01172010 - God, Religion and Wikipedia!

I was watching this video of Jimmy Wales on the birth of Wikipedia and this blog idea struck my mind. Before going to the core of the topic, let me give you a glimpse of the contents of the 20 minute video (in case you do not have time to watch it!)

Glimpse of the video: This video talks about the concept behind the birth of Wikipedia, the principles of Wikipedia and what it takes to maintain it.

In the contents, somewhere in the middle (may be the 14th minute or so, not very sure..) Jimmy Wales mentions that "there are, at any given moment of time, three or four moderators waiting for me to come online and always ready to help me out... not because i told them to, not because i pay them, its because they want to..."

The last statement struck me like a lightning! and i realized that the essence of Bhagavadhgeetha was being quoted here! Confused?? Let me elaborate -

Krishna in bhagavadhgeetha mentions in the 2nd Adhyaya, Sloka 47 -

Karmanyevaadhikaarasthe maa phaleshu kadaachana |

Maa karmaphala heturbhuhu maa te sangostva karmaNi ||

which is generally translated by people as - do your duty and do not expect the fruits / results.

This translation is a little mutated and is not exactly what the sloka states. For starters, let me split the sloka - the first few words - karmaNi va adhikaraha te maa phaleshu kadaachana - The word "adhikara" used here - does not mean "RIGHT" (as translated by many people) but it means "ELIGIBILITY"

So a more accurate translation would be -

"You have the eligibility to do karma but you do not have the eligibility to expect fruits out of it, you are not the producer of the fruit and neither shall you lean towards not doing any karma at all"

You may wonder - why the second line in the sloka? Well it is to cover the loopholes ;)

How? What?? Huh??? Loopholes???? D'oh!

You see, playing strictly by the rules, if you are allowed to do a karma, and you are not allowed to expect fruits, and if you do not own the fruits - a general thought comes to the mind,"Why should i do Karma then? I can just sit in one place and do nothing!" - to counter this thought, the second line "maa te sangostva karmani" was added. Anyways.. getting back..

Now, let me take argument a little further -

While doing a karma (good/bad) - do it because "YOU" want to do it, and you want to do it because you like doing it. Your Karma should not be influenced by the Arishat Vargas (kama, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, matsara). When done so - the fruits born by the karma will always be satisfactory. It is simple yet brilliant aspect of Psychology!

How is all this related to Wikipedia ? Well..........

Jimmy Wales mentions that "there are, at any given moment of time, three or four moderators waiting for me to come online and always ready to help me out... not because i told them to, not because i pay them, its because they want to..."