Thus Spake the Divine - Karma Marga: The Path of Duties

Thus Spake the Divine

Part VIII – Karma Marga: The Path of Duties

From Karma (External Duties) to Dhyana (Internal Meditation)

In this section of the book, Poojyasri Maha Periyava underlines the need for human beings to be diligent and selfless in adhering to their Karmas, which will lead to Bhakti and Jnyana, followed by self-realisation.

He emphasises on adherence to different kinds of spiritual practices, such as Pooja to Parameshwar, service to people by way of charity and so on. When we do service to others, it might appear as though we are doing it for their benefit; but it may or may not be so. In reality, however, serving others actually benefits us, our own self, by way of inner peace, happiness and contentment. We may undergo several hardships and physical exertion when serving others. But at the end, the inner happiness relaxes us and we feel content.

Similarly, when we do pooja, there is absolutely no benefit to God. Still, when we physically exert ourselves in doing pooja or go on a pilgrimage, we do get a feeling of fulfilment. We do all these activities only out of love for our own selves and to please our own selves. Even the love we shower on our family members and children is aimed at getting inner fulfilment for ourselves. To attain such fulfilment, we do not even mind bearing any kind of hardship. We also do not hesitate any amount of sacrifice.

In reality, however, there is not much peace of mind when our actions are self-centred and aimed at accomplishing our own happiness and goals. That is the reason why we must engage ourselves in doing something for the sake of others.

When we look at the mirror and find there is no bindhi on our forehead, what do we do? We keep a bindhi on our forehead. Is it alright to keep the bindhi on the image seen in the mirror? The mirror gets black! We should keep the bindhi on the human face by looking at the image on the mirror. In other words, when we centre our activities on “I”, it would tantamount to blackening our own selves.

The image that we see in the mirror of illusion is the reflection of the image of Paramatma, which we misconceive as “I”. If we want to actually beautify the image, we should beautify the image in the mirror, which is the Paramatma. That’s why we must do pooja to the Paramatma.

You bring flower garlands for me out of your love and devotion towards me. You think that these garlands are meant for me as you consider me as your Guru. If I wear all these garlands thinking that I am a great person, then that will be my arrogance. Basically, I do not refuse the garlands since you bring them out of your love and respect. I use the same garlands to decorate Goddess Ambal. (People visiting the Mutt must have seen Periyava not wearing the garlands around His neck, but only keeping them on His head. These garlands are submitted to the Goddess.)

If this world is an epitome of Brahmam, then, we are reflections of the same Brahmam. We should remove the mirror of Maya and envisage ourselves as that Paramatma. This is what meditation does. Whatever duties we do or rituals we practice, the culmination of all is only meditation, which is equivalent to ‘no action’ or action- less state of the self.

Though our actions bring in a lot of happiness to us, the peace that we get when we are asleep (which is a stage of ‘no action’) is not there in the actions that we do. How difficult is it when we don’t sleep just for one day? Sleep is endowed with so much of peace and happiness. From this, we must realise that the state of ‘no action’ is supremely great. Meditation is such a state of ‘no action’, wherein we dissolve ourselves within the Paramatma with ‘no action’.

When we are asleep, we don’t realise that we are happy. We know that only after we wake up. But mediation is one in which we have conscious awareness that we are in absolute bliss. Our inner peace remains constant when we practice not doing any action internally, however much action that we may do externally.

Let us take the example of God Dakshinamurti, a form of Lord Shiva worshipped as Cosmic Guru. God Dakshinamurti’s serenity is the blissful state with conscious awareness. He is portrayed as being in the yogic state of abstract meditation as well as a powerful form brimming with ever-flowing bliss and supreme joy. That state is not like our minds getting subdued during our sleep. In sleep, we don’t control our mind with our own efforts. The mind itself gets tired and goes subdued during sleep. Whatever we suppress during our sleep awakens in our dreams. Again when we wake up, they occupy our thoughts without our control. Death is also a kind of sleep. The mind subdue in death. However, when the next birth comes with another body, the mind wakes up again within that body. Therefore, only if we are able to control our mind with our own efforts, it will remain controlled in a lasting manner. Though God Dakshinamurti remains in a state of ‘no-action’, He is doing it with absolute consciousness. Without any internal effort, He performs a lot of things externally. Only the action-less God Dakshinamurti dances with ecstasy. He destroys Tripura (Three cities built by Mayasura located on earth, sky and heaven; He does Bhikshadanam (Roaming on the street asking for alms). He is calm and composed inside and externally he is hyperactive. When we get that inner state of control, we can do any amount of work externally with an enduring serenity within.

We stand completely opposite to God Dakshinamurti’s state. We pose as though we have detached ourselves from worldly things, that we are filled with calmness and composure. But, internally, we are perennially haywire. Only when there is humility externally, there will be humility internally. That is why there are many dos and don’ts, such as “Keep away from physical indulging. Don’t associate with a crowd; Try to keep yourself in ‘action-less’ mode even while doing good to the society; Don’t let money take you for granted; ; Go to forest and so on.” Will we ever disown all these things, which are so near to our hearts? Only when our mind is purified will we get the maturity to do all the above things seamlessly.

That’s why, instead of telling us not to do something, our Shastras have framed several ‘dos’. Getting involved in an action is a natural tendency of the human. That is why we start doing the karmas prescribed in our Shastras without like or dislike. Of course, even in this, we could be caught in the like-dislike syndrome. But once we start our karma irrespective of likes and dislikes, and discomforts, then, with the grace of God, all feelings of likes and dislikes will gradually fade and we will accomplish each of the stipulated tasks successfully.

Once our lust and anger dwindle, our mind starts getting purified. Only after purification of our mind can we focus our mind and engage ourselves in meditation. Once we attain the state of meditation in its true sense, everything will become unified with the Paramatma. Once we reach this stage, we need not to go to any forest for penance. Wherever we are, whether forest, city, solitude or crowd – we will be one with Paramatma. Both our karma and meditation will merge with Paramatma. Nothing will intrude into our inner peace.

In Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna speaks of Karma Yoga, where He gives various instructions to Arjun on his duty, which is fighting the war with Kauravas. Lord Krishna himself asks Arjun to do Dhyana Yoga (meditation), which is being in a ‘no action’ state. He proclaims that this will help Arjun reach the culmination of meditation, which is known as Brahma Nishta in which he will accomplish all his duties for the benefit of the entire world. It looks contradictory isn’t it? No! Is it Karma or Dhyana, which is more important? Both complement each other. At the initial stage, when one cannot conquer the mind directly and purify his soul, he has to engage in karmas. Once the soul is purified comes Dhyana, the meditative state of ‘no action’, wherein every action is accomplished.

The philosophy of Bhagavadpada is that, “Eventually everything is Maya; the only substance that exists is Brahmam. We should unify with that Brahmam and be passive without any action or any thoughts and become that Brahmam itself.” I, the descendent of the Acharya, keep propagating various karmas, such as pooja, japam, service to the society including charity etc. In our current state, we have to necessarily follow these practices, which will gradually lead us to Moksha. Both Lord Krishna and our Acharya have chronologically set the process as follows – first Karma, then Bhakti and lastly Jnyana (wisdom).

The best means of getting absorbed in inner meditation is to worship God Dakshinamurti who is engrossed in absolute serenity. Let disowning karmas and engaging in Dhyana be set aside; let the culmination of Karma into Dhyana be also set aside; both these are stages that can be attained at a later stage. In the present stage, what we need to do is practice meditation daily for a short duration, while simultaneously performing our duties towards accomplishing a state of ‘no action’ and inner peace.

Karma, Bhakti and Dhyana are all complementary to each other. Eventually, all these are going to culminate only in absolute wisdom. Therefore, we should set aside our duties for a while daily and practice meditation. While not perceiving rituals and other practices as mere superstitions and meaningless, we should continue doing our karmas. As we keep performing our karmas, our mind will get cleansed and the inner light of wisdom will start shimmering.

This article is a snippet from the Book Thus Spake the Divine, is available online at www.giri.in and across Giri Trading Agency Private Limited, A chain of Speciality Stores dealing in all kinds of products needed in Indian Culture and Tradition.

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