The best-known stanza in The Bhagavad Gita is the one where Krishna speaks of work - “To work is the sacred right of all, but none can claims its fruits as reward.” (2:47) - A radical concept, which has several implications…

Work as reward

Chandrika

The best-known stanza in The Bhagavad Gita is the one where Krishna speaks of work - “To work is the sacred right of all, but none can claims its fruits as reward.” (2:47) - A radical concept, which has several implications… Work is play. Is it? For work is serious and solemn. Play, however, is exhilarating and enlivening. Yet, in her book, “The Continuum Concept”, Jean Liedloff describes a tribe in South America, who had the same word for work and play. They insisted, “If you don’t enjoy work, why do it?” Hinduism has a similar notion. All creation is the Lord’s lila (play). “That’s frivolous,” said the disciple. The master answered, “Work becomes spiritual only when it’s transformed into play.” Work cannot be competitive. The best work is always achieved through co-operation. A farmer, who won the prize at the State Fair, shared his best seeds with his neighbours. “It’s actually selfish,” he said, “The wind picks pollen and carries it. If my neighbour grows inferior corn, cross-pollination will bring down the quality of my crop too.” Work cannot aim for success. It is its own end. A child, during rehearsals for a competition, sang most soulfully. The audience appreciated his performance. The teacher was unmoved. “Only if he wins the competition, will I applaud.” Sad that a prize should establishes the worth of work! Work cannot be compensated for. The value of work cannot be calculated in monetary terms. Work, well done, is always priceless. A filmmaker asked a woodcutter to go through the motions of cutting wood. “Use the reverse side of the axe. Pretend to chop, while I film you,” he requested. A little later the man said, “I quit.” “Why? Shall I increase your pay?” “No! It isn’t the money. When I chop wood, the chips must fly.” Finally, work is its own reward. When the saint Joneyed went to the barber’s dressed in rags, the barber shaved him first and gave him alms as well. So impressed was Joneyed that, in the evening, he returned to offer him, his earnings. Enraged, the barber yelled, “What kind of man would reward an act of love?” As Kahlil Gibran had said, “Work is love made visible.”