Courtesy: Sri.S.Ramaswamy
Right and Wrong Action
Have right thinking. Use your reason and commonsense. Follow the injunctions of the Sastras. Consult the Code of Manu or Yajnavalkya Smriti whenever you have doubts. You will be able to find out whether you are doing right or wrong action. If you say: "Sastras are countless. They are like the ocean. I can hardly understand the truths that are inculcated there. I cannot fathom out and gauge their depths. There are contradictions. I am puzzled and bewildered," then strictly follow the words of a Guru in whom you can place absolute faith and confidence. The third way is to have fear of God. Consult your conscience. The shrill, inner voice can guide you. As soon as you hear the voice, do not delay even for a moment. Start the action diligently without consulting anybody. Practise to hear the inner voice in the morning at 4 a.m. If there are fear, shame, doubt, pricking of the conscience, and uneasiness of mind, know that you are doing wrong. If there are joy, exhilaration and satisfaction, understand that you are doing a right action.
Nishkamya Karma Yoga
by Swami Sivananda
In the practice of Nishkamya Karma Yoga, there is no loss of effort. There is no harm. There is no transgression also. Even a little of this knowledge, even a little practice can protect you from great fear of birth and death with its concomitant evils. You will doubtless reap the fruits in this path of Karma Yoga, viz., Jnana. There is no uncertainty here. Matter is indestructible. Energy is indestructible. Even a little practice with the right mental attitude will purify the Chitta. The Samskaras of virtuous actions are imbedded in the Chitta. They are also indestructible. They are real, valuable assets for you. They will prevent you from doing wrong actions. They will goad you to do selfless actions. They will push you on to the goal. Selfless works will prepare the ground of Antahkarana for the reception of the seed of Jnana. The path of Karma Yoga eventually leads to the attainment of infinite bliss of the Self.
Work unselfishly with disinterested spirit. Always scrutinise your motives. Your motive should be pure. The fruits of actions vary according to the motive. Listen to this story: In Hanuman Ghat two girls were in a drowning condition. Two young men jumped immediately into the Ganga and rescued them. One man asked the girl to marry him. The other man said: "I have done my duty. God gave me an opportunity to serve and improve myself." He had Chitta Suddhi. The external action is the same (the act of saving the life) but the motive is different. The fruits also must be different. Never care for the fruits of your actions. But do not become a victim of sloth or inertia. Pour forth all your energies in the service of humanity, country, etc. Plunge yourself in selfless service.
Fix your mind at the Lotus Feet of the Lord. Give the hands to work. Even when you work, work like the typist or the harmonium player who types or plays while talking to you, like the woman who knits and talks at the same time. Let your mind be ever attached to the Lotus Feet of the Lord while your hands are at work. The mind of the girl who has the water-pot on her head, is on the pot even though she talks and jokes with her comrades while walking along the road. You will be able to do two things at a time by practice. The manual work will become automatic, mechanical or instinctive. You will have two minds. A portion of the mind will be at work, while the rest of the mind will be in the service of the Lord, in meditation, in Japa. Repeat the Name of the Lord while at work also. Ashtavadhanis do eight things at a time. They play at cards, move the man in Chaturanga play (chess), dictate some passages to a third man, talk to a fourth in order and continuation, and so on. This is a question of training of the mind. Even so, you can so train the mind that it can work with the hands and can remember God at the same time. This is Karma Yoga and Bhakti Yoga combined.
Lord Krishna says:
Tasmat sarveshu kaleshu mamanusmara yudhya cha; Mayyarpitamanobuddhir mamevaishyaisyasamsayam.
"Therefore at all times think upon Me and fight with mind and reason set on Me, without doubt thou shalt come unto Me." Gita: Chapter VIII-7.
Though the cow grazes in the pasture having been separated from the calf, her mind is always fixed on the calf only. Similarly you should fix the mind on God when you do Japa, like the cow, and give your hands to work, which is only worship of the Lord. Renounce all attachment. Be balanced in success or failure, gain or loss, victory or defeat, pleasure or pain. Train and discipline your mind cautiously. This is your master-key to open the doors of the realms of bliss. This is the secret of Karma Yoga. This is the secret of success in Yoga. Here is also another interesting illustration. The mind of the Ayah is always on her own child though she fondles and caresses the child of the zamindar for the time being. The mind of the Choranari is always on her paramour though she is busy doing her household duties at her home. Even so, fix the mind at the Lotus Feet of the Lord and give the hands to worldly activities. You can realise God even while remaining in the world if you adopt this method. You need not retire to Himalayan caves and forests. That is the reason why Lord Krishna says: "Renunciation and Yoga of action both lead to the highest bliss; of the two, Yoga of action is verily better than renunciation of action." Gita: Chapter V-2.
If you care for the fruits of actions you will be caught up in the wheel of birth and death. You cannot expect to attain immortality immediately or the final beatitude.
Mind is so framed that it cannot work without expectation of fruits or anticipation of rewards for actions. If you smile when you meet your friend, you do expect a smile in return from him. If you give a cup of water to somebody, you do expect something in return from him. If you salute your friend on Mount Road, you expect him to salute you in return. This is the inborn nature of worldly-minded people. You will have to train the mind to work disinterestedly. You will have to tame the mind cautiously. You will have to discipline the mind with patience and perseverance. Worldly-minded people cannot understand the spirit of Nishkamya service as their minds are charged or saturated with impurities. Do service for sometime. Then you will grasp the spirit of Nishkamya Karma Yoga. In the beginning all your actions may be selfish. But if you work hard in the field of Karma Yoga for two years, five of your actions will be unselfish and ninety-five will be selfish. Scrutinise your motives, purify them and try hard. After some years of incessant struggle, fifty actions will become unselfish. A good time will come when all your actions, hundred per cent, will be purely unselfish. You will become a perfect Karma Yogi like Raja Janaka. The time is not very far if you keep up the ideal before you daily and struggle hard to reach the ideal, and if you are sincere and earnest in your purpose.
The mind is filled with purity (Sattva) if you work without expectation of fruits, if you work for the sake of God, if you regard work as worship or Puja of Narayana, if you dedicate all your actions to God as Isvararpana. Feel and think that you breathe, live and work for God alone every second of your life, and that, without Him, life is absolutely useless. Feel the pangs of separation while at work if you forget Him even for a fraction of a second.
| ||
| |||||
| ||
Poised Reason
Actions which are of a binding nature lose that nature when you do them with equanimity or evenness of mind through the help of pure reason, which has lost all attachment to sensual objects and which is resting in the Self. You will have to cultivate and develop this pure reason and equanimity of mind. God has given this marvellous machine to man for service of humanity and thereby attaining an immortal life. If he uses this body for satisfaction of petty desires and selfish ends, he becomes an object of pity and condemnation. He is caught up in the wheel of birth and death. Rest the mind in the Self or Isvara when you perform any action. He who has developed pure poised reason and who is resting in the Self, is quite aware that all actions are done by the Divine Actor within (Antaryamin). He is perfectly conscious that God really operates in this body-machine and moves this machine. This Yogi of equanimity or evenness of mind now understands fully the fundamental principles that govern all bodily actions. He performs all actions for God's sake in fulfilment of His purpose without desire for fruit and eventually attains the everlasting peace.
Work without any Motive
Man generally plans to get the fruits of his works before he starts any kind of work. The mind is so framed that it cannot think of any kind of work without remuneration or reward. This is due to Rajas. Human Svabhava is always like this. When discrimination dawns, when the mind is filled with some more Sattva or purity, this nature changes slowly. The spirit of selflessness slowly creeps in. The quality of Rajas creates selfishness and attachment. A selfish man has no large heart. He has no ideal. He is petty-minded. His mind is full of greed. He always calculates. He cannot do any service in a magnanimous manner. He will say: "I will get so much money. I must put forth so much work only." He will weigh the work and money in a balance. He cannot do a little more work. He will be ever watching the time for stopping his work. He is mercenary. He is hired for money. He is actuated by the hope of reward. He is greedy of gain. Selfless service is unknown to him. He has no idea of God. He has no glimpse of Truth. He cannot imagine of an expanded, selfless life. He has got into a narrow, circumscribed circle or groove. He dwells within this small grove. His love extends to his own body, his wife and children. That is all. Generosity is unknown to him.
If you expect fruits for your actions, you will have to come back into this world to enjoy such fruits. You will have to take birth again. A Nishkamya Karma Yogi says: "Do all works without expectation of fruits. This will produce Chitta Suddhi. Then you will get knowledge of the Self. You will get Moksha or eternal bliss, peace and immortality." This is his doctrine. That is the reason why Lord Krishna says to Arjuna:
Karmanyevaadhikaraste ma phaleshu kadachana
Ma karmaphalaheturbhurma te sangostvakarmani.
"Thy business is with the action only, never with its fruits; so let not the fruits of action be thy motive, nor be thou to inaction attached." Gita: Chapter II-47.
God dispenses the fruits of actions according to the motive. If the motive is pure, you will get Divine Grace and purity. If the motive is impure, you will get rebirth in this Mrityuloka to reap the fruits of your actions. Again you will do virtuous and vicious actions through the force of Raga-Dvesha. You will be entrapped in the never-ending wheel of birth and death.
But you should not remain in a state of inertia also (Akarmani) thinking that you will not get the fruits if you work selflessly. You must not say: "What is the use of my work now? I can not get any fruits. I will keep quiet." This is also bad. You will become Tamasic and dull. There will be mental inactivity. You will get purity of mind if you work in the spirit of Nishkamya Karma Yoga. This is a very great reward for your actions. You cannot imagine the exalted condition of a man of pure mind. He has unbounded peace, strength and joy. He is very near to God. He is dear to God. He will soon receive the divine light. Work without any sort of motive and feel its effects, purity and inner strength. What an expanded heart you will have! Indescribable! Practise, feel and enjoy this state.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment