"Resting in yog, renouncing infatuation for worldly ties, and looking at success and failure with an equal mind, one should undertake action.......!!!"

“Resting in yog, renouncing infatuation for worldly ties, and looking at success and failure with an equal mind, one should undertake action…….!!!”

In continuation of the great spiritual journey further more dear blessed souls, let us move ahead and try to explore what really this “Karm”/Action is as per teachings of Yogeshwar Krishn in Bhagavad Gita?

In Chapter Two, Verse Forty Eight, Yogeshwar Krishn sings :

yogasthaḥ kuru karmāṇi
sangam tyaktvā dhananjaya,
siddhyasiddhyoḥ samo bhūtvā
samatvam yoga ucyate (2.48)

‘‘The equipoise of mind that arises from profound absorption in the performance of action after renouncing attachment and being even-minded in respect of success and failure is, O Dhananjay (Arjun), given the name of yog.”

Resting in yog, renouncing infatuation for worldly ties, and looking at success and failure with an equal mind, Arjun should undertake action. But what action/ “karm?

Sri Krishn’s pronouncement is that men should do selfless action. Equipoise of mind is what is called yog. The mind in which there is no unevenness is full of equanimity. Greed destroys its evenness, attachments make it unequal, and desire for the fruits of action destroy its serenity. That is why there should be no hankering after the fruits of action. At the same time, however, there should also be no diminishing of faith in the performance of action. Renouncing attachment to all things, seen as well as unseen, and giving up all concern about achievement and non-achievement, we should only keep our eyes fixed on yog, the discipline that joins the individual Soul with the Supreme Spirit, and lead a life of strenuous action.

Yog is thus the state of culmination. But it is also the initial stage. At the outset our eyes should be fixed on the goal. It is for this reason that we should act keeping our eyes on yog. Equanimity of mind is also named yog. When the mind cannot be shaken by failure and success, and nothing can destroy its evenness, it is said to be in the state of yog. It cannot then be moved by passion. Such a state of mind enables the Soul to identify himself with God. This is another reason why this state is called Samattwa Yog, the discipline that makes the mind filled with equanimity.

Since there is, in such a state of mind, complete renunciation of desire, it is also called the Way of Selfless Action (Nishkam Karm Yog). Since it requires us to perform action, it is also known as the way of Action (Karm Yog) .Since it unites the Self with the Supreme Spirit, it is called yog. It is necessary to keep in mind that both success and failure should be viewed with equanimity, that there should be no sense of attachment, and that there is no desire for the rewards of action. It is thus that the Way of Selfless Action and the Way of Knowledge are the same.

In Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishn has taught that covetous action is distant from and inferior to the Path of Discrimination. Those who yearn after praise are wretched men, vile and devoid of judgement. Arjun is, therefore, urged to find shelter in the even-minded Way of Knowledge. Even if the Soul is rewarded with what he desires, he will have to assume a body in order to enjoy it. So long as the process of coming and going, of birth and death, lasts, how can there be ultimate redemption? A seeker should not desire even absolution, for absolution is total freedom from passions. Thinking over the acquisition of rewards if he gets any, his worship is interrupted. Why should he now continue any further with the task of meditation on God? He goes astray.

So yog should be observed with a perfectly even mind. Sri Krishn describes the Way of Knowledge (Gyan-Karm-Sanyas Yog) as also the Buddhi-or Sankhya Yog. He suggests to Arjun that he has attempted to enlighten him on the nature of “discrimination” in its relation to the Way of Knowledge. In truth, the only difference between the two is that of attitude. In the one, one has to proceed only after making a proper examination of the constructive and negative aspects of the undertaking, while in the other, too, equanimity has to be preserved. So it is also called the Way of Equanimity and Discrimination (Samattwa-Buddhi Yog). Because of this and because men possessed of desire for rewards are reduced to miserable wretchedness, Arjun is advised to find shelter in the Way of Knowledge.

Now Sri Krishn sings further:

buddhiyukto jahātī’ha
ubhe sukṛtaduṣkṛte,
tasmād yogāya yujyasva
yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam (2.50)

“As the Soul endowed with a mind of equanimity renounces both meritorious and evil deeds in this world itself and the art of acting with equipoise is yog, the endeavour to master the way of equanimity of discrimination is Samattwa Yog.’’

Stoic minds give up both the sacred and the sinful in this life itself. They adopt an attitude of detachment to both. So Arjun should strive for the equanimity of mind that is derived from the Way of Knowledge. Yog is the skill of acting with equipoise. Two attitudes towards action prevail in the world. If people do a work, they also wish for its fruits. If there are no rewards, they may not even like to work. But Yogeshwar Krishn regards such action as bondage and states that worship of the one God is the only worthwhile action. In the present references, he has only named action. Its definition and its nature is still awaited to get defined..

The skill of acting in freedom from worldly customs is that we should perform action and do it with dedication, but at the same time with voluntary renunciation of any right to its fruits. However, it is but natural to be curious about what will become of these fruits. But, of course, there is no doubt that selfless action is the right way of action. The whole energy of the desireless worshipper is then directed to his action. The human body is meant for worship of God.

Bow down in lotus feet of Revered Gurudev for such teaching to me.
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Now we have to consider and reconsider again that the concept of action/ “Karm” which we have in our mind more or less by some understandings is really justified or not?

Does the concept of “Karm” which we normally have already in mind fulfils the teaching of Sri Krishn when HE teaches, “Resting in yog, renouncing infatuation for worldly ties, and looking at success and failure with an equal mind, one should undertake action/ Karm?”

References :

1. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10222242676927813&set=a.1557377266322

2. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10222242385720533&set=a.1557377266322

3. https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10222242568845111&set=a.1557377266322

4. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10222221458037354&set=a.1557377266322

5. https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10222242608126093&set=a.1557377266322

6. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10222239134359251&set=a.1557377266322

Humble Wishes.
~mrityunjayanand.