|
Acccording to the Rg Veda, the cosmos is the maha-yajna (great sacrifice) in the
sense that creation is taken to be an expression and manifestation of the very being
of the supreme Lord. The sacrificial rituals of Vedic India, which were the earliest
forms of spiritual discipline advocated by the Vedas, can be interpreted as both
acknowledging and perpetuating the sacrificial creation of the Lord. In the Vedas
the term karma seems to have meant something like ‘ritual act’ and was often used
synonymously with yajna or sacrifice. Karma carried a similar meaning in the Mimamsa
philosophy of Jaimini, and in the Puranas the term was associated with actions such
as daily worship, religious observances and fasting. However with the early Upanisads
there came already the ideal of a more inward and meditative recognition of the
cosmic source, and Vedic sacrificial ritualism was internalised and transformed
into a kind of inner renunciation or sacrifice.
Karma
It is from around this time that the term karma attracted the broader meanings that
we associate with it today, though without losing its connection with its Vedic
origins. Derived from the verb root kr ('to act', to do', 'to make'), karma has
many meanings, including action, work, rite, deed, product, cause and effect, and
accumulation of past actions. The last of these meanings is the one most familiar
with those living outside of India, where karma has become synonymous with the moral
force of one’s actions and the effects that flow from them.
The related doctrines of karma and transmigration are accepted in some form in all
Indian spiritual traditions, and are important to an understanding of the principles
of Karma-yoga which is the path of selfless action. The Hatha-yoga text, Siva-Samhita,
states that,
Whatever is seen among men (whether pleasure or pain) is born
of karma. All
creatures enjoy or suffer, according to the results of their actions. (II. 39)
Here karma means the actions performed by an individual: including intentions, thoughts
and behaviours, as well as the mechanism by which the accumulated effects of these
actions determine the shape of one’s future. The law of karma is entirely impersonal
and irrevocably binding, and holds that even the moral dimension of human existence
is causally determined. Every karma or action, whether considered to be good, bad
or indifferent, carries with it some consequence that must be lived through. However
the karmic consequences of an action are not confined to a single lifetime, and
may remain latent and bear fruit in future lives. This means that karma not only
determines the kind of life that will have to be lived in the future, but more significantly
it binds the enduring Self to the cycle of birth and rebirth (samsara) as long as
there are karmic debts to be paid. Liberation is considered to be the dissolution
of this bondage, and is the goal of yogic practice.
Karma can be classified into three kinds: prarabdha-karma affects the conditions
of one’s present life, agami-karma is the result of acts performed in this life
that will be worked out in the future, and sancita-karma which is the residue of
acts performed in lives past and present that remains latent in this one. The mechanism
by which karma is believed to operate varies somewhat between different schools
of thought, but can be explained in general terms with reference to the samskaras
or impressions which are the sub-conscious traces of our experiences, and the vasanas
or innate tendencies to which the samskaras contribute and that determine the instinctual
patterns of a particular life.
In every life, no matter form it takes, the same citta or mind is present, and just
as every action produces its effect in the world, it also leaves its impression
in the citta. As mentioned above, these impressions are called samskaras, and citta
not only stores all samskaras from all one’s lives, past and present, but is also
shaped by them. Samskaras are therefore a memory of past experiences as well as
being latent behavioural patterns that under appropriate conditions are subconsciously
activated and relived. As such, they contribute to the store of agami-karma.
The accumulation of samskaras in the citta forms vasanas (from the verb root vas,
‘to remain’) which are instinctual tendencies laid down over many lifetimes. Given
the range of vasanas that develop during the course of an indefinite number of previous
lives, some of which relate to lives lived as various other species, many vasanas
remain latent in a particular birth and comprise one’s sancita-karma. The vasanas
that are able to be expressed in a particular birth are associated with the prarabdha-kama
to be worked out in that life, and are held to be responsible for determining the
patterns of thinking, dreaming, desire, attachment, aversion and behaviour that
characterise a single lifetime.
Yajna
In order to overcome the binding nature of karma, the path of Karma-yoga aims to
gain freedom from the consequences of our actions (naiskarmya) by performing them
in a spirit of inner sacrifice (yajna). This ideal does not require the renunciation
of worldly activity, as it is pointed out that as long as we live we cannot avoid
activity, which as karma in the broadest sense of the term leads to the creation
of new samskaras. The key is not the cessation of activity, then, but to transcend
one’s identification with the actions our position in life requires us to perform.
The Bhagavad-Gita was the first text to teach Karma-yoga, and in historical terms
has often been regarded as a conservative response to the social movement towards
worldly renunciation that accompanied the spread of Upanisadic thought and Buddhism.
The response of the Bhagavad-Gita to this situation was conservative insofar as
it argued that we should devote ourselves to the duties and obligations that come
with our social position (varna dharmas). However the principle that underwrote
this response was not. In his dialogue with Arjuna, Lord Krsna argues that life
inevitably involves some kind of action, even in cases of apparent inaction. This
means that renunciates who abstain from worldly activity are bound to and by their
actions just as householders are. What is crucial is not the kind of activity but
the spirit in which it is undertaken. As long as we identify with our actions and
believe that we are the agent or the doer (karta) of them, we are bound to their
karmic consequences. As the following verses from the Bhagavad-Gita illustrate,
if we remain unattached to the fruit of our actions we are not bound by them. In
Karma-yoga all activity is undertaken in a spirit of inner renunciation, and what
is ultimately sacrificed is the ego-self (ahamkara). Only acts performed without
a sense of agency are nonbinding.
|
Not by abstention from work does a man attain freedom from action;
nor by mere renunciation does he attain to his perfection. (III.4)
For no one can remain even for a moment without doing work; every one is made to
act helplessly by the impulses born of nature. (III. 5)
He who restrains his organs of action but continues in his mind to brood over the
objects of sense, whose nature is deluded is said to be a hypocrite [a man of false
conduct]. (III. 6)
But he who controls the senses by the mind, O Arjuna, and without attachment engages
the organs of action in the path of work, he is superior. (III. 7)
Do thou thy allotted work, for action is better than inaction; even the maintenance
of thy physical life cannot be effected without action. (III. 8)
Except for work done as and for a sacrifice, this world is in bondage to work. Therefore,
O son of Kunti [Arjuna], do thy work as a sacrifice, becoming free from all attachment
(III. 9)
But the man whose delight is in the Self alone, who is content with the Self, who
is satisfied with the Self, for him there exists no work that needs to be done.
(III. 17)
|
|
The distinction referred to in the last verse is that between the ever-existing
conscious Self and prakrti (from the verb root kr, ‘to make, to do’ and pra which
means ‘forth’), which is the unconscious creative principle of all phenomena. All
activity and experience belongs to prakrti, and it is the false identification of
the Self with this activity that is binding. By remaining unattached to the results
of one’s actions, the karma-yogin aims to realise that the Self is not the agent
but the conscious substratum upon which the spectacle of prakrti is reflected. In
this way, karma ceases to bind as it is understood that it is prakrti and not the
Self that acts.
As long as the karma-yogin is yet to realise the ideal of naiskarmya, which is freedom
from the karmic consequences of one’s actions, there remains the need for a motive
for activity. And given that this ideal is to be realised by sacrificing all sense
of agency, the Bhagavad-Gita recommends that the motive for all action should be
self-purification, and this is best achieved by submitting to the will of the Lord.
|
He whose understanding is unattached everywhere, who has subdued
his self and from whom desire has fled – he comes through renunciation to the supreme
state transcending all work. (XVIII. 49)
Doing continually all actions whatsoever, taking refuge in Me, he reaches by My
grace the eternal, undying abode. (XVIII. 56)
Surrendering in thought all actions to Me, regarding Me as the Supreme and resorting
to steadfastness in understanding, do thou fix thy thought constantly on Me. (XVIII.
57)
|
|
Loka-Samgraha
In seeking self-purification, karma-yogins aim to replace all selfish motives with
the desire for liberation while continuing to fulfil their social duties and obligations.
However with liberation comes not only the concrete realisation that one is not
the agent responsible for individual actions, but also a release from the need to
act in any particular way at all: indeed nothing remains to be done. This need not
lead to a withdrawal from the world, though, as the Bhagavad-Gita promotes the ideal
of the liberated continuing to work for its benefit (loka-samgraha). Having surrendered
any sense of personal agency, the liberated act with perfect freedom and spontaneity
as instruments of the Lord.
|
There is not for me, O Partha [Arjuna], any work in the three
worlds which has to be done nor anything to be obtained which has not been obtained;
yet I am engaged in work. (III. 22)
If I should cease to work, these worlds would fall in ruin and I should be the creator
of disordered life and destroy these people. (III. 24)
As the unlearned act from attachment to their work, so should the learned also act,
O Bharata [Arjuna], but without attachment, with the desire to maintain the world-order.
(III. 25)
|
The path of Karma-yoga as taught by the Bhagavad-Gita can therefore be interpreted
as being continuous with the intention of the sacrificial rituals of Vedic India.
Recall that in the Rg Veda karma, in the sense of ritual act, opened an avenue for
the spiritual aspirant to acknowledge and contribute to the continuing manifestation
of the world which is described as the maha-yajna or great sacrifice of the supreme
Lord. Similarly in the Bhagavad-Gita the karma-yogin sacrifices all sense of personal
agency in order to become an instrument of the Lord in the work of maintaining the
world-order (loka-samgraha). In both cases karma is a means be self-purification,
and this is realised not by avoiding duties and obligations but by entering into
the world-process in complete surrender to the will of the Lord.
Even though the Bhagavad-Gita treats karma-yoga as an independent spiritual discipline,
there is much dispute in other paths of yoga as to whether liberation can be gained
from karma alone. Most agree that the purification that comes with selfless action
is essential for liberation, and so regardless of what the utility of karma is believed
to be in the later stages of a spiritual discipline, realising the ideal of nairkarmya
is considered to be indispensable.
Mahatma Gandhi as a Karma-Yogin
The most well known exemplification of the principles of Karma-yoga in modern times
can be found in the life of the revered lawyer, politician and activist for Indian
independence, Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948). Gandhi is probably better known around
the world for his championing of the principle of non-violence ('ahimsa'), and his
life and work has been taken up by peace activists and scholars world-wide. However
as the following quotes illustrate, Gandhi described his service to the community
as a spiritual practice.
‘The reason why I let myself be totally absorbed in serving the community, was my
wish for self realisation. … I felt God could only be reached through service. And
service was for me to serve India, because I had the talent for it, and it came
to me without me taking the initiative.’
‘What I wanted to achieve, what I have striven for and sought after these thirty
years, is self realisation, to see God face to face, to achieve moksha (liberation).
I live and act for this goal. Everything I do, through what I say and write, and
my efforts in politics, is aimed at the same goal.’
‘People say I am a saint who has lost himself in politics. But in reality I am a
politician who does my utmost to be a saint.’
Gandhi was significantly influenced by his reading of the Bhagavad-Gita, and interpreted
his work for the welfare of others as a form of yajna or sacrifice in the sense
of acting without the desire for receiving anything in return, whether temporal
or spiritual. He held that this spirit of renunciation should accompany all the
activities of life, and that any action performed without it resulted in bondage.
For Gandhi, then, the Karma-yoga path of service required the renunciation of self-interest
and an acceptance of what life brings without resentment and complaint: ‘yajna is
not yajna if one feels is to be burdensome or annoying.’ And this was to be best
accomplished by completely surrendering to the will of God: ‘Do not worry in the
least about yourself, leave all worry to God.’
Archive
|