The Gita is Science
I am going to attempt to bridge the Gita with science. Yes, I know it is a tall claim and I might fail.
But nothing has been achieved without trying. Forgive me if I err.
The Gita taught us
karmaṇy-evādhikāras te mā phaleṣhu kadāchana
mā karma-phala-hetur bhūr mā te saṅgo ’stvakarmaṇi
Which translates to "do what you need to do, but do not be attached to the outcome."
The only thing in your hands is your action. Not the outcome.
For many of us, this is easy to recite but incredibly hard to practice.
Isn't the goal the motivation? Would I not stop trying or making an effort if I did not think of or worry about the outcome or my future?
A large part of this belief comes from the, in my humble opinion, incorrect view that we have a past, present, and future.
I propose that we only have the past and present.
Every moment you experience is the present. Every moment that you experienced is in the past. The future does not really exist, does it? As soon as you experience it, it became the present or the past.
So, if you can agree with me for the moment, we can quickly reconcile what the Gita teaches us with science.
Science tells us that we have an emotional brain and a rational brain. The rational brain is focused on the present. The emotional brain worries about what happened or the past.
If you can use acceptance to help your emotional brain and use your rational brain to drive your actions, you've done what the Gita asked: focus on the action, not the outcome.
Why is it so difficult, you may ask?
One reason is that we experience life as a stream of consciousness and not as discrete intervals. It makes it harder to separate the present from the past.
Look at it this way.
What you are accepting is your past and whatever happened to it.
What you are doing is your present and whatever that needs.
Your future? It does not really exist, does it?
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