Swami Dhayanandaji's Gita Home-study Discussion Notes on Karma Yoga - Part VI

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Swami Dhayanandaji's Gita Home-study Discussion Notes on Karma Yoga - Part VI

 

THE EXPLANATION FOR HUMAN SUFFERING

 

The answer to all of this is that not only is He the creator, He is also the

creation. The individual i1va is nonseparate from and, therefore, not

different from paramesvara. The individual self, atmaa is Brahman and,

therefore, all that is there is the atmaa that is Brahman. The atmaa,the jiva,

is not created. When you say a person is created, it is only with reference to

a given physical body at a given time. The jiva is due to ignorance alone and,

ignorance being beginningless, the jiva is beginningless (anaadi). Subtle and

gross bodies (suksma-sthula-sarira) are born in the -sense that the subtle

body (suksma-sarira) always adapts itself to the gross body (sthula-sarira).

We also find that the suksma-sarira is always in keeping with the

sthula-sarira it adapts itself to. Thus, only a cat's suksma-sarira is in a

cat's body, and not a human suksma-sarira. Otherwise, the cat will not mew at

you; it will talk to you, saying, "Come on, it's morning. Get up!"

 

We find that in this world of living beings, in each unit of creation, there

is a sthula sarira, which is all in keeping with one's karma-phala. Isvara,

defined as the karma-phala-daataa, is not to blame. Nor do you need to justify

Isvara's action either. To do so would only be justifying your own! You did

it; you got it. You asked for it; you've had it-and you have it also. You will

continue to have it because you keep asking for it. Therefore. no one else is

responsible for what comes to you. Every jiva is responsible for what that

person is. This is the kind of responsibility that is assumed by the jiva

here. You have a capacity, a free will, to perform action. You can do whatever

you want to do, but the result is always something that is taken care of by

the law that is Isvara.

 

Why is this all necessary? To answer this question, we have to go a little

more into the human psyche, defined here in the Gita as a psyche that operates

on the basis of its own likes and dislikes, raga and dvesa. The entire Gita

psychology is dealt with in terms of raga and dvesa alone. No other norms are

used. Raga and dvesa

can be in an unspelled formor a spelled-out form. You may not know that you

have a liking for something until you happen to see it closely. Otherwise, how

is it that even though you meet so many people every day, one day you suddenly

meet someone you like a lot. Of all the people you've met and known, why this

particular one? In fact, it is a wonder to your family and friends that you

chose this person as a mate when someone else, whom they thought more

suitable, was already after you!

 

There are a lot of likes and dislikes embedded in us which are not shaped

properly. We may call them unconscious, subconscious, or whatever, but still,

they are unshaped likes and dislikes, meaning that they are not very clear to

you. But. they do get evoked when situations appear before you. All of these

are included in the term raga-dvesa. Raga is that which is pleasing or

desirable to you and dvesa is that which is undesirable in your view. Both

raga and dvesa are purely according to you, remember. Wherever psychology is

involved, you must always know that it is according to you alone. When you say

some man did something wrong to you, it is only according to you. In fact, if

you ask the man, he will say that he gave you what you deserved. Thus, it is

always a matter of perception-yours and the other person's.

 

AVOIDANCE OF THE UNDESIRABLE IS ALSO A FULFILLMENT

 

What should you do when your whole life is dedicated to the altar of

raga-dvesa? To fulfill dvesa , you must stall what you do not want to happen;

you must stop it or avoid it. if you can successfully stall what you do not

want to happen, you are very happy that you avoided it. Some people have

become great devotees simply by avoiding what could have been a very serious

accident. They say that God saved them. When you avoid something unpleasant,

it is a great relief. People talk as though it is a great accomplishment when,

really, you did not accomplish anything. The incident that could have created

a problem for you simply did not happen. Still you are so relieved that you

become a devotee, of all things! Why? Because something was avoided. Thus,

avoidance is a fulfillment, too.

 

We see, then, that what I do not want and I have, I have to get rid of; what I

want to have, I should have; and what I already have that is desirable to me

has got to be retained. This is nffga-dvesa. Therefore, all your activities

are nothing but n~gadvesa. And all your psychological problems are also

nothing but r;~ga-dvesa. What else are they? If you had no raga-dvesa, you

would have no problems, just like in deep sleep. Until you sleep, you may have

raga-dvesa - the pillow may not be comfortable, the room may be too chilly or

you may have a hundred other complaints. But once you have gone to sleep there

are no likes and dislikes.

 

This raga-dvesa argument is simple and complete. Certain things should be kept

simple because the more you complicate them, the more problems there are. This

applies especially to psychological problems which are based on one's anxiety

to fulfill likes and dislikes and, also, on the judgments one makes with

reference to their nonfulfillment.

 

The necessity for karma-yoga is because people are in the hands of raga-dvesa.

Their behavior, their activities, their responses and prejudices-cultural,

racial, and otherwise are all controlled by their likes and dislikes. All

prejudices and preferences come under raga-dvesa whether they are binding or

nonbinding. It is said that even gods have preferences. When we worship

Ganesa, for example, we offer him a sweet (modaka) that we say he likes-based,

of course, on our own likes. Thus, we impute our own raga-dvesa to Bhagavan

also. We say Ganesa likes this, Siva likes that, and so on, so that we can

deal with the deity as a person. You cannot deal with someone without

preferences, but the idea is that our preferences should be nonbinding.

 

PREFERENCES SHOULD BE NONBINDING

 

In everyone's life there are preferences that are nonbinding in nature and

others that are binding. Preferences that are binding in nature are the ones

we have to deal with. Those that are nonbinding we need not do anything about.

In fact, the Gita-sastra does not deal with them at all because they are not a

problem. Whenever the Gita talks about raga-dvesa, it does so in terms of

one's binding likes and dislikes only. Even the one teaching the Gita, Krsna,

the Lord, had preferences. For instance, he always chose the flute; he did not

come with a guitar or a Veena. We know that he knew what he was talking about,

as evidenced by his life. Whether we take him as a wise man or as Isvara, the

Lord, we cannot say that he had raga-dvesa, even though he had his

preferences.

 

All of this is to point out that there are nonbinding and binding raga-dvesa

and we must deal with the binding ones. The binding raga-dvesa are those whose

fulfillment is a must and in whose nonfulfillment you feel like a loser, a

struggler, a seeker, all empty inside. You are a seeker because you have hope;

you want to fulfill your likes and dislikes. These raga-dvesa are binding in

nature and they make you act. Action does not take place without reason. When

you undertake a course of action, there is definitely a like or dislike

involved. Raga-dvesa is commonly called want or desire (kama). These likes or

dislikes are behind every kind of action.

 

We are talking here about the person who has just entered into a life of yoga,

for which the cause is karma, Therefore, the yoga should definitely include

one's own likes and dislikes. When you say, "I am a karma-yogi, you have to

accept that you have likes and dislikes to fulfill. To do this, you have to

undertake activities which produce results and these results are not always

what you want because you have control only over your actions, but not over

the results. The results come from Isvara. First you accept 1svara and then

you accept Isvara as the karma-phala-daataa giver of the fruits of action.

When you do this, you have a purely religious attitude, the attitude of a

devotee, a bhakta.

 

The recognition of Isvara as the karma-phala-daataa is what makes you

appreciate Isvara in your daily life. Even when you fall down and incur an

injury, Isvara's grace is at work. That you fell down and hurt yourself does

not mean that His grace is absent. Under the law of karma, you escaped greater

injury; you did not break altogether. One can fall down and receive a small

injury, not be injured at all, or end up in the hospital. never to return! All

of these are possibilities. Therefore, as a devotee, we see Isvara working

constantly.