Wisdom Arising from
Renunciation
Yogis attain purification by performing
work through body, mind, intellect and senses, without ever getting attached to
those actions.
If one performs an action desirous of results it would imply
that the person is attached to the work performed. Therefore detachment comes
only through renunciation of fruits and desires. If one studies hard to secure
the first grade, one is attached to the study and the outcome. If however, one
studies hard, without really desiring any benefit or result, just for the sake
of study, thinking all the while it to be a great worship dedicated to the Lord,
one performs an action without attachment. If that study ceases for some reason,
or if the outcome is not good despite best efforts, the person is never
disappointed. Nor is he elated when he secures a first grade, as he never
desired any outcome, positive or negative. He is a real Sannyasi who is able to so perform a
work without desiring the fruits.
Generally every work is propelled by an objective, a desire.
Without desire for a favorable outcome it is very hard to motivate oneself to
spend effort. However selfless actions are not driven by selfish motives or
desire, but desire for greater common good that would result to humanity from
performing that action. This is the definition of a Yajna or sacrifice. A true sannyasi therefore does not work for any
selfish material gain but for the benefit of all. He dedicates his work and
actions unto God.
Sri Krishna
further expounded this to Arjuna, “A
person who is harmonious (with the principles of Yoga) will attain supreme bliss
by renouncing the fruits of actions, while the non harmonious who is desirous of
the fruits, gets tethered to the results of the actions and cannot escape the
evil effects and consequent sufferings of actions and
desires.”
A realized soul, who is simply an indweller in a body and who is
not identified with the body comprising of the nine gates, lives in happiness,
by mentally renouncing all actions, without doing or causing anything to
happen.
The Supreme Being neither creates ownership of actions, nor actions
themselves in the worlds. Nor does he project the union of actions with the
consequences. It is the nature that manifests and behaves accordingly. Every
individual, propelled by nature will take ownership of actions and will perform
actions being desirous of the fruits. Thus driven by his nature, the action
performed will bear fruits in due time and he will have to suffer the
consequences. Actions do not bear fruit in one lifetime and therefore the
individuals repeatedly take birth to reap the fruits of the actions. All actions
are produced by individual nature.
One may question, to what extent is one responsible for the
actions? Sri Ramakrishna said that a cow is tethered in a field and his
activities (of grazing) will be within the radius permitted by the rope. So also
we have an independence field - a choice, within a certain area. However Sri
Ramakrishna also said that when True knowledge dawns, one comes to know
everything as predetermined - will of the Lord. So how is it that Gita
proclaims the Supreme Being to be above actions? The answer is that here we
should carefully distinguish between Vibhu or the non qualified
Brahman, and the Iswara, or the Lord of all beings possessing different
qualities. Sri Krishna is talking about impersonal Brahman who
is inactive. Iswara is the Brahman modified by qualities of
nature, or in other words Brahman united with its Shakti
principle, the principle behind all actions in the Universe. Therefore it
is Iswara, who is also the nature, who predetermines the actions and
consequences of an individual based on the previous stored Karmas. This
cycle (of Karma, its accumulation and its deciding the further
karmas and circumstances for an individual) goes on for an eternity
till the true knowledge dawns and the individual soul is liberated. So an
individual is responsible for the actions, which are the results of the nature
of the individual, which is again shaped by the past actions, and hence unless
he gains the knowledge of the Absolute Truth, he is tethered to the world and
goes on accumulating karma indefinitely. Actions cannot bind
a jnani, who has realized the Brahman or the Atman.
Therefore he is liberated and is not responsible for actions. For him,
everything is predetermined and there is no free will. In other words, his will
has become God's will.
The Brahman is not responsible for vices and virtues. He
is above these pairs of opposites. He is indifferent towards good or evil. Good
or evil and such pairs of opposites only appear for individuals, who, ever
immersed in ignorance, are deluded (by Maya or the great bewitching force). It
is ignorance that enables one to conceive all forms of pairs of opposites like
good and bad, pleasure and pain, hope and despair, ecstasy and agony. The
Supreme Being is far beyond them. Without realizing the pairs or opposites as
unreal one cannot realize the Supreme Being. Pairs of opposites cannot be
breached as long as one is under the clutches of nature or Maya. Nature cannot be conquered without
renunciation of desires.
One, who has however realized his Self through the light of the
eternal knowledge, by the self, the Supreme Being is verily revealed to him.
This eternal knowledge is again not realizable without renunciation of desire
and hence renunciation is the key driving factor behind realization of the
Truth. Such individuals, always thinking of That (Supreme Truth), ever immersed
in That, firmly established in That and devoted to That, are liberated from the
cycles of life and death, purified by the knowledge of the Self.
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