Inne akcje
Feb 24, 2024
(Karma Yoga- How does believe systems and religion fit into that? Is karma yoga independent of that? Doesn't it necessarily mean that there's a right or wrong, there's just consequences?)
We are studying from a text which was at least written minimum four times before any organized religion was formed. For us, it's a way of life. So there is no concept of right or wrong- you have to question. For example, you see someone slapping another person on the road. As per the today's standard, it is wrong. It appears wrong, because you don't know what happened before that. So our right or wrong stops with our present knowledge. It may appear right, it may appear wrong. But they could have been slapped, which is a wrong action for a right reason.
This is written in a language. That doesn't mean it applies only to people of a particular religion. I am talking to you in English. It doesn't make me a Christian. It doesn't make me a Westerner. So language is a tool of communication. When you write water, the easiest way to write it scientifically is H2O. You cannot write it shorter than that. You cannot write it longer than that. That means it is very precise. So these concepts were written in Samskrita, the language which is very precise. By nature, the meaning of the word Samskrita is split Samyak plus Kritaha, which means perfectly done. That means not a word more, not a word less. There is no full stuff, no extra, comma. That is possible in this language to communicate exactly what they intend to.
So here, Samskrita is a language used to write Bhagavad Gita because the language itself has a lot of qualities. How 5000 plus years, the words mean the same, the same way we pronounce it. But we cannot understand Shakespear in English or even the English which was spoken 100 years back. All languages are having accent, they have dialect. So they are liable to be misinterpreted. For example, I was giving a brief to a friend who wanted to give me a social media plan. Can you believe in the Zoom call it is recorded, I told him Kanada is our market. In the Excel sheet, he has written as Kerala. He is an Indian from Kerala. He heard Kanada as Kerala. But the recording is very clear Kanada. So our existing mother tongues influences us understanding any other language. But this language is maintained, the sound purity is maintained, the tonal purity is maintained by some formula. So whether a Polish person tells it, South African tells it, Indian tells it, that word has to be pronounced in the same way, there is no accent. So these are all the reasons this concept is written in that language.
And that concept is called Karma Yoga.
Generally, these concepts, particularly these 6 philosophical systems, which we saw,
- Nyaya- logic,
- Vaiseshika- special logic or atomic theory, illusion kind of concepts, which are slightly above logic. But like a mirage appears to be logical, you go near, you don't see any water.
- Sankhya which means right knowledge.
- . Yoga which we all study.
- Mimamsa.
- Vedanta.
So when someone enters to the study of any of these 6 philosophical systems, the prerequisite is they should be a believer. They cannot be an agnostic or a non believer. So these sessions are not for someone who doesn't believe in anything. These are not for people who say, can you debate with me after you win me over the debate, I will understand what you are saying. We are not addressing those people. We are addressing Astika- the one who believes that knowledge is Supreme. Knowledge here in India, we call it as Veda. They believe there is something more than the life which meets our eye. There is a higher source. That higher source, religion call it God. We call it the Supreme Reality. So here you bring in all of our religious beliefs, a Christian, a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Jain, all of them are qualified to study. People who are not practicing religion because it is not conforming to what they think, but they believe somebody higher is there, some energy is there, they are qualified to study.
With this background, if we approach Karma Yoga, it will be easy to understand. Now, what in Karma Yoga it says- there is one level, we can practice Karma Yoga without even bringing in the concept of God, Divine, Higher Reality, Ultimate Reality. To some extent, we can work by logic. It says,
But all the processes turning out will never be in our hands.
Now, replace that word. The process orientation is Karma Yoga, wherein you are clear, whatever you can do in life is only in the Now.
I'm applying logic now.
Then results are something which is future. Now, we ourselves accepted by logic, we have control. We have control over only the process and the results are in future.
And whatever we can do is in the Now- this is Karma.I'll tell you how it becomes Yoga. If we bring in this attitude to the work, what we do, that means- we are understanding
Action is present tense. Use English grammar. Action is present tense.
That means action is possible only in the Now.Now, by our own logic, result is a future possibility. This is why when we study Karma or Karma Yoga, the masters and the scriptures are saying, you cannot have a hang on what is going to happen in future. So as when you try and keep your mind in the Now, so you learn the processes which can help you to keep the mind in the Now.
- is getting immersed in the work.
- when you have distraction, bring it back by awareness to the work.
- if the mind is taking you to how this project will turn out to be, you tell yourself, you are right, but how it is going to turn out is the future. Let me come back to the Now. Like this, you keep getting your mind back to the Now.
Now what happens? For example, I only reached out to X and said 8 o'clock we'll have class. But we got stuck on the way. Some airport flyover is happening. We came through some Delhi. Still I reached at 8. But we could start only at 8.15. Here also we followed the due process. Y followed it to the peak. He went directly to the Shrimath Yoga because we said we are going to merge the groups. There I forgot to put the classes at 8.15. You see practically what happened today? So he was ready to undergo the process at 8. But I had to come only at 8.15. Even after coming at 8.15, there was a lag in the voice. There is so many things happening. So what is that our ambit is- trying to be with the process at whatever we can do. What is going to happen is not in our hands. Then what happens? How will I resolve this? There is a commotion inside me “I did my best but things never happen the way I do.” This is how you connect what could have gone right or what could have gone wrong. There are times we get to do a job. Before even your job gets done, people think- because you came- the job got done. At that time you were you had a collar, you are lifting your collar and say, you know, my mere presence got the job done. You never questioned. I didn't put any great effort how this job happened. But when it doesn't go against our own grain of thought, we question I did everything it didn't happen.
Do you want to listen to the blunt truth? Your result is actually not even concerned about what you do. What you are doing is only one aspect- the process. And how much time you are keeping your mind in the process, again the law of karma comes in.
45 minutes we are in the class. Interruption should not be there at my end and your end. Suppose if there's no interruption from my end, your end you have a signal problem. Despite your best intention, you will get only 30 minutes of class. Just think about it. Because we take things for granted, we think the results also for granted. When that confusion comes, then we see that happening.
Surrender that results for your mental release.
Tell the Divine, I have done my best. Now it is up to you.
It's like you went to the bank, you put the money
The manager is not creating any interest for you.
The money you deposited is giving you interest.
God is like that only. God is going to dispense the fruits of your action.
God will not act for us.
This is the problem when people set intention and say it is going to be fulfilled.
God is not your secretary. If you can't be your secretary, why the hell he or she should be your secretary? He is only a custodian.
Your attitude is lodged your intention is lodged, your intensity of your hard work is lodged. The result is a combination of all this plus some plus and minus from your past.
So to resolve that, what is said,
while doing the action, before also you invoke the Divine.
During the action you will be in touch with the Divine.
After the action you submit it to the Divine.
Then take up to some other thing. And when the results come to you, you resolve it as a sacrament, as a prasada because there is always an X factor to it.
When you perform an action as per this and connect it to the Divine, that is called Karmic Way because you are yoking your action and the results to the Divine. It is like you are traveling in the train and not carrying the luggage on your lap, keeping it down. That is the easiest way to understand.
Now he is taking us to 2 definitions of Yoga in this chapter.
Because the result is going to be in various domains, he gives
1st definition: Equanimity of mind is Yoga.
Because you understand every action need not produce the result the way you think, you need to be equanimous to understanding of the results.
Example- Balance (equanimity of mind is balance) You go to a vegetable shop in olden days when you buy, there is a weight measure in one side and a vegetable in another side. Only when the balance is reached the transaction is complete. Like that why this balance of mind is important is because if you don't have a balance of mind, it means you are attached to the result. The moment you are attached to the result, you are producing a karma for the future. This is a deeper understanding. As long as you are balanced to the result by understanding, I did my best, whatever I got is the sacrament or prasada from the Divine. I have to just keep moving instead of asking “why me?” Somebody did the same thing, they got better result. We never question when somebody did the same thing and got less result. That we forget conveniently. When we see someone doing small effort and getting greater result, we start comparing. The moment you start comparing there is a kind of an attachment, jealousy, greed. Then if you overcome and reach a state of balance in that particular action, this becomes one reason for your rebirth. Because you are so attached to the result, the way you wish it, so Bhagavan will say, "So be it. Boss, don't worry. Millions of lives you have taken. Two more lives, what is going to happen?"
At least my Teacher gave the comfort that once you are born a human, you may be human always. But some teacher says if your particular desire has to be fulfilled by being born as a pig, you better be born as a pig. After two, three years you will be dying. I am just telling you, I sometimes feel that is true. Because certain desires can be only experienced if you are born as a tree, as a grasshopper, as a butterfly.
So now you understand
Till you remove that attachment, this is the way I want my result, there is a birth.
Till you ask “why me” there is a birth,
The more you accept this knowledge
that whatever I got is what I deserve
because I did my best
and I don't know my black box which is my past which has contributed to this future.
I will give you another example. Now today as a world record we are having 25 people in this session. Do you think everybody is going to walk out with the same level of understanding? I am very sure at least a few of you will walk away with deeper insights even more than what I am trying to communicate to you. Because a word would have triggered an insight within you which was waiting to be unblocked.
The session is a Nimitta- just an instrument to make that open.
So even the insights, the lessons, the understanding despite the same internet problem, the same teacher communicating, same subject, same English, we cannot even predict our understanding. But understanding depends on how much you are attentive, how is your signal, what is your past karma. So many factors are there. Can any of us start listing the factors and say only this many factors can influence my understanding? Not possible right? At least it's not possible for me. Sometimes I have no reason why I understood something. Sometimes I have no reason why I am not understanding something. So this is one small tip to reduce your karmic baggage.
Whatever happens you take it because you did your best. And you will see a different shift happening. Because Acceptance only will lead to Understanding then you will Manage-AUM framework.
So developing the balance of mind is possible only when we understand results are not in our grasp. So I am connecting both now. Then comes the beauty.
Do we have a choice to be shabby? Bhagavan says, “You can't take that. Nobody. You have to do your best because you have no choice but to do your best.” Because Yogaha Karma Kaushalam. To excel in everything given to you is your basic duty. So if you do well, don't expect anyone to appreciate you. You are supposed to do well.
(Karmic luggage and to do your best- how do you differentiate balancing the life to do the best? - often in life you can observe a person doing his or her best professionally, family, everything else. And that creates huge hype and disbalance in life because you can't do everything your best. How do you differentiate and put the priorities which is important in this moment rather than to do everything in one go and missing like obviously the details and then getting frustrated because you did your best but it didn't happen this way. How to pace yourself and how to figure out what to do now?)
For this there is an answer given by one of the great Teachers in our Shringeri Sampradaya- Chandrasekhara Bharati Swami. The 33rd pontiff said, we have through our own karma hit the nail very strongly on the wall. How much time you are going to take to put the nail out? In all the hammer, one side you can hammer, another side you can take the nail out. Like this clip will be there. So, your own karma you have banged it so hard. Your best efforts, your best efforts, you might have nailed it in a concrete wall. And X would have nailed it to the wooden wall. So for him, with less effort he can take the nail out. For you, with more effort it will come out. Maybe this life is not enough. One more life you have to come and take it out. But your effort is not going to stop because Bhagavan is saying, you have no choice but to excel. When you do that, you have done your best, you may get some concession. Like a manager giving you overdraft, because you are a good customer. That is called grace tapping the grace. It appears some people have special gift of God because they have done their best beyond even what they would have imagined.
So 2nd definition- To excel in every work is your basic duty. So if you are doing a good job, don't expect for bonus because you are supposed to do well in your job. If I tell that to any corporate employee, they will stop coming to the session. The reason is whatever is happening around you should not deter you from giving your excellence. It should not deter you from being balanced. So when something upset you, you come back to balance quick.
How you do in the vegetable shop? Quickly you pick up some vegetable down, you add some more vegetable, take it to balance.
So what is the hint we are getting here? Because we are in the field of action, emotions are normal. Because emotions are normal, your mood can vary, you can get irritated, annoyed, happy, extremely jump. Moment you understand your emotions are going to left or right, get it, gather it because you need to balance it out and finish the transaction. Sometimes the transaction is this life.
Second, how much ever you keep asking, the only answer is you keep giving your best, you keep giving your best and he says in the 11th shloka, after giving your best you are not getting the result, you don't have license to grieve. He is starting the teaching with 2nd chapter 11th shloka, Asauchanam, because you can't grieve also. So therapist will go out of job, you cannot sulk, you have no right to feel depressed. If you are feeling depressed, that means you have self pity. Kick yourself in the back and come back to normal. You don't need coach, therapist, anybody. You are only spending time, wasting their time and your time. If you are a student of Yoga Vedanta, you should tell,
"Back up, this challenge has come to you because you can handle it. Face it."
And while you do, you invoke the Divine. While you get the result, you invoke the Divine.
There is no option in 2nd chapter, Bhagavan has plugged all the holes. There is no scope to grieve, no scope to sulk, no scope to depress. It's like the good student in the class will get more attention and they will be nitpicked. So maybe you are a good student. Bhagavan wants to test you more and polish you. Remove the impurities. Impurities in the gold will go only in high temperature. You will be roasted. You know what Shankarji said, "Being with the teacher is being with the fire only." You are privy to that. So no way.
You keep giving your best because no choice.
You have to come back to balance as quick as possible. No choice.
You have no right to grieve. This is the way they are fortifying you.
Self-help is the best help. Ask if you have a problem but you only have to work it out.
(I just want to know, when you say everybody has to give their best. How do you know you are giving your best? Everybody's best is different. My best cannot be your best. Your best cannot be mine. So how do you gauge that? How do you measure that you have done your best?)
There is no residue of guilt in the mind. Oh, if I had done this, it would have been better. If I had gone there in time, things would have been different. If I have submitted this in time- we will know ourselves. Nobody need it from outside. So I got up 15 minutes late. It's self-diagnosis. And before self-diagnosis we tell ourselves, whatever comes is like housekeeping. I am not going to let myself down. So what you do with this intellectual inquiry, you have a pranayama practice to ground you. I suggest people do a rigorous sun salutation practice. It will never allow you to feel depressed. Do a mantra sadhana. Do antar mouna or yoga nidra.
See, we are trying to walk towards the goal in life. To walk towards earning one lakh rupee, how much we struggle in the day-to-day life? For that we are ready to put the effort because that's a tangible benefit. Here it is an intangible benefit. So we need to put more effort to settle. And he also says, even every little iota of effort you put will not go waste. He is giving that assurance to us. So this chapter front and back, front and back, if we go, we will plug all the escape routes. The moment we plug escape routes, without our knowledge, we start excelling in whatever we do. Because it's no longer a choice, it is your way of life.
(This answers many of my questions especially. Even when things do not go according to what I wish or what I desire, I just have to keep continuing to do my whatever duties are assigned to me. Whether I like it or not, at that point of time, I do not have a choice about it. And I give my best without sulking. So I just take it away. I should train myself to take that emotions away from whatever I do)
You have to have emotions. But emotions cannot overpower you. Out of the love for the subject and even one person will attend only I am doing the session. Don't think I am beyond emotion. Without emotion there is no action. That means only a machine can do that. But I will not expect you to understand. I will not expect you to attend. I will not expect you even to be coming on camera. But I will do my duty because even one person is there. So numbers doesn't matter. Emotion you cannot do away. With the same emotion you have to transfer the knowledge to even one person comes. That is why we had five batches of one student each at Shrimath. We don't turn away. So the number doesn't matter. Even one turns up, you have to have the same emotion and love to do. Otherwise you are doomed. Anybody can make you feel rejected. Maybe that is the Prasada…that month we are given only that.
(What about if I am feeling so pompous about myself. If I am feeling that I am the best while doing this, I get one self- appreciation. That might give me ego also. If I am going to perfect something and if I am doing it at perfection, it will give rise to ego. That I am the best)
No, no, no. You are the best is not ego. If there is a choice only there is ego. Maybe your best is never a choice. So you cannot tell I am the best. I cannot tell. Yes, because that is only choice. Okay. I am not telling don't tell yourself. The beginning you may have to tell yourself, but don't stay there. In ABCD you can get 100 out of 100 even today. But you don't call it my marks in English is 100 because in ABCD today also you got 100. Like that you can consider you as your best. That is ABCD or kindergarten of boosting yourself. But you are going to boost yourself on knowledge. It is like- to the height of it, you are the embodiment of presence which is not manifest. So how can you be non-excellent? We have to have that belief. So when you do, when we do our Sandhya Vandana mantra, it is said I am Brahman myself and you stand quiet for some time. I am Ahamasmi.
(doing something without expecting results, thinking that I have done my best or I have not done my best- two things which come to me are two examples.
One of a child playing with a toy or whatever they are doing. What happens, what I have seen is they are in that moment, they are not comparing themselves with anyone. They are just doing what they just want to do. Now, unless we get into that mode while we are doing our regular duty, the way a child would like to play, we will always have the moment we say I am the best means you are already comparing it with something else, right? The moment I say best means there is something called good, something called better, something called not as good, etc. So the moment that comes, our mind starts wavering. Oh, I think I have not reached. But when you are doing it for the sheer joy of doing it, I think our one part of just doing things will come in.
The second is having a pet at home has been a great learning because I realized that the pets are also always in the moment. I have seen my pet walking and suddenly stumbling over a rock, a small rock, but he continues to do what he wants to do. What I would have done is why did I get, why did this rock, why, who put this rock in the middle of the road? Why did I stumble? Why did I not see? I mean, I start questioning my own self so much because I was not in the moment I was watching, but that is over. That particular thing is over. I must keep going on. These are the two things which I have felt if I ever want to be happy doing what I am doing, which is our innate ananda, in the sat-chit-ananda. If you want our own ananda to be there, I think we need to just be, just to do is what I felt. I thought I should.)
We may not be able to be the best even if you compare, but we have to ask ourselves, have I given my best?
Having timelines is yoga. We have to meet timelines because there is no end to perfection. So in the job, you need to work as per your job profile in the given timelines. We should not misunderstand excelling with obsessive compulsive disorder. When you do that, then such things of missing timelines will be there. We are all not born perfect, because that's an oxymoron. If you are perfect, you will never be born. Just think about it. If you are perfect, you are never born. So how are you, how will you want to be perfect? How can you be perfect? What is perfection? That is a moving goal. Excellence is not a moving goal because you only can do the best what you can.
Like Samsung can produce the best of the mobiles it can, best of the way it can. Apple will do what it can. Both cannot do what others do, but they will do the best of what excellence they can do. That way we have to understand.
Second is we never say don't expect the results. The results, even if we expect can only be in 4 buckets. So whatever results we are expecting, mathematical probability is 25% unity. Meeting expectation, beating expectation, below expectation, beyond expectation.
So out of which our results will be ¼. Bhagavan is saying, you do how much ever you expect. Your expectation can only be in these four buckets. At least prepare worst case scenario for all the four buckets. Then you are prepared. You go do the job.
You also didn't expect- imagine we told chapter 1 is setting of Gita. Chapter 2 is an executive summary of Bhagavad Gita because it is the heart, the Sankhya Yoga means the perfect knowledge is given in the first few shlokas itself. If Arjuna was the uttama adhikari, there will be only two chapters in Bhagavad Gita. Second chapter could have been gone because that's an executive summary. Because explanation was needed, 16 more chapters were given. So what we have to understand, because we are in transactional life, we need also go stage by stage in things. We cannot jump levels is what my Teacher says. Right now we have to perform action. We are householders- next chapter he will give two pathways to reach the Ultimate Reality. We'll start from the next session. But because we are householders and our culture is built on Rishi and Rishi Patni, the householders are the bedrock of our culture because we have to supply for the student life Brahmacharya, Vanaprastha retired people and Sanyasa the renunciates. Sanyasa doesn't even have a bank account. Vanaprastha is no longer active. So our hard work will give them the pensions in time, their elders benefit in time, senior citizen benefits in time because householder has to work hard. A student need not work. Their only have focus is studies. So we are all householders. There is no escape for us from karma.
That is why I went in detail again this chapter. I took X question as an excuse to go deeper and connect some points. So thanks to X So this is how I feel. What I was having in mind, according to me, this is a beyond expectation for me. I don't know about you, any of you. This is called perspective. In my perspective, his question was an instrument in taking deep and connecting all these points in second chapter together. If you ask me, I am happy. I came with a blank mind only. But now I am feeling much happy because even if I had planned some things, it would not have planned this way. I am trying to help you understand how these four types of expectation works.
So a great one like Arjuna also needed explanation in the next 16 chapters. But what is the seed we have? If at all one thing we have to take the seed is we have no right to grieve. The moment you write it on the wall, self-pity is gone out of window. Why me is gone out of the window. Comparison is gone out of the window because being the best is secondary. Doing your best is primary. Being the best is a result of doing your best. So comparison is not necessary. So these are some of the takeaways we have from this chapter.
(Now, in order to perform your karma in the right way, it is important to go back to the drawing board of your dharma. So as per dharma, you can describe what you need to do. You don't over-exhaust yourself and don't burnt out doing one task to extreme perfection. Failing on the other tasks and still doing them to extreme perfection, but within these parameters. And then you already exhausted yourself. So the first thing comes first is the planning. And we don't understand how to plan our lives until we understand our dharma. So everything is per dharma. Is it kind of right or not? And 2. How to define and recognize your own dharma?)
I request you to listen to all the previous six sessions. And still this question is there we will answer.
(Because dharma is a very complex thing. So if you live with dharma, with an understanding of dharma)
Don't start with the premise. What is making you believe it is complex? It's very simple. You are looking at complexity.
(Please, please. Just for me defining this is quite difficult.)
As much as I know you, it is cakewalk for you. You are actually a rocket scientist, so I cannot tell an example, dharma is not rocket science. You are a scientist. And I know you are capable of deciphering it. It's just you need to believe you can. I know you can. Just go through those first four sessions. You will guess it.
(But again, it's just guessing. The way we understand what we need to do in a succession…)
My simple suggestion is you only understand a little enough. Then do sadhana. You understand some more little, you do sadhana. Work with the things in the mind. Kama, krodha, loba, moha, matsarya. Then again, you will understand some dharma. Get hit, get corrected. Slowly. We cannot have a complete understanding of dharma.
You cannot have a complete understanding of a married life before starting a married life. You don't know how your nine months, ten months pregnancy is going to happen beforehand before getting pregnant. Can anybody know?
You start somewhere on the way you learn.
So you start the sadhana which you already have done, like a car traveling 500 kilometers- the headlight will show only 100 feet. But start the journey. Eventually it will take you there.