GITA FOR CHILDREN - IV

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anything in common at all with the Path of Action. Tell me once again, in simple

language please, what the two paths have in common and how they also differ in

some respects.’ 2. Krishna smiles and says, ‘Arjuna, you are confused because

you are looking at things rather superficially. True, on the face of it the two

paths appear to have little in common. But if you examine in depth, you will

discover that the difference if any lies purely in the procedure followed

rather than in either the spirit or the goal to be achieved.’ 3. ‘Let Me

explain all this in greater detail and even as I do so, you had better pay

careful attention; time is short, and I don’t want this issue raised again!

4. ‘I will start with Karma Yoga or the Path of Action. Action, as you know, is

always performed in this world. Naturally therefore, the Karma Yogi or the one

committed to the Path of Action is immersed in the world like everyone else.

But there are important differences. While people are engaging mostly in action

for personal advantage, profit, power, etc., etc., our friend the Karma Yogi

does his work as a Duty discharged to Society and as an offering to God. He has

absolutely no thoughts of reward, profit, success, and things of that kind.’

5. ‘He does not even expect thanks for the service that he renders. In other

words, this noble soul has totally renounced all claims to the fruit of action

– that is the

important point.’ 6. Arjuna asks, ‘Krishna, I am a bit puzzled. I don’t quite

see what is wrong with aspiring for the fruit of action. There is person who

has worked very hard in his profession, business, say. What is wrong with his

wanting to be successful? After all, why else would a businessman do business?’

7. Krishna smiles and replies, ‘I get your point. There is nothing morally

wrong in expecting a reward for what you have done. But you see, the reward

that you are looking forward to is connected with this world. And once you

hanker after such rewards, that desire ties you down to this world. Result?

Cycle of birth and death. So, if you want to get out of this rut, and I presume

you want to, then you have to get rid

of the desire, that is all.’ 8. ‘But Krishna, what about the businessman in my

example? Why on earth would he want to do business if he should ignore the

rewards?’ 9. ‘Well, that is where spiritual philosophy enters the picture.

You see, the businessman should engage in business as a profession and not for

amassing wealth. Take a teacher for example. His job is to teach and NOT to

make money. If he gets paid that is incidental; his primary objective should be

to train students properly, be a role model to them, and mould their character.

That is the service he owes to Society. The businessman should operate in the

same way; he should be focussing on his work as a service activity rather than

one that

fetches profit, etc. If he makes money in the process, nothing wrong. However,

he should make sure that the money is given away to good causes etc., after

keeping some for his needs of course.’ 10. ‘The essential point is simply

that operationally, the man on the Path of Action or the Karma Yogi, functions

very much like the man on the Path of Wisdom. In other words, the Karma Yogi

starts from the outer world and later journeys inwards to God. The Wise One on

the other hand starts from the Inner world and then journeys outside to do

service. Thus, the journey of the Karma Yogi is from Action to Wisdom, while

the journey of the Sankhya Yogi is from Wisdom to Action! At the end of it all,

the two types of Yogis become indistinguishable.’ 11. ‘The man of Wisdom may

appear very strange in his behaviour, in fact even crazy! But crazy he is not;

let Me give you an example.’ 12. ‘One day, the Gopikas of Brindavan wanted to

cross the Yamuna river. However, the river was flowing full and there was no

boatman in sight. So they all stood there wondering what they should do. At

that time Sage Vyasa came there – you know Vyasa, don’t you? The Gopikas prayed

to the Sage, “O Venerable one, please can you help us to go across the river?”

The Sage smiled and replied, “Certainly but before I do so, you all must give

me some of the butter that you are carrying.” The Gopikas immediately served

fresh butter to the Sage who ate it

with great relish. Wiping his hands and mouth, the Sage then went near the river

and said aloud, “O Mother Yamuna, if is true that I have been fasting today,

please stop the flow of water so that all of us can walk across.” And Lo and

behold, water immediately stopped flowing, and the Gopikas as well as the Sage

went across the river. On reaching the other bank, the Gopikas thanked the Sage

profusely and then asked, “O Sage, we are not able to understand one thing. You

ate so much butter and yet you said you were fasting. And Mother Yamuna seemed

to accept your declaration! What is the mystery behind all this?” With a

smile the Sage replied, “You all thought I was eating the butter. No, that is

not true. I just went through the physical motions but I

offered all that butter to Krishna, who as you know likes fresh butter very

much. It was really He who ate all that butter!” Arjuna, now do you

understand how the Wise perform actions?’ 13. ‘The Yogi is always

inward-looking and seeks God in his Heart. By the way, when I speak of the

Heart, you must understand that I am referring to the Spiritual Heart and not

the physical heart! You must have heard people say, “You are a heartless

person.” How can anyone exist without the pump that causes the blood to

circulate?’ 14. ‘Thus in Spirituality, Heart always means the seat of

Compassion. The Heart is

called Hridaya; Hridaya = Hrid + Daya; Daya means compassion. Thus the Heart is

the seat of Compassion, which is a Divine quality.’ 15. ‘Getting back to the

Yogi, he totally identifies himself with God. In fact, he believes that he is

God, he is the Atma, he is the Inner-Self, he is the True Self, he is the

Reality.’ 16. Krishna continues: ‘Sounds weird? It does not end here! The

Yogi always feels that the Mind and the body are quite distinct from him. In

other words, you will never catch him say, I am the body or I am the Mind. He

KNOWS that he is NOT the body or the Mind!’ PART 10 17. A puzzled Arjuna

asks, ‘I don’t quite understand what You are saying. Please can You come

again?’ 18. With His eternal smile, Krishna replies, ‘Of course. You see

Arjuna, the Yogi’s body and Mind function just like yours. But there the

similarity stops. His body would always perform sacred actions. His Mind is

always full of Pure thoughts.’ 19. Arjuna asks, ‘How does that happen?” 20.

Krishna replies, ‘Suppose there is a well. If you throw a pebble into the water,

ripples are generated which then travel to the edge of the well. The Yogi’s

Heart is the well,

absolutely Pure of course. If the pebble of good thought is thrown into this

well, it generates ripples. When the ripples reach the edge that is the body,

it results in good action.’ 21. ‘Arjuna, for the Yogi the Atma is in the

driving seat. He as the Atma commands the Mind. The Mind then gives appropriate

orders to the body and the senses; the net result is that there is perfect

harmony between feelings, thought, word and deed. This really is what the

so-called human values are all about.’ 22. ‘If you ask the Yogi as to who is

acting, he would simply say, “I don’t act; I am the Atma, and the Atma is just

a Witness; it is the Mind and the body that act. As for me, I am not the body

or the Mind.” Notice he does not even use words

like my body, my Mind, etc.’ 23. ‘The Yogi is speaking the Truth, though his

way of talking might appear strange to ordinary mortals like yourself. I shall

come back to this point later maybe but for the moment let Me stay with what I

was telling you a short while ago.’ 24. ‘The Yogi is not like a hibernating

bear, absolutely still all the time. He may shun the pleasures of the worlds,

he may be above desires, he may not want food, he may not experience hunger and

thirst the way normal people do. In all such respects, the Yogi clearly belongs

to a different species, if I might say so.’ 25. ‘Yet, such people do act in

their own special way. They gather disciples around them and groom them

carefully and patiently. Why? Because humanity always needs noble souls, and

Yogis often take upon themselves the task of grooming such people. This is the

service that they render to Society.’ 26. ‘You might ask, “OK, one Yogi

produces ten others but of what use are they to society? They keep to

themselves and apart from Society. They may be wise but where is the action?” I

shall answer that.’ 27. ‘True the Yogis stay with their students but they keep

wandering and in their travels, they pass through many villages. Every time the

party enters a village, the residents welcome

them, extend hospitality to them and listen to discourses delivered by these

Wise men. In this way, even Yogis serve society.’ 28. ‘Arjuna, you must have

heard the advice: Avoid Bad Company and Always seek Good Company. The wandering

Yogis provide the good company that people need. These Yogis come as a breath of

fresh air, sanctify the places they visit and reinforce the faith that simple

people have in God.’ 29. ‘In short, if the Karma Yogi journeys from Action to

Wisdom the Sankhya Yogi goes from Wisdom to Action.’ 30. ‘Suppose you want to

make syrup. There are two ways of doing it. You could take a tumbler of water,

add sugar and then

stir. Alternately, you could first put sugar in the tumbler, next add water and

stir. Either way the end product is the same. In a like manner, the two paths

that I referred to earlier are completely identical as far as the final goal is

concerned.’ 31. ‘Having said that, I should also point out that for you

especially and indeed for 99.99999 % of humanity, the Path of Action is much

easier to follow. It is a lot easier to go through life working for God rather

than telling yourself all the time, “I am God, I am God….”! 32. Arjuna asks,

‘ Krishna , if it is so difficult, then how come the Wise man is able to say “I

am God,” and get away with it?’ 33. Krishna replies, ‘You must get

one thing clear. The Wise man does not go about proclaiming to the world that he

is God. Instead, he constantly reminds himself: “I am God in the essence.

Therefore, I must do nothing that is contrary to my native Divinity. I must see

only what is good, hear only what is good, speak only what is good and think

only what is good! Further, I must see God in everything all the time”.’ 34.

‘This is how the Wise man spends his life. He is immersed in Constant

Integrated Awareness. In simple terms it means seeing God everywhere, in

everything, all the time! In the process, he also sees the same God within

himself, naturally,’ TO BE CONTINUED… With Sai love from Sai brothers

– ‘’ Source and courtesy: http://www.radiosai.org/Journals

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