I am currently listening to a series of lectures titled ‘The Meaning of Life: Perspectives from the World’s Great Intellectual Traditions’ given by Professor Jay Garfield from The Great Courses. I am only a little way in but already I am struck by his introduction to the ancient Indian/Hindu text The Bhagavad Gita. In this, he introduces the three disciplines on ‘yoga’ of Action, Knowledge and Devotion.
As I understand things, and my understanding is certainly not pure and un-mangled by my own thoughts, the idea of the Action Discipline is that one should maintain a commitment to action for its own sake and not as a means to an end. The idea is to disassociate the desire to take action from the possible outcome/reward and focus on simply taking action because this is the right way to live. In addition, it is essential to realise that to choose not to take action is actually a false choice since inaction is really an action not to do something and both the action and the inaction have consequences. So inaction is actually action and should be acknowledged as such. The example that comes to my mind here is that when I do exercises in the morning I should try to simply do exercises in the morning and not be particularly concerned about the longer-term impact these might have on my physique/well-being etc. In other words, I do exercises in the morning because that’s what I do.
The Knowledge Discipline refers to the need to understand the context in which actions are taken and to grasp their consequences. Actions should be taken from a basis of sound knowledge and knowledge should be expanded through action. An important aspect of this is reflection. Contemplation was a word that cropped up.
The Devotion Discipline is the one that, at this time, interested me the most (I have already THOUGHT about action a lot and have no difficulty with a commitment to seeking and using knowledge). The main idea behind Devotion seems to be that actions should be directed towards the greater whole (i.e. towards the cosmic or eternal scale) and not on the self. One should always consider whether an action is being taken with one’s own interests at heart or whether it is for the greater good. This can be applied at a more local level, for example, I might choose to teach a class in a particular way because it is easy for me to do so but I SHOULD be looking to teach it in a way that produces the maximum benefit for the students involved. This may sound obvious but I think it poses an interesting challenge as to always complete actions with this level of devotion to the greater whole would surely make them more difficult, time-consuming etc. I can see that to follow the Devotion Discipline may require a shift in mindset and a fair amount of work but I can also see that it is really the right thing to do.
Action, Knowledge, Devotion – it does seem like a powerful triad.
Tim O'Hare 