Sadhana Panchakam - Post 9

  

It is common for all animate and inanimate creatures to perform actions and no one can remain without performing them.

 

However, in spite of the creatures generally performing their actions impelled by attributes and inclinations, the human beings have a distinguishing attribute, viveka, which distinguishes them from the others in animate world, the sense of discrimination between what is Proper (Shreya) and what is Pleasant (Preyas), and  perform their actions on the basis of their sense of discrimination.

 

This distinctive characteristic makes the human beings superior to all other creatures. Karma, as a philosophical concept, represents both the Cause as well as the Effect of the performance as well as non-performance of actions, according to which one becomes responsible for the actions performed as well as for actions not performed. 

 

Each action is performed with definite intent in Mind, many responses being in conformity to each one’s guna (attributes) and svabhava (inclination/ tendency).

 

When actions are spontaneous then they become sourced from the one's essence, the self within, uninfluenced by the attributes and inclinations, like a dancer would perform his/her dance, the movements and gestures responding and conforming to totality of the dance. In a dance, each movement and gesture is as important as the dancer is. 

 

Each movement and gesture emanates from and owes its existence to the essence which is within the dancer. Once the dance begins, each movement and gesture weaves its own individual and distinct pattern. 

 

The dance ends as one common, composite and comprehensive form, the movements and gestures not remaining as distinct and independent. 

 

The movement and gesture cannot be the dance, cannot have affinity with or can they be like the dance, even as luminous rays cannot be the Sun. 

 

They can be part of the essence without having the fullness of the essence. Once the dance ends, the act of performing and the person performing cease, only the dance remaining eternal as composition.

 

The Cause and the Effect are essentially cyclical. Therefore, it is difficult to say whether Karma as Cause was earlier or the Effect, whether Karma as Effect initiates further Karmas. 

 

Swami says,

 

"Embodiments of Love,

 

For every action there is an outcome, and subsequently, this outcome gives rise to another action. This ongoing cycle of action and result, result and action, manifests itself in a way similar to the cycle of the seed and the tree. 

 

The seed and tree also follow one after the other, with the seed giving rise to the tree and the tree giving rise to the seed. Without a seed you cannot have a tree and without a tree you cannot have a seed. The same thing is true for an action and its result. 

 

These are natural cycles in the world. When this is so, with one always following the other, why should you take a special interest in the outcome? 

 

Your duty and responsibility is to perform the right action; have no concern about the result. Krishna told Arjuna, "In this battle, you should be indifferent to what happens to your own people or what befalls you. Do your duty without letting your mind to dwell on the outcome." 

 

Every Worldly Experience can be traced to Karma 

 

Action is called karma. You are born in karma, you develop in karma and you die in karma. It is karma, or the actions you perform, which are responsible for all good or bad, sin or virtue, profit or loss, joy or sorrow. 

 

Truly, karma is responsible for your very birth itself. Karma is really the creator for mankind. It shapes your life. It follows then that you should not look upon action with carelessness. Your entire life is associated with action. Therefore, recognize the importance of right action and engage in that, unwaveringly. 

 

Do not think that action is just a small thing. It may start as a small sapling but it will grow into a very big tree. Before a seed can become a tree, it has to break out of the soil in which it was sown. Then, once it has become a big tree, it will offer you its fruit. 

 

Whether this fruit brings you joy or sorrow depends on the seed that you have sown. To get the very finest fruit, the seed of action which you have performed must be of the highest quality and it must break out of the soil of egoism. Then this action can be transformed into yoga. Yoga is union with God. 

 

(Source- Sai Baba Gita) 

 

 Continued......