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Working Under Pressure

A heavy week at work feels like one lump of dread. The Gita pulls it into three parts, the work, the fear and the panic, and gives a handle for each. Start here for readings at three depths.

In brief

  • Work pressure is three weights: the task, the fear about its result and the wave of panic.
  • Your right is to the action and not to its fruit (2.47); do your part and do not carry the outcome.
  • Panic is a wave that comes and goes (2.14), and yoga is skill in action (2.50).
  • Offer the work and put down the fever (3.30); peace follows when the grip on the fruit loosens (5.12).

When a heavy week at work begins, the dread arrives as one lump. The Gita pulls the lump into three parts. There is the task itself, which is yours to do (Gita 2.47). There is the fear about how it will end, which belongs to the result (Gita 2.47–51, Gita 5.12). And there is the wave of panic in the body, which comes and goes (Gita 2.14, Gita 2.38, Gita 3.30). Each part gets its own handle, and the work does not get worse when the parts are separated.

The teaching behind these handles sits in three other topics. Letting go of the claim on results is taught in Action Without Claiming the Fruit. Bearing the wave with a level mind is taught in Equanimity. Handing the work over, without fever, is taught in Offering All Actions. This topic is where all three meet an ordinary working day, and it begins the path Work and Career.

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Simple New to this topic. Plain words, one idea at a time. Dreading Monday on Sunday Night: Three Weights of Work Pressure and How the Gita Lightens Each Work pressure is three weights, not one: the work, the fear of the result and the wave of panic. 6 min · Read → In Depth Know the basics. Verse by verse, with reasons. The Gita on Work Pressure: Three Layers, Three Handles, and a Workday Practice (Gita 2.14, 2.47-51, 3.30, 5.12) Work pressure has three layers: the demand of the work, the fear of the outcome and the wave of panic inside. 12 min · Read → Deeper Want the text itself: Sanskrit terms, commentary, close reading. Work Pressure in the Gita, Read Closely: The Right to Act, the Fruit and the Fever (Gita 2.14, 2.47-51, 3.30, 5.12) The right is to the action, and the action includes effort, planning and answerability for one's own part; what is given up is the clutch on a result that has many causes (2.47, 18.14-15). 14 min · Read → Quick summary Short on time. The whole topic in a few minutes. Working Under Pressure: Quick Summary Work pressure has three layers: the real demand of the work, fear of the result and inner panic. 13 min · Read →

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