Bhagwad Gita - Post 44

Verse 21

Yadyad aacharati shreshthas

Tattadevetaro janah;

Sa yat pramaanam kurute

Lokas tad anuvartate.

Whatsoever a great man does, that other men also do; whatever he sets up as the standard, that the world follows.

The word Sreshtha means great personality expert in the conclusions of the Vedas. 

Whatever actions such a great person performs others will try to follow. Hence the great personalities should always act in an exemplary manner to set the standard for the world.

In this way they inspire everyone to perform prescribed Vedic actions according to the qualification of one's varna or caste in life and one's asrama or stage in life.

If a great leader of society becomes a karma sanyasi, and renounces work, it sets an errant precedent for others. 

The leader may be at the transcendental platform and therefore eligible to renounce work and engage completely in spirituality. 

However, others in society use their example as an excuse for escapism, to run away from their responsibilities. 

Sage Tulsidas says: “One who renounces worldly duties, without the concurrent internal enlightenment with divine knowledge, treads the quick path to hell.”

How an enlightened yogi teaches on "selfless action" even after he has crossed all definitions / prescriptions / rules regarding action, prescribed in Gita or any other treatise? 

Let us see:

Visitor: Our work-a-day life is not compatible with such efforts [for Self-realization].

Ramana Maharshi: Why do you think that you are active? Take the gross example of your arrival here. You left home in a cart, took train, alighted at the Railway Station here, got into a cart there and found yourself in this Asramam. When asked, you say that you travelled here all the way from your town. 

Is it true? Is it not a fact that you remained as you were and there were movements of conveyances all along the way? Just as those movements are confounded with your own, so also the other activities. They are not your own. They are God’s activities. (Source: The Core Teachings of Ramana Maharshi, Roy Melvyn)

Visitor: So Karma yoga is kartrtva buddhi rahita karma – action without the sense of doership.

Ramana Maharshi: Yes. Quite so.  (Source: Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, Talk 643)

Question: Without the sense of doer-ship — the sense ‘I am doing’ — work cannot be done.

Ramana Maharshi: It can be done. Work without attachment. Work will go on even better than when you worked with the sense that you were the doer.

Thus, if one fails to do this by neglect or omission one commits sin by omitting to help benefit the welfare of the world by their example and the consequence will be one will fall down from the path they achieved after many lifetimes.

Love.

Bhagwad Gita - Post 43

Dear All,

We shall continue with our contemplation on "Yagna" or " Sacrifice".

Another dimension of Sacrifice

When we were created by God, He created us together with an impulsion to sacrifice. Sacrifice means the cooperation that has to come from us in respect of other beings in the world. 

Prajapati, the Creator, appears to have created individuals with an injunction that they will survive only by sacrifice. If we are not able to do any kind of sacrifice by way of cooperation with another, we will not be able to survive; our existence as persons will be annihilated. 

The survival instinct in every individual also implies the recognition of an equal survival instinct in other people. If we want to survive, others also want to survive; and if we want to survive in a qualitatively good manner, others also would like to be equally good qualitatively. 

Hence, we have to be considerate enough in respect of other beings that whatever be the manner in which our survival instinct operates, we must have the capacity to appreciate that the survival instinct operates equally in them. That is, we cannot interfere with the life of another individual. That is the meaning of cooperation.

Ultimate dimension of “offering”

Let us now see another inspiring dimension of sacrifice. Here, sacrifice means “offering” and not sacrifice in literal sense.

In a temple, the pujari offers sweets etc. as offering to God and then partakes the same (besides offering to others.). 

In olden days, the Pujari / Priest / Monks used to partake only the prasad that has been offered to God and would fast entire day, if no offering comes for the Lord from devotees on that day. 

How beautiful the world would be, if we place all our actions

as offering to God in the above manner as Pujari offers and partakes the results of all those actions as prasad, in the similar way the pujari partakes the prasad.

In Prasad, we do not make any choice, we do not give our preferences, we do not say, "we will take only some types of prasad and will not take the other types". We just take the prasad as a gift from God and do not judge the taste of the same. 

Similarly,

All actions are to be offered to the Supreme Lord as Prasad

and 

Results of such actions are to be accepted without preference, without any judgement, without any preferences, as Prasad (received back after we have offered our actions) to the Lord.

With this state of mind, all such actions are purified, and they do not lead to Bondage!!!

A monk goes a step further and standing at the door of the temple, he prays to God and says, "accept all these human beings coming in as Prasad". What a noble thought, what a prayer!!!

Swami Says,

“One must not offer all types of objects and all types of actions to the Lord. Before you offer anything to the Lord, you must first make it pure, you must make it sacred and great. Then it will be a fit offering for the Lord.

For example, if you want to offer a rose to the Lord, you first select a beautiful, fragrant bloom. Then you remove the insects from the flower. 

Next you remove the thorns and any imperfect leaves from the stem; and in a number of other ways you make your offering as beautiful and as pure as possible. Only then do you offer it to the Lord. 

Every action you perform should be like this flower which you offer to the Lord. 

Just as a fine fragrance is inherent in the flower you offer, so also your actions must be saturated with the fragrance of love and sacredness. 

Just as the flower that you offer is beautiful and pure (without insects and thorns), so also your actions must be good and pure."

(Source - Sai Baba Gita)

Love.

Bhagwad Gita - Post 42

Verse 9

Yajnaarthaat karmano’nyatra

loko’yam karmabandhanah;

Tadartham karma kaunteya

muktasangah samaachara.

The world is bound by actions other than those performed for the sake of sacrifice; do thou, therefore, O son of Kunti, perform action for that sake (for sacrifice) alone, free from attachment.

The statements of living entities being bound to material nature by their actions refers to actions which are contrary to divinity and righteousness as delineated in Vedic scriptures.

Lord Krishna uses the word sanga which means attachment which will be there when the action is undertaken for self-service but as an offering to the Supreme Lord one is free from such ulterior motivations. 

Everyone in the world is locked and bound to the material existence by actions. The renunciates state that since all actions lead to bondage they should not be performed.  

But refuting this Lord Krishna states “yagna-arthaat”, sacrifices done for the Supreme Lord without expectation of reward are exempt from bondage.

How does one undertake this sacrifice? This is where YAGNA enters into the picture.  

Swami has mentioned about five kinds of Yagnas.

1)                Rishi Yagna - Related to devoted study of scriptures

2)               Pitru Yagna - Related to adoration of Parents

3)               Deva Yagna - Reverential homage to God.

4)               Athithi Yagna - Adoration of Guests

5)       Bhuta Yagna  - Unselfish acts done while dealing with trees, plants, animals etc….

We can observe that in each of the above Yagnas, the spirit required is SELF LESS ness. 

Swami says, “Karma is a yoga, action dedicated to God become qualified to be called a sacrifice or Yagna. Thus, it is appropriate to replace “Yagna” with this understanding with “offering”.

Thus, performing actions for the sake of sacrifice means, performing each and every action as an offering to the supreme lord, Brahman where, the one who is offering, the one for whom it is being offered – all are but Brahman. 

All activities when done as an offering to the Supreme Lord without  anticipating any reward become consecrated through yagna or acts of worship done for the pleasure of atma-purusha, the Supreme Lord internally within the heart and externally pervading all existence. 

Continued...

Love.