ACTION TO PERFECTION

BLOG 8: http://www.speakingtree.in/blog/perfection-in-attitude

Perfection in Attitude

Action is a very peculiar thing. It tends to bind the doer. We have all experienced that when we start doing some karma (action), we think we will do just a little and stop there.  For example, a person who is unemployed only wants a job but once he has a job, he desires more money. He takes on another job but even then he is not content. Now he wants even more wealth. It goes on and on… till he is totally entangled in a mesh of his own making with no way of breaking out of it. Or take the case of a person who starts off wanting to run a nursery school and ends up running a university! A man gets bound by his own karma. This bondage results from not knowing what actions to do and the attitude with which they should be done. Karmas that are not dedicated to God are the ones that bind. Therefore karmas should be performed wholeheartedly without any attachment to the action or result of action. If an action has to be performed, do it; if it has to be given up, renounce it. The attitude should be one of dedication. In karma yoga there is no place for laziness, for prohibited actions or for self-centred activity.  In order to qualify as karma yoga first one has to do one’s enjoined duty and it should be done with an attitude of dedication to God. Worship the Lord through your karma.

Why should our actions be dedicated to God? Suppose you get a job in a company .Why did the company give you the job? Because of your proficiency or ability for the job. Who gave you that proficiency? Think. You may answer that it is because I am very intelligent, but who gave you that intelligence? We thank the person who gave us a wristwatch, but do we ever thank the one who gave us that wrist? Do we ever think of the one who gave us the gift of life? That source from where we have got all this is called God.  We are so grateful to one who gives us a job.  What about expressing our gratitude towards the One who has gifted us all our abilities and capabilities, our very life itself?

No particular karma is called karma yoga. Each one must find out what his/her duties are. They vary from person to person depending upon their stage or position in life.  The duties of a student differ from that of a teacher, the duties of a householder will be very different from the duties of a sannyasi. There may be differences in duties but there can be in oneness in attitude.  When we do our duty as an offering to God, then the karma becomes karma yoga.

So I must do my duty, do it efficiently and dedicate it to God as one would when performing a yagna. In any yagna we make an offering to the devata, so also the karma we do is made as an offering to God. When actions are performed in such a worshipful manner, the results are accepted as prasad from the Lord. There is no attachment to the result. Such an attitude is called perfection in attitude.

Experience shows that when we like the actions we are doing or like the person for whom they are being done, then  such karma is never  a  botheration . A hobby never becomes tiring or boring.   Suppose you are asked to sweep a room, you will not be enthusiastic about doing this task and will try to pass it on to someone else at the earliest opportunity! But if you were told to do it for someone whom you respect or revere, then that same job of sweeping becomes a joy. So in karma yoga when you have the attitude that you are doing it for God then there is great joy.  Performing actions in this way makes it a yagna. Some people do not understand the concept of God, so for their understanding it is said that when a group of people take up a project which is for the benefit of the community and each one works for the common cause in a selfless spirit, such a cooperative endeavour is called a yagna. Performing actions for the good of all, with dedication but without attachment is said to be working in the yagna spirit. So the best attitude to adopt while performing actions is not to have any attachment to the action or the result.   When actions are performed with this attitude, the mind becomes purer and purer. It becomes capable of grasping the subtle Truth spoken of in the scriptures and becomes fit for meditation on the nature of God.

We are pleased to inform you that the talks on Narada Bhakti Sutra by Pujya Guruji for the 16th batch Vedanta Course students will be streamed live.

The sessions will commence from 10 September 2015 to 17 September 2015. Each of the links below accesses separate sessions. The timings for the sessions are 4:30-5:30pm IST and 7-8pm IST.

September 10
Session 1 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2cHOkFRgvg
Session 2 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-Fgi14jjx4

Pujya Guruji’s talks on Yoga Vasistha Sara Sangrahah for 16th batch Vedanta Course students will continue to be streamed live until 9 September 2015 (inclusive). The links below accesses separate sessions and the timings remain unchanged, that is 4:30-5:30pm IST and 7-8pm IST.

8 September

Session 13 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvTlg6SY-KE

9 September

Chinmaya Mission,Mauritius recently organised a Spiritual Camp for children aged between 10 and 14 years old from Sunday 02nd to Wednesday 05th August 2015. The Theme of the camp was based on the Tree of Life.

“If we plant the right seed at the right place at the right time in the right environment, the world in the future will be a beautiful garden and a bountiful orchard of wonderful human beings.”

The camp was lead by Brahmachari Arvind Chaitanya (Currently posed in Chinmaya Mission – Mauritius) and Brahmachari Ishan Chaitanya (From Chinmaya Mission – Reunion).
A 10 minutes video has been compiled of the activities which happened during the camp and same can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMv2uRsJeb8

‘Karma Yoga Decoded’

By Pujya Guruji Tejomayanandaji on Speaking Tree

Link:
http://www.speakingtree.in/blog/karma-yoga-decoded

Karmayoga is generally translated and understood as ‘path of action’, yoga of action. People have different notions as to what constitutes karma yoga. Some think that a person engaged in action throughout the day is a karma yogi. According to this yardstick even those who put in many hours of hard work in illegal activities like gambling and smuggling or those who work for hours on end motivated by greed for maximum profits or more power would be considered karma yogis! Doing a lot of karma (actions) for many hours a day may be a part of karma yoga but is not its essential nature.

There are others who believe that karma yoga means skilfully performing actions. This would mean that a person who skilfully picks the pocket of another can be considered a karma yogi! There is a story of two skilled pickpockets who fell in love and got married. They were very happy when they were blessed with a son. They hoped that he would be even more skilled at picking pockets than they were. To their horror they found the child would not open his fist! How would he be a pickpocket they wondered? Finally when he did open his fist they found it in his little hand the gold ring worn by the nurse, who had assisted with the delivery! Skilful from birth! This story may be an exaggeration but it demonstrates an important point -to do things skilfully or with dexterity is no doubt an important part of karma yoga, but merely doing things skilfully does not make one a karma yogi.

Another popular notion about karma yoga is that actions should be performed without any desire for the fruit of action. Others question this and ask, “If all actions are to be done without desire for the fruits of action, how will there be any karma? Is it only to fulfil desires that actions are performed?” Or they say that there prosperity happens only because of desires, so no desires mean no prosperity. They dismiss karma yoga as impractical.

It is true that there can be no action without a desire or without some motive but, why should desire only be for a materialistic gain? Actions can also be performed to achieve a higher purpose. One generally tends to ask, “What will I gain materially from this action?” But I can also ask “How can this action bring material benefit for somebody else?” There will be a material benefit but for someone else, not me. As far as I am concerned, I should only ask, “Will this action lead to purity of mind?”

When 8 or 10 people are working for the same material gain, it is not possible for them all to get it. Only one or perhaps two of them can obtain the object desired. This can lead to a fights, conflicts, competition, struggle, and pain. But suppose each one of them works with the attitude that he wants to gain only purity of mind, a non-material objective – it can be gained by all of them at the same time. Conflict arises only when everyone seeks material gain and all covet the same thing.

In karma yoga also there is a desire but not for material comforts and enjoyment. Or even if it is for material gain it is to benefit somebody else, not the doer. There are many householders who work hard for the benefit and prosperity of their children. Their gain is the joy they feel when their children accomplish great goals. There is no material gain. This demonstrates that action does not always have to be motivated by material goals.

There are two aspects to any action. The first is to perform the action efficiently, perfectly. However perfectly an action may be performed there is always room for improvement. Hence the saying, ‘The largest room in the world is the room for improvement!’ The second aspect is the attitude with which the action is performed. Perfection in action is rather difficult but perfection in attitude is possible. If we perform actions with the right attitude, then however small or big the action, it will become great. This is beautifully illustrated by the famous squirrel in the Ramayana, who out of love for Sri Rama tried to help the monkeys build the bridge across the ocean. The squirrel first wet itself in the water, then rolled in the sand and shook off the grains of sand on the bridge. This irritated the monkeys but Sri Rama understood the squirrel’s desire to assist in this great endeavour.

So only right actions (performing one’s obligatory duties) performed with the right attitude can be termed as karma yoga; otherwise it is merely karma, action.

Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Tattamangalam celebrated the 69th Indian Independence Day in the presence of a very special person, Sri Bala chandran Karthat  personally gracing the function as chief guest.  This great personality is a true Gandhian who had extended selfless service to community for several decades. Not only he is associated with  freedom movement and Gandhiji, he is also one of the founder members of the Sabari Ashram which is poised to be the Sabarmathi Ashram in South India.

He was at the helm of several Gandhian movements like caste related movement, land related movement, harijan seva etc  that has  resulted in gaining dignity to the down trodden and under privileged.   Needless to mention several honours and awards have come to him and the government has recognised this hero of our land at several  occasions.

I must  say, Our children got a chance to see a freedom fighter in person and listen to his experiences and I could see their excitement.  He was highly impressed by our students performance  and hospitality accorded to him. 

The students rose to the occasion and did their best. Same way the parents too have enjoyed the performance by our students and the wise words of the chief guest.