Liberation in Labour

This post is also available in: Hindi Polish

This Labour Day understand various stages of labour and what sort of labour you are doing. Whether you are a chief executive officer (CEO) or a carpenter, you are doing one or the other form of labour. The work that a CEO does can be called the “Central Eye Opener”. That is what the words CEO stand for.

Opening the eyes of the organisation and the people associated with the organisation is the labour that a CEO does. Each one of us is labouring — be it the mother at home or the manager at work. The question is what sort of labour do you do. From the spiritual viewpoint, there are four stages of how one approaches work.

The first stage can be called “Survival Labour”. Here one is merely working for the sake of himself/herself or for family. The only focus is on survival. Those who see their work as merely a money-making mechanism fall in this category. Their motto is “Live for yourself”.

The next stage is “Inspirational Labour” where though the focus is on bread winning, there is pride in the job, too. Let us understand this with an example. Once there were three labourers involved in breaking stones. They were striking the stones with a massive hammer all day long under the hot sun for constructing their king’s pet project. When they were asked what is it that they were exactly doing, the first labourer replied, “I am just carrying out what has to be done as per my miserable fate”. “I am breaking stones for construction purposes”, retorted the second labourer. When the third labourer was asked the same question, he said, “It is my privilege that I am building the temple, the pet project of our king”. The third labourer had pride in his job. This is “Inspirational Labour”, where you are inspired by your work and where your body language in turn inspires others. Those at this stage have fallen in love with their work. The motto of those at the second stage of labour is, “Live for your job”.

Most people are stuck at the survival level or at the inspirational level. They do not look beyond. Let us see another example to understand this. Four friends had to use one boat to travel to a village. They sat in the boat and used the four oars to row all night. In the morning, they realised they had not moved at all. This is because they had not untied the boat. This is what happens at the first or second stage of labour. Though there is apparent effort, you have not really moved in life. It is important to move on.

The third stage of labour is “Impersonal Labour” — means labour that is not done only for personal benefit. It is not exclusive work — but inclusive, where you include the benefit of others. It is not individual labour, but universal in nature. The motto of those who are at this stage is, “Live for others”.

Work done for the benefit of others is Impersonal Labour. But don’t stop just there. Progress to the next stage. The fourth and final stage is “Liberational Labour”. This is work that happens after you realise your true nature. After self realisation, self expression follows. Here, work is not work at all. In this stage, labour arises from liberation. It is effortless effort. Stabilised in the Self (your true nature), you work for establishing the experience of Self in everybody. You no longer live a selfish life. In fact, you live a “Self-ish” life — where the individual is transcended and one lives established in the Self. In the fourth stage, the motto is, “Live for others because, there is no other”. The word ashram (meaning hermitage) in Hindi exactly signifies this liberated labour that happens at this stage. “Shram” means labour. Ashram is absence of labour.

So, this labour day, decide to move towards ashram. It does not mean you have to physically relocate to live in an ashram. It means you take an intention to move, at least, to the next level of labour from wherever you currently are. Have the intention to move from lamenting about your labour at the first stage to the next level of inspirational labour. If you are already at the second stage, take on an intention to move from lusting for labour to the next level of impersonal labour. If you are already at the third stage, take on an intention of moving from the lusture of labouring for others to liberation. Let this Labour Day be a reminder for liberated labour arising out of Self realisation.