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Chapter 17
PROGRAMME FOR THE SEEKER
95. Triple Endeavour For This Purpose
6. The third institution is the body. It too gets worn out daily by our use. We daily use mind, intellect and organs. Tapas has been prescribed for removing the defects and distortions that arise in the body and purifying it. 7. Thus it is our duty to act in such a way that these three institutions— nature, society and the body—function smoothly and efficiently. We create a number of good or bad institutions, but these three have not been created by us. They have already been given to us. They are natural, not man-made. It is our natural duty to replenish through yajna, dana and tapas the wear and tear in these three orders. If we follow this, all our energy will be harnessed for this purpose. No strength will be left for anything else. All our strength would be consumed for the sake of these three institutions. If we could say like Kabir, “O Lord! I am returning this shawl given by you without soiling it!”[1], that would be a matter of fulfillment for us. But for this, the triple programme of yajnadana-tapas must be followed.Here we have regarded yajna, dana and tapas as if they were different entities; but in fact, they are not really different. Nature, society and the body are not completely distinct entities. Society is not something outside nature, nor is the body outside it. Therefore, productive labour (yajna), dana, tapas—all these can be called yajna in a broad sense. It is in this spirit that the Gita has referred to dravyayajna (sacrifice with material gifts) and tapoyajna (sacrifice with austerities) in the Fourth Chapter. The Gita has broadened the meaning of yajna. Whatever service we render to these three institutions is bound to be a form of yajna. But it is also necessary that this service should be without any desire or expectation for reward. In fact, there can be no room whatsoever for expecting any fruit of our actions, as we have already received much from these institutions. We are already burdened with debt. What we have to do is to return what we have already taken. Nature attains a state of harmony and equilibrium through yajna, society attains such a state through dana, and tapas maintains equilibrium in the body. Yajna-dana-tapas is thus the triple programme for preserving balance and order in these three institutions. It will lead to purification and elimination of pollution.
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References and Context
- ↑ Here, reference to the famous poem of saint Kabir wherein he tells the Lord that the shawl (i.e. the body) given by the Lord is normally soiled by people, but he has used it with meticulous care and is returning it to Him (while bidding farewell to the world) in the same spotless (i.e. sinless) condition.