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The Fourfold Yoga - Part V

Union via Action ( Karma Yoga )


While acknowledging the fact the the One Universal Substance which compose the differentiated parts of the Universe is all this , one should indulge in selfless service and love for Him.

Man has two duties -  duty unto Caesar means we have to do our worldly duties & duty unto Self or God means we have to do selfless service to our brethren so that we fulfill the divine humanity in ourselves.

There is a poetic verse which says that trees exist for altruism, that rivers exist for altruism, that cows exist for altruism and hence this body is for Altruism or selfless service.

The basis of all service is Love. When we love, we serve. Service is divine and service is one of the means to exhaust one's own Karma .

Karma is defined as action and all actions have reactions. The grand Law of Causation, the Law of Cause and Effect, the Law of Retribution is called philosophically as the Law of Karma. What ye sow, ye reap is the quintessence of this Divine Law.

So we as composite creatures have done both good and evil and good & evil karmas haunt us. But in order to attain to Self_Actualisation, we should exhaust our karma. As far as karma is concerned there will be backlog and it will be difficult to exhaust karma all of a sudden. But absolute surrender to the Divine is the only remedy and while we tread the Path Celestial, all karmas get burnt up.

In Silence, we have to climb from our own earths to our own heavens, rendering to the Caesar of the outer world the things which are lawfully his, and at the same time fulfilling the Law of Wisdom which will set us up and distinguish us from the ranks of other men.

   

It is true that many adversities and opposition we may have to confront. But these are merely parts of the process and tests of fidelity. Some people on this Path Eternal complain that they and their friends also are visited by misfortune. But we have to understand that they are wages and Initiation is a process of intensive culture and accelerated evolution. It is our Karma exhausting itself.

We have to understand that the Divine Will is leading us, through every circumstance, towards the Final Realisation. This faith will give us equanimity.

We are given the commandment " Dont bother about the result while doing work" There is a subtle wisdom behind this. Our Rajasic ( human) ego has a basic defect. It want to be compensated for the work done. But Self-Realisation appears somewhat elusive and distant a Goal. It is not possible to get Realisation within one or two years. Hence our Rajasic ego always demands some compensation for the altruistic work done. It feels hurt if it its work is not paid. In order to overcome the agitations of our worldly ego, we are given the supreme commandment to ignore compensation for work done by us.

So our task is to work selflessly for humankind. Selfless service helps in erasing the ego. We have to redeem this earth of ours which appears to be sunk in evil and sin. Only by Universal friendship and Universal brotherhood can this world be redeemed ! Love alone is the Redeemer !

Man, by definition, is a composite creature. We have a positive as well as a negative aspect, Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde. The positive aspect of Man is called Punya Purusha and the negative aspect as Papa Purusha. While doing selfless service, we have to imagine that the Papa Purusha ( Evil Man ) in us is getting destroyed and that the Punya Purusha ( Noble Man ) is in the ascendancy in us. Once the Negative Aspect ( Papa Purusha ) is destroyed in us and the Punya Purusha ( Noble Man ) is affirmed, we have reached the Ultimate Goal !

 

By serving man we serve God, the highest principle in us. Forgetting the ego, we have to do selfless service to attain the Ulimate Bliss. Forget the ego; let it melt and merge with all its layers of Consciousness !

While business people say that it is Action alone which can convert dreams into dollars, we have to understand that their aim is wealth and they are following similar principles; but here our aim is Self Actualisation and it is Action alone which converts our heavenly dreams into Self- Realisation !