Karma Yoga I, by Mahendra Mathur
Who is a Yogi?
“He who is able, while still here (in this world) to withstand, before the liberation from the body (death), the impulse born out of desire and anger, he is a YOGIN, he is a happy man.”
Verse 23 Ch V
“The blessed Lord said: He who performs his duty without depending on the fruits of his actions - he is a sannyasi and a yogi, not he who is without (ritual) fire and without activity. Do thou, Oh Arjuna, know yoga to be that which they call renunciation. No one verily becomes a yogi who has not renounced thoughts, scheming or planning.”
Verse 1 and 2, Ch VI
Likes and dislikes cannot be eliminated but they can be neutralized. Then the mind becomes relatively free from them. Lord Krishna says, “He is yogi who is able to keep under check the impulses of passion and anger (raga and dwesa).” For such a person, the rage and dwesa cannot obstruct the imbibing of knowledge. The means suggested for this is karma yoga, which is an outlook towards actions and their results.
Performance of actions in this outlook is seen as an offering to the Lord. The attitude toward the result of actions is called prasada buddhi or glad acceptance of the results as they come. What I achieve from an action is not important but the attitude with which I perform the action is important.
“Desire” is the avalanche of thoughts sweeping down from the pinnacles of our intellect, along the valleys of our heart, towards an object-of-desire in the outer world. When this avalanche of thought is barricaded on its sweep by a substantial obstacle before it reaches its destination, the blast with which it shatters itself on that obstacle is called “anger.” It is these two types of thoughts that generally agitate our bosom. The greater the desire with which we ponder over an object, the greater shall be the anger against any obstacle that comes between us and our object-of-desire.
This material nature is in a constant state of dualities. Sometimes the weather is very hot; sometimes it’s very cold. Sometimes we are honored; sometimes we are harshly criticized. Sometimes we are healthy; sometimes we fall ill. Sometimes we are young; sometimes we are old. Sometimes we are wealthy; sometimes we are impoverished. There is no steady position here. It is always a tottering situation, like a drop of water on a lotus leaf that can roll off at any time.
Any arrangement we may make for ourselves here is nothing more than a castle made of sand that will be eventually washed into the sea. Just like how there is great anxiety today that by the influence of global warming the present world order as we are currently accustomed to , will become greatly disrupted. There is also great anxiety about what will happen to the world when we run out of oil, or what will be the situation if terrorism continues to become more and more prominent.
There is no guarantee of what will happen here except for the fact that we will get sick, get old, and die. If this is the only thing we can really count on, it is no wonder that people drown themselves in sense enjoyment to try to block the anxiety out of their brains. But such enjoyment does not really solve anything. As soon as the sense enjoyment is over one has to face the anxiety again.
Is this what we are meant to experience? Is this the natural state for a living being? Or is this present day anxiety-filled existence a very unnatural situation like the present day polluted rivers and polluted air?
To one who has won over joy and grief, and who has gained a certain amount of detachment from external objects, desire for obtaining the pleasant or unpleasant is no emotion at all. Where there is no desire, hatred is an alien factor. He who has gained over these two impulses, powerful and almost irresistible as they are, is one who can afford to live in this world of multiplicity and imperfections as an independent solitary man of true and steady happiness.
Thus Krishna assures that man can live perfectly happily even while in this form, among these very objects, in this very world, during this very life, if only he in his spiritual evolution, learns to renounce his impulses of desire and hatred and thus becomes a Yogi.
Sanyasa is the stage reached through yoga, and the spiritual practice of yoga cannot even be thought of without the spirit of sanyasa in the bosom. The two are the obverse and the reverse of the same coin of spiritual perfection. Many people purchase costume jewelry, and only a few people purchase diamonds.
Man cannot ordinarily remain without imagining and constantly creating using his exuberant fancy. We fix goals to be fulfilled in the near future. By the time we mentally prepare ourselves and begin executing our ideas in life, our fancy would modify the goals. The subtle force which unconsciously creates this lunatic temperament in us is called Sankalpa sakti. That is why Krishna says none can ever reach any progress on the path of self-redemption without acquiring a capacity to renounce this self-poisoning Sankalpa-disturbance.
Karma Yoga:
What I achieve from an action is not important but the attitude with which I perform the action is important. This attitude is described by Lord Krishna in verse 46 of Chapter XVIII thus:
“Hear how a man findeth perfection, being so content:
He findeth it through worship – wrought by work –
Of HIM that is the Source of all which lives,
Of HIM by Whom the universe was stretched.”
When we live in the society, in the world, everyone is called upon to perform certain actions as obligatory duties. No one is an isolated or an independent entity. One owes to the rest of the world for what one is. The parents have given birth to my body and have nurtured and nourished it. The parents, teachers and many others have contributed to the wealth of knowledge and other skills I have acquired. The cosmic forces are also at work to provide me air, water, light and countless others needed to sustain my existence. I am obliged to all these factors in my life and I must respond by performing my duty. The sense of duty grows upon one and cannot be avoided. I bring up my children for the sake of bringing up and not for my sake. This is the attitude of duty. My function is to make my children understand their duty. Accomplishment is not important – doing is important – there is no expectation of any benefit from the action. I find myself in a situation so the task has to be done. And it is done. This is called archana or worship to the Lord. Action performed with a sense of duty, arising out of the appreciation of the situation, becomes archana.
When I perform an action as an expression of gratitude for all I have gained, then every action becomes an offering to the Lord. Work is performed for the joy of work and not because something is to be gained from it. I am not in the fancies or likes or dislikes. Duty is that which must be done whether or not it is in agreement with my likes and dislikes. If like and duty coincide, the action becomes spontaneous. If like does not coincide with duty, the action becomes deliberate – this is karma yoga with respect to action. It is an impulsive person who is in the hands of likes and dislikes and is therefore full of conflicts. A deliberate person who does what should be done, releases the mind from likes and dislikes in due course of time. The sense of duty grows upon the person and the duties are performed as naturally as breathing and eating. The mind of such a person is a fit instrument to appreciate the teaching.
Acceptance of Results of Actions:
The Lord makes it clear that action can never be given up entirely. “Not even for a moment does anyone remain without performing action. Not even your stay in the physical body can be accomplished without action.”
To be a renouncer is to be contemplative; it is not to stop all activities and be lazy. “Let right deeds be thy motive, not the fruits which come from them. And live in action! Labour!” The relationship between an action and its results is governed by the laws of nature, which we can attempt to understand but never change. The author of these laws is the one we call God or, in Sanskrit Isvar. It is by His laws that I get a particular result, not by my choice.
Expectations of results, which is natural, is not a problem; the problem lies in our reaction to the results when they come. Perform action expecting results; act so that you can achieve what you desire; plan and execute your work; but if the result is totally contrary to your expectations in spite of all your wishing and willing, don’t react and call yourself a failure. Laws are only instruments of the Lord who gives you the result of action. When you understand this fact, you develop a special attitude: you appreciate that the result of every action comes from the Lord.
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