Tattva

Karmanyevadhikaraste
Ma phalesu kadacana
Ma karmaphalaheturbhurma
Te sango’stvakarmani
Bhagavad Gita 2:47

“…You are not entitled to any benefits resulting from your actions. At the same time you are not entitled to a state of not acting at all. Thus you should act according to your stature without any hope of enjoying the fruits of your action.”

Karma Yoga is one of the most important Dharmas that come with acquiring the Human Form. Dharma and Karma share the cause-effect relationship in which the living entity has to know and understand its Dharma. Dharma is the Hindu Sanskrit word for ‘Duty’; those who pursue their Dharma to its true purpose and value also have its positive fruits, or Karma, ‘Action’. It is one’s righteous duty to follow their Dharma because a living entity’s wheel of Dharma is forever dependent on his/her Karma in which the entity has complete control over its own Karma. Therefore, Dharma and Karma have a strong relationship with one another. There are three different kind of Karmas; Prarabdha, Sanchita, and Agami. Prarabdha Karma is the Karma that is ripe for reaping; it is the Karma that we cannot escape. There are certain things in our lives that we cannot explain, certain circumstances that we have no control over; this is where we have to take Prarabdha Karma into account. It is the Karma that is leftover, the result of all the actions that were discontinued in one’s past life that carried on to the present life and are finding themselves ready to unwind. In addition, Sanchita and Agami Karma are the other two Karmas that play a significant role in one’s present life that. If the soul of a body is the train trying to reach its ultimate destination, the spiritual world, Prarabdha, Sanchita, and Agami Karmas are its machinery ready to help the train reach its destination. In Vedanta Philosophy there is a famous analogy of a hunter getting ready to shoot the arrows in his hand. The arrow that has already left his hand, which he cannot hold on to or recall, is the Prarabdha Karma. The arrow ready to leave his hand to which he strongly grasps on is Sanchita Karma. The bundle of arrows in his back, which are waiting is his Agami Karma. He has no control over the Prarabdha Karma, which is going to reach its destination no matter whether the arrow is pointed at a particular direction, is already on its way, or soon going to come to an end. However, what a living entity has complete control over is his or her Sanchita and Agami Karma, the arrow in their hands (the present) and the arrows on their back (their future). For at this point we should carefully consider where we want to point the arrow for this is ultimately where Karma Yoga comes in.

Sanchita and Agami are the Karmas that everyone has control over through the previous analogy in Vedanta Literature we understand that we truly have control over our future. We can only shape, twist and turn, for the better or for the worse of our future. Karma is a Hindu Sanskrit word for ‘action’. Whether one takes it in terms of its true meaning or not, one thing we are for sure in the present modern age is that Humans are consumed by the notion of having pleasure, pleasure to its fullest form. Some have the following perspective on life, “all you know you have is today, you do not know if there is a ‘tomorrow’ so live life to its fullest for now”, however, this is where the action of taking life for granted comes in. Through this thought, one embarks on a journey to achieve nothing but pleasure regardless of what that pleasure can do to one. As Swami Vivekananda explains “the goal of mankind is knowledge, pleasure is not the goal of man but     knowledge…It is a mistake to suppose that pleasure is the goal. The cause of all the miseries we have in the world is that men foolishly think pleasure to be the ideal to strive for. After a time man finds that it is not happiness, but knowledge, towards which he is going, and that both pleasure and pain are great teachers, and that he learns as much from evil as from good.”

In my opinion, knowledge and truth should be the ultimate goals of life, for knowledge and truth are eternal while pleasure is temporary. Knowledge and truth must always be pursued from the beginning to the end of life for they provide the strength for the soul to transmigrate on to its next life. One must realize that in order to pursue such eternal values, one has to discover and realize from within the value of such values. Knowledge and truth are not just a given, but they are what is already out there to discover because they are found internally. When one conquers this inner self and discovers that this knowledge and truth are running through his or her atomic soul every second, every moment, it is when such realization results in action. This action determines our present and our future and the only action we ourselves have control over. Abdul Kalam once said “Dream, dream, dream for dreams are turned into thoughts and thoughts result in action”. This ‘dream’ or this so called ‘thought’ is what our soul tells us. If we realize that such a thought must result in an action only so that it benefits the community around us, such a thought must result in an action.

In addition, the only way to know if a certain thought should be turned into an action is to perform it as it is one’s Dharma. Performing an action purely in its form without expecting any results is the only way one can perform such actions for their own, true purpose. Taking up that one thought and pursuing it to its final result without any expectation is the true meaning of Karma Yoga. With the body, the mind, the intellect, and even with merely the senses, the Yogis perform action towards self-purification, thus having abandoned attachment. Those who are disciplined in Yoga abandon the fruits of action and attain continuous peace. The goal of anyone’s life is to achieve eternal peace, and such peace can only be attained in Yoga. Self-purification is a key element which one must work towards. A person of many positive habits transforms the thought into positive actions. Such positive habits also aid the person in self-purification, which is a platform for positive actions. Karma Yoga is the best yoga to pursue because it is proven to be the easiest to attain.

This self-purification can also be achieved through the five Kosas; Annamaya (Physical), Pranamaya (Life Force), Manomaya (Mental), and Vijnanamaya (Intellectual) through which certain physical Yogas can be performed for self-purification. All of these Kosas, which are enhanced by various Yogas, lead to Anandamaya for which there is no practice of Yoga because this is where the person achieves Anandam (happiness). Once this Anandamaya is achieved one achieves Sat-Chita-Ananda, which is also known as Existence-Consciousness-Bliss. All of this allows us to perform a part of Karma Yoga called Nishkam Karma, a selfless action that is performed without any expectation of fruits or result. When one pursues just Nishkam Karma through Karma Yoga, one also attains the other three Yogas. However, in order to perform Karma Yoga that benefits both the self in regards to our Sanchita and Agami Karma and the society, we shall do Seva. Through Seva, which is selfless work, one can use the concept of Karma Yoga to both provide strength for the inner self and the society. Doing Seva is the only way to achieve the self-satisfaction and eternal self-happiness. Another benefit of Karma Yoga is that the rest of the three Yogas are also achieved. While working with the Bhutanese Refugees, I looked to the concept of Karma Yoga to give a meaning to what I do and why I do it. Through this, Bhakti, Jnana, and Raja Yoga have become a central part of my life. Reading the Bhagavad Gita (Jnana Yoga), the Vedas, Upanishads, and various other scriptures and works like that of Swami Vivekananda, I was able to give my Karma Yoga a meaning. Through such understanding of these works, I also understood the meaning of Bhakti (Spirituality/Devotion) Yoga where everything I do now comes from within. Raja Yoga has its benefits where it provides me with a sense of stability in my mind and heart regardless of what kind of Karma I may experience. In addition, it provides my soul with the positive energy to face any kind of obstacles in life. For example, there is the analogy of a person in a dark room looking for a blanket. The person does not have to find all four corners of the blanket in order to find the blanket, and if he finds and latches onto one corner, the rest of them are achieved, and the blanket is acquired.

What all of us must be doing is giving each other a perspective of life through which we lead. It is up to the individual to look at a certain perspective and see if it is right for them to pursue. Any kind of thoughts, beliefs, or actions must not be forced on a person because such things must always come internally. Wherever knowledge is, the mind follows. Wherever truth is the heart follows. Let us not force our religions on each other, and let us not try to convert each other. You believe what you believe in; I will believe what I believe in. Give me a perspective; do not force me into what you think. It is said that one-fourth we learn from our Gurus (teachers and parents), one-fourth we learn from our peers, one-fourth we learn from texts, the last one fourth through time and experience. So let us observe what others say, let us listen to what others believe in, let us read to clarify those perspectives, let us respect those who have experience what we have yet to experience, and then let’s make up our mind and lead a positive, meaningful life that benefits ourselves, our community and our world. I’m not a Hindu, I’m not a Muslim, I’m not a Christian and I’m not a Jew. I’m not an Indian, I’m not an American, I’m not Chinese, and I’m not an Arab. I was born on this Earth as a Citizen of Humanity; let my service ultimately be for these citizens of humanity who have every right over their own thought, own body. Let us share our perspectives and thoughts but never force them, let’s leave up to each other to decide the path of life. Let us start NOW, let’s make our move NOW, no cause and no contribution has age, as the youth this is the time to benefit and make a change in this world for a future that is better for all.

Sai is an undergraduate student at Case Western Reserve University. He is majoring in mechanical and aerospace engineering with a minor in astronomy. He is also a varsity cross country and indoor and outdoor track runner for his university. He is the founder and president of CWRU Hindu YUVA.

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