Work and Worship, Work as Worship and Work is Worship

 Work is Worship is an empty slogan and if you ask most of us what is meant by the same they will mouth the platitudes of sincerity dedication which is the general expectation of most organizations. 

However, most of us consider temporal lives related to earthly activities of daily work, and going through duties relating to caring for family, earning enough to provide for all as distinct from spiritual lives relating to matters of prayer, faith and divinity as in consciousness. The fundamental difference between animals and other living beings relates to something which goes beyond life and feelings, it is power of thinking and imagining, the presence of the intellect. The ability to imagine and believe in concepts and higher values and go beyond survival is the prerogative of human beings. 

Over the years the Industrial revolution and the factories have made the jobs of workers dehumanised and men have literally become like cogs in the machines. This was depicted by Charlie Chaplin in the old 1936 movie Modern Times. The human race has seen a massive decline in the use of the intellect and most of us live mechanical lives. This is called the herd instinct and we go through a relentless cycle of birth, school and college education designed to ensure we get a job and we go through its drudgery with mediocrity being often rewarded. Then we retire go through old age, disease and die. In most professions more than 80 to 90 % individuals are living lives in this. We become experts and hone our skills to develop intelligence which is so great that we just go on doing what we are trained to do and slowly this makes one experts going through the motions following rules, regulations, algorithms and guidelines without questioning anything. This is called work without worship. 

There is a need to live lives differently and not be like zombies. Unfortunately there is no real training available for the intellect and the world encourages us to live at the level of body and mind, fulfilling ones desires and doing what one likes and avoiding what one dislikes. Spirituality especially expounded through Vedanta encourages human beings to develop the intellect and go beyond the realms of body and mind to develop the faculty of discrimination. Is this something we can develop or need to develop? The answer is yes. How can it be done? For me the simple answer is to act selflessly and go beyond the routine for the benefit of others. In my life personally, even though I had a routine education and became a doctor, I had the pious intention of serving humanity and doing good for others. My parents instilled in me honesty and a sense of values. Honesty, gratitude and sacrifice were exemplified in the life they lived and I tried to follow their example. However, even though I was not a praying or religious person the scriptural readings and the Bhagwad Gita in particular became a template for leading a life beyond the routine. The concept of Karmayoga as given in the Gita even though at times seemed abstract at least created a need for me to adopt and try to develop a template of unselfish actions for the benefit of others. Events in life and the birth of my daughter who had Trisomy 21 (Down's Syndrome) made me go deeper into my quest to find a purpose in life. The crucial turning point for me was the Eight point programme of Spiritual growth of Eknath Easwaran and the adoption of passage meditation. 

The 8 point program was as follows

1. Meditate daily and in this I adopted the technique of passage meditation. I memorized spiritua passges from scriptures of many religions and holy books which included the Gita, Upanishads, Quran, Dhammapada, Christianity among others. The recitation of these holy words seeped into my consciousness and I realised that my decisions and reactions changed and I was able to overcome situations better than in the past. 
2. Use a Mantram to overcome difficult situations as an emergency brake. It was more like divinising and adding spirituality to daily situations. 
3. Slow down and not make hasty decisions or live life connstantly in the fast lane. The FOMO (fear of missing out) factor leads us to run after trivial pleasures and forego the things that give permanent happiness. 
4. Do one thing at a time adopting concentration and consistency in everything one does. Following the path of focussed selfless action one achieves more than hurried multi tasking with poor time management. 
5. Put other before Self. The ability to live unselfish lives comes from this. If we look around us we see countless examples in nature of giving before receiving. The sun, trees, clouds, rivers, rain, plants, fruits are all for our legitimate use in moderation to sustainn the apparatus of the body and mind. 
6. Control of the senses is one more important aspect this program and living a life of moderation. No over indulgence related to food, entertainment, loud noises and reading as well. Such a life led with discrimination and a sense of sacrifice described as person with Viveka and Vairagya lives a life detached unselfish action. We can strive to do that in life. 
7. Read the Scriptures daily. The only way to hone ones intellect is to gain knowledge through a guru or by reading scriptures. 
8. Keep company of spiritual persons. 

This transformation came into life and initially I could not directly see the effect of meditation or progress in my work place. So worship started complementing work and slowly but steadily I looked on work as worship.

In 2014, after 27 years of work as an Orthopedic I decided to find work which was more in line with service and making a difference on a larger scale. I joined the Tata Institution of Social Sciences to learn Hospital Administration. Having qualified I was ready to take leadership responsibilities, but held on to Orthopedics as a second fiddle. A clinician as an administrator had it's pros and cons and I spent 8 years as head of one of the oldest private charitable healthcare institution of Mumbai. My team colleagues and Trustees created a transformation which was beyond my imagination. However, when fundamental differences in approach surfaced I moved on and at present I am working in another great hospital trying to improve things in an ethical honest way. It is not always easy to look spiritualize all our actions and live completely detached from selfish desires. However, I enjoy my work to the extent that at most times work ceases to be work. I can say today with conviction that I am making steady progress towards the goal of Work is Worship.  

Vispi Jokhi