Question & Answer sessions with HH Sri Datta Vijayananda Teertha Swamiji – 2015
Work is Worship
Question :
It is said, “Work is Worship”. In this mechanical age, can those who trust this concept and treat their work as divine, consider work itself as spiritual pursuit? Then, are all those who never have any time for contemplation on God or for humanitarian service still eligible for Liberation?
Answer :
Work is worship? Are they talking about work done to fill the stomach or some different type of work? Should this question be treated from a worldly or a spiritual point of view? This is coined for modern times to tell an employee to focus only on the job at hand. Otherwise, will the boss keep quiet? He will forcibly get the work done.
Worship is devotional. Treat your job as something divine, because you are getting paid and are being supported by it. Many people work for you. They have to also thrive. Show as much devotion to work as you would for performing worship, is the meaning of this expression. Nothing more.
Just because the words work and worship are clubbed, it neither means that your work will grant Liberation, nor that it will yield the same benefit as performing worship. Work and worship cannot be equated. Jaya Guru Datta.
Here the topic is employment, not personal duty towards oneself. One works, earns, eats, and sleeps. How can that be equated to worship? You are doing what is done by everyone. Because you go to work regularly you cannot claim to be a devotee.
An individual has the personal responsibility of spiritually uplifting himself. That is Swakarma. Employment is for earning a livelihood. How can that alone be sufficient? That will preclude going to temples, and engaging in personal prayers and austerities. The world does not function that way for humans, perhaps it does for birds and beasts. That is why man has retirement. He does not keep working till he dies, and even when he goes into a coma. Svakarma is spiritual. Karma is physical. Clubbing the two and saying ‘Work is worship’ only creates confusion.
If you dedicate yourself completely to work, you will achieve in achieving your worldly goals. If you start a factory, you work night and day to make it successful, the way a spiritual seeker strives night and day to attain Self-realization. You cannot consider these two as the same. One is worldly and the other is spiritual. They are two different paths and you should treat them as such. Jai Datta.
We see many people who have done nothing but work till age 60 and then regret that all their lives they had done nothing towards their own spiritual progress. If work itself is worship then they should not be feeling bad. There are people in foreign countries who keep working even at age 80. Perhaps they see divinity in their work.
We have separated Karma and Svakarma to prevent such regrets. As a duty towards one’s own soul, one should engage daily in at least fifteen minutes of prayer and contemplation.
After completing it, one may proceed to work and earn to support oneself and the family. It is one’s duty/Dharma. Neglecting this duty and remaining in spiritual pursuit totally is considered Adharma as declared by Viswamitra in the Devi Bhagavatam. Without telling the family, he deserted them for 12 years to be absorbed in penance. Trisanku supported his family and provided them food. He deeply regretted his wrong action and extended help later to Trisanku. One should mandatorily do Svakarma, and also do Karma/Work, since one is living in this world. One should also perform good deeds which help the world. It is a must.
It is unfortunate that we cling to certain catchy expressions without a proper understanding, such as Work is Worship, not even knowing who coined the phrase, and what sadhana was performed by that individual. If one simply sits and refuses to worship, does that count as doing work? By wrongly getting impressed with statements such as this, people create confusion, controversy, and conflict.