Actionless jnani is also the perfect karma yogi

February 12, 2009

Namaste to All,

Recently a friend wrote to me and asked if I could locate some passages or statements from Bhagavan Ramana that might help with what appeared to be two contradictory statements attributed to Bhagavan. Were these statements actually made by Bhagavan Ramana was part of the question. The two attributed statements were:

1. Bhagavan Ramana says 'the Jnani does not perform any actions. It is those in ignorance that see him as doing this or that."

2. Bhagavan said in reply to another question - 'Is not a Jnani also a perfect Karma Yogi .'

I wondered if Bhagavan Ramana's actual comments might be useful in this forum? Just in case they are I have put them below . These are for information only and are not meant to be a complete view with regards Sri Ramana's teaching, as I have no desire to enter sides in the current debate.

With reference to 'The Jnani does not perform any actions. It is those in ignorance that see him as doing this or that', we have the following:

"An unrealised man sees one who is Realised and identifies him with the body. Because he does not know the Self and mistakes the body for the Self, he extends the same mistake to the body of the Realised Man. The latter is therefore considered to be the physical form. Again, the unrealised man, though in fact not the originator of his actions, imagines himself to be so, and he considers the actions of the body as his own actions, and therefore he thinks that the Realised Man is acting in the same way, because his body is active. But the latter knows the truth and is not deceived. His state cannot be understood by the unrealised and therefore the question of his actions troubles the latter although it does not arise for himself." ("The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi in His own words" p197 edited by Arthur Osborne. my emphasis.)

PETER: We should note well the last sentence in the above passage. With regards the actions and mind of a Jnani, Bhagavan Ramana also says:

"Now with regard to the actions of the Jnani, they are only so-called because they are ineffective. Generally the actions get embedded as samskaras in the individual. That can be only so long as the mind is fertile, as in the case of the ajnani. With a Jnani the mind is surmised; he has already transcended the mind. Because of his apparent activity the mind has to be inferred in his case, and that mind is not fertile like that of an ajnani. Hence it is said that a jnani's mind is Brahman. Brahman is certainly no other than the jnani's mind. The vasanas cannot bear fruit in that soil. His mind is barren, free from vasanas, etc. . . . The jnani's mind being barren cannot entertain seeds of karma. His vasanas simply exhaust themselves by activities ending in enjoyment only (bhogahetuka karma). In fact, his karma is seen only from the ajnani's standpoint. He remains actionless only. He is not aware of the body as being apart from the Self. How can there be liberation (mukti) or bondage (bandha) for him? He is beyond both. He is not bound by karma, either now or ever. There is no jivanmukta or videhamukta according to him." (Talks 383)

The last statement is supported by Sri Sankaracharya:

"Thus embodiedness is the result of a false perception, it is established that the enlightened man has no embodiedness even while living." Sankara B.S. Bh. 1.i.4 (Sw. Gambhirananda trans. p 42)

With reference to number attributed statement no. 2. 'Is not a Jnani a perfect Karma Yogi too?' There are two passages which probably relate to the same incident. The first is:

Conversing with R. Seshagiri Rao, a visitor, Maharshi remarked that a Self-Realised sage (Atma Jnani) alone can be a good Karma yogi. "After the sense of doership has gone let us see what happens. Sri Sankara advised inaction. But did he not write commentaries and take part in disputation? Do not trouble about doing action or otherwise. Know Thyself. Then let us see whose action it is. Whose is it? Let action complete itself. So long as there is the doer he must reap the fruits of his action. If he does not think himself the doer there is no action for him. He is an ascetic who has renounced worldly life (sanyasin)." (Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi: Talk 39)

The next passage is from Maharshi's Gospel:

M: Samsara is only in your mind. The world does not speak out saying, 'Here I am, the world'. If it did so, it would be ever there, making its presence felt by you even in your sleep. Since, however, it is not there in sleep, it is impermanent. Being impermanent, it lacks substance. Having no reality apart from the Self it is easily subdued by the Self. The Self alone is permanent. Renunciation is the non-identification of the Self with the not-Self. When the ignorance which identifies the Self with not-Self is removed, not-Self ceases to exist, and that is true renunciation.

D: Can we not perform actions without attachment even in the absence of such renunciation?

M: An atma jnani alone can be a good karma yogi.

(Maharshi's Gospel, Book 1, p22)

PETER: At first the idea of Jnani as Karma Yogi does seem contradictory yet on reflection it does make sense if we consider that only the Jnani is truly without ego and thus for Him alone there is no sense of doership involved.

Bhagavan Ramana: For a realised being the Self alone is the Reality, and actions are only phenomenal, not affecting the Self. Even when he acts he has no sense of being an agent. His actions are only involuntary and he remains a witness to them without any attachment. . . . Maharshi quoted the Gita, Chapter 18, Verse 17 - "He who is free from the notion of ego, whose intellect is unattached, though he annihilates all the worlds, he slayeth not, nor is he bound by the results of his actions." (Talks 17)

PETER: So what power is at work when a Jnani appears to act? There is a further interesting statement from Bhagavan relating to the actions of a Jnani...

"The fact is that any amount of action can be performed, and performed quite well by the Jnani, without His identifying Himself with it in any way, or ever imagining that He is the doer. Some power acts through His body and uses His body to get the work done." ("Gems from Bhagavan" compiled by A. DEVARAJA MUDALIAR)

PETER: This resonates with what Sri Krishna states in the Bhagavad Gita, and which Bhagavan Ramana cites in the next passage:

"The Self makes the universe what it is by His Sakti, and yet He does not Himself act. Sri Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, 'I am not the doer and yet actions go on.' It is clear from the Mahabharata that very wonderful actions were effected by Him. Yet He says that He is not the doer. It is like the sun and the world actions." (Talks 467)

With best wishes,

Peter