CHAPTER 4, TEXT 22: He who is satisfied with gain which comes of its own accord, who is free from duality and does not envy, who is steady in both success and failure, is never entangled, although performing actions.
Panic buying: the action of buying large quantities of a particular product or commodity due to sudden fears of a forthcoming shortage or price increase (dictionary.com).
Amid the Coronavirus pandemic, there is a massive wave of panic buying. I hear reports from friends and families that grocery shelves are empty, which is a little concerning because if my mother-in-law needs to buy food now, she's unsure where to turn. This fear of a possible shortage of food or a price increase is sweeping the nation, but the thing is...
...there's no disruption to the supply chain.
In fact, food and household necessities (including toilet paper!) are being produced and distributed at normal levels. In the article "Could You Buy a Little Less, Please?", Victoria Bekiempis writes, "In fact, the virus currently poses little threat to the integrity of the US food supply. It is panic-buying itself that is causing the real disruption" (theguardian.com). The facts show that the integrity of the food supply is being maintained, but the waves of fear are what is making this an even more unnecessary of a challenge for everyone, including my 73-year-old mother-in-law.
I am sure "panic buying" has existed in some form or other since time immemorial because fear has existed within all living beings since time immemorial. Thus, Krishna is addressing this fear, this impulse to hoard and collect for a possible future calamity, by describing a person who is fearless and trusting in the way of the world: "He... is satisfied with gain which comes of its own accord." Prabhupad elucidates this phrase when he writes, "[This person] neither begs nor borrows, but he labors honestly as far as is in his power, and is satisfied with whatever is obtained by his own honest labor."
For an American, these statements seem quite radical. According to the American Dream, wealth, fame, and power are within every single person's reach if one is just willing to work hard enough. To achieve this Dream, this nation is built upon borrowing - credit cards and loans - and working beyond one's power - 60 and 70 hour workweeks. The concept of being satisfied with what one gains "of its own accord" seems almost foreign.
There is a time to go with the flow and there is a time to create your own flow. Americans usually create their own flow. And I admire this, truly! I myself am in LOTS of student loan debt and have worked my fair share of 60-70 hour workweeks. I don't regret a single decision. That said, now that I'm 33, I'm slowing down. I'm realizing that maybe, I've overendeavored. I want to work more steadily, I want to stop borrowing. I want to be... satisfied.
I realize that overendeavor, at the core, is actually fear. Fear of not having enough money (work for that paycheck!), fear of becoming a nobody (get that degree! work that job!), fear of going hungry (buy all the pasta sauce!), fear of being unclean (buy all the toilet paper!), and on an on.
But if fear is our driving motivation, we will never be truly satisfied, at peace, or happy. The very reason I borrow so much money and work so hard and stockpile food is to be satisfied. So if that is my goal, then my motivation needs to come not from fear, but from trust.
I need to trust that if I do my best and remain "steady both in success and in failure," then I have already achieved my goal of satisfaction and peace. In fact, "These signs are visible when one is fully in transcendental knowledge." We can actually visibly identify people who are satisfied and at peace, people who trust.
Those people accept the reality of this world, that calamities and heat and cold and success and failure will always come and always go, so they remain steady in the transcendental knowledge, the truth that no matter what happens, we're always in God's hands.
Bekiempis, Victoria. “'Could You Buy a Little Less, Please?': Panic-Buying Disrupts Food Distribution.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 23 Mar. 2020, www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/23/us-coronavirus-panic-buying-food.
Full purport by Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad for Chapter 4, Text 22: https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/4/22/
Panic buying: the action of buying large quantities of a particular product or commodity due to sudden fears of a forthcoming shortage or price increase (dictionary.com).
Amid the Coronavirus pandemic, there is a massive wave of panic buying. I hear reports from friends and families that grocery shelves are empty, which is a little concerning because if my mother-in-law needs to buy food now, she's unsure where to turn. This fear of a possible shortage of food or a price increase is sweeping the nation, but the thing is...
...there's no disruption to the supply chain.
In fact, food and household necessities (including toilet paper!) are being produced and distributed at normal levels. In the article "Could You Buy a Little Less, Please?", Victoria Bekiempis writes, "In fact, the virus currently poses little threat to the integrity of the US food supply. It is panic-buying itself that is causing the real disruption" (theguardian.com). The facts show that the integrity of the food supply is being maintained, but the waves of fear are what is making this an even more unnecessary of a challenge for everyone, including my 73-year-old mother-in-law.
I am sure "panic buying" has existed in some form or other since time immemorial because fear has existed within all living beings since time immemorial. Thus, Krishna is addressing this fear, this impulse to hoard and collect for a possible future calamity, by describing a person who is fearless and trusting in the way of the world: "He... is satisfied with gain which comes of its own accord." Prabhupad elucidates this phrase when he writes, "[This person] neither begs nor borrows, but he labors honestly as far as is in his power, and is satisfied with whatever is obtained by his own honest labor."
For an American, these statements seem quite radical. According to the American Dream, wealth, fame, and power are within every single person's reach if one is just willing to work hard enough. To achieve this Dream, this nation is built upon borrowing - credit cards and loans - and working beyond one's power - 60 and 70 hour workweeks. The concept of being satisfied with what one gains "of its own accord" seems almost foreign.
There is a time to go with the flow and there is a time to create your own flow. Americans usually create their own flow. And I admire this, truly! I myself am in LOTS of student loan debt and have worked my fair share of 60-70 hour workweeks. I don't regret a single decision. That said, now that I'm 33, I'm slowing down. I'm realizing that maybe, I've overendeavored. I want to work more steadily, I want to stop borrowing. I want to be... satisfied.
I realize that overendeavor, at the core, is actually fear. Fear of not having enough money (work for that paycheck!), fear of becoming a nobody (get that degree! work that job!), fear of going hungry (buy all the pasta sauce!), fear of being unclean (buy all the toilet paper!), and on an on.
But if fear is our driving motivation, we will never be truly satisfied, at peace, or happy. The very reason I borrow so much money and work so hard and stockpile food is to be satisfied. So if that is my goal, then my motivation needs to come not from fear, but from trust.
I need to trust that if I do my best and remain "steady both in success and in failure," then I have already achieved my goal of satisfaction and peace. In fact, "These signs are visible when one is fully in transcendental knowledge." We can actually visibly identify people who are satisfied and at peace, people who trust.
Those people accept the reality of this world, that calamities and heat and cold and success and failure will always come and always go, so they remain steady in the transcendental knowledge, the truth that no matter what happens, we're always in God's hands.
Bekiempis, Victoria. “'Could You Buy a Little Less, Please?': Panic-Buying Disrupts Food Distribution.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 23 Mar. 2020, www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/23/us-coronavirus-panic-buying-food.
Full purport by Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad for Chapter 4, Text 22: https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/4/22/
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