64. Always Do Your Best
K rishna says, “Perform your obligatory actions, as action is superior to inaction; and even the maintenance of your body would not be possible by inaction’’ (3.8). Actions like gathering and consuming food are essential for the survival of our physical body. Further, the human body consists of many organs, systems and chemicals which perform thousands of internal actions on a regular basis. Even if a couple of them are missing harmony would be lost, and the body would suffer or perish. In that sense, maintenance of the body wouldn’t be possible by inaction. Krishna speaks of performing obligatory actions which is an intricate concept. Rituals prescribed by sacred texts or duties cast on us by society are usually taken to be obligatory actions. But both fall short of defining what Krishna intends to convey. For example, a seedcoat’s obligatory action is to protect the seed and at an appropriate time, it should destroy itself to give way to the sprout. This implies tha...