Work – don’t carry workload

When we see our work as workload, we feel burdened. We can’t avoid working, but we can avoid seeing work as a workload. How can we avoid seeing it thus? By changing our attitude towards the work. We sometimes become resentful about, say, the kind or the quantity of the work we have to do. Such resentment saps our mental energy, making the work seem bigger than what it actually is. The Bhagavad-gita (13.23) states that Krishna is the supreme overseer and permitter. This implies that he has allowed this work-situation to come into our life for some reason meant ultimately for our growth. Such devotional redirection of our thoughts becomes a channel for freeing our mental energy that is being choked by resentment. Frequently, when we get over the resentment and get down to work, we find that it is not as unmanageable or intolerable as our mind had depicted. The preceding analysis certainly doesn’t mean that all work-related problems are just matters of attitude. Sometimes, the work may be utterly incompatible with our nature. Or an unfairly large amount of work may be allotted to us. These situations call for practical remedial actions. But understanding whether the problem is mental or actual, analyzing what remedy is workable, and deciding how to best deal with the immediate situation – all these require inner clarity and agility. But that is impeded, if not made impossible, when resentment catches our thoughts in a stranglehold. To break free from such thought-patterns, we need the spiritual strength necessary for directing our thoughts towards Krishna. We can gain spiritual strength through a regular regimen of yogic practices such as mantra meditation and scriptural study. The Bhagavad-gita (18.58) assures that when we become conscious of Krishna, he enables us to cross over all obstacles – including the obstacle of perceiving work as workload.