15. Contemplative Dynamism

Karma yoga plays a vital role in the total scheme of yoga practice. But it is one of the most misunderstood of doctrines. All action is not yoga, though all action can be transmuted into yoga. The surgeon inserts a knife into someone's abdomen, and a murderer does so too; but what a difference! It is the difference that exists between a devout Hindu offering crumbs of bread to the fish in the holy river Ganga, and the modern gentleman 'offering' to the fish a worm on a hook.

We have to understand the spirit of karma yoga thoroughly. For, according to lord Krishna, it is the spirit in which the action is done that matters, not so much the action itself - though the spirit always expresses itself in right action. If the right attitude is maintained, and the correct spirit understood, then all action becomes yoga. If not, even great acts of charity and service, however good and beneficial they may be, do not constitute yoga. Doctors and nurses in hospitals, workers in charge of charitable institutions, priests, and mendicants, do not automatically attain salvation, unless the yogic attitude of humble worshipful service is present.

A poor man offering 'a cup of water, a leaf, a flower, or a fruit' with devotion to the Lord-in-all, practices yoga; whereas, a millionaire donating a million rupees to an orphanage, only pays indirectly the advertisement charges for his name and glory to be published in the newspapers!

What is the spirit of karma yoga? It is picturesquely presented in the Bhagavad Gita:

Man attains perfection by worshiping with every one of his actions the omnipresent God in whom all beings have their origin and in whom they exist. (18:46)

This spirit of worship is most important. It presupposes the recognition of the hidden godhead in all. 'God pervades all beings,' says the Isavasya Upanishad. 'I am the self of all beings,' says Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita. It is only when we thus see and serve the lord in all, that we shall serve selflessly - without any selfish motive for gaining selfish ends, regarding the act or the service itself as reward enough. Only then shall we serve all with equal vision and balanced mind.

This is extremely difficult to understand, if we do not watch a living yogi demonstrate it. I have seen such a demonstration times without number in the life of my master Swami Sivananda. In fact, His divine life was one continuous commentary on the verse of the Gita cited above. After serving you, He always thanked you for the opportunity that you, His god, gave Him for thus worshiping the Lord in you. In rendering this service, no consideration of caste, religion, nationality, etc., ever swayed Him. For, all the time, the master was conscious that the Lord was hidden in the person whom He served, and the service was worship of the divine. When He was serving the sick as a doctor in Malaya, before He renounced the world in 1923, He shared whatever He had with the patients, whatever their caste or social status. He did not charge them any fees, but gave them some pocket money when they departed, to help them buy their food.

It is in that spirit that we should work, in order to transform all our activities into yoga. Then would we live a life of meditation, constantly remembering the lord, and yet doing our duty in this world. That is contemplative dynamism, karma yoga, the yoga of the Bhagavad Gita - the yoga for you.

 16. Not I, but the Lord<

The most important factor which transforms all activity - and so, life - itself into yoga, is the inner understanding and knowledge that we are not serving humanity, but God in all. The next important factor is the 'nimitta bhavana' - the attitude born of the realization that 'God Himself is serving His own manifestations through us, and we are but instruments in His hands'. A moment's reflection will convince us beyond doubt that some mysterious power functions through us, and enables us to serve, and even to live. If that is withdrawn or even modified, a wise man may become stupid, and an intelligent man may become insane. If that is withdrawn, all our virtues and wisdom lose their luster. If that is withdrawn, the body turns into a corpse, and it is immediately disposed of. It is because of the presence of that spark of God or image of God in us, that we are considered human beings.

The karma yogi does not forget this great truth, even for a moment. 'Na aham karta isvarah karta' - I am not the doer, but the lord is the doer - is his constant feeling. He reminds himself often of the emphatic declaration of lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita, addressing Arjuna: "Even if you did not do your duty, fight this battle, and kill these unrighteous people, they will not live. I have done away with them already; be a mere instrument in my hands." If we bear this in mind constantly, we shall not even claim any special merits for being good or doing good. It is he that is good in us, and it is he that does good through us. No special reward is necessary; and, if there is to be any special reward, it belongs to him!

This understanding or realization may develop in three stages:

(1) We see what we do as duty. 'This is my duty, I am discharging my duty.' If you observe yourself very carefully at this stage, you see that there is some sourness in this attitude! The duty seems to bind us, not free us, and liberate us - it seems to hold us in check, to constrict us. Yet, it may be necessary for the baby-soul. That is where we start. The rod of duty knocks down all your desires of profit motive, and so on.

(2) You begin to wonder: 'What is duty?' If a mosquito bites the back of my neck, is it the duty of my hand to chase it away? Oh, no. The hand does not argue, it does not say, "It is my duty to go and help my brother neck". Because the two belong to the same organism, there is spontaneous activity. There one discovers love. It is not duty, but it is done out of love. We serve one another because we are linked by a central essence - truth, reality, God, or self. We all form part of one God, and therefore serve one another.

(3) In these two attitudes, there is still a feeling of 'I' and 'another'. First you do it as a duty, and then you do it because you love all. In the third and the last stage, the question 'Why do I do this?' does not arise. The action is done - only actions exist. Neither the actor nor the person to whom the action is directed - only actions exist. We are all cells in the cosmic body of God; there is no 'I' here, nor a 'you' there. There is only one body of God. That is the reality, the rest is only a veil. When the 'I' and the 'you' have both been absorbed in the truth of God, what remains is pure action - which has been described and interpreted and misinterpreted.

'Be an instrument in my hands,' Krishna tells Arjuna, his disciple. But, as you meditate on this concept of an instrument, you realize something marvelous. You take a pen in your hand and write - the pen is an instrument in your hand. You think, "Ah, I have understood. I am an instrument in the hand of God, like this, and I do his will." Look at the pen again. Does it know it is an instrument in your hand? No. Even that idea of being an instrument is not there; even the instrument-feeling is an egoistic notion, a manifestation of your own separate ego-sense. So, even that is dropped.

When you lift the pen again, you see that all that happens is that the pen writes. The pen does its job, without thinking that it is its duty. There is neither the doer nor the object to which the deed is directed, but there is pure action.

When we can reach this stage of pure action, non-volitional action, instantly all problems disappear, because the creator of the problem - the ego - has been discovered to be non-existent. The body-mind complex is the channel for the flow of divine energy; that is, the ego-less person has no 'I', but is a body-mind complex. This is what is referred to as 'God's Will'. It only means 'I' is not the doer.

God's Will alone prevails here; and we are able to live, to love, and to serve, by His Will and power only. To surrender our little will, and merge it in His, is a great blessing; it liberates us from selfishness and egoism. Only he who has clearly grasped this spirit, and lives in that spirit, is and can be truly humble. The man who tries to cultivate 'humility' as a virtue in itself, often lands himself in the 'arrogance of humility' or 'pride of humility'. But, he who has understood that God does everything here, and that we are all but His instruments or cells in His cosmic body, is truly humble. Let no action spring from your own private intentions, and you will instantly be freed from self-willed, egoistic, selfish activity, and the consequent worries and anxieties.

An instrument has no anxiety to 'do'! Why is it then that, in our heart, there is such a tremendous anxiety to be an instrument in the hands of god? That anxiety is the surest sign that the ego is very much anti-God. It thinks: 'Without me, God cannot function'. So, the important thing is to be. In order to be, you do not have to try to be. Either you are or you are not doing the lord's will. Your only job is to look cautiously and constantly within at the springs of your own actions.

This, too, was readily evident in the daily life of our master Swami Sivananda. His genuine humility, His total unselfishness, and His wonderful optimism, even in the face of seeming crisis in the life of the institution He had so pain-stakingly built up, were the surest indications of the total self-surrender to the divine will in which He worked. Never once did the master look back with satisfaction or pride on His own super-human achievements, nor did He ever rest on His laurels.

I have never seen another person who lived more truly in the eternal present, ever looking forward to doing more and more in the service of humanity, as the worship of the lord. He exalted dynamic selfless service as the best form of meditation and worship of the Lord, though He always advised us to combine both service and meditation, in order to evolve the synthesis of 'contemplative dynamism' - karma yoga.

The karma yogi lives in two worlds at the same time. He works in the external world, but never loses sight of the inner world. He serves humanity, but is ever conscious that he is serving God. He works with his body and mind, but never forgets that they are instruments in the hands of God, the indweller. To guard against the selfish nature, he adopts the Narayana-bhavana - I am serving God in all, and to guard against the lower human, egoistic nature, he adopts the nimitta bhavana - not I, but God. When vanity is removed, all the evils in one's own personality are removed. All our evils spring from vanity. Vanity confuses the distinction between right and wrong. So, once vanity is removed, right action becomes spontaneous. Nimitta bhavana fills us with inexhaustible power and energy. We do His work; in fact, He does His work, using us as instruments. He is omnipotent; and so, His instruments, too, enjoy abundant energy.

The spirit of karma yoga frees us from another problem in our daily life - the shock from which we suffer when someone whom we have served and loved is rude to us, insults us or hurts us. We do not resent when someone repays a debt he owes in any coin; we are happy. When that repayment takes the form of an insult or injury, why should we react differently? In fact, why should we react at all? Let others react as they will; we shall do what we should. And, if our nature is divine and loving, our actions - even those which appear to be reactions - will always be divine and loving. Happy in all conditions, let us continue to serve all selflessly, self-sacrificingly, and untiringly, feeling that we are serving the Lord in all for His sake, as His instruments.

That is the secret of karma yoga, which liberates us from samsara - birth and death, with the help of the very activities, which otherwise bind us to this wheel of birth and death.

 17. Religion for the Modern Man

The entire universe is ever active. Man shares this nature, too. The Bhagavad Gita says that no one can remain inactive, even for a moment. The doctrine that to act in this world was to invite reaction - the chain that binds us to the wheel of repeated birth and death - involved a gross self-deception, because the very expression 'to do nothing' is absurd and meaningless. The man who 'sits doing nothing' is doing something - sitting! It is impossible to 'do nothing'. You are breathing, you are thinking, you are living. The Bhagavad Gita calls him a hypocrite who sits as if doing nothing, but who lets his mind think of ever so many objects. His physical organs may not be experiencing them, but his inner senses are, and his mind most certainly creates its own field of enjoyment, and satisfies itself. That man is a lazy hypocrite, deceiving himself, and perhaps others, too.

Hence it is that our master Swami Sivananda calls upon everyone, even the recluse, to come out into the world and to be dynamic in service - but with a difference.

The service should be selfless. This is the religion we need today - the religion of selflessness, of unselfish and loving service. We are all brothers and sisters. The entire world - not only the human kind, but all living beings - forms one family. Our physical body is made of 'earth', and when we leave it, it is returned to the earth. Earth is our mother, who gave us birth, and who nourishes us. 'Dust thou art, and to dust returnest', was not said of the soul of man. Perhaps the soul is the individual cell in the body of God. God is our father; earth is our mother. We are all the children of this divine couple. What they give us, belongs to everyone of us. Whatever be our status, knowledge or prowess, we have no right to deprive our brother of his share of our parent's blessings. The sense of possession should therefore go, because it is false and meaningless.

A gentleman was bathing in a river. A good walking stick floated along the current. The gentleman caught hold of it; there was no one else to claim it. As he was heading for the bank, the cloth he had wrapped around his waist began to slip. When he held the cloth, the walking-stick slipped from his hand, and was carried away by the current. He beat his face and cried aloud: 'Oh, my walking-stick has gone.' Isn't it strange that, holding it in his hand for a few seconds, should bestow this ownership on him?

That is what we do with the goods of this world. They belong to the earth, to all of us. We should learn to share them with all. We should learn to give, give, and give. This is my divine master's forte. I have not seen anyone else in the world take such an actual delight in giving, giving - everything, to everybody.

A correct understanding of this truth that the world belongs to all of us, and that we are all brothers and sisters under the fatherhood of God, will show us how we can achieve perfect social adjustment here. For, whatever may be our concept of God - they are but concepts which do not always have relevance to our life here, unless and until we truly understand our relationship with the world, we cannot know how to live in harmony with what is around us; we cannot attain purity of mind and heart, and we cannot arrive at the truth.

Our relationship with our neighbors now is not governed by the universal teaching, 'Love thy neighbor as thyself', but by the profit motive. We have not learnt to give, but only to take - and there is no limit to what we want to take. Even if the whole world is given to us, we still remain unsatisfied. We expect to be paid for every little service we render. This expectation always brings disappointment in its wake. We are not interested in others' welfare, but only in our own.

Yoga asks us to serve and love our neighbor as our own self, for God's sake. "For God's sake, do this!", cries a boss when he is annoyed; the wise secretary should thank him for this great admonition. We should do our duty for God's sake, not for the sake of pleasing any person.

We shall never feel disappointed if we expect no material reward for the service we render. We feel that the self that dwells in us dwells in all, and that we are eternally united with all that exists in a bond of love - and that love is God. In order to attain cosmic consciousness, we cultivate cosmic love, and express it as selfless service for God's sake, as an instrument in the hand of God.

Let not the thought enter our mind that we have brought any great good, happiness, or relief, to any being on earth. It is not that, but for us, the world will collapse! God's will is done here, as it is in heaven. We are only His instrument. How blessed it is to be an instrument in the hands of God, to feel that His Will is done through us. He works through us. His Will is done, and we are glorified on earth. Unearned glory!

In this, there is no superior service or inferior service, no menial service, and no service from which we need shrink. It is all service of God. Whatever falls to our lot, we should do in this spirit. It is not necessary for us to run away from our homes, and search for sick people! Wherever we are, we shall find poor people, sick people, illiterate people, people in distress, etc., whom we can help. But, over and above all this, we should learn to do all our daily duties - even the prosaic household duties and office work - in this spirit.

This spirit of worship ensures that the service or the activity is sincere and efficiently performed. We shall not offer faded flowers at the Feet of God. We shall not be inefficient in our work either. We do not seek a reward. To worship Him, to be an instrument in His hands, is itself the supreme reward. There is no mechanical regimentation in this work. It is full of love and devotion. It is performed joyously - there is no tension in such activity.

This is the religion for the modern man. It is the religion of transformation of the heart, a new social adjustment, a healthier outlook on life, and one that satisfies the dynamic, rational, and socialistic modern man. Everyone, living for 'others', promotes commonweal, and eventually realizes the supreme omnipresent truth, or cosmic consciousness.

When this spirit is absent, commonweal, peace, happiness, and prosperity, are beyond our reach, whatever be the progress we make in the spheres of science and technology.

 18. The Three-pronged Attack on Ignorance

In karma yoga - and in yoga, generally - we have only one real enemy and obstacle, and that is egoism; and this egoism itself is nothing but ignorance. This mighty power manifests in our life as (a) I-ness (b) mine-ness, and (c) love of sense-pleasure, and comfort. The purpose of yoga is specifically to forget the self, the ego, to forget the world of pleasure and comfort that is likely to keep one away from God - God who is present in all, and who is bliss.

This ignorance manifests itself as the basic concept: 'I am this body', i.e., I am a distinct personality, different from all others, with my own soul separate from others, with my own ideas, ideals, thoughts, and aspirations. The yogi endeavors to 'sacrifice' - in the Bhagavad Gita this is called yajna - this ignorance at the altar of God who is the sole reality.

This ignorance manifests as a distinction between what is 'mine' and what is 'not mine'. If this is an object of enjoyment, there arises a tendency to preserve what is 'mine' with all one's power and by all means, fair and foul; and, what is 'not mine' is sought to be gained, by fair means or foul. If it is a person, then the tendency is to cling to, and to protect what is 'mine', and to ignore, to hate, and even to destroy what is 'not mine'. The destruction of what is 'mine' causes misery; and the promotion and prosperity of what is 'not mine' also causes misery - whereas the contrary gives pleasure. The yogi endeavors to rid himself of this manifestation of ignorance by what in the Bhagavad Gita is called 'dana' - charity.

On account of the identification of the self with the perishable, inert and element-compounded body, this ignorance considers those experiences which please the senses, as happiness of the self! Hence, man restlessly pursues sense-pleasure, forgetting that thereby he is driving happiness farther away! Ignorance prevents him from arriving at a correct understanding, and keeps him under the subjection of illusion. The yogi conquers this 'love and pursuit of pleasure', by resolutely leading a life of simplicity - austerity or tapas - which burns the veil of ignorance.

All three terms have been grossly understood. Let us approach the three from the lower end of the scale; for, without first getting rid of the false values in our life, and of the lust for luxury, we shall not get anywhere. Tapas is a 'burning fire'- often taken literally to mean that we should live surrounded by fire! There are yogis in India, even today, who sit on burning sands of a river-bed, with the blazing mid-summer sun above, and four heaps of burning firewood in the four directions close to them. It may develop one's power of endurance, but it has no real spiritual value; for, instead of burning ignorance and its offspring - egoism, such practices may very well fatten egoism and vanity. A simple life, providing oneself with nothing more than the bare necessities of life - not those luxuries which today have become bare necessities, a life of self-control, is tapas; for, such a life burns all unholy appetites of the senses.

Charity has also been distorted very much. Real charity is done, not because otherwise human misery will not be relieved - God can wipe out the world's miseries in a minute, but He gives us an opportunity to purify our own heart by charity and service, not for the sake of self-aggrandizement, but purely as worship of the omnipresent God. We offer to the God-in-the-beneficiary that which already belongs to Him. The whole universe is His, and we ignorantly feel that some objects are 'mine'. Charity is done in order to remove this sinful feeling of mine-ness, this anti-divine misappropriation which is the cause of all our miseries.

Yajna or sacrifice, too, has given rise to hideous practices of killing innocent and harmless animals in the name of God and religion. Sacrifice is the sacrifice of egoism, selfishness, which erects a wall of isolation to imprison the soul. This is the last big hurdle in yoga; and, just beyond, it is God-realization. This selfishness is the poisonous agent that pollutes the living waters of peace and bliss that continuously spring from our own heart, thus making us miserable, even though we live close to the fountain-source of supreme happiness and peace. Sacrifice of I-ness is not easy. It is not giving away something which we have - and which we may acquire again, but is the little ego which we, in ignorance, believe to be the self. When this ego-sense dies, then the cosmic being reveals itself from within as the self.

These three are vital to the practice of yoga. Tapas simplifies our life, and makes luxuries unnecessary. It opens our eyes to all the unnecessary things we store in our own house, which, when distributed, can lessen our anxiety over their preservation, and promote the happiness of others. Charity removes the sense of possession, and enables us to realize that all things belong to God, and are really pervaded by Him. Sacrifice removes the veil of ignorance and egoism in us, and enables us to perceive the hidden godhead within.

Sacrifice and charity together keep us ever open in all the aspects of our personality. Self-centeredness and selfishness are destroyed, and we are ever open to the reception of divine light, and to its rediffusion to all.