Ego

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Karma Marga -- the Path of Action.

 

This approach is for the dynamic, action-oriented person. Selfless

servicve without any expectation of results of action -- where ego is

not involved -- offers a way of purifiation of the mind and this is

called Karma Marga.

 

Karma or action is done with a sense of doer-ship for attaining

desired goals. Such actions are either good or bad, and

correspondingly, result in happiness or sorrow. There is freefom to

use the discriminatory faculty while acting and not to be influenced

by desires. We are endowed with a free will to identify or not

identify with any event occurring around us. If one were detached

from it, then the event itself would be powerless to cause sorrow or

joy.

 

Can mere action led us to eternal freedom, which is indeed the goal

of all efforts? If the mind were the prisoner of actions, it would be

caught in the action-result web explained earlier.

 

If one has to be trascend the Karmic Law, the action should not be

attached to the expectation of results. Ramana Maharshi in His

Upadesa Saram suggests that if action is done without a desire for

gaining any fruits from it, and dedicating the action itself to a

higher goal, then the mind of the actor gets purified. Which means

renunciation of the agency of doership and renunciation of the

anticipation of the fruits of actions will together purify the mind.

This is the art of performing an action for purification or Karma

Yoga. Such purificationo is an essential step to bringing the mind

within the zone of the magnetic pull of the Self. Thus there is an

emphasis on two conditions -- desirelessness and dedication to a

higher goal. What matters, therefore, is the attitude of the mind.

 

Isvararpitam Necchaya Kritam

Chittasodhakam Mukti-Sadhakam

(Upadesa Saram 3)

 

Action dedicated to God and done without selfish desire purifies the

mind. It is the means to liberation.

 

This is automatically takes us to the path of Devotion of Bhakti.

 

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