Karma yoga vs Jnaana yoga

[Guest guest]

Recent discussion on karma and jnaana has motivated this write-up

Hari Om!

Sadananda

 

Karma yoga vs. Jnaana yoga

 

After elaborate discussion of the laws governing action and results and how one

should act by

surrendering all the fruits of actions, Krishna goes into elaborate

glorification of jnaana yoga

and how a jnaani or realized person behaves in the society. Thus, in the end of

the second

chapter, Arjuna is provided the knowledge of karma yoga and also has given the

taste of how

glorious is the jnaana yoga. Having gained this understood Krishna's teaching

in the second

chapter, Arjuna wonders why Krishna pushes him to do karma, involving in his

case the terrible act

of killing his teaches and relatives. Hence the discussion of karma vs. jnaana

starts in the third

chapter – with Arjuna question.

 

Essentially Arjuna asks Krishna – Hay Krishna! If, in your opinion, jnaana is

better than karma,

why are you commanding me to do this terrible action? Your statements are

confusing to me –if

jnAna is the direct means for moksha and moksha cannot be the result of any

action, then why are

you asking me to follow karma yoga?

 

Shankara says – Arjuna clearly understood that karma and jnaana are two distinct

paths. Among the

two, Arjuna also understood that jnaana is superior and it is the one that gives

him moksha and

not karma yoga. His confusion is not about whether he should follow some

mixture of the two (some

give it with a fancy name Integral yoga, which during Shankara’s time is called

- jnaana karma

samucchaya) and in what proportions they should be mixed, etc. Shankara says –

Arjuna’s question

pertains to only why he has to follow the inferior karma yoga while Krishna has

endorsed that

jnaana is superior which alone takes him to the final goal. Krishna’s answer

also reinforces

Arjuna’s understanding that, yes, both are different, and no integral yoga or

mixture of the two

is intended. Krishna is only addressing why Arjuna is qualified to do only

karma yoga even though

jnaana yoga is the one what gives moksha. All of us have the same problem.

Should we pursue karma

yoga or jnaana yoga? If we need to switch from the former to the later, when do

we have to switch?

Is teacher is going to tell us when to switch or should we have to decide

ourselves?

 

What yoga to follow depends on the seeker’s qualifications. It is like a

student asking a

question, should I study high school or go directly to MD course to become

doctor? What path I

take depends on the prerequisites that I have. It is not that I have to do a

mixture of high

school and MD course together. I can not get to MD courses, even though they are

fulfilling to

make me doctor, unless I am prepared to get the prerequisite qualifications. In

principle it does

not matter how I acquire the necessary qualifications, but I need to have them

before I enter the

MD courses. Similarly karma yoga and jnaana yoga are in sequence and not

simultaneous. Krishna

declares these are two distinct paths and the qualifications for each are

different – karma yoga

is the one needed for those whose life styles are tuned to yoga niShTa or yoga

of action while

jnaana yoga is for those who life style is tuned to saankhya or jnaana niShTa or

yoga of

knowledge. The two life styles are different. Karma yoga is prescribed to

Arjuna since his life

style is for that. If one studies Uddhava Gita, that is the last message of

Krishna, he commands

Uddhava to proceed to Badiri to jnaana niShTa lifestyle. The difference in life

styles is more

related to internal mind set than external circumstances. There are four main

differences in the

mind-set of a karma yogi vs. jnaana yogi. One can decide where one belongs by

examining one’s own

mind-set.

 

1. Vision of the Goal:

Karma yogi thinks that he has to gain moksha or looks upon himself as mumukshuH

– the one who is

desirous of liberation. Obviously his mind is set to look upon moksha as

something to gain or

something to achieve or something to acquire. He feels that he is bound by

samsaara and he wants

liberation, freedom for all problems. His mind has already concluded that

liberation is very

difficult to acquire, and is the result of many many lives. One needs Grace of

God, prayer, merits

of many lives, etc. Even if teacher says you are already free, the mind set is

not prepared to

accept it – it still wants to seek and discover the experience of that freedom.

The teaching is

not sufficient; they need to do something to gain that freedom. He wants to

experience that self

realization. He has read that something will happen at that time, and he is

longing for that

experience of self-realization. Since nothing is happening, the mind is set to

the notion that it

is a along way to go. Moksha is ‘apraaptasya praaptam’, gaining something that

one does not have

it yet. Some even believe or concluded that it will not happen in this life.

 

Jnaana yogi: The mind set of jnaana yogi is the recognition that moksha is not

something to gain

but some thing to realize or recognize. I am already ‘nitya mukta aatma’ – ever

free from all

problems – freedom is my birth right. Moksha is not something to gain, something

to achieve or

something to acquire. It is ‘praaptasya praaptam’ gaining something that is

already gained. It is

only something to abide in that knowledge. I am actually free even when I have

notion that I am

not free. Habitual thinking of the mind that I am bound is to be dropped by

re-educating the mind

so that it firmly abides in the knowledge that I am ever free.

 

2. Attitude towards action: The attitude with respect to action is also

different.

Karma yogi: He looks upon karma as saadhana or means to gain moksha as one of

the puruShArtha –

last thing that one has to achieve in this life – dharma, artha, kaama and

moksha. Since it is

last, some people postpone it to the last phase of their life; of course the

last phase is when

one cannot achieve anything else. First, one has to give up the fruits of

actions or give up the

attachments for the results of the action – or offer them to the Lord. Since

Lord is already

full, he cannot take any more (other than bhakti) so karma yogi is stuck with

the results that he

cannot give up. Hence he offers every day – tan man subkuch terahi – this body,

this mind,

everything is yours. If he is offering everyday or every time aarati is being

done, implies that

he has not offered it even once, since he cannot offer the same thing again and

again. So giving

up involves not giving the results but giving up the sense of ownership of the

results. His

mind-set is still in between – having desire to fulfill and act upon those

actions, but want to

give up the results of the action. Therefore he keeps giving up the results

that really do not

belong to him, in the first place. The reason is he still has the mind-set that

he is the doer,

and somebody has to do it, and if he does not do it no body will, and that will

be more

frustrating for him. It is this mind set that sets him to do his obligatory

duties in life. The

most important part of this mind set is – kartRitva bhaava – I am a doer notion.

It is difficult

to have doership notion but give up the enjoyer-ship notion (bhoktRitva bhaava)

by offering the

results to Him. This can be done only for obligatory duties and not for desire

prompted actions.

He has to do karma yoga until he realizes that there is nothing really for him

to do.

Jnaana yogi: He does not look up karma as saadhana for moksha. He understood

that he is ‘nitya

mukta aatma’ ever liberated self that does not look upon action as a means to

accomplish

anything, including chitta suddhi or purification of the mind, or do selfless

action for moksha

saadhana or means directly or indirectly for moksha. That does not mean he stops

all actions and

stays like a stone. All actions are done under his stewardship with

understanding that they are

meant for loka kalyaaNam – for the benefit of the totality – starting from

prayer. He contributes

for the benefit of the society in whatever form he can – just prayers, or

teaching or actions that

uplift the society. There is no ownership to the results even to give up the

results. Only when I

own I can give up. Even taking care of the body is only loka kalyaaNam. Hence

all actions will

remain as they are but only the mind-set towards the actions is different.

Hence there is no

anxiety for the results since there are no expectations. He enjoys the beauty of

the Lord,

manifesting in every action and every thing that happens or does not happen.

Thus he has mentally renounced all – the sanyaasa bhavana, feeling of

renunciation is firmly

rooted in his mind-set. The reason is simple; he has understood that nothing

really belongs to him

to begin with, in order for him to give up.

 

3. Moksha or Liberation: The notion about moksha is also different.

Karma yogi: He thinks moksha is something to achieve or to be accomplished. His

prayers and his

saadhana all tuned towards it. He wants to be blessed – Looks upon Iswara whose

blessing he needs

or whose grace is needed to gain moksha – Goes to this temple or that temple –

this puja or that

puja for special blessings from gods and goddesses, holy both here or there,

this self-less

service or that – all ultimately to gain merits to qualify for moksha.

Jnaana yogi: Moksha is an accomplished fact since it is one’s swaruupam itself –

or ones intrinsic

nature. There is really nothing to look for nothing to work for or nothing to do

to gain what is

ones nature. Only the problem he finds is his mind is not firmly abiding in

that knowledge due to

habitual thinking. To dissolve the habitual thinking, he keeps redirecting the

mind to the fact

that he is not all this but that which pervades all this. Mind is set in jnaana

or knowledge of

the reality as I am that- getting the mind abiding in that knowledge is the

essence of his

efforts.

4. Nature of Bhakti: The attitude of bhakti towards Iswara is also different.

Karma yogi: His bhakti or devotion towards the Lord is sakaama bhakti - devotion

towards the Lord

as giver of fruits of actions - even though desire are reduced but not totally

eliminated. The

desires could be different – desire for heath – desire for freedom from

limitations at body, mind

and intellect level – ultimately the desire for liberation or moksha. Most of

the self-fish

desires are reduced but not totally eliminated.

Jnaana yogi: sakaama bhakti is renounced. All prayer centered on I and mine

are renounced since

they are related to body, mind and intellect equipments. He invokes God or

Iswara not to gain

something but seeing His presence everywhere. Only desire is to abide in himself

or in Godhood–

the truth that is of the nature of sat-chit-ananda swaruupam. Hence pulling the

mind back to its

source or to Himself is his full time workless work. His prayers are nishkaama

or no self-centered

desires. His prayers may end in himself as the goal of the very prayer –

nothing to ask but just

BE, where the desiring mind has become silent. He becomes a nitya sannyaasi –

who has giving up

even the giving up.

 

As the mind becomes calmer, karma yoga gradually moves towards the jnaana as the

Vedanta teaching

sinks into his mind more and more firmly. Reinforcement of the knowledge slowly

becomes the major

fulltime job for a jnaana yogi until he becomes one with it.

 

The notes are based on Swami Paramaarthanandaji recent discourse on Shankara

BhAShya on Gita.

[Guest guest]

praNAms Shri Sadaji,

 

Multiple praNAms to you and Swami Paramarthanandaji who

thought that we should know these differences. praNAms to

the clouds who brought the rain, praNAms to the source of

waters!

 

I am not clear with the following.

 

> There is no ownership to the results even to give

> up the results. Only when I own I can give up.

 

The part " even to give up the results. " is too abstract.

(It is like some lines in Avadhuta Gita or even some verses

of Atma Vidya Vilasa, that Shri Sastriji translated.)

 

Isn't it simpler to do kaayena-vacha-manasa or

brahmarpanam-brahmahavih or yatkaroshi..?

and " do away with the results " , even when there is

no ownership that we personally attribute to?

 

Are you saying that the ego involved in the giving

aspect, when reading these verses should also be

removed? Please explain.

 

praNAms again,

Ramakrishna

[Guest guest]

Ramakrishnaji PraNAms.

 

--- Ramakrishna Upadrasta <ramakrsn wrote:

 

> I am not clear with the following.

>

> > There is no ownership to the results even to give

> > up the results. Only when I own I can give up.

 

There are two aspects involved. Action, we think we are doing - that is the

kartRitva bhAva. But

that is really a notion in our mind. The BMI belongs to the prakRiti - whatever

action that is

done by the prakRiti is in response to the total perturbation. You can say local

response to the

total perturbation. That is called local action by BMI -there is a choice in

the action

represented by different modes of response. When local prakRiti or BMI responds

as an action,

there is reaction from the total which is nothing but results of the action for

which the local

again responds - this continuous process is called living! Krishna says

prakRityEva ca karmANi kriyamANAni sarvaShaH

yaH pasyati tat AtmAnam akartAram sa pasyati||

PrakRiti does all actions (without any exceptions) and one who realizes that he

is not a doer,

alone realizes the truth.

When actions are done by the prakRiti and results are responses from the global

or Iswara, then

where do I come in. Then who am I even to give up the results? Recognition that

I am not an owner

of the action nor the results, become jnAnam - Until that jnAnam sinks in, one

has to give up the

owner ship of results, at least. Take it with prasAda buddhi since results come

from Him.

 

 

> Isn't it simpler to do kaayena-vacha-manasa or

> brahmarpanam-brahmahavih or yatkaroshi..?

> and " do away with the results " , even when there is

> no ownership that we personally attribute to?

 

Ramakrishnaji - these are gradations in understanding as one moves from karma

yogi to jnAna yogi.

 

Yes all those help - but when it comes to BrahmaarpnaM ..If we understand that

sloka correctly,

you are already moving to jnAna part since the doer is Brahman and the enjoyer

is also Brahman -

then where do I the individual come in? Understanding that sloka and

assimilating that is jnAnam

only.

 

 

> Are you saying that the ego involved in the giving

> aspect, when reading these verses should also be

> removed? Please explain.

 

No, the correct understanding of the verses is important, not giving up the

verses. When I offer

fruits to the Lord - after they are His only , then should I not offer them. I

do offer now with a

knowledge: twadiiyam vastu govinda tubhyam Eva samarpayE - Oh Lord these are

your fruits only but

I am offering to you because I have a notion that these are mine. That notion is

the one that I am

really offering. Every thing else goes on exactly the same but my attitude

towards the action

changes as I go from being a karma yogi to jnAna yogi.

 

Hari Om!

Sadananda