My thoughts on Karma Yoga
Lord Krishna, in the Bhagavad Gita said: "KarmanyevAdhikAraste mA phaleshu kadAcana". I present here my understanding of this statement.
No action can be performed without any motivation, and the the end result of the action is in itself a motivation. (I am not considering motivations like name, fame, etc. here, because we can act even without any such material incentives). For example, studying is an action for which the real motivation is its result, which is gaining knowledge. Therefore, it is necessary to be motivated by something, (which ideally is only the direct result of the action) for any action.
What is meant is this: Do not attach yourself to the result of the action. This means, to give an example, that I should not attach myself to knowledge which results from studying. This understanding is very important in both material and spiritual spheres. When applied in toto to material sphere, we gradually get detached from everything in the world. In spiritual field, this principle is all the more important because, as you progress, we gain certain powers. We gain siddhis. All these are a result of the sAdhana that we undertake - whatever may that be. By becoming attached to these, we are putting a full stop to further progress. Till we become lose attachment to those powers, and siddhis, we cannot go ahead.
Now the question of how to achieve this detachment obviously arises. The hint is in the second pAda (quarter) of the sloka above. For every action, the result of the action goes to the performer. Therefore I am the beneficiary of my action. Imagine that the result is a gift that has landed in my hand. The sloka says, that I have no right over that gift. If I don't have the right to use that gift which is a result of my own action, then the only one who can have that right is the Lord Himself.
When it is His right to enjoy the gift, what shall I do with it? I surrender it to Him. So, the sloka really means that we should surrender all the results of our actions to Him. This is what saints like Swami Vivekananda also mean when they say, "Do your Karma without attachment". By surrendering all the results, we are not attached to those results. Gradually, over a period of time, the feeling that "nothing is mine, everything is His" grows in our heart.
No action can be performed without any motivation, and the the end result of the action is in itself a motivation. (I am not considering motivations like name, fame, etc. here, because we can act even without any such material incentives). For example, studying is an action for which the real motivation is its result, which is gaining knowledge. Therefore, it is necessary to be motivated by something, (which ideally is only the direct result of the action) for any action.
What is meant is this: Do not attach yourself to the result of the action. This means, to give an example, that I should not attach myself to knowledge which results from studying. This understanding is very important in both material and spiritual spheres. When applied in toto to material sphere, we gradually get detached from everything in the world. In spiritual field, this principle is all the more important because, as you progress, we gain certain powers. We gain siddhis. All these are a result of the sAdhana that we undertake - whatever may that be. By becoming attached to these, we are putting a full stop to further progress. Till we become lose attachment to those powers, and siddhis, we cannot go ahead.
Now the question of how to achieve this detachment obviously arises. The hint is in the second pAda (quarter) of the sloka above. For every action, the result of the action goes to the performer. Therefore I am the beneficiary of my action. Imagine that the result is a gift that has landed in my hand. The sloka says, that I have no right over that gift. If I don't have the right to use that gift which is a result of my own action, then the only one who can have that right is the Lord Himself.
When it is His right to enjoy the gift, what shall I do with it? I surrender it to Him. So, the sloka really means that we should surrender all the results of our actions to Him. This is what saints like Swami Vivekananda also mean when they say, "Do your Karma without attachment". By surrendering all the results, we are not attached to those results. Gradually, over a period of time, the feeling that "nothing is mine, everything is His" grows in our heart.
1 Comments:
thats a nice post and a kinda different interpretation of what ppl thought to have understood completely. Well, i have personally not heard such an explanation b4...
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