Modernity comes with anxiety.
While modern technological advancements may have eased
our survival struggles, it certainly has raised the stakes in other areas of life.
Contrary to the popular ‘snowflake’ thesis that paints millennials as spoilt
brats of rich parents, millennials may actually have it going tougher for them,
if sociologist Lisa
Strohschein is to be believed. Add on top of this the constant pull of smartphones
and social media, and you get a taste of the millennial anxiety recipe.
While anxiety may come in different colours and flavours, one peculiar kind comes with 'overthinking'. Every once in a while, I come across anxious people who proclaim themselves as overthinkers. For the uninitiated, this ‘overthinking’ isn’t to be equated with ‘deep thinking’ – when they say they are ‘overthinkers’, what they mean is they are anxious, clueless, and worried. 'Overthinking', at least the way this word is used in popular culture, is to be understood as lack of clarity in thought and perception - a highly diverged cognition.
Why this anxiety, by the way? Shouldn't 'thinking' be a noble pursuit? Shouldn't 'thinking' be a job we all should be doing relentlessly?
The verse
41st verse (second chapter) of the Bhagavad
Gita may shed some light:
व्यवसायात्मिका बुद्धिरेकेह कुरुनन्दन |
बहुशाखा ह्यनन्ताश्च बुद्धयोऽव्यवसायिनाम् ||vyavasāyātmikā buddhir ekeha kuru-nandana
bahu-śhākhā hyanantāśh cha buddhayo ’vyavasāyinām- Gita, Chapter 2, Verse 41
The verse describes the difference between a result-oriented
approach, an approach that focuses too much on the results instead of the
task at hand, and a task-oriented approach - an approach which focuses
only on the task at hand and doesn’t worry much about the outcomes.
A result-oriented approach, which the scripture
terms as ‘sakAma karma’, breeds anxiety, worry, and unproductive
actions. It is filled with self-doubts and unsolicited excuses for everything. It
takes the outcomes too personally, and is afraid to fail. It is jealous, timid,
and easily distracted – because this approach is not focused on the task, but
on the ‘ego’ that is associated with the outcomes of the task.
What Gita terms as ‘NishkAma karma’ is the task-oriented
approach. It focuses on the task, not on the ‘ego’. The man, who is focused
on the work at hand and not on the outcomes, will have resolute and
unwavering thinking. Determination will come naturally to him, but not the
obsession. Free from distractions and obsessions, his action will be marked by
precision and strategy. He will not fail - because even if he fails, he will
use that failure as a learning opportunity.
The Vedantic Approach
Gita is a Vedantic text – a text that builds on the philosophy propounded by the Vedas and the Upanishads. Vedantic philosophy considers self-knowledge as the way to cessation of sorrows and attainment of bliss (आत्यन्तिक दुःख निबृत्ति परमानन्द प्राप्ति). Therefore, the Vedantic approach to solving life’s problem is a top-down approach. Instead of focusing on individual problems and finding specific solutions to them, it believes that we can address the root cause of problems by having the right knowledge.
Following this approach, Gita finds the solution to anxiety and procrastination in a task-oriented approach. The problem lies not in laziness or lack of clarity, but in our approach to individual tasks.
