Panchajanyam hrshikesah-The truth about action

[Guest guest]

The discipline of knowledge along with renunciation of result through yoga of action has been explained so far in the previous chapters. Now Krishna sets out the authenticity of Karmayoga by tracing it back to the Sun. He says ‘imamvivasvathe yogam prokthavaan aham avyayam,’ “I taught this immortal yoga to the Sun.†Krishna further says that this yoga was known to the rajarshis, who were the descendents of the Sun and it became extinct in course of time. The yoga is ancient and a supreme secret and Krishna tells Arjuna that He will impart the knowledge to Arjuna as he is a devotee and a friend.

 

Now, Arjuna, who has been hitherto considering Krishna as the son of Devaki, though with great reverence and adoration, comes out with a legitimate doubt. He expresses his disbelief that Krishna had expounded the yoga to the Sun as the birth of Krishna was much later than the Sun, who was of ancient origin. The reply was ‘bahooni me vyatheethaani janmaani thava chaarjuna, thaanyaham veda sarvaani na thvam veththa paramthapa,’ “You and I have passed many births, I remember them all ; You do not remember.â€

 

Now for the first time Krishna reveals His true identity as the Self of all., though it was hinted at in the third chapter of the Gita ‘mayi sarvaani karmaani sanyasya.’ The Supreme Self is the sarvajna, omniscient, not being contaminated by karma and it is only the individual transmigratory self, jiva, who has limited knowledge due to karma. The pure self has no karma as Krishna asserts in the third chapter ‘na me partha asthi karthavyam.’ As if sensing the question in the mind of Arjuna that if Krishna is none other than the Supreme Self why should He be born at all, Krishna explains the purpose of His incarnations that, ‘ajopi sannavyayaathma bhoothaanaam isvaropi san prakrthim svaam adhishtaaya sambhavaami aathmamaayayaa,’ though He is unborn and the immutable Self and the Lord of all beings He manifests Himself resorting to His own Maya, wherever there is a decline of dharma, ‘yadhaayadhaahi dharmasya glaanirbhavathi,’ for the purpose of protecting the good and punishing the evil ‘paritkhraanaayasadhoonaam vinaasaaya cha dhushkrthaam.’

 

To understand the true nature of the Supreme Self, ‘janma karma cha me dhivyam’ is the right knowledge and one who acquires this transcends the cycle of birth and death, thyakthvaa dheham punarjanma nethi maamethi,’ and attains the brahman-hood. This is the path of emancipation which existed from time immemorial and many have attained it by jnanathapas, the austerity of knowledge, which consists of getting rid of desire, fear and anger, veethraagabhayakrodhaah, through utter dependence on the Lord, perceiving Him in everything ‘manmayaa maamupaasrithaah.’ Thus they attain the status of the Lord, which signifies the state of salvation, Mukthi.

 

The words manmayaa maamupaasrithaah does not indicate partiality on the part of Krishna because He is now talking as the Supreme self. The sloka that follows makes this clear. Ye yathaa maamprapadhyanthe thaan thathaiva bajaamyaham, He says. In whatever form one seeks the Lord, He appears in the same form to the devotee. The criticism of Hinduism being pantheistic is proved wrong by this. There is only one God who can be called by any name or conceived in any form, provided the worshipper remembers that He is not limited to that name or form. The Lord who is everywhere, in and out of all being is naturally present also in the particular form in which one thinks of Him. So Krishna affirms that all men follow His path only, mama varthmaa anuvarthanthe manushyaah paartha sarvasah’

 

In this world men seeking the fruition of their activities worship the minor gods, says Krishna , kaankshanthah karmanaamsidhdhim .yajantha iha devathaah. Who are the minor gods referred to here? It does not mean any particular deity but imply only the limited power which men seek to fulfil their desires, and the activities undertaken for that purpose are desire motivated. It is like asking a millionaire for a few coins. But the actions that are prescribed in the veda for desired ends definitely bear fruit in this life itself, though transient. Kshipram hi maanusheloke sidhdhirbhavathi karmajaa. But the result of the desire motivated actions need not and often do not bring happiness. A man who diligently pursues a course of action in order to amass wealth is also a worshipper of a minor deity, namely, money . The action undoubtedly gives the desired result but the effect of it may turn out to be quite the reverse. Under the circumstances can a man, who is engaged in desire motivated activity, be considered as following the path of the Lord? The answer to this is given later in the seventh chapter of the Gita, in the sloka, ‘udhaaraassarva evaithe’

 

Why should there be any difference in the activities of the .people if all are following the same path? The answer is given by Krishna that the difference is due to the propensities which differ according to the inborn qualities. “They were created by Me,†says the Lord ,â€according to the mode of prakrthi predominant in each, and apportioning duties corresponding duties to them, †and his is he basis of classification of the four orders of society, namely, braahmana, kshatriya, vaisya and sudra. So the Bhagavatgita very clearly specifies that the caste system was man made and does not have he authority of scriptures. Chaahurvarnyam mayaa srshtam gunakarma vibhaabasah, and not by birth as already explained in the previous chapter..

 

If the Lord is the creator, will the fruit of His action accrue to Him? No, says Krishna, Na maam karmaanimlimpanthi na me karmaphale sprha. Neither the action nor the fruit adhere to Him. This can be explained as follows: The expression ‘I’ actually means the Self only and taken in that sense the agent of action is the Self because without it the action can never take place, but the Self is only saakshi bootha, a witness-self. And therefore it is neither the doer nor the enjoyer. Similarly the Lord who is the inner self of all is not affected by the actions of the individual beings. The ancient seers knew this and identifying themselves with the Lord their real Self they discharged their duties with detachment and with the welfare of the world at heart. So, Krishna tells Arjuna that he should also follow the footsteps of his ancestors and do his duty.

Karmayoga had been explained by Krishna in the previous chapter and here He elaborates on karma and akarma, action and inaction. In order to follow the path of Karmayoga the seeker must be very clear as to which actions will lead him to bondage and which will secure release from bondage. Krishna has been insisting on the importance of doing one’s duty and cited the example of the ancients in by-gone days. The reason for doing so is due to the fact that it is difficult to decide which actions are to be done and which are to be given up. Even the sages are deluded in respect of the questions as to what is action and what is inaction, kim karma kim akarma ithi kavayo api athra mohithaah, says Krishna, and tells Arjuna that He will instruct him on this subject so that he can follow the path of Karmayoga without being riddled with doubt.

 

The average man seems to have no doubt at all in this matter because to him action is exertion of some kind and inaction is immobility. But there are not only karma and akarma, action and inaction, but also vikarma, prohibited action. What is laid out in the Vedas are karma in accordance with one’s nature and position in this world. These have to be done but without attachment. At the same time one ought to know what are the actions prohibited by the Vedas and should avoid them. For example a thief may say that stealing is what comes to him naturally and demanded by his status in the society because he is not trained for any other work. This kind of activity is denoted by vikarma. On the other hand there are certain actions which need not be done and abstaining from them will be akarma.

 

To put this in a simple language, any work that brings a result that affects the doer is karma and that which does not affect the doer in anyway is akarma. A man of divine wisdom, jnani, does not think that h is doing anything because he does not identify himself with the body, mind and intellect and does not possess ahamkara, ego. As mentioned in the last chapter he considers his actions as the interaction between the gunas in him an those outside, gunaaguneshu varthantha ithi mathvaa na sajjathe. Only the man whose intellect is clouded with ego thinks that he is the doer.

 

This idea can be well brought out by a story about sage Vyasa and Krishna. Once Krishna told a gopi to take food for Vyasa who was at the other side of river Yamuna. But she was not able to cross the river as Yamuna was in spate. Krishna told her to pray that if Krishna was a nithya brahmachari the river should part. Probably the gopi had her own doubts but she had explicit faith in Krishna and did as he told her and the river parted and she went to the other side and gave the food to Vyasa. But again there was flood and she could not go back . Then Vyasa told her that if he was nithya upavasi the river will part. This time the girl was really perplexed because just then he ate the whole food brought by her and termed himself a nithya upavasi. She expressed her doubt to Vyasa and also told him what Krishna said about Himself.. Vyasa explained that both of them being jeevanmukthas the function of their bodies did not touch their real Self. The real ‘I’ which is the pure Self is neither the doer nor the enjoyer.

 

Then Krishna starts elucidating the truth about action that has to be known. The wise men sees action in inaction and vice versa. The one who can do this is yuktha, integrated and krthsnakarmavith, has the real knowledge of action, karmanyakarma yafpasyeth akarmani cha karma yah sa bhudhdhimaan manushyeshu sa yukthah krthsnakarmavith.

 

This appears to be a self contradicting statement on the surface but it is not so in reality. Seeing akarma in karma is with respect to the actions done without attachment giving up the desire for the fruit of such actions. This could be understood by the above story of Vyasa and Krishna. Since the result of such actions do not affect the doer who identifies himself with his Self and not with his body, mind and intellect. Another example of seeing akarma in karma is the incident that happened in the life of Jadabharatha cited in Bhagavathapurana.

Bharatha, a king in ancient times left his kingdom in pursuit of knowledge and led an ascetic’s life. But due strange circumstances he became attached to a deer cub and had to take another birth as a deer, in which due to the wisdom acquired in his previous janma he shed his body and was born as an enlightened sage in his next and last birth. Once he was asked to carry the palanquin of King Rahugana, which he did without hesitation as he was totally devoid of ego. When his gait did not match that of others the king got irritated and seeing his well built body, sarcastically remarked that perhaps it was too much of a burden for him. Bharatha replied “I do not have any strain because I am not doing any work.†When he said ‘I’ he meant his Self and not his body. So this is a case of seeing akarma in karma.

 

But more perplexing is the idea of seeing karma in akarma. The word inaction, akarma is usually understood as abstention from action or keeping still. Bur even when we are keeping quiet our mind is active. So it appears that inaction is when even the mind is silent or in a state of Samadhi. But it is not as simple as that. The great sages who are found even today in Himalayas doing meditation are in fact engrossed in great activity, namely bringing blessings to mankind. The classical example can be Lord Ranganatha who is reclining on His Seshasayana . As Krishna Himself said in the previous chapter, utseedheyuh ime lokaah kuryaam karma chedhaham, If the Lord is really inactive the world will collapse. Also identifying the Lord with the anatharaathma , the real Self, there can be no activity without the Self, which in reality is not the doer. This is karma in akarma.

 

This idea can be very simply verified in daily life. When we are moving in a vehicle, provided the movement is very smooth and not felt as such, it looks as though we are still and the other objects outside are rushing in the opposite direction. Similarly when we look at a distant object it looks as though it is stationary whereas it may be moving and the movement is not visible due to the distance. The difference between a man of wisdom and a man of the world is similar to that between a man of scientific knowledge who knows that the earth is moving and an ignorant man who thinks that it does not.