, unhappy.

What is the solution for this increasing agony? Krishna has the right formula which He expounds in the Gita.To begin with, Majority of the employees/workers, are stuck in jobs they don’t enjoy or want to do.This goes against their svabhav or nature. This could be due to circumstances or bad choices but the truth is that a square peg will never be happy in a round hole.

sreyan sva-dharmo vigunah
para-dharmat svanusthitat
svabhava-niyatam karma
kurvan napnoti kilbisam

It is better to engage in one's own occupation, even though one may perform it imperfectly, than to accept another's occupation and perform it perfectly. Prescribed duties, according to one's nature, are never affected by sinful reactions.

Granted that one had no choice or is stuck in a situation-so how does one get joy out of that? Simple. Change your attitude says Krishna. That is called karma Yoga-when you perform you duty-whatever it be, with the attitude of samarpan to Isvara.

sve sve karmany abhiratah
samsiddhim labhate narah

A person, who delights in his duty, gets success.

This means that he delights in the work he is doing NOW –be it sweeping the streets or cleaning drains or writing software. Joy is not in the job but in the attitude of the doer. A sweeper who is proud of the cleanliness of the street he is assigned to clean, and the software engineer who has been asked to complete a project, are equal in their status as workers. There is nothing high or low about their tasks as each has its own place in society.

How does one get this attitude? By canceling the ‘doer ship’ ego. The task is more important than the doer. The reward is in the opportunity to perform and in the doing .Once we get involved in seeking recognition and expect a degree of compensation for what we do, we get stuck in the mire of competition and rat race. Our focus shifts from the task to the result. This robs us of the joy of doing it.

To sum up in Krishna’s own words, the secret of Joy-

yoga-sthah kuru karmani
sangam tyaktva dhananjaya
siddhy-asiddhyoh samo bhutva
samatvam yoga ucyate

Remaining steadfast in yoga, perform actions, abandoning attachment (to the result), remaining the same to success and failure alike, with an evenness of mind