Tuesday, May 5, 2020
Bhagavad Gita Between Action and Fruit Detachment is the Key free essay sample
Since ages, even the kings wondered about the futility of the wealth, power and pride at the instance of still being unhappy. Lord Buddha even left His Empire and engaged himself in the quest of eternal happiness. Thousands of years apart, the same query is still doing rounds among humans all across the globe: What is the relation between action and its fruit? As for the present time, a growing interest in ancient religious philosophies is being observed among newer generation, though there are clouds of doubt too, regarding the effectiveness of such philosophies in the modern day context. Most of these philosophies date back to more than five thousand years and are written in obsolete languages. Therefore those who raise questions against following such philosophies have valid points like why they would subscribe to ideas that come from specific religious groups or which looks like a riddle. Yet, there is a need to read and evaluate the potential of such philosophies, as there is always the chance to discover a goldmine from heritage. Thus this essay explores the nuances of Karma Yoga from Holy Bhagavad-Gita[1] that deals with the relationship between action and outcome, to find how it explains dynamics of action, before reaching its own conclusion. Brief Background of Karma Yoga Karma Yoga (devotional action) is an important section of the five-section book Bhagavad-Gita, and is placed in its third chapter. In essence Bhagavad-Gita is an ancient book of Vedic philosophy, which deals with various important queries between its 18 chapters, like meaning of life, its origin, what could be the most deserving roles of humans in private and public life, the deserving aim of human and many more. Many consider this book as a comprehensive exposition of Vedic Philosophy, presented through its seven hundred verses. According to Karma Yoga, human actions must be selfless and devotional in nature, otherwise the negative ideas like greed, selfishness or desire would set roadblocks toward attaining total happiness, which is the ultimate want in a mortal. In the process, Karma Yoga goes on to define the action and inaction, while establishing its premise on the fact that total happiness comes only when we are in a Nishkamya (inactive) state. Karma Yoga primarily analyzes the pros and cons of Karma (action), before cautioning about its nature and influence on the living beings. Finally it comes up with a detailed guideline to successfully deal with Karma. Philosophical Stance of Karma Yoga In the briefest of its essence Karma Yoga suggests to work without any motive, which might sound confusing before anyone probes deeper in the underlying meaning of this. For that matter it is important to learn about the concept of Karma in Vedic philosophy with special emphasis on Nishkamya Karma Yoga, because the discussion is conceptually embedded with Nishkamya Karma Yoga. In all, the prescribed set of actions in Karma Yoga looks like below: 1.     Right Attitude 2.     Right Motive 3.     Doing Duty 4.     Doing it best to the capacity 5.     Giving up Results 6.     Serve God or the Self in All 7.     Following the Discipline of the Job (Principles). Brief Discussion on Nishkamya Karma Yoga Nishkamya Karma Yoga is actually a temporal practice where there is no loss of effort, nor there is any transgression of any kind. In his book, Practice of Karma Yoga, Honorable Yogi Sri Swami Sivananda, states that the practice of Nishkamya Karma Yoga takes one to the real path of Jnana (knowledge), where selfless works will prepare the ground of Antahkarana (core of mind) to receive the seed of Jnana (Sivananda, 1995). Motive Plays Between Action and Fruit According to Honorable Swami Sivananda, work should be done unselfishly with disinterested spirit, where ones motive should be pure, because the fruits of actions vary according to the motive. He also tells a story to explain the relationship between action and fruit, in which there were two women fell into a river and two young men saved them from drowning. Right after saving the women, one of the men asked one woman to marry him, while the other said, Ive done my duty. God gave me an opportunity to serve and improve myself. Here Honorable Sivananda points out that in spite of the same act (the act of saving life), the difference of their motives become apparent, where one sees the fruit of action (the outcome of the act of saving the life) as marriage while the other is seeing as an improved state of being. Therefore, it becomes clear that motive does have a role in shaping the fruit of action. And it is here the importance of choosing the best fruit arrives, which is, enlightenment of the mind and soul. In other words, it is the best relation between action and fruit, for which one must act without motive. Good and Bad Action How can one distinguish the good action from a bad one? Honorable Yogi Sri Swami Sivananda says, every action is a mixture of good and evil and this physical universe is a relative plane as one action can do both good and bad in two places(Sivananda, 1995). This means human ability is limited and they cannot convert every act into a good one. Thus, in other words, they are not entitled to determine the course of action. Right here if someone remembers what Lord Krishna said to Arjuna in this context Your duty is to work always. But do not expect fruits – then it might strike the sense that somehow humans are not entitled to the fruits of actions – much like they are not entitled to determine its course! This premise generates a question that apparently puts the discussion almost back to the square one Then whats the utility of leading a life that cannot even determine the course of its actions? In reality, this question evokes some other questions, the answers of which can bring the discussion closer to the solution. The actions what are referred to are all mortal actions, limited within physical plane. They are inescapable. Then what about anything outside that boundary? What about finding the right action, which would never suffer from dubious distinction of causing both good and bad at the same time? Towards Achieving Ideal Fruit of Action Humans are engaged in multiple actions right from the birth to the moment of death, involving their body, mind, brain or the sensory where the nature of actions determine the future course of actions, which is a continuous process. Karma Yoga identifies that the law of Karma is a universal law (Dharmananda, 2006) and comes to a conclusion through its analysis, that detachment from all the earthly actions is the key for liberation from earthly bondage. Since Karma is inescapable, it suggests devoting all of it to the service of the Almighty. In this way humans can escape the reactions of the work done and gradually would be capable to rise above the earthly miseries. Thus, this philosophy prescribes the ideal way of living by 1.     Abstaining from the bondage of Karma 2.     Devoting all the actions to the Almighty. According to Bhagavad-Gita, the above two practices enable humans to maintain their inner peace. Because, attachment with Karma fetches either pain or pleasure, both of which are earthly and distracters of liberation. But what to do with the bulk of inescapable Karma? It then prescribes to devote all of them to the Almighty. Such clarity of conception about action and fruit might have driven Honorable Sri Swami Satchidananda to comment, There is no greater yoga than Karma Yoga (Satchidananda, 2001). Conclusion Karma Yoga accepts that we are immersed in Karma (action) from dawn to dusk, save the sleeping break. In doing so, it recognizes the Karma in its totality and meets its challenges head-on by converting both pain and pleasure as learning experiences, rather than letting them govern the human mind, body and actions. It points out that there is no competition in the real path of life and humans need not succumb to the make-believe world of fulfillment through satiating their ego. In the process it explains the relationship between action and fruit, the essence of which can further be determined from the Sloka[2] from its rank: || Karmanye Vadhikaraste Ma Phaleshu Kadachana Ma Karma Phala Hetur Bhurmatey Sangostva Akarmani || It means, While you have a right to perform your prescribed action, you are not entitled to the fruits of your action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your actions, and never be associated to not doing your duty (Krishna, 2005). If someone gets clear about the fact that earthly pain and pleasures are only two states of mind and/or body, and which have no inkling with the infinite joy of liberation, then s/he would definitely come to the conclusion that the relation between action and fruit is stretched beyond the paradigm of the mortal world and thus it is better to opt for the infinite joy as the fruit of action through detached, and selfless actions. This idea boils down to a single sentence – action and fruit are ethereal twins, bonded by eternal joy! References Dharmananda, S (2006). Karma Yoga. Advanced Yoga Study.  Retrived 10 March      2008, from            http://www.healthandyoga.com/html/readingroom/ays/ays199.asp Krishna, V. (2005). Karmanye Vadhikaraste Ma Phaleshu Kadachana.. . Web  article.            Retrieved 10 March 2008, from     http://vinaykrishna.blogspot.com/2005/06/karmanye-vadhikaraste-ma-     phaleshu.html Principles of Karma Yoga. Web document. Retrieved 9 March 2008, from            http://www.sivananda.org/teachings/karma/karmayoga.html Satchidnanda, S (2001). The Teachings of Integral Yoga. Web document.       Retrieved 9    March 2008, from   http://www.yogaville.org/Integral_Yoga/Karma/pKarma.html Sivananda, S.S. (1995). Practice of Karma Yoga. A Divine Life Publication     (Sixth  Edition). ISBN 81-7052-014-2. [1] A collection of wisdom in the dialogue/verse form, believed to have originated in a battlefield in India, when Arjuna, the war general of the Pandavas clan, felt traumatized with the guilt complex of attacking his own blood relations in the opposition Kaurava camp moments before the action, but it was the navigator of his chariot, Lord Krishna (actually the Lord of the Universe in disguise) who revived his spirit through an insightful conversation with him. [2] Verses written in Sanskrit.
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