On Karma Yoga: VII - Loka KalyaaNam

[Guest guest]

Krishna discussed that everyone has to do Karma yoga and in fact,

everyone has to be part of the eternal wheel of action. That involves

performing the action in the spirit of yagna to please the gods. The

gods so pleased will bless with the appropriate results, which should be

distributed in proportion to individual contributions. The individuals

in turn take only what they need and put the remaining back again into

the totality for the benefit of the society in the form of yagna to

please the gods again. Thus, the eternal wheel of action is set in

motion with everyone participating in it. We have defined Gods as the

production potential in the field of action and yagna as the cooperative

endeavor in complete self-sacrificing mode for the benefit of the

totality. The wheel of action thus sets in motion the eternal re-cycling

of resources and their regeneration thus conserving and protecting the

nature for generations to come. Balance of natural resources is

maintained by the wheel of action involving continuous re-cycling

process in the spirit of yagna. Degradation of individual as well as

the society occurs when this eternal wheel of action established by the

creator himself at the time of creation is not followed. This happens

when the individuals and the nations become selfish and try to destroy

others and the Nature for their own selfish ends. In this system, no

one has any rights, but everyone has duties to perform. Others’ duties

effectively become our rights. For example, others duty not to steal my

property effectively becomes my right for my property. Confirming to

one’s duty is more a norm than demanding for one’s rights. Most

importantly, those who act in this yagna spirit and thus participate in

the eternal wheel of action; the actions do not bind them. The actions

will only glorify them. On the other hand, Krishna warns that those

that do not follow this spirit of yagna and thus do not contribute to

the wheel of action, they get bound and fall into the endless ocean of

samsaara. Natural disasters also follow at macro level when the

ecological balance is disturbed by industrial pollution of air and water

and global worming. Thus, Krishna provides a completely now vision

expanding the conventional meaning of Yagna, homa and karma known to the

Vedic periods into new heights. In the fourth chapter, He describes

various types of yagnas that one can do in self-sacrificing mode for

one’s spiritual saadhana. Of many types of yagnas, Krishna says jnaana

yagna is the supreme, based on which Chinmaya Mission started jnaana

yagna series to disseminate scriptural knowledge at a global level.

 

shreyaan dravyamayaadyajnaat jnaanayagnaH parantapa|

sarvam karmaakhilam paartha jnaane parisamaapyate||

Oh! Arjuna| of all the yagnas, that involve offering materials, offering

knowledge as yagna or jnaana yagna is the most supreme. Because, all the

vaasanaas born out of karmas get neutralized or annihilated by the

knowledge.

 

Exceptions to the rule:

 

Krishna says everyone should work in the spirit of yagna and contribute

to the wheel of action. There are, however, some exceptions to this

rule. Those who do not depend on things other than themselves have no

obligatory duties to perform – they have realized their essential nature

and thus are firmly established in their knowledge. They are

sthitaprajna-s, who revel in themselves by themselves (aatmanyeva

aatmanaa tushhTaH). They recognized that happiness is not ‘out there’,

but happiness comes within and in fact it is their very nature.

Obligatory duties arise when I am dependent on the things, places and/or

people, or in short something other than myself for my happiness. I

search for happiness outside only when I realize that I am unhappy. If

I recognize that my nature is happiness itself, then, there is no reason

for me to look for happiness outside. I do not need to depend on

anything to gain happiness. Dependence on anything other than myself

for my happiness is bondage. Karma is done in the spirit of yagna to

relieve oneself from bondage. If one is already liberated then spirit of

yagna is redundant.

Hence Krishana says:

 

yatsvaatmaratirevasyaat aatma tRiptasya maanavaH|

aatmanyevaca santushhTaH tasya kaaryam na vidyate||

 

naiva tasya kRitenaartho naakRiteneha kaschana|

na caasya sarvabhuuteshhu kashcidarthavyapaashrayaH||

 

Whoever revels in himself and is completely contended in himself or with

himself fully, with no other desire for anything else, for him there are

no obligatory duties.

For such a person, there is nothing he is going to gain in this world by

performing any action, nor there is nothing to loose by not performing.

In addition, he has no self-interest in any relationship with any other

beings in this world, for his happiness. In essence, he has no

obligations to the people, places or things for his happiness. If at

all he does any action, he does it out of pure love or compassion, just

as King Janaka, who was self-realized soul lived in olden days.

 

Here Krishna says obligatory duties arise because of one’s dependence on

things other than himself. The truth about happiness is stated simply

as:

 

sarvam paravasham duHkham sarvam aatmavasham sukham|

etat vidyaa samaasena lakshaNam sukha duHkhayoH||

 

There are many theories about happiness or what is happiness. But here

is the definition in essence – Sorrow is the dependence on anything

other than oneself and happiness is independence from any dependence on

anything other than oneself. When there is dependence, there is an

expectation, disappointments and sorrow. Excessive dependence and

disappointments can also result in anger and frustration, and in the

moments of anger one acts devilish, contrary to his own nature.

 

If we are source of happiness and still we are looking for it outside,

it only means that we are not aware of our own true nature. Thus,

ignorance of our true nature is the root cause for looking out for

happiness, and dependence on things other than oneself. Hence, reveling

oneself in oneself is a natural state while reveling on something other

than oneself thinking that it gives happiness is unnatural. The

happiness that one gets even fulfilling one’s desire for objects or

people is also short lived since in fulfilling those desires the

happiness that one gains is only from his own self. One-desire props up

many other desires thus keeping the mind in constant agitation, thus

depriving ones happiness.

 

However Krishna says, even if one has realized and does not have any

obligations and do not depend on anything else for his happiness, it is

better to act rather than remain inactive. The reason is others try to

follow him wrongly without having gained the self-knowledge. Hence,

Krishna says:

 

yadyadaacariti shreshhTaH tattadevetaro janaH|

sa yatpramaaNam kurute lokostaduvartate||

 

whatever a noble person does the other people try to follow him.

Whatever he does, he sets an example for others to follow. Therefore,

even a realized person should act, not for his sake, but for the benefit

of the people or for loka kalyaaNam. Krishna gives his own life as an

example. “There is nothing in the three worlds that I need to gain or to

avoid, but still I am involved continuously. If I don’t do it, then

others try to follow me and become inactive. Hence if I do not act, I

become indirectly the cause for their destruction. Therefore Arjuna, the

realized sages, even if they are not keenly interested in any action

since they have nothing to gain, they still have to act for the benefit

of the humanity or for loka kalyaaNam.

 

Thus we have three classes people: (a) Common people who are

predominantly ignorant of their true nature, (b) mumukshuH or seeker of

self-knowledge who have gained the requisite qualifications of mental

purity to pursue self-knowledge, and c) realized masters who have gained

the self-knowledge. The first set of people are the majority, and have

to do Karma yoga with the spirit of yagna. Here there is no choice

whether to do or not to do karma yoga, or to choose karma yoga or jnaana

yoga as Arjuna posed the question. The jnaanis who have realized, need

not have to do any karma for their own happiness. Krishna, however,

recommends that they should involve themselves to set an example for the

masses. Since they have no self-centered desires to act, whatever they

do will be for the benefit of the totality or loka kalyaaNam. Now, the

second set of people who have purified their minds with karma yoga, or

have acquired the saadhana chatushhTam or four fold qualifications –

what do they have to do. For them Veda-s recommend, shravaNa, manana

and nidhidhyaasana. Paramaarthaanandaji defines shravaNa as a

systematic and consistent study of Vedantic scriptures for a length of

time, under the guidance of a competent teacher. Here every word is

important. A competent teacher is one who was once a competent

disciple, who himself has learned from a competent teacher. Thus, there

is guru-shishya parampara or lineage of teacher-taught. A systematic

teaching follows a sampradaaya or traditional teaching method since the

subject is very subtle. SravaNa will give aatmajnaanam or knowledge of

oneself. The next is mananam. It is meant for removing all the doubts.

When the student hears from the teacher ‘you are that’ or ‘you are

brahman’, it appears to be impossible to accept by any rational

intellect until he learns that the truth is beyond the rational

intellect. ‘naishhaa tarkena matiraapaneya’, ‘truth cannot be

established by logical or intellectual analysis’ says kaThopanishhat .

mananam is required to remove the mental obstruction to accept the

Vedantic truths. ‘mananena samshaya nivRittiH’. Once the mind is

convinced without any doubts left, then comes the nidhidhyaasanam – it

is a processes of internalization of the teaching by dwelling upon the

doubt-free knowledge using any of the following methods: studying,

writing, repeated listening, discussing, teaching, etc. or meditating or

contemplating on the truth in the direction pointed out by the

scriptures or any combination of them or all of the above.

Internalization is the de-conditioning process to remove conditioning.

‘I am de-facto jiiva’ is my current conditioning. My entire life style

is driven by this conditioning – or I should say I have lived many lives

with that conditioning. Hence this conditioning is very deep rooted. We

are not changing the conditioning by a new conditioning as JK’s talks

indicate but questioning the very foundation on which these deep rooted

conditioning that aham jiivaH or I am limited jiiva is established.

This questioning or inquiry is done using the Vedanta as pramaaNa or

using the scripture as the basis since Vedanta provides a different

vision of myself, which is different from the notions that I have about

myself.

 

It is obvious that shravaNa, manana and nidhidhyaasana cannot be done

effectively while indulging in worldly duties. The recommendation is to

minimize the later as much as one can and involve oneself to the maximum

possible in the pursuit of moksha as the fourth and final purushhaartha.

As mentioned before, during the marriage time we take our spouses to

fulfill the first three purushhaarthas- dharma, artha and kaama. For

moksha each one is on their own, since this involves a dhyaanam or

contemplation on the truth. Moksha is not going somewhere or doing

something but being established in what you are in relation to what you

think you are. All relations are dropped since the truth is beyond any

relations and relatives. Incidentally, the relations established by

marriage are called sambandhi-s – those who provide the total bondage

(samyak bandhanam). Truth involves freedom from all bondages or all

relatives (dualities) or sambandhi-s! In that case sanyaasa aashrama

provides a conducive environment for the single-pointed contemplation,

provided the mind is relatively purified from attachments. Otherwise,

one can still do nidhidhyaasana while remaining in gruhasta aashrama,

minimizing as much as possible the worldly involvement. For such

seekers, karmayoga is then part of jnaana yoga and not separate from it,

since studying, writing, teaching, and contemplation all involves

actions. Thus, karmayogies graduate to jnaana yoga once the mind

becomes pure with less desires and hence less agitations, and thus is

available for inquiry.

 

Arjuna asks next a pertinent question – why after studying and knowing

that happiness is not out there, people still go after the worldly

pleasures even against their own convictions. Krishna addresses this

issue in the next post.

[Guest guest]

Namaste Sadananda-ji!

 

Thank you for all the beautiful gems of wisdom you have graced us with in this

series. I look forward to the next post.

My warmest regards.