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Chapter 14
THE GUNAS: DEVELOPING THEM AND GOING BEYOND THEM
76. Bodily Labour: Cure For Tamas
6. At present, everywhere, there is a talk of social reform. People are discussing about the minimum comforts that the common man should have, the structure of society necessary for it, and such other questions. At one end, there are excessive luxuries and at the other, there is extreme privation. At one end, there is excessive wealth and at the other, there is total destitution. How to remove these social disparities? How could everybody have minimum happiness? There is only one natural way for everyone to get the necessaries of life; and it is that all should shake off laziness and be ready to work hard. Laziness is the cause of our main woe, and this woe would be no more if all resolve to do physical labour. But what do we observe in our society? On one side, there are men getting rusty and useless. The rich do not use their organs, which get rusted due to disuse. On the other side, some people are required to toil so hard that their bodies get worn out through overwork. There is a tendency in the whole of the society to evade bodily labour. Those who have to toil till the point of breakdown do not do so willingly and cheerfully, but because there is no other alternative. Clever people devise all sorts of excuses to avoid physical labour. Some say, “Why waste time in bodily labour?” But no one ever says, “Why should one sleep? Why waste time in eating?” They eat when they are hungry and sleep when they feel sleepy; but when the question of doing bodily labour arises, they say, “Why waste time in bodily labour? Why should we do such work? Why should we toil? We are already doing mental work.” To them I would say, “My dear friend, you talk of mental work; then why don’t you take mental food and mental sleep?” 7. Thus, there are two sections in the society: some work to the point of breakdown while others do no work at all. A friend once said, “In society, some are intelligent while others are stupid. Some have only heads while some have only trunks.” The brains think and the trunks work. Society has been divided in this manner. But, had there actually been some trunks and some brains, some arrangement for cooperation between them could have been evolved. The lame can lead the blind and the blind can carry the lame on his shoulders. But in reality, everybody has a brain as well as a trunk. This combination of head and trunk is found in each and everyone. What should then be done? Everybody must, therefore, shake off laziness.
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