śrīmad bhagavadgītā: When work becomes worship
yataḥ pravṛttir bhūtānāṁ yena sarvam idaṃ tatam |
sva-karmaṇā tam abhyarcya siddhiṃ vindati mānavaḥ || 18.46 ||
Re-ordered word-by-word meaning
yataḥ bhūtānāṁ pravṛttiḥ - From whom all entities derive their tendencies and activities (through the gunas)
yena sarvam idaṃ tatam - by whom the entire creation is pervaded,
abhyarcya tam sva-karmaṇā - by worshipping Him, through one's work/actions, in accordance with one's true nature,
mānavaḥ siddhiṃ vindati - one attains fulfilment=liberation.
This key shloka occupies an important place in the 18th chapter, as the Lord winds up his discourse while re-emphasizing the nature of one's duty, and how to to perform it.
Pujya Swami Tejomayananda-ji spoke about this shloka at length yesterday. He said that the sum total of all work that man can and will do is like gold ore mined from a gold field. By discovering one's true calling, in accordance with one's tendencies and samskaras, one purifies the work, like purifying the ore into a gold nugget. Then performing that nature-ordained work in a Sattvic way (cited before), one creates a great ornament out of this gold nugget. By offering all one's work as worship of the Lordis like offering the ornament to the deity in the temple, which will be the ornament's greatest application.
Swamiji said that Hanuman represents the greatest example of this.
Why offer one's true work as worship? After all, all our tendencies, all physical beings, all resources, all abilities, all attitudes, and all fields of action, are all permeated by the Lord. He is the Creator, and He is living and breathing through all. By offering our work as worship, we are only doing what is due!
Recall Purandara Dasa's famous line:
ಕೆರೆಯ ನೀರನು ಕೆರೆಗೆ ಚೆಲ್ಲಿ ವರವ ಪಡೆದವರಂತೆ ಕಾಣಿರೋ
ಹರಿಯ ಕರುಣೆಯೊಳಾದ ಭಾಗ್ಯವ ಹರಿ ಸಮರ್ಪಣೆ ಮಾಡಿ ಬದುಕಿರೋ
