The Art of Doing Karma

[barney]

The Art of Doing Karma

 

Swami Smaranananda

 

Swami Smaranananda is the General Secretary of Ramakrishna Math and Mission. This is the edited text of his talk delivered at Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai, during the spiritual retreat held on 8th February 2004. ¨

 

Living a life in the world and how to spiritually orient oneself is a basic question. In ancient times, life was so regulated that it led to a spiritual goal, the highest purpose in life. In other words, all the four purusharthas evolved by our ancient rishis--Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha, and the Varnashrama dharma, etc. were set to lead one to a higher purpose in life. Today we are very much influenced by a materialistic mindset and added to that is a technological Revolution which has brought people across the world to a common mode of living making it difficult to give a spiritual orientation to life. So we will have to think of ways to orient our life to subserve a higher purpose.

 

What is that higher purpose? Sri Ramakrishna says: the purpose of life is to realize God. But God-realization cannot come just like that. The Lord says in the Gita (7.3),

 

Manushyânâm sahasreshu

 

kaschid yatati siddhaye;

 

Yatatâm api siddhânâm

 

kaschid mâm vetti tattvatah.

 

Thousands of people struggle to attain success in spiritual life. They put forth every effort for that purpose and still only a few attain success. If that path is so difficult, why try it at all? It is a very good and valid question. Before we answer it, we need to ask ourselves: 'What am I doing? Where am I going? What is the purpose of life?' When these questions agitate our minds, in due course we get convinced that there is a higher purpose in life--that is to know God. But right now, you may not attain to it. You can however put yourself onto a path that takes you to the right destination. How to do it? Through Karma or skilful action.

 

In ancient times, particularly in Purva-mimamsa philosophy, there were a lot of rituals, many yajnas, and homas that one had to perform. Every householder was enjoined to perform Agni-hotram daily so long as he lived. It was a commonly accepted practice those days wherein husband and wife performed rituals together as equal partners. I recall a marriage when I was a boy in which a couple were asked to perform Agni-hotram, which meant the pouring of the oblations into the fire for various deities like Agni, Indra, Varuna. Even today we follow these rituals in a slightly modified manner: we pour oblations into homa fire in the name of Sri Ramakrishna and Sarada Devi.

 

Besides these, we have many other actions to perform in life like earning, eating, bringing up children, educating them. So giving up work is not possible. The Lord says in the Gita that not even for a moment, one can be without work. Whether you like it or not, you are compelled to do it. Just for a living you have to work. Nature has organized or arranged life in such a way that we have to do something always.

 

Now the questionis how to do it? ThroughKarma-Yoga. The idea of Karma-Yoga is worked out in greater details in the Gita, and before that in the Gita, and in the Upanishads. In Ishâ Upanishad (verse 2), it is said: Kurvanneveha karmâni jijivishet shatam samâh. By doing karma, indeed, one should wish to live here for a hundred years. Be detached; that is the only way by which you can make your life useful. Truly speaking it is not the work that causes attachment; it is the mental attitude, the desire for fruits of action that makes you attached. Suppose somebody comes forward and says, 'Don't take any trouble, I will give you all that is wanted.' I do not know how many people will work then. Today there is a problem associated with the retired people. They receive all the pensions and gratuity, but still no one seems satisfied with that. In the pre-Independence period the expected lifespan was 25 years, now it is 65 and it may go up to 80 years. Retired people do not seem to know what to do. They think that they have nothing to do. But so long as you are in the world, you have to do something. You must learn to make it Karma-Yoga and not Karma Bhoga. How to do it?

 

The Lord says in the Gita: Yogah karmasu kaushalam, Yoga is dexterity or efficiency in action. It is not the ordinary efficiency, but efficiency in real terms that is meant here.

 

What does kaushalam mean? It is dexterity or cleverness in doing work. The same compelling work which binds to various things and makes you feel attached, that very work can be converted into an instrument for spiritual progress. That is the secret.

 

Gita says it is possible. Swami Vivekananda too says in his book Karma-Yoga that it is possible. During those approximately 1000 years between the Gita and Swamiji, nobody has dealt with the subject so thoroughly. After giving a detailed view as presented in the Gita, Swami Vivekananda has explained this in his book on Karma-Yoga. He says that work is seldom sweet; often one considers it as drudgery. This feeling arises because of lack of love for our work. We have to make the work enjoyable. Going to office every morning and coming back in the evening, one may feel drudgery. Now women are also going to office or if at home, they have to cook, take care of the house, do all the housekeeping work--this also develops a feeling of drudgery in them.

 

In the olden days we had the joint family system where people lived together. Even after marriage the son lived with his parents and took care of them. And then came the period of Vanaprastha, during which the old people lived in the forest and spent the rest of their life in spirituality. Nowadays people's requirements have gone up. It is also not possible to go to a forest and yet one has to continue working. To convert work which is the cause of bondage into a means of spiritual progress, by detaching from the fruits of action is Karma-Yoga. That is what the Lord says in Gita (2.47):

 

Karmani eva adhikârah te

 

mâ phaleshu kadâchana;

 

Mâ karma-phala-hetur bhu

 

mâ te sango'stvakarmani.

 

'You have only the right to work but not to the fruits thereof.' One cannot be without some work. It is possible, of course, externally to sit quiet but internally the mind will be still restless. So also sitting idle is neither desirable nor possible. So one must learn to take up the path of Karma-Yoga, for one's own good.

 

Now, Phalahetu (in the above sloka) means do not let your mind get attached to the karmaphala. This means you will have to do your duty without getting attached to its outcome.

 

Swamiji says that duty is seldom sweet; it is like the burning midday sun over our head. But when work is greased with love it turns out to be sweet. To do that, one needs detachment. Detachment from desire does not mean that you have to work in the office without salary! Actually the karmaphala is granted by the Lord himself.

 

The Lord alone has the power to sanction the fruits of action. It is same as your salary cheque, which has to be signed by your company chairman, and if he is absent on a parti- cular day, you don't get the salary on that day.

 

Krishna in the Gita says: 'I too have duties to perform.' (Gita, 3.22) In spite of the fact that the Lord has got everything, He is always at work. Why? He replies that if He does not work this way, then others too will follow His path. They will think that it is all right to be idle. If the Lord keeps idle then why should we work; everything will then go to pieces. As everything is ruled by brahmashakti, we cannot avoid work. We have to create a right attitude to work. We can discover this right attitude for doing work either through Jnana-Yoga or, Bhakti-Yoga. In Jnana-Yoga it is said, you do everything, at the same time you do nothing.

 

Pralapan visrijan grihnan

 

unmishan nimishan api;

 

Indriyâni indriyârtheshu

 

vartanta iti dhârayan--(Gita, 5.9)

 

A jnani lives like a lotus leaf in the water. So many things are done by the senses but he is not disturbed. He (the knower of truth) says, 'I don't do anything; all work goes on by itself. I am only a witness.'

 

How many people can do that? To most people it is very difficult because we are attached to the body. Yet Jnana-Yoga can form a basis for the Karma-Yoga. Gita (4.18) says:

 

Karmani akarma yah pashyed

 

akarmani cha karma yah;

 

Sa buddhimân manushyeshu

 

sa yuktah kritsnakarmakrit.

 

'One who sees inaction in action, and action in inaction, is intelligent among human beings, he or she is a yogi and a doer of all action.'

 

That buddhi is the most intelligent, which sees akarma in karma. What does it mean? Do everything but be detached. Karma becomes akarma and akarma becomes karma when we are attached. We may not be working but desiring many things. Thus Jnana becomes the basis of all understanding of karma and akarma. It is a question of who does the work and to whom goes the bank balance of karma. The truth is that it is our attitude that counts. As this is very difficult to follow for most, one can take help from Bhakti-Yoga.

 

Shankara says in one place that whatever is done as ishwara arpanâ, as dedication to the Lord, does not cause bondage. You may say, 'Of course, I do everything and dedicate it to God', but are you feeling like that?

 

In Sri-Shiva-manasa-pujana-stotram, it is said: Yadyatkarma karomi tattadakhilam shambho tavârâdhanam. 'Whatever I do is thy ârâdhanâ.' From morning to evening whatever a devotee does, he offers it to the Lord, with a feeling of worship. Converting all that we do as worship, which means not only going to the temple or doing yajna, homa, but even ordinary things that we do as offering to the Lord is worship.

 

Sri Ramakrishna calls this vaidhi-bhakti, which means following bhakti according to the rules; externally you are engaged in various rituals and actions but inside the heart a change takes place. This is the aim of Karma-Yoga: a change of heart, an attitudinal change.

 

For example there was one Brother Lawrence, in France, some 300 year ago. He was not much educated. He was working in the monastery as a cook. And in course of time, he got spiritual enlightenment. Everybody was astonished and even his superiors were eager to know how he managed to attain to that state. He said that he did not know anything, but he practised remembering God at all times in whatever work he did, trying to feel the presence of God. That is how the transformation comes. He did karma as yoga, so he was not attached to the result of karma. What we need is total dedication to the ideal.

 

Don't connect your salary with the karmaphala. Do your duty as seva. In Hindi they say sarkâri seva (servant of the government). The name seva has been used for the service like Indian government service. But today's scenario is something different. The work they do is not seva at all; whether they work or not, they are paid salary. Even the higher officials make use of their post only to amass wealth. If a little dedication to the Lord can be brought in the work they do, that very work, which otherwise causes bondage, will become a means to Moksha.

 

This is what the Gita says: All the work that you do, offer that to the Lord. In the Mahabharata, Yudhishthira is seen to offer everything to the Lord. And the Lord says: offer only good things; do not offer the bad things, for they will return to you with manifold intensity.

 

When I talk about bhakti, I enjoy telling this story: One lady went to Sri Ramakrishna and said, 'I want to do japa, but whenever I sit for japa or meditation, a nephew whom I love very much comes to my mind.' The Master said, 'Very well, whatever you do for him--feeding, dressing, etc.--do with the idea that he is Gopala; have this attitude that God resides in him in the form of Gopala and that it is He whom you are feeding, dressing and serving. Why should you think that you are doing all this for a human being? As is your mood, so will be your gain.' We are told that as a result of doing so, she made considerable spiritual progress in a short time, so much so that she attained even Bhavasamadhi. (Sri Ramakrishna The Great Master, vol. I, p. 392)

 

What a new approach! This reminds me of the story of a yogi who used to meditate under a tree. Once, atop the tree, some birds were making sound which disturbed the yogi. So he cast a fiery look at them, and the next moment both the birds were burnt to ashes. The yogi became very proud of his magical power.

 

He went for bhiksha in the town. He came to a house whose doors were closed. So he stood there and gave a call for the bhiksha. Immediately he heard a reply, 'please wait, I am little busy.' So he had to wait. He waited but felt a little angry thinking, 'Why is this lady making me wait? She is not aware of my powers.' Inside the house, the lady was busy serving her sick husband. After some time, the lady came out. And on seeing the yogi angry, she said, 'here there are no birds to burn.' The yogi was surprised. He asked her how she came to know of this incident. 'Look here,' she said, 'I am serving my sick husband all the time. I look upon him as a representative of God. Just when you came, as I was serving him, I could not leave that in the middle and attend to your bhiksha. Hence I asked you to wait. This act of service must have brought some powers with it. I have not sought for it. If you want to know more about this, go and ask the butcher who owns a shop in the next street.'

 

The yogi was taken aback. He thought: what can I learn from the butcher? But he proceeded towards the shop where the butcher was cutting and selling meat. The butcher welcomed the yogi and said, 'Yes, I know that lady has sent you to me. But please wait'. Then he went home, first served his sick parents and then he finally attended to the yogi. The yogi said, 'I am surprised how you were able to acquire all these powers.' Then the butcher taught the yogi about the Ultimate Reality.

 

When you do your duty with devotion--whether it is serving the child or the father--with the idea of Shivajnana in jiva, it becomes seva. Service to mankind is service to the Lord. This idea can be followed wherever you are. It does not require any institutional set-up to do service. Only when you want do it on a larger scale, institutions are necessary. In family itself you can practise this and if you follow these principles, the whole family takes a turn for the better.

 

We see in the metropolitan cities many broken marriages and broken hearts, and so many divorces. It is all because the right attitude is not there. So Karma-Yoga is to be practised. Whatever we do we have to convert it into Karma-Yoga, with the help of jnana or bhakti. Sri Ramakrishna says, in the age of Kali yuga, people are tied down to their bodies and Narada's way of bhakti is the most ideal. It does not talk about rituals. Just love for God. In due course life itself becomes an act of loving God.

 

Our love for the little things of this world has to be transformed into love for God. We can think of God with form or without form. You can easily love God with form. Ramanuja says there is archâvatâra in an image that has been loved and worshipped. It is not just an image; when it has been worshipped for many years the hidden power in the image becomes manifest; that is called archâvatâra. It is this which makes certain pilgrimage centres or temples acquire a holiness, a sublime atmosphere drawing many pilgrims towards it.

 

So we have to consciously try to change our ways, change our attitude towards life. First of all, fix your goal. As I said in the beginning, your goal should be to develop spiritually, or to move towards the highest good which is the supreme purpose of life.

 

Many householders would come to Sri Ramakrishna and ask him what was the way? Should we have to give up the family and the world? Sri Ramakrishna said no, you can be in the world and still attain God. Moreover the life of a monk or nun is not suitable for everyone. It suits only a few, who have the requisite samskâras. Everybody is born with his own set of samskâras. His mind is programmed in a particular way (to use the computer language). What we are today is because of our past programming. It is very difficult to wipe out the past samskâras, though not impossible. One must make strenuous and sincere efforts. We have to remove all the bad programmes and create good programme in our mental computer. We have to do this rewriting the inner programme consciously.

 

If you want to bring about this transformation or want to give a new orientation to your life, that is a spiritual orientation, then give up the attitude of narrowness and develop the attitude of love, and see things in a broader perspective. This you can find well demonstrated in the life of Holy Mother. If you read the life of Holy Mother, for all intents and purposes, she looked like an ordinary lady but her mind was tuned to purity alone. Just by having her darshan people became pure and got transformed. She clearly demonstrated to the world that even in this age which is surrounded by too much of worldly-minded people, spiritual evolution is possible. This she proved in her life, by keeping her mind always on God, even in the midst of her busy schedule and household works.

 

It is true that everyone will reach the goal one day or the other. If you are prepared to wait, for some more births, no harm, nobody is compelling you to do it right now. But if you are eager to reach the goal, you will have to take up the ideal seriously, and skilfully learn the art of doing karma. It is only a question of how intensely you want to reach the goal.