Eternal India Encyclopedia

PERCEPTIONS

Eternal India encyclopedia

KARMA (DUTIES OF HUMANS)

Happy is the man who is steady in the discharge of his duties, and is neither over- joyed nor depressed at the fruition or failure of their results. (Duties must be done whether they repay or not). - Yoga Vasisthd

karmano hyaapi bodhyam bodhyam cha vikarmanaha akarmancha bodhyam gahanaa karmano gathihi. “For verily (the true nature) of ‘right action’ should be known; also (that) of ‘for bidden (or unlawful) action’ and of ‘inac- tion’; imponderable is the nature (path) of action.” thyakthvaa karothi yaha lipyathe na sa paapena padma pathrami vaambhasaa He who does actions, offering them to BRAHMAN, abandoning attachment, is not tainted by sin, just as a lotus leaf remains unaffected by the water on it. Life means activity. Life being dynamic, it cannot, even for a moment, cease to func- tion. Activity, therefore, is the very corner- stone of life. Bramhanyaadhhaaya karmaani sangam

If you are unable even to practise Abhyaasa-yoga, be you intent on doing ac- tions for My sake; even by performing ac- tions for My sake you will attain perfection.

One should perform work until one has got disgusted with it, or until one has de- veloped a veneration for listening to tales about Me and that kind of thing.

LIFE

Karma Yoga does not ask you to re- nounce action but to act rightly. Any karma or action will not produce freedom, but an appropriate action done with the right atti- tude will surely bring freedom. What counts is how you do something, not what you do. The word karma itself means both action and reaction, and also implies duty. Cause and effect is an indisputable law of both science and spirituality — "as you sow so shall you reap." Experience shows that an action which produces a reaction does not die there, but produces a chain reaction, an unending process of attraction and repulsion called bondage. Karma Yoga means self- less action. Karma Yoga is the right to act, but not to the fruits thereof. Selfless action does not mean no reaction at all, but rather no reaction in which you bear a selfish mo- tive. Union through karma implies, then, self- less action in which you do not react out of motive and impulse. You act with equanim- ity and serenity because that action is right, because it should be done. The more spiri- tual you are, the more your talents are re- fined and sharpened.

O Uddhava, a man discharging his own duties and performing sacrifices without any desire for results, goes neither to heaven nor to hell, unless he practises evil.

Actions to be done (Actions to be avoided)

Nitya (daily duties)

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Naimittika (duties on special occasions)

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---------- Kamya (desire-prompted duties) Periods of activity create man. This creative-period depends upon what type of activity we venture upon. According to the ancient Seers, activities can be of two types, constructive or destructive. Con- structive activities which contribute to- wards the evolution of the individual are termed as Karma. Destructive activities are those that are totally condemned by the Sastras, because they tend to devolve the individual, and those are termed in our text books as Vikarma. The constructive activi- ties (Karma) can be of three kinds : Nitya - - constant duties, Naimittika — special duties on special occasions, and Kamya — work purposeful and self-determined for winning a desirable result or reward.

Such a man, becoming sinless and pure attains to pure knowledge, or perchance devotion to Me, remaining in this very world.

The wise man should seek neither heaven nor hell, nor desire to return to this world, for he comes under delusion through attachment to the body.

Seeing that the tree on which it built its nest is being felled by cruel hands, the bird giving up attachment leaves its home and attains to well-being.

It is for the benefit of others that trees bear fruit. It is for the benefit of others that rivers flow. It is for the benefit of others that cows yield milk. It is for the benefit of others that the body is given.

-Swami Chinmayananda "The Holy Geeta"

— Baba