- And the more dependent
you become on the way things are going to turn out,
the more likely it is that they're not going to turn
out the way you want them to turn out because there's fear in you. (bell dings) The most important teaching
in the Bhagavad Gita that runs through would be mentioned in almost every chapter is what's called Karma yoga, which is a way in which you perform
action in this world. I may just read, I already
briefly talked about in our first session,
but since this is perhaps the central theme, and it's
the main spiritual practice one could say, recommended
in the Bhagavad Gita, is to do whatever you do in a certain way. And what that is, I'll
explain again briefly, and if you do whatever life
gives you to do in a certain way that will lead to a deepening
and spiritual realization. And that can be released,
you can summarize that as in the words of the Bhagavad Gita: Do not be attached to
the fruit of your action, which of course simply means, don't look to the goal of what you want to achieve through whatever you are doing now. Give your complete attention
to the doing rather than where you want to
get to through the doing. And that's again, a very
important lesson nowadays because most humans don't know that yet. They are always one moment ahead. They want to get there. You may find in your own
life still a lot of the time you are not present-moment centered. You are focused on the next
moment that you need to get to. So whatever you are doing at this moment is designed to get you to the next moment. And internally, you project yourself away from what you're doing now because the doing becomes
a means to an end. This is very normal. Everybody lives like that. Whatever they do is a means to an end and meant in their mind,
the end is more important than what they're doing. That is so habitual and unconscious that most humans don't even
know that is how they live, that they always live for the next moment but they're never
completely in this moment. They also don't know that by living in that way,
they create frustration and suffering and stress and discontent. Basically, they're condemning themselves to continuous discontent and to stress. Because if you ignore the
present moment continuously and ignore means you make
it into a means to an end because the next one is so important that you need to get to, then you miss life completely. You miss the depths that
potentially is there in life and life becomes shallow
because it's all mental because the next moment is
always a mind formation. The next moment is a mental projection. The next moment is never a
reality because it doesn't exist. When the next moment comes, "Okay, one minute from now, I've got
one minute to finish this." And then after one minute,
it's not one minute it's, "Oh, it's now again," and then it's the next
thing to do, of course. Immediately you look to the next thing because you have become
used to be uncomfortable with the present moment,
conditioned since childhood to feel ill at ease in the present moment. Oh, I should be doing
something, and doing implies some future projection. You can never be, you're always doing. And now the Bhagavad Gita, by recommending as a spiritual practice to
renounce as it's called here, to renounce the fruit of
your action, sometimes it is called a sacrifice. And what is really in
this ancient terminology what is to put this into
modern terminology, is really designed, telling you to pay
attention to what you are doing in this moment and make this
moment the primary focus of your life, whatever
you're doing at this moment. And the secondary focus is
what you want to achieve through whatever you're doing. So, and that is called a sacrifice. You one could say you
sacrifice the future. You renounce the fruit, it
says if you renounce the fruit, a different energy flows into what you do. And then many helpful factors come in. And that is the truth. And it's a new way of living where you actually,
whatever you're doing now, you give it your complete attention. This is more important than what I want to achieve through it. Yes, I know what I want
to achieve through it, but since there's only
ever the present moment and nothing else, surely
this must be important then the projected future moment. And then you can give
your fullest attention to the doing and and not
to the desired outcome. And also then you are not dependent for your sense of fulfillment
on the way things turn out. Because if you're dependent for your sense of fulfillment on the way
things turn out, quite often you will become frustrated
because they may not turn out the way you want them to turn out. And especially, and the
more dependent you become on the way things are going to turn out, the more likely it is that
they're not going to turn out the way you want them to turn out because there's fear in you. And when you need things
to be in a certain way, there's already fear in you. So the fear flows into what
you do and contaminates what you're doing now,
the quality of your doing is contaminated by fear. (chuckles) And so the very thing that
you we're dependent on is less likely to happen
because the quality of your doing diminishes. In other words, you are less conscious in the way in which you act. The less consciousness flows
into way in which you act, the less likely it is that the outcome is going to be productive and satisfying. So the more you depend on a
satisfying outcome internally, for your wellbeing and sense of identity, or sense of worthiness
or whatever it may be, the more you depend on the
desired outcome, (chuckles) the more likely it is that
you're not going to get it. It'll fail in some way. And that makes life very frustrating. But if your sense of
fulfillment is derived from the doing itself, the outcome is secondary, you no longer need it to
make you feel fulfilled. The fulfilling thing is
the what you're doing now, the attention behind it, the consciousness behind the doing. If you can feel the
consciousness flowing through you as you do something with
your hands or as you speak or whatever it is you do,
relate to other humans. If you feel that and you enjoy
the doing of this moment, let's say you have a business negotiation the outcome is you want
the contract to be signed. And if your focus is excessively on wanting the contract
to be signed for your, the company you work for, whatever, then the quality of your interaction with the other humans, the
humans that you need to sign the contract diminishes. The other person will
intuitively feel your unease. You are uneasy because you
are fearful about the outcome. So will also intuitively
feel that you are not truly relating to him
or her as a human being. You are making him or her a
means to an end unconsciously because you want them to
sign the contract. (chuckles) Now, these are the people
that you are dealing with. They don't know these things consciously that I just mentioned. But they can feel that
and they will feel, no, no I don't think I want to sign
the contact with this person. It doesn't feel quite right. Whatever, or something will come in they'll verbalize it in some way. No, it doesn't feel right. Or they see, bring up some obstacle and magnified and saying,
"No, no, I can't do that." And then you have the alternative. Somebody who doesn't need the outcome but who gives her complete attention to the other person and
actually enjoys the negotiation, the talking, enjoys not just the words that are being
spoken, but enjoys the presence of the other human being
there behind the words. But you can only enjoy the presence of the other human being if
you can enjoy your own presence beyond the mental constructs
in touch with yourself. So there comes a sense
of goodness and rightness in the present moment of
being with this other human. So you acknowledge their being, you're not using them as a
means to an end primarily. Yes, it would still be nice
if they signed the contract you know that, but that is not
your primary focus anymore. And if they don't sign
it, you are not suddenly turning hostile as many
in the business world often you find if the people, if you don't do what they want you to do they become hostile, or they walk away immediately
lose interest in you. (chuckles) You haven't signed the deal. And that's quite normal. The people who are most effective and successful actually
are people who perhaps without even knowing it, perhaps because they have good karma, as the Bhagavad Gita would
say, they live in this way. They like every moment
of interacting with you. If you are the client,
they love interacting. They love that present moment. They don't transform the present moment into some means to a future end. And this is the teaching
about renouncing the fruit of your action is the primary teaching of the Bhagavad Gita, which
is two or 3,000 years old. And still most humans
haven't learned that lesson. (chuckles) (waterfall rushes)
