Verse 1
कर्तुराज्ञया प्राप्यते फलम् |
कर्म किं परं कर्म तज्जडम् || १ ||
karturājñayā prāpyate phalam |
karma kiṁ paraṁ karma tajjaḍam || 1 ||
By the command of the Creator the result is obtained. Is karma the Supreme? That karma is inert.
The first word of the text refers to the Creator – the word ‘Kartu’, the Doer – and this remembrance is taken as an Invocation, an auspicious start to the text.
In the context of the origin of this poem, Lord Shiva is asking the group of Mimamsakas the question, “Is Karma really Supreme?”
The Mimamsakas have to be taken to mean all who hold that their actions alone are sufficient to obtain whatever they desire, implying that God does not need to enter into their world. God has no place amongst those abiding by this philosophy.
The Philosophy of Materialism:
Most people in this world would fall into this category, even some very well-meaning people who sincerely believe that just to do good acts is sufficient to obtain salvation.
The materialists say: "Whatever we want we can get through actions. What else do we need in this world? If God is there or not there, so what? It does not affect me in any way. Whatever I want I am getting by my action".
The nature of Karma is to be seen with respect to its result.
One who performs the action is Jiva, the limited individual, who has limited freedom to act.
One who has the choice in action is the DOER.
There is no DOERSHIP for an animal as it has no choice of action.
Since a human being has the choice in action (by using / not using his discrimination), he is the DOER or the KARTA.
Action done by the DOER produces result. Who can decide on the result? Can a Jiva, having performed an action, decide on what has to be the result of the action?
A Jiva has a choice only in deciding upon an action, not in the results.
The results of a Jiva’s action is decided by Easwara through the law of Karmas.
All that a Jiva can do is to perform an action and expect a result.
For those who have read the Karma posts in the blog, it will be clear that we do not decide on the law of Karmas. In fact, we are born and we carry the arrows of our karmas, as per the laws of Karmas.
Limitation of Karma / Actions
Ramana Maharshi asks, “How can KARMA, which itself is governed by the laws of Karmas, be limitless”?
If by itself, Karma is limitless, it should give you Moksha by itself, which does not happen.
Karma cannot grant liberation. Karmas at best can reduce your ego and take you to the next stage - Bhakti, provided you start performing actions without selfish desires and you willingly accept the results of your actions as Bhagavan’s prasadam.
Limited action can only produce limited results. I can only get a result which is as good or as bad as the action.
Then, is it that limitless actions can get limitless results? It is not possible because, at any given point of time, only limited actions can be performed. So, the result also has to be limited.
The problem of “Limited’
So, with the above explanation, it is proven that a Jiva who is only into action, keeps performing limited actions, gets limited results and he continues to be limited. But, as a human being, psychologically, none of us want to be limited, none of us want to be constrained, none of us want to be restricted, none of us want to be arrested. All of us want to be free, given a choice.
We perform an action for a DESIRED RESULT.
So, it is clear from the above expression that our actions are prompted by our desires. Thus, as long as we continue performing actions born out of desires, we will continue to get limited results. The “limited” ness thus continues and we can never get unlimited freedom.
Continued....
Love.
