Chapter XVIII
Activity
and Action
Spiritual versus materialistic lands
The
countries of the world fall into two categories: countries in which the people
are devoted to activities with spiritual motivation (karma-bhumi) and countries in which the people pursue the pathways
of the senses (bhoga-bhumi), with no
higher purpose to guide them. The categories emphasize the ideals of the people
down through the ages. India (Bharath)
is the land of Godward activity, where the people have discovered the proper goal
of all activity, namely the glorification of God resident within and without.
Activity
(karma) is inevitable; it is immanent
in every thought. It is of two kinds: material and spiritual, connected with
this world and drawn from the Vedas or scriptural injunctions. Activities that
merely sustain life are material. Activities that elevate the human into the
divine are based either on the Vedas or on later sacred texts (sastras) or codes of law (smrithi). The activities can be mental,
emotional, or physical. They are also determined by the activities that the
individual has adopted in either previous lives or this life.
Secret of actions and reactions
The
Vedas (sruthis) and the codes of law
(smrithi) of India have thus
classified karma on the basis of the consequences it creates in the life of the
individual. The word karma is short and crisp; it is used freely by all and
sundry. But the idea and ideals it conveys are of great significance to
mankind. Karma is not simply physical; it is mental, verbal, and manual. Each
one can read into it as much value and validity as their reason can unravel.
Karma
subsumes every activity of people — worldly, scriptural, and spiritual. All
three strands are, in truth, intertwined. The worldly karma entails merit or
demerit; the scriptural karma is saturated with the experience of generations
of good seekers; the spiritual devotes itself to the cleansing of the heart so
that the indwelling God may be reflected therein. Karma is a stream that flows
ever faster and faster, turning the wheel of life and keeping it incessantly
active.
Karma
means movement, or that which urges the movement. Air moves in space; the
moving air results in heat. It is the friction caused by aerial motion that
makes the latent heat manifest.
Living
beings are able to maintain the temperature of the body as long as air is
breathed in and out. The quicker the breath, the warmer the body. Warmth is the
characteristic of fire. Fire is the origin of water. The Sun, as one can see,
raises clouds.
The
particles of water get mixed with other elements and then harden into “earth”
(ground, soil). The earth produces and fosters plants and trees, which feed and
foster humanity, keeping people hale and hearty. These plants give the grain
upon which people live, and the seminal fluid that produces progeny is the gift
of the grain. Thus is the activity (karma)
of creation effected and continued. This is how the codes of law texts (smrithi) summarize the process.
In
short, activity (karma) is observable
here as movement, as progress, as evolution, and as hereditary effect.
continued....
Love.
