In vain…
एवं प्रवर्तितं चक्रं नानुवर्तयतीह य: ।
अघायुरिन्द्रियारामो मोघं पार्थ स जीवति ।।Bhagwad Gita ૩.16।।
हे पार्थ ! जो पुरुष इस लोक में इस प्रकार परम्परा से प्रचलित सृष्टि चक्र के अनुकूल नहीं बरतता अर्थात् अपने कर्तव्य का पालन नहीं करता, वह इन्द्रियाँ के द्वारा भोगों में रमण करने वाला पापायु पुरुष व्यर्थ ही जीता है ।।16।।
Arjuna, he who does not follow the wheel of creation thus set going in this world (i.e., does not perform his duties), sinful and sensual, he lives in vain. (16)
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All component parts are bound together in relation, the whole is a network of relations. Harmony is possible only when there is no disturbance of relations by any component. Any disturbance anywhere would impede the smooth working of the whole. There can be no trouble on this score so far as non-sentient components are concerned for they perform their part with unerring exactitude bound by the unalterable decrees of Providence, but with rational man the case is different. He has freedom of action. All is meant for him, but by self-blindness he has succeeded in disinheriting himself, and looks upon himself as the abandoned of God. In place of co-operation he seeks refuge in individualism, and class antagonism.
Man on birth feeds his body and mind by the cooperation of the total forces of nature and the integrated service of the whole of society. He is born to a great inheritance. He finds the whole of the not-self (world beyond him) active, his individual activity also a part of the whole. The co-operation of the rest enables him to achieve his ends. Why, his own special activity is nominally his own, for in training his mind and the organs of action for it he has had accumulated experience of the race in the shape of language, tradition, educational institutions, example of his fellow-beings and a favorable environment-products of the individual activities of all, co-operating together as his guide and teacher. So while enjoying himself and keeping his soul in the body he is really incurring a tremendous obligation to society.
The only return it is possible for him to make is his own individual activity. For his assumed right of claiming the use of the mental and moral possessions of society, the co-operation of fellow beings for provision of food, clothing and shelter, the means of communication, production, and distribution, and products of their industry, in other words the services of the entire Lok (Universe) he offers the services of his body-organs, themselves under prior obligation to society for training them up for the discharge of his obligations. Does it not behoove man then to live for the good of his benefactors? His individual action means everything. If in harmony with the cycle, its effect is beneficent all round, but if blind, foolish, and deluded and in slavery to sense, then a man of such action is born in vain and lives in vain, as he is harmful to society. He uses the body instrument neither for the good of the Lok (Universe) nor for that of his self. He is self-blind, he has forgotten himself and his place in the universal Wheel, he treats his individual activity as the cause of what he gets and ignores the contribution of the Cosmos, as of no value. Oblivious of the equal right of others not to be compelled to suffer from his harmful activities, he in slavery to his body machine gives himself up to sense-enjoyments without regard to their effect upon others and on himself in the long run. He considers his claim to fool about as exercise of individual freedom, but he denies the claim of other human beings and creatures to equal freedom to follow their pursuits, no matter if they are, disagreeable to him, as a curtailment of his freedom. He lives for himself and wants the rest to mould their action to suit his whims & fancies which every moment are changing. For him the body is all, his lord and master, this bread and water composition. Such a man forges chains of bondage round his self through body affections. Doesn’t such a man live in vain?
