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by
Sri Bimal Mohanty
VOL
No.85
March: 2008
OUR ACTIONS ARE OUR OFFERINGS TO GOD
Based on the lectures by Sri Bimal Mohanty
When in YogasAdhanA we talk of soul’s liberation through application of ‘mind’ it does not mean that ‘mind’ is singled out as the only faculty that we use. The fact to be kept in mind is, that sAdhanA for a yogi is an involvement encompassing the total entirety of his existence, in all its dimensions i.e physical, mental and psychic or in every sheath like food sheath (annamay), vital sheath (pranamay), mental sheath (manomay), knowledge sheath (jnanamay) as well as the bliss sheath (anandamay). The point is, YogasAdhanA is a holistic approach for the individual soul, a total consecration and everything of him. By that only he makes meaningful progress. In common perception until one has engaged his tan, man and prAn (body, mind and soul so to say), it is difficult to achieve satisfactory results.
In this context often misunderstood is the role of the gross body or our physical system. We have been told that our body with its sense organs (indriyas) are indeed obstacles in our path to freedom and liberation. This is a very narrow view of thinking. Have you wondered, if these are indeed obstacles, if these are going to be detrimental to our spiritual evolution, why the creator in the first place, gave us this body and the physical faculties? That can not surely be His intention.
Everything that we have –physical mental or beyond mental – is indeed been gifted to us with one single purpose which is for our benefit and to assist us in realizing the one and only purpose of our life or lives, defined as the satchidananda- the absolute truth, its realization and the eternal bliss that results from this realization.
In this context there is no logic in believing that the body and the sense organs have only a negative influence. Rather their positive role in taking us nearer to the truth of things, cries for our understanding. As we have discussed before, YogasAdhanA is not a blindfolded mental exercise. It is the intelligent approach in its true perspective.
Every single entity in Brahman’s creation, their movements, actions and reactions, all the causes and their effects, this faultless cosmic design, the ‘coming into being (srsti), their short-lived existence (sthiti) and their mutation or change of state (laya) have been so engineered only to serve that paramount purpose. Nothing ever is purposeless or someone’s wasteful whim. There is nothing whimsical about God’s play, which we speak of as the ‘Divine Leela’. This includes not only the innumerable activities of the physical forms that we see around, but also every aspect of the divine design. Every part in every form, every faculty, larger or smaller, right upto the minutest cell or atom – the vaidic concept of anu, have been faultlessly conceived as part of the design, scripted and executed by the Brahman.
Therefore, although the human body with its powerful sense organs have been often derided as something to shun and denied, yet they are of absolute necessity for our progress. Ordinary minds get trapped in the superficial character of things. But hidden within, lies the real truth.
When we talk of the human frame, inspite of the great scientific claims we boast of, our scientific knowledge is understandably only relates to the physical dimension of the body. But the approach of our ancient seers has always been holistic. The obvious physical characteristics are ofcourse to be known. But that alone would not satisfy. In all observations, they searched for answers to all ‘what’s, all ‘why’s, all ‘how’s and most importantly who is really behind and what is his purpose? The questions like;
Kenesitam patati presitam manah
Kena prAnah prathamah preiti yuktah
KenesitAm vAcamimam vadanti
Cakshyuh srotram ka u devo yunakti
By whose will the mind goes to think what it thinks? By whose command the life force sparks the life within? By whose will I speak what I am speaking? Who directs the eyes and the ears? Who is that Divine behind all these?
Such questions are unique only to the seekers in the sanatan philosophy. By this they searched the truth of all things.
These questions imply that there is a design behind the working of all our faculties and our sense organs. There seems to be a plan and a purpose behind all activities. One ought to delve deeper and find out the answers and understand them.
The single purpose of the entire creation is quite clear. The great cosmic design- this creation- is nothing but a holistic process to reach out to its absolute perfection.
This process, this great endevour is the MahAyajna in progress, day in and day out, age in and age out, eternal, non-stop on the substratum of the Brahman. The yajna fire is ever burning.
You, me and everyone and everything around are part and parcel of this process, this mahAyajna. All things before us and all things that will come in future are created to be integral parts of this yajna. Everything fits into that cosmic arrangement.
Poet Rabindranath Tagore sang it so beautifully:
In this great expanse full of suns and stars, amidst this universe full of life, I recognise my own place as a part of all.
(AkAshbharA surya tARA, vishwabharA prAn, tAhAri mAjhkhAne Ami peyechi mor sthAn.)
This concept of the all-encompassing process of spiritual evolution is also the secret of the Raja Yoga as explained in the ninth chapter of The Bhagavad Gita.
The fire or homAgni of the yajna is sustained by sacrifices, offerings made by all, fuelling it. (kratu, swadha Ajyam etc). The whole creation is sustained by the sacrifices of every part within itself. From the unlimited space holding countless universes (anantakoti brahmAndas), the stars planets, galaxies as well as tiny ‘you’s and ‘me’s all play our roles. Pause a while to contemplate on this gigantic canvas and this magnificent picture. You will be filled with great wonder- vismay.
Having lifted the mind to this higher level, the wise men pause to think:
‘What is my sacrifice? What do I offer?’
The answer to this is a simple one. We all offer to this yajna our own ‘actions’, our karma.
Actions or karma here mean what so ever we do in our physical, mental or psychic planes. All are actions. All activities of an emperor or a servitor, from an enlightened master to an ordinary living being, what ever the body does, or the mind thinks, every one is incessantly in some kind of action. All these actions go into this yajna. Our actions are our offerings.
The wise know that everything goes into Brahman. Brahmeiva tena gantavyam.
YajnAya Acaratah karma samagram praviliyate. All actions are done for the sake of yajna and in Brahman they melt away. Actions of all the sense organs, functions of the vital energy, the material wealth, the yoga of sacrifice itself, the act of self control, even the gathering of knowledge itself, the very act of remaining alive, all these are our offerings unto The Lord, into this yajna. The chapter ‘Jnana karma sanyasa yoga’ of the Bhagavad Gita goes to explain how this entire creation is verily the MahAyajna in progress.
Through this fire of yajna, everything is purified, like the gold retrieving its purity when burnt in fire we proceed to retrieve our original character by going through this mahAyajna in progress.
Offering one’s actions in this sacrificial fire is the soul’s only hope for emancipation, its liberation from the inferior state to the higher evolved state.
The yajna and karma are intersupporting. Yajnah karma samudbhavah. Karma is the mother of yajna and yajna is the cause of karma. There is no way any one can ever be without action – na hi kaschit kshyanamapi jAtu tisthaty akarmakrt- said Lord Krishna in The Bhagavad Gita.
So the karma being essential, the next question is how a particular action gets done?
Here one sees the importance of the sense organs, the karmendriyas without whom one can not carry out any action whatsoever. One can not even take part in this Mahayajna.
The indriyas are the tools which are absolutely essential for all actions. They are with us for that purpose indeed. If we did not have the indriyas, unable to carry out any actions, we would not exist. Forced suppression or even elimination (as some fools indulge in) of the sense dictated activities is utterly self defeating. That eliminates all actions too. To cure a headache you do not cut off the head.
When this wisdom dawns, the wise look at their sense organs with an un-emotional understanding. The indriyas and their inherent nature are indeed not the culprits. The damage is done by our misuse of them. Every time the ego succumbs to the demands of the senses without using its discerning power, it shows the sure symptoms of a weak ego. But when the ego wakes up to the fact that ‘my next action will be my next offering to my Lord’ it pauses a while. YogasAdhana is not in refraining from actions, but directing our karmendriyas to right actions. That is the responsibility of ego or self-will fully depending upon the viveka or the intellect. The yama, the control of emotions, dama, the self discipline, pratyAhAra, the self denial etc as part of the eightfold patanjaliyoga are not to be understood as war against our physical faculties, but as the necessity to understand their nature and master over them so as to be able to direct them to right actions.
The Vedic illustration of seeing the body as a chariot for movement is so apt. The jiva or the individual soul is the owner of this body-chariot. Through intellect its movements are controlled using the mind as its reins. The sense organs are the horses at the other end of the reins, feeling and moving along the sense objects as the road on which they move. But if one forcefully denies the horses any movement how does one progress?
It is not inaction, but action that is called for. Not merely action but right actions too. It is you who will decide that.
What kind of actions you perform and offer in this mahAyajna will decide the quality of your sadhana. If your love and devotion to Brahman your Lord, is genuine, you will always stop at making an offering which is not worthy of Him. That we must understand as intelligent participation in this divine process.
(Further suggested reading:
‘Transforming ourselves’ in April 2001 issue
‘ Work determines progress’ and Concept of many births’ in October/November 2000 issue)
