All about Karma Yoga

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Extracted from the book "Yoga, Enlightenment and Perfection"

 

All about Karma Yoga

 

Three brothers went on a vacation to a hill station and stayed there

in a cottage booked by them. One night, when they were fast asleep, a

powerful earthquake wreaked havoc in the region. The roof of the

cottage fell and would have crushed them to death had not a portion

of the roof-beam come to rest on a piece of wooden furniture in the

bedroom. From the creaking sounds that the brothers heard, they

realised that, in moments, the roof would descend on them. There was

simply no question of their remaining where they were till help

arrived.

 

They turned towards the two doors that led out of the room. Due to an

electric short-circuit, a fire had started near one of them. The

flames were spreading. The way to the other door was strewn with

glass pieces from the shattered windowpanes. One of the brothers ran

towards the door where the fire was. He managed to escape through it

but suffered severe burns and had to be hospitalised for weeks. The

second brother recognised the danger of passing through the flames

and so moved as swiftly as he could to the second door. His soles

were pierced at several spots by the glass pieces on the way. He had

to be hospitalised for two days.

 

The third brother thought, "It is madness to remain here. Heading

towards the spreading flames is foolish, for severe burns will be

inevitable. So I must escape through the other door. However, I must

first do something to protect my feet from the glass pieces." He

tore

his bedspread and wrapped a piece of cloth on each foot. He worked

fast and so the whole process took only seconds. Then, he headed for

the door chosen by him. He escaped unhurt.

 

A person cannot remain without performing some action or the other

just as the brothers were not in a position to remain where they lay

in the bedroom. All his acts do have consequences. If he engages in

adharma, he will experience much suffering in future, in hell or on

earth. His behaviour would be on par with that of the brother who

headed towards the door engulfed by fire. He who performs meritorious

deeds experiences happiness for some time in heaven or acquires a

good birth on the earth. In any case, he has to be reborn. Thus, even

the acquirer of punya does suffer the bondage of transmigration. His

conduct is comparable to that of the second brother. The path to the

fiery door was easy to tread as is the path of evil; the way to the

other door was difficult as is the path of dharma, to go along which

one has to restrain the mind and the senses.

 

The Lord has explained how a person may perform actions but avoid

being bound by them. A person should dedicate all his actions and

their fruits to God and discharge his duties without hankering for

the results. This means of performing actions but escaping bondage is

called karma-yoga. The performer of karma-yoga is like the third

brother, who escaped through the very door through which the second

brother had left (without suffering any injury). The most intelligent

of the brothers protected his feet with bandages; the karma-yogin

protects himself by dedicating his actions and their fruits to God.

 

A person had the practice of performing puja to God and offering Him

fruits and other eatables. After his worship, he used to partake of

an offered fruit as God's prasada. An agnostic friend of his

mockingly told him, "Your practice of performing naivedya is

silly. The fruit that you place before your God remains exactly at

the same spot where it was kept. It undergoes no physical change

either. Further, it is not the God you worship but you who consumes

it."

 

The devotee responded with a smile, "I submit a fruit to God with

the firm conviction that, in keeping with His statement in the

Bhagavad-Gita, He will accept it. Having received it, He is free to

do whatever He pleases with it. Since He is omnipotent, He is

perfectly capable of making it vanish or leaving it behind in its

entirety after having consumed it. I believe that it is He who leaves

behind the fruit for me after partaking of it in a humanly

inconceivable way. As far as I am concerned, what I consume after

naivedya is the remnant of what God has eaten."

 

"Recently, when your political leader came to your town, you and

numerous others received him and offered him garlands. He certainly

did not and could not wear all of them. He then gave you one of the

garlands that he had received and you accepted it joyfully. As he

walked through the large crowd of his supporters, he tossed some

garlands to them and the crowd cheered. It is possible that a

supporter got back the very garland that he had given. Just because

your leader does not retain the garlands presented to him, you people

do not abstain from the practice of garlanding him; you derive joy in

honouring him and do not tell him what he should do with the garlands

that you give him. Why then are you uncomfortable with my sincerely

offering God fruits and feeling happy? When your leader can return a

garland to you, why should God not be free to give me back the

submitted fruits with His blessings? A karma-yogin, in fact, offers

to God not just eatables but all his thoughts, words and deeds."

 

A man has two servants. One of them was particular about eulogising

his employer but not in executing his master's instructions. The

other sincerely carried out the tasks assigned to him; he also held

his master in high esteem. The employer obviously preferred the

second servant to the first. A devotee who, like the second servant,

sincerely performs the duties ordained for him by God and specified

in the scriptures and, further, does so in a spirit of dedication,

pleases God greatly and receives His grace in abundance. By the

Lord's grace, his mind becomes very pure. In due course, he

realises the Truth and gets liberated.

 

A woman doted on her young son and took great care of him. One day,

she woke up with an intense headache, fever and nausea. Nevertheless,

she attended to the child's morning requirements without any

laxity.

 

That day, she found the rice prepared by her to be slightly

overcooked. Promptly, she started to cook some more. Her husband

noticed this and told her, "You are sick and in pain. Why do you

want to strain yourself? The rice that is ready is quite eatable."

"I want to give my son only the kind of rice that he is used to

and

likes. As for the overcooked rice, I shall consume it," replied

the

wife.Out of deep love for her child, the woman did her very best for

him. Likewise, a karma-yogin, by virtue of his devotion to God,

performs his duties to the very best of his ability and refrains from

adharma.

 

Two students appeared for an examination. In spite of having prepared

well, they fared badly because the questions were very tough and some

of them fell outside the scope of the prescribed syllabus. One of

them, who did not practise karma-yoga, became highly dejected because

of his inept performance. When he went home and sat down to prepare

for the next day's subject, his mind kept reverting to that

day's

question paper. His worry greatly hampered his preparation. The other

boy, being a practitioner of karma-yoga, did not experience the least

anxiety. This is because, in the examination hall itself, he had

dedicated his performance and its fruit to God. After returning home,

undisturbed by worry, he focused his attention on the next day's

subject.

 

On the following day, the first boy became flabbergasted on

encountering a tough question. The karma-yogin read the question

carefully and answered it to the best of his ability without getting

perturbed in the least. It is hardly surprising that the first boy

secured a lower rank than his friend. This example shows that the

efficiency of a karma-yogin exceeds that of a person who acts with a

longing for the fruits of his actions.

 

The Lord has declared in the Bhagavad-Gita, "Perform your

prescribed

duties, for action is superior to inaction. Moreover, even the

maintenance of your body will not be possible through inaction. Man

becomes bound by all his actions except those done by him for the

sake of God. O son of Kunti, perform actions for the sake of God,

without being attached… By performing his duty without

attachment, a

person attains liberation (through the purification of his

mind)."

 

Discourses of Sri Abhinava Vidyatheertha Mahaswamigal

(35th Jagadguru Sankarachrya of Sringeri Sarada Peetam)

 

(http://www.jagadgurus.org/home.asp?acharyalcode=AVT)

 

Sundar Rajan