Hello and welcome to episode 150 of The Ask Sri Vishwanath Show. It’s been great to hit another milestone. It only seems like yesterday that we started on episode one. I want to thank you all for reading, watching and sending in such great questions.
Today is part two of how to work with higher motives. If you haven’t seen yesterday’s episode I highly suggest you read and watch it so you can really benefit from this one. I will give a quick recap but I suggest that you watch and read it in full.
Yesterday we spoke about destroying lower motives. These motives are money, passion, fame and power. This is natural. It is not your fault. It is because of the gunas leaving impressions on you. The great ones focus on the higher motives. Instead of money they want to offer value. Instead of passion they focus on purpose which never fades. Rather than seeking fame they seek to make others happy. Instead of craving power they seek to empower others. The lower motives involve taking whereas the higher motives all involve giving.
To make others feel good you first have to feel good and you to that by falling back on the consciousness and going back to the shore. That will be the only way you will discover your real purpose.
We spoke of how Krishna said that the great ones are serene in the midst of action and in the midst of serenity they can still operate at a higher level. They do this by controlling their reaction before the event happens by withdrawing the gunas. They are always seated at the shore like Krishna on the chariot in the midst of war.
When you destroy lower motives you will no longer be worried about what has to happen. You will no longer crave for the fruits of labour because they will come automatically.
Fruits
Today I want to speak more about the fruits of labour. Krishna says fruits accrue. It’s like putting money in and collecting the interest every 3 to six months. The fruits accrue after the event happens. Arjuna asks him to whom and Krishna says to the non relinquishers who are defined as the ignorant ones. We are here because we want those fruits and we get them from a previous lifetime.
By giving up the fruits of work you give up the gunas. When you withdraw the gunas you give up your lower motives. We think we need them but they are what bring us back time after time to create the gold image so we need to be rid of them by dissolving them within the consciousness. Don’t latch on to the lower motives.
After death
Arjuna then asks him when do they accrue and Krishna tells him that it is only after death. Most people have the wrong idea about fruits. It’s not like opening your computer and seeing your email straight away. The action and event can often be a long way from each other. The fruits are only given to the ignorant ones after death but never to the renouncers because they have destroyed the lower motives. When you receive the fruits it will mean that you will have to come back in another body and again you will have to try and form the gold image. These lower motives only lead to us being stuck up in a cycle of mould and motive.
Repeated births make us think that these lower motives are real but they are not real. They are only maya and we must withdraw and dissolve them. You don’t want them to be the reason for you coming back over and over again. This whole life is a fruit, from start to end and it has come because of the earlier Prarabdha karma, script and gunas.
The seed
In this life you have the script and the actions. When you crave these lower motives you plant the seed that will become the fruit in the next life. This is so important but people don’t get it because they have been brainwashed into thinking that these lower motives are there purpose and that they are what they should be aiming for. They are being deluded by maya. They think they have control over the fruit but the truth is the fruit has control over them. The only thing we need to do to be free is to get rid of them.
Get rid of them by working with higher motives which will destroy the gunas and the script. This is the secret of a yogin.
Destiny
Ramana Maharshi, a great sage said some very wise words. He said the Ordainer controls the fate of souls in accordance with their Prarabdha karma (destiny to be worked out in this life, resulting from the balance sheet of actions in past lives). Whatever is destined not to happen will not happen, try as you may. Whatever is destined to happen will happen, do what you may to prevent it. This is certain. The best course, therefore, is to remain silent. All the activities that the body is to go through are determined when it first comes into existence. It does not rest with you to accept or reject them. The only freedom you have is to turn your mind inward and renounce activities there.
These are incredibly powerful words. We need to give up the idea that we have control over the events. Now don’t be foolish and think that you can sit back and just do nothing. If you sit and do nothing tamas will come to you in this lifetime and sow the seeds for the fruits of the next lifetime.
The consciousness
The first step is knowing the consciousness is there for you to fall back on. Doing this will allow you to destroy gunas and then manifest karma. This will allow you to focus on the higher motives. This called enlightenment in action. We cannot just sit under trees like monks can. Even when we are serene we must be highly active.
Krishna says “to work you have the rights but not to the fruits thereof. Relinquish your desire for fruits but at the same time do not surrender from work. With the senses controlled, mind controlled he who commences the yoga of action with the organs of action wins serenity.”
We need to work without desiring these lower motives because they are the reason why were are here and if we fall for them we will have to go through all this again. It does not mean you can never achieve anything. When you work through the higher motives you will be rewarded with both success and happiness.
Do this by asking and answering the three questions we spoke of before. Who am I? Why am I here and what should I be doing while I am here?
This won’t happen overnight. You need to keep working on it. Keep falling back to the consciousness and stop worrying about the fruits of your labour. It may take a while but eventually it will pay off.
I hope I answered your questions. Remember you keep asking questions and I’ll keep answering them.
