Superconductivity and Karmayoga
Doing all one’s duties and yet remaining calm is easier said than done! The karmayogi just does that. He works but his mind has no unnecessary anxieties. In Physics we learn about superconductors, which carry current but do not have loss of energy in such forms as heat. The karmayogi’s case is like that. He participates in the transactions of the world as per his skills and capabilities. Thanks to his detachment from the gain and loss in all the works, he remains cheerful at all time. He greets every new day with a light, fresh mind.
In contrast to the superconductor, an ordinary conductor lets electric current to flow through it but gets heated up to varying extents. Technically, we say there is energy loss in transmission. Most of us work like regular conductors. We do reach certain performance levels but suffer much stress in daily life. We do not act fully and the best in us does not reach the field of work.
An insulator does not allow current to pass through it at all. No wonder it does not get heated: electricity is not passing through it. A man who does not act at all, by taking no responsibilities, is like that. It is not a big deal. A prospective tenant asked the owner of a house, “Does the roof leak?” The house-owner replied, “Not at all, except when it rains.”
The true test is when challenges stare you in your face. A superconductor lets energy flow through it but remains at the same temperature as before. A karmayogi learns through relationships without escaping from them. Winning sometimes and failing at other times, he does not cling to his image, good or bad. Thus is his detachment to the results of karma. In success, he does not form a good picture of himself; in failure, he does not allow a bad portrait of his to be made in his own mind. Remaining aware of all events, he stays objective and not image-conscious. He embraces neither the thought, “I am good” nor the one, “I am bad”.
You will enjoy peace when you give your best to your field of work without attachment to success or failure. You will suffer unnecessary agitations when thoughts of results occupy your mind. Geeta 5:12
Swami Chidananda