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

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

 

KARMA-YOGA REQUIRES THE RECOGNITION OF 1SVARA

 

Samatva as yoga, on the other hand, requires one more aspect: 1svara. Once we

say the result of one's action is not within our control, and that it is taken

care of, the question becomes, what is it that takes care of it? All results

are taken care of by certain laws, the body of which we call either the law of

dharma or the law of karma. In fact, it is a law of karma. Other than the

physical laws that we know and do not know, there does seem to be another

order of law. We are always finding orders within orders. For example, when

you lift your hand, physical laws are naturally at work, but there are also

many other laws involved. Lifting the hand involves will. You have a thought

and up it goes! There is nothing physical about this aspect of lifting your

hand. You need not push any button.

 

Thus, although we find that this physical body, this anatomical structure, is

standing on this earth according to physical law, it is born onto this earth

by certain biological as well as physical laws. There are also physiological

and psychological laws. We find, then, that there are laws within laws within

laws so that when I perform a simple karma, even my past karmas may infringe

upon the result that I want from this particular action. We really do not know

if this happens or not. Because we find ourselves lucky or not very lucky, we

appreciate that there is some law at work. Whatever is the law that governs

the karma and its result is the law of karma and that law of karma includes

various other laws also.

 

No law is created by me. I am not the author of any law. If I were, I would

not be helpless. I would always be able to accomplish whatever I wanted. There

would be no problem. I could even reorganize the law to suit myself. I would

not even need to cover the distance to reach a certain place; the place would

come to me. Or, I could think about being in a certain place and I would be

there immediately. But this is not the case. Therefore, we try to

go by the laws and, at the same time, we do not know very much about them.

 

RECOGNIZING THE AUTHOR OF THE LAWS

 

As one who knows very little, I can only go by the known laws and know that

the laws are not authored by me. Then the question may arise, who authored

them? Certainly not my grandfather. He and his father and grandfathers before

him were themselves all born of these laws. They existed because of the laws

and they-left the planet because of the same laws. The laws that bring people

into being also take care of them and, then, take care of them for good! You

find these- laws always operating and no given person can be considered to be

the author of them. To recognize the author, then, is to take one more step.

 

You must first recognize that the author of the laws produces the results of

action and that the laws themselves are not the producer of the result of

action. When you go one step further and recognize the author as 1~vara, the

Lord, you have the beginnings of karma-yoga. There are still more steps to go,

but this, at least, is the beginning: the creation is not created by me.

Therefore, whoever did create it is 1~vara and this same Isvara is the

producer of the results of action.

 

When you receive money from someone, month after month, the postman is the one

who actually gives you the money. But this does not mean that the postman is a

benevolent person who goes about distributing money to everyone like Santa

Claus. There is someone other than the postman who is to be thanked.

Similarly, the karma-phala, the result, is produced by the law and the law

itself is produced by another intelligent being. That all-intelligent being,

Brahman, is called 1tvara, the Lord, with reference to the creation: He is the

Overlord, in fact, the top inan, the boss, not limited by time, space, or

anything.

 

THE NATURE OF THE AUTHOR

 

The Veda comes in here to address the question of the author and his creation.

>From that Brahman alone, the five elements are born; therefore, with reference

to the creation, that Brahman is considered paramesvara. Not only is He

paramesvara, the author, the maker of the creation (nimitta-karana), He is

also the material. This is another important point. Because the world (jagat)

is mithyaa, having no independent existence apart from Brahman, it requires

only a Mithyaa cause, called mAyA. MAyA, also being mithyA, has no independent

existence apart from satya (Brahman), whereas satya does not depend upon

anything for its existence. In the mAyA, there is satya. Being mithyA, the

jagat is also satya and so are we. It is not that originally there was Brahman

and now we have to cross over everything to reach that Brahman. Everything is

Brahman. Wherever there is MithyA, there is satya and that satya is the basis

(adhisthAna) for everything.

 

Therefore, that paramesvara Himself, who is para-brahma and who is the cause

of the creation (nimitta-kaarana). who is omniscient (sarvajna) and omnipotent

(sarvasaktimaan) is also the material cause of the creation

(upadaana-kaarana). Thus, He is not only the maker of the results of action,

but also the very law, the very result of action, in fact. Because our topic

is karma-yoga, we will not go beyond this point here since, to do so, becomes

jnana. We say, then, that 1svara is the maker of the laws and, also, that the

laws are not separate from Him. The results of action, coming as they do from

the laws that are not separate from 1svara, the Lord, come from Isvara. It is

this recognition of Isvara that is karma-yoga.

 

Without Isvara, what we have been discussing is nothing more than a pragmatic

approach to life. But, here, we are dealing with a purely religious approach,

which is entirely different because it recognizes Isvara, the Lord, as the

giver of the results of action (karma-phala-daataa) and oneself as only the

doer of action (karmakartaa). To be a karma-yogi, one has to accept Isvara.

 

Isvara now has one more definition: all-knowledge (sarvajnana). And when we

say sarvasaktiman, we mean that he is all-powerful and has all skills, being

the creator of everything. Another defining word we have seen is

karma-phala-daataa, the giver of the fruits of action. These definitions

eliminate the problems that arise when it is said that God created all beings.

I may naturally ask why God created one person blind and another lame. If I am

told that, being God, He is justified to do whatever He likes and that I

should not question Him, I will definitely ask why God's creation is even

talked about since it is obviously nothing to boast about-especially when I am

also told that He is all-compassion! I am asked to worship and love Him, but

when I look at this creation with so much human suffering, God's compassion

falls apart for me. Then I am told that He is justified in whatever He does

and I am supposed to love Him. How can I?