Gita Satsang - Ch 5 - sa.nnyaasa-yogaH - cogitations; shri shankara on karma (1)

[Guest guest]

namaste.

 

We are discussing in the past few weeks karma, action in the

context of bhagavadgItA chapters 4 and 5. Shri Anand Natarajan's

posting of Vinobha Bhave's commentary and shri Ram Chandran's postings

of Tilak's commentary (as presented in Ranade's book) and also

Gandhiji's views on the gItA are excellent additions. Antoine

Carre's queries on this are very much in context as well.

 

 

shri shankara steadfastly refused to recognize karma as leading to

jnAna and SELF-realization. His views are very authoritative and

unbending in this. He stated karma and avidyA are not opposites

and by doing karma, you cannot get rid of avidyA. The bhagavtpAda

stated this emphatically in vivekacUDAmaNi, upadeshasahasrI and in

bhAshyA-s to various upanishads, brahmasUtrA-s and to bhagavadgItA.

Swami Atmananda (not the swamiji of the Indore maTha, but an earlier

one by the same title) compiled shri shankara's sayings in a book

form "sankara's teachings in his own words". Taking this book as

the source, I give below shri shankara's views on karma vis-a-vis

SELF-realization.

 

Karma, of course, plays a major part in pUrva mImAMsa of Jaimini

and I will start this essay stating the role of karma in the

understanding of pUrva mImAMsic view and then present shri shankara's

views on karma from various bhAShyA-s.

 

pUrva mImAMsa view of karma and Jaimini's prescription for moksha

--------------------------------

 

The vedic karmA-s have been divided into four categories: nitya,

naimittika, kAmya and pratishiddha.

 

Nitya karmA-s have been ordained to be performed every day as

long as life lasts.

 

snAnaM, sandhyA japo homo devatAnAmca pUjanam.h

AtithyaM vaisvadevaM ca ShaTkarmANi dine dine

 

bath (which is common to all and does not count), sandhyA, japam,

homam, daivapUja, Atithyam, vaisvadevam are the six nitya karmA-s.

 

The vedas do not make mention of any phala (fruit) for the nitya

karmA-s. So, they cannot have any fruit. Yet, as they are an imperative

command of the vedA-s, they cannot be given up. If they are given

up, it becomes an offense against the mandate of the vedA-s and will

entail pratyavaya (serious evil consequence). Thus, the three essential

features of the nitya karmA-s are: (i) they are to be compulsively

performed daily, (ii) they do not confer any fruit as kAmya karmA-s do,

(iii) thier non-performance will entail pratyavaya. (As will be shown

later, shri shankara repudiates all these three features of nitya

karma).

 

Naimittika karmA-s are sacrifices to be performed on special occasions

like the Full Moon, New Moon, eclipses etc.

 

KAmya karmA-s are sacrifices to be performed to achieve special desires

like the the birth of a son, for a good harvest etc.

 

Pratishiddha karmA-s are prohibited actions, the performance of which

will produce evil, say hell or birth as animals, etc.

 

Thus, in pUrva mImAMsa, the chart is clear to attain moksha: do nitya

karmA-s without fail, do not perform kAmya karmA-s and do not do

pratishiddha karmA-s.

 

In the next post, shri shankara's refutations of the mImAMsic concepts

will be presented.

 

 

(continued)

 

 

Regards

Gummuluru Murthy

------

[Guest guest]

Namaskar,

 

Murthygaru's point of view regarding 'karma' is quite correct and

readers should understand the distinction between the two

terminologies: 'karma' and 'karma yoga.' The attitude of the karma

yogi is to renounce the doership without abandoning the work. The

attitude of the karmi is that he/she assumes that he/she is the

doer! Karmi's avidya (due to delusion) is responsible for this

attitude. When the karmi dispels his/her delusion, the avidya

disappears and the karmi emerges as the karma yogi.

 

It is nice of Murthygaru to expand the discussions to illustrate the

complexity and importance of understanding the two terminologies -

'karmi' and 'karma yogi'

 

warmest regards,

 

Ram Chandran

 

 

advaitin , Gummuluru Murthy <gmurthy@m...> wrote:

>

> namaste.

> .....

> shri shankara steadfastly refused to recognize karma as leading to

> jnAna and SELF-realization. His views are very authoritative and

> unbending in this. .......