Wednesday, April 22, 2009

आशा - संत एकनाथ

आशेपाशी काम आशेपाशी क्रोध । आशेपाशी भेद लागलासे ॥
आशेपाशी कर्म आशेपाशी धर्म । आशेपाशी नेम नानात्वाचा ॥
आशेपाशी याती आशेपाशी जाती । आशेपाशी वस्ती अहंकाराची ॥
एकाजनार्दनी निराशी तो धन्य । त्यासी नारायण सांभाळीता ॥

This abhang seems to echo the thought of Nishkaam Karma of BhagavadGita. आशा means Hope. So whenever we hope for something to happen, it is like having an expectation for some fruit. BhagavadGita tells us to work without an expectation of result. Here, Sant Eknath explains ill-effects of having such expectation/hope.
He explains आशा brings with itself host of other probles such as anger, lust, attachment, ego etc. He says in the end that the one who is not having any such hope/expectation is really lucky and Lord Narayana himself takes care of such person.