Desire Versus Duty

Self-centered action may be the mantra of the day, but selfless duty is Hinduism’s historic song

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by Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami

A person driven by duty, or dharma, takes up a course of action because it fits into his natural responsibilities in life—kartavya karma. For this individual, the course of action, such as the choice of occupation, is the priority, and the attendant personal benefits are of secondary importance.

Kartavya karma is action that ought to be performed. It is determined by scripture, social convention and the responsibilities of ones chosen profession. Lets take as an example a 50-year-old physician and list the major duties in each of five categories of his kartavya karma.

Professional Duties: Providing competent medical care in an ethical manner; serving beyond profit: giving time to low‑income patients, responding to emergency calls or supporting public‑health efforts as his situation permits; continuing medical education; mentoring younger physicians.

Householder Duties: Providing for the material needs of his wife and children; being emotionally present; providing education, guidance and moral formation for the children; maintaining a strong marital life.

Societal Duties: Supporting Hindu organizations and causes; contributing time, skill or funds to efforts that reduce suffering—free clinics, health education, disaster relief and other forms of community service.

Personal Discipline and Spiritual Growth: Maintaining a daily spiritual practice—prayer, meditation and the study of wisdom texts; participating in worship—home puja, temple visits and satsang; practicing self-control and ethical living; acting without attachment to results; cultivating equanimity amid success and failure.

Later-Life Duties: Placing greater emphasis on mentoring and sharing wisdom; balancing professional work with spiritual reflection; preparing for the senior years with an increasing orientation toward contemplation and spiritual evolution.

The nature of the world and karma is such that some efforts succeed but others do not. When success is an individuals primary goal, its attainment brings elation, while failure brings discouragement or even deeper negative emotions, such as anger and despair. Thus, when one is motivated by desire, life becomes a constant series of emotional ups and downs, a state not conducive to spiritual progress.

When the focus is on duty, performing the task itself is the source of fulfillment. Doing all tasks to the best of ones ability creates an evenness of mind, regardless of success or failure. Such evenness of mind is a key requirement for spiritual maturation.

There is a subtle form of personal benefit that also needs to be surrendered: the tendency to fulfill ones duty while expecting appreciation for it. For example, a mother raises her children with attention and love but is disappointed when they do not express appreciation for what she does. She may prepare a special dinner for her family and receive no acknowledgment or thanks. Ideally, she lets go of this expectation and finds fulfillment in the duty itself—lovingly raising her children and joyously preparing family meals.

A second aspect of a desire-driven life is that the fulfillment of one desire often leads to a desire for something more. If we covet a $2 million home and finally acquire it, the satisfaction of that achievement will eventually fade and we will desire an even more lavish estate. As the ethical scripture Tirukural states: It is the nature of desire never to be fulfilled, but he who utterly gives it up is eternally fulfilled at that very moment.

If we have renounced the grosser benefits of wealth, fame and influence, as well as the more subtle expectation of receiving appreciation, what further refinement can be incorporated into our fulfillment of duty? We can add Ishvara. Specifically, we can make our actions an offering to Ishvara by saying a prayer before we begin an activity. Ishvara is then invoked to bless our activity, and the sense that we are the doer is gradually lessened.

Being motivated to action by a sense of duty rather than by personal desire is called nishkama karma, which literally means action free of desire. It takes into account everyone affected by an activity and seeks to benefit them all. In a school, this would include all the students; in a county government, it would include all the local residents; and in a corporation, it would include all employees and stakeholders. As a modern example at the corporate level, a CEO guided by nishkama karma makes hard decisions—such as investing in worker welfare or environmental responsibility—even if they may reduce short‑term profit. His criterion is What is the right thing for everyone? not What maximizes my bonus and reputation?

At the personal level, there is a tendency to become anxious about the outcome of an action. Say you are scheduled to give an important speech. You become anxious about how it will be received. During preparation, this anxiety prevents you from doing your best work, and the speech you compose is mediocre. Clearly, greater detachment from the outcome is needed. Focus on creating the best speech you can without concern for how it will be received. This is another form of nishkama karma.

We published an opinion article in the October 2005 issue by the late Dr. N. Narayana Rao, who at the time was associate head of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois. In his teaching efforts, he remarkably embodied all the ideals stated above and provided an example of what can be accomplished in ones professional life when working to fulfill dharma.

I have been inspired to coin two new words for this article: grattitude and workship. Grattitude means an attitude of gratitude. In the performance of my job, I feel grattitude for the opportunity I have been given to help facilitate the education of our wonderful youth, through my teaching, writing and administration. I have learned that performing such work with grattitude yields immediate enjoyment, while performing that same work expecting appreciation in return yields the opposite effect. Workship means approaching work as worship. This is nothing new. Its an old Hindu concept which I am just now identifying with a catchy new wordname.

I approach my job every morning with the thought that I am going to the Temple of Electrical and Computer Engineering, where I will workship. The first thing I do when I enter my office is offer salutations to a statue of Lord Ganesha, which I have installed in a small shrine there. Then I go to workship with my staff, students and faculty colleagues, striving always to carry out my tasks with a willpower born of the conviction that for every problem, there is not just a solution, but a good solution. I have found that when one is able to practice workship with grattitude, rewards come without being sought.

Dr. Rao was an exemplar of karma yoga. Ordinarily, when we think of yoga practice, we envision it taking place in a special environment. Bhakti yoga, the practice of devotional disciplines, is generally undertaken at a temple or in the home shrine. Raja yoga and jnana yoga, which emphasize meditative disciplines, are practiced in a meditation room at home or in a meditation hall at a yoga school. Karma yoga is an exception to this pattern. It is practiced wherever our normal activities take place, such as at school, at work or during family activities at home.

In the term karma yoga, karma means action, referring to our everyday actions, which in Hinduism are considered our duties. Karma yoga provides a way to spiritualize those actions, transforming them from mere secular activities into spiritual ones. Karma yoga is the simple concept of action based on dharma rather than on desire. It is an easily remembered formulation that we encourage parents and Hindu teachers to share with youth to help guide their choices in education, career and family life.

The concept of duty has gone out of style during the last 100 years. Why? Because it is tightly woven into the fabric of community, and community has loosened its ties to the individual. Community can be the family or the workplace. It can be an athletic team or a theater group. More broadly, it encompasses our fellow believers, our nation and, ultimately, the human family. When community is strong, it is natural to work selflessly to help others. We want them to succeed. They are part of us. Community strengthens our sense of duty. But when we are alone, duty can feel foreign. The homeless man living in a cardboard box may not awaken thinking about his duties, about helping others. When we are a community of one, it is natural to look after number one. We think it is necessary; we see no alternative. Our thoughts do not naturally encompass duty. In todays fractured world, this is a common reality. Extended-family bonds are more fragile than in earlier times; there is less tribal connectedness and less religious fidelity. For those seeking to live with a consciousness of duty faithfully performed, the first order of business is to strengthen all forms of community, to the point that, like the worker bee, we naturally seek the survival and prosperity of the hive as well as our own. For the wise among us, it is clear that the success of our community is also our own.