KARMA YOGA

Everybody, physically or mentally, is doing karma (action, duty, or work) every second, always, and all the time. Nobody can avoid karma for an instant. We all have a natural tendency to engage in some type of action, both mentally and physically. Our sensory systems are always engaged, whether we are awake or asleep, in movement or at rest, in manifestation or in latency. Even divine entities in the divine realms go about their daily lives. In the Srimad Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna declares, "There is no duty for Me to do in all three worlds, O Parth, nor do I have anything to gain or attain. Nonetheless, I am performing the assigned tasks."

He states emphatically that no one can remain without action, even for a moment. Indeed, all beings are obliged to act according to their gunas, or material nature attributes (sattva, rajas, and tamas).

na hi kaśhchit kṣhaṇam api jātu tiṣhṭhatyakarma-kṛit

kāryate hyavaśhaḥ karma sarvaḥ prakṛiti-jair guṇaiḥ

The goal of mankind is knowledge, says Swami Vivekananda. All knowledge is in the human mind and, in many cases, remains undiscovered. Knowledge is covered by the veil of ignorance. Learning is to uncover the covering. The advance of knowledge is made possible by this process of uncovering the veil of ignorance. The fire of learning surcharges the mind and intellect more at times of trial, tribulation, misery, sorrows, and difficulties than at times of these opposites. When it was completely uncovered, the omniscient man came into being. Karma is articulated by Swami Vivekananda in this way. Every mental and physical blow that is given to the soul, by which, as it were, fire is struck from it and by which its own power and knowledge are discovered, is Karma, this word being used in its widest sense. (Karma Yoga, Swami Vivekananda, Chapter-1)

The Srimad Bhagavad Gita also says so:

eṣhā brāhmī sthitiḥ pārtha naināṁ prāpya vimuhyati

sthitvāsyām anta-kāle ’pi brahma-nirvāṇam ṛichchhati

Those who are established in Brahman (Supreme Consciousness or Reality) never get confounded in any manner, and they discern the Real and unreal through their Brahmanic Consciousness. Such is the state of an enlightened soul that, having attained it, one is never again deluded. Being established in this consciousness even at the hour of death, one is liberated from the cycle of life and death and reaches the Supreme Abode of God.

1. Outlines

"Karma" which originates from the Sanskrit word "Kri", means "action, duty, or work." The word "Yoga" has its origins in the sanskrit word "yuj", meaning to yoke or to unite on coordinated endeavour between body-mind-intellect system with atman (inner spirit or self) for realisation of supreme consciousness.

In the Srimad Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna says that the Supreme Indestructible Entity is called Brahman; one's own self is called adhyatma; and actions pertaining to the material personality of living beings and their development are called Karma, or fruitive activities. Accordingly, Karma is the energy that causes the manifestation of beings.

akṣharaṁ brahma paramaṁ svabhāvo ’dhyātmam uchyate

bhūta-bhāvodbhava-karo visargaḥ karma-sanjñitaḥ

According to Swami Krishnananda, the Karma theory is very complex. Sri Krishna declares that the nature of Karma is hidden so secretly that its operations are not easy to understand because, on the one hand, action seems to be connected with the individual initiative because it passes through the egoism of personality, but on the other hand, it is actually not entirely confined to the structure of human individuality; it is cosmically oriented. He goes on to say that Karma means 'that which produces effects'—either in the form of beings in the case of cosmic evolution, or in the form of a result of an action, or even a reaction to an action, as in the case of ordinary individuals.

Karma Yoga refers to selfless action for union with the atmic (inner spirit or self) in the elevating journey towards moskha, or liberation. The self that arises from the body-mind-intellect system engulfs the atmic self and manifests as ego in the form of "I" in order to demystify the being's elevation and Identity. Ego originates from attachments, which are intertwined with the samsāra chakra (wheel of birth and death). Ego is the source of all body-mind-intellect-based bonding, sorrows, and afflictions. It clouds the knowledge of discrimination between purusha and prakriti. It strengthens the bondage with Samsara (birth and death) because of the klesha-karmas (impure duties) that are mixed with Vāsanas (the subtle state of desire).

Purification of the heart and overcoming egoism are key components of karma yoga. It entails dedicating every work as an offering without consideration for self-gain. It hyphenates into a state of profound realisation of one's nature as pure consciousness of the self, transcending the limitations of the body-mind-intellect complex.

The Srimad Bhagavad Gita says that when one discards all selfish desires and cravings of the senses that torment the mind, and becomes satisfied in the realisation of the self, such a person is said to be transcendentally situated.

It proclaims that one with the insight of a Tattvavit (the knower of Reality) recognises that all movements in the form of activities of any kind are only movements of the gunas of prakriti, and they perceive that it is only the guṇas (in the shape of the senses, mind, and others) that move among the guṇas (in the shape of the objects of perception), and thus they do not get entangled in them.

tattva-vit tu mahā-bāho guṇa-karma-vibhāgayoḥ

guṇā guṇeṣhu vartanta iti matvā na sajjate

Knowledge without action is theoretical, and action without knowledge is blind, says Swami Krishnananda (Comentary on the Bhagavad Gita, Swami Krishnananda, Divine Life Society, Rishikesh, 2014, p. 80).

Knowledge in Sankhya and action in Karma Yoga are interrelated. Knowledge gives the power of discrimination, as Adi Sankaracharya says in Vivekchudamani, to identify the real and the unreal, and action moves forward through this identification.

In this definition of Karma Yoga, there are four essential words: duty, ego, attachment, and expectation of reward. Yoga is a union with the spirit, or divine essence. It is the science of individual consciousness attaining communion with the Ultimate Consciousness.

Yoga is nothing but concentration of mind and mediation of consciousness, says Swami Krishnananda. He says that the whole being of a person—the whole of his mind, intellect, feelings, and spirit—has to be channeled towards this supreme goal of Yoga.

2. Scriptures

The concept of yoga, be it Karma Yoga (path of selfless service), Bhakti Yoga (path of exclusive devotion), Raja Yoga (path of self-restraint or self-surrender), or Jnāna Yoga (path of wisdom), is the pathway to maintaining balance in the cosmic order for realisation of Supreme Consciousness. Excessive austerity or indulgence is uncalled for as it negates the principle of balance in the cosmic order.

This has been eloquently highlighted in the Srimad Bhagavad Gita:

yuktāhāra-vihārasya yukta-cheṣhṭasya karmasu

yukta-svapnāvabodhasya yogo bhavati duḥkha-hā

It emphasises a balanced temperament in our thoughts and activities. It says one needs to be temperate in eating and recreation, balanced in work, and regulated in sleep to mitigate all sorrows by practicing Yoga.

Vascillation between irreconcilability is the bane of all problems. One needs to go beyond the dualities of opposites: heat and cold, sorrow and happiness, pleasure and pain, success and failure, etc., so as to elevate to a state of transcendence.

 nirmāna-mohā jita-saṅga-doṣhā

adhyātma-nityā vinivṛitta-kāmāḥ

dvandvair vimuktāḥ sukha-duḥkha-sanjñair

gachchhanty amūḍhāḥ padam avyayaṁ tat

Those who are free from vanity and delusion, who have overcome the evil of attachment, who dwell constantly on the self and on God, who are free from the desire to enjoy the senses, and who are beyond the dualities of pleasure and pain, such liberated personalities attain My eternal Abode, proclaims Srimad Bhagavad Gita.

All beings born in this world are rooted in the Samsāra Chakra (the wheel of birth and death) and bound with karmas. The concept of free will comes up here while performing the karmas. It's because this life's form evolved after several births, rebirths, and elevation processes through dharma-driven action, or Nishkām Karma (selfless or desireless action). This forms the basis of Karma Yoga.

 Karmas are essential to repaying debt inherited from previous births and to advancing oneself in the elevation process of one's life journey. These debts (runas) are repaid through five acts of service called yagnas: deva yagna, pitr yagna, bhuta yagna, manushya yagna, and rishi yagna. This has been elucidated in the Ishavasya Upanishad:

kurvann eveha karmāṇi jijīviṣecchataṃ samāḥ

evaṃ tvayi nānyatheto’sti na karma lipyate nare || 2 ||

Always performing karma here, one should desire to live, for a hundred years. So long as you seek to live as a human being, no other path exists where activity does not taint you.

The ultimate goal of knowledge and our activities, as the revealed scriptures proclaim, is the Supreme Being. The purpose of performing sacrifice is to please Him. Yoga is for realising Him. All fruitive activities are ultimately rewarded by Him alone. He is the supreme knowledge, and all severe austerities are performed to know Him. Dharma is rendering loving service to Him. He is the supreme goal of life, as emphatically mentioned in the Srimad Bhagavatam.

Swami Krishnananda says that Karma Yoga is a system of internal training, an educational career into which we get introduced, and it is much more than the art of solidarity that we are trying to bring about in the world. The world cannot be changed. It is just as it is. It has not changed for centuries, and it is not going to change, but the understanding of it changes.

 3. Remarks

Yoga is to imbibe consciousness of the Self or to realise the Self consciously. Its goal is to harmonise the body-mind-intellect mechanism with Ātman, or the inner spirit or self, leading to bliss, purity, and wisdom. It involves renunciation of all attachments and the fruits of actions.

Swami Krishnananda says that renunciation is not an attitude of disgust with the world. It is a preparatory step that we take to train ourselves to understand the very same world in a better manner. The aim of life is ultimately an inclusive attitude of consciousness, not an attitude of exclusiveness at any time. the prerequisite to higher contemplations on God with the final aspiration of Consciousness of the Supreme Self.

-Asutosh Satpathy