The Bhagabad Geeta and the Philosophy of Work

In workplaces, be it domestic or corporate, we seldom find philosophy. In most of the cases, workplaces are dominated by politics. People often say that 'I do not like workplace politics' or 'I cannot get on with it'; but unknowingly they also take part in some kind of politics. Why does it happen in this way? Before explaining that I would like to mention what the Bhagabad Geeta, a prime Hindu religious text says about work. Though the Geeta is a religious text, it does not talk about moralities or rituals; it is packed up with rich philosophy that can be applied in real life.
In Geeta Lord Sri Krishna says that "Do your work but do not worry about the result". Most of the people will find it non-sense because they would never understand how can someone do a work without thinking about the result.
If you observe your own actions you will understand this. While you are at work, whatever it might be, you keep bothering yourself about the outcome. When you do the works in your office, you keep thinking about how your boss would appreciate you, whether she/he will appreciate you at all etc. When you are cooking you start worrying about how it will taste and what people will say about your cooking etc. These thoughts occupy a considerable amount of your energy and attention. So, you are not really able to give your full attention to the work. The result is a poor level of productivity. If you keep worrying about the result, the result will definitely be frustrating.
But when you become free of the thought and do the work for its own sake, you can give your best to the work. It will definitely make a wonderful outcome. Even if people do not appreciate you immediately, you do not need to worry about that. Your sincere effort will be paid off sooner or later. Keep patience.
When we do something, we bother ourselves a lot about appreciation or criticism. Now these things are really personal and perspective oriented. Nothing is right or wrong, neither good nor bad. It depends on how people are looking at your work. If you pay too much attention to appreciation or criticism, you will lose your motivation. If you are overwhelmed with appreciation, you will think 'Oh I am great! I do not need to work on myself!'. If you are hurt by criticism you will think 'Oh I am good for nothing! I should not try it again!' Both are devastating. If you want to keep yourself grounded, you need to focus on the work, not on the result.
I often see that people do their office work with great dedication because they get paid for it and ignore the domestic work because it does not pay off. Now this is a poor attitude. You will work well only when someone gives you money; are you that cheap really? You get your nourishment from home; it includes good food, a good bath and relaxation. How can you ignore your domestic responsibility when your home makes you what you are? It is beyond question that a clean and organized home gives a good physical and mental health, eventually increasing your productivity at office.
So, in this way if we get rid of our poor thoughts we can be out of politics and can develop a great philosophy of work. It might sound impossible, but if you develop a practice, within one year you will understand its reasult. This attitude actually works in real life!

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