Action and Inaction

Gita essays – 6 

After concluding His teaching on the secret of Avatar wherein He exhorted Arjuna to action, performing his duty in a disinterested spirit, without getting attached to action or its fruits, Lord Krishna started explaining the doctrine of action, as He felt that even learned persons have confusion about it.   So Lord says that one should know clearly what is action (karma), what is actionlessness (akarma) and what is .prohibited action (vikarma).  These are to be understood in terms of scriptural do’s and don’ts and not merely in terms of bodily activity and inactivity.  Lord classifies this knowledge as subtle and hard to understand as it concerns Self-knowledge.  In life one cannot escape activity but one can disassociate oneself mentally with the knowledge that his true Self is Athma which is only a witness to all activities and not a doer.  With this Self-knowledge, shedding ego and disclaiming doership, he is said to be actionless, even though in the thick of activities.  Without this knowledge and under the influence of ego when he thinks and plans various activities. he is said to be engaged in action, even though physically inactive. This subtle doctrine of action in inaction and inaction in action, Lord starts explaining from verse 4-18 which is as follows:

कर्मण्यकर्म यः पश्येदकर्मणि च कर्म यः। (Karmanyakarma yah pashyed akarmani cha karma yah)
स बुद्धिमान् मनुष्येषु स युक्तः कृत्स्नकर्मकृत्।। (Sa buddhimaan manushyeshu sa yuktah kritsnakarmakrit)

The person who sees actionlessness in action and action in actionlessness is wise among men. He is a Yogi who has accomplished everything that is to be accomplished.

Swami Dayananda says that this is an important verse for which Sri Sankara had written an extensive commentary.  Swami Paramarthananda refers to it as one of the knotty verses of Mahabharatha, dictated by Vyasacharya to Lord Ganapathy.  When Lord Ganapathy agreed to be a scribe, he wanted Vyasacharya to dictate as fast as he wrote and Vyasacharya agreed on the condition that Lord Ganapathy should understand the verse before committing it to writing. And to gain time in course of dictation, Vyasacharya dictated such verses with contradictions where Lord Ganapathy had to pause to understand before proceeding further. Both the Swamijis have made detailed analysis while explaining this verse.  Let me confine myself only to a short gist.

As per Swami Dayananda, Karma here means action in general and not to scripturally enjoined rituals, as elsewhere in Gita.  One’s true Self is actionless even when he is engaged in action as activity, a function of the Gunas, belong to the senses, the body and mind.  The wise person knows this and so in the action of the body-mind complex, he feels actionless as a witness of the action, while the ignorant regard him as active.  When the body is resting and ignorant considers himself as actionless, the wise aware of the internal activity going on in the body-mind complex sees action in inaction.  Such a wise person is called Yogi and such a Yogi with Atma Jnanam is ever content in Self, with Self and whenever he acts it is for the welfare of the world only and not for any personal gain in any form..  As Adhi Sankara explains; in Athma there is no action; in the body, however, there is no rest, even when there seems to be rest.

After this explanation regarding karma. Lord Krishna starts the main topic of this chapter “Jnana karma sanysa” i.e renunciation of action through knowledge. This is different from the other type of renunciation which is physical renunciation as in sanyasa asram.  Jnana karma sanyasa is internal renunciation where one learns to detach from actions through Vedanta vichara i.e. through Jnana yoga.  Once he gets established in the knowledge of Jiva-Brahma Ikyam and becomes a Jnani, he no longer identifies himself with the body and sees himself only as a trustee and body as Lord’s property.  This internal transformation is called internal renunciation, which Lord Krishna calls Jnana karma sanyasa.  This internal renunciation only can give true inner relaxation as one cannot expect relaxation at body level because the very process of life involves continual function of the body.  So one should only discover inner relaxation even amidst the activities by recognizing the the actionless Self  as true ‘I’.  Therefore, only through knowledge true and complete renunciation is possible.  This Self-knowledge Lord Krishna compares to a fire as it burns away Athma-ajjnanam.  The person with Athma Jnanam, Lord calls a perfect sage whose actions in the outside world are not only without desires but also free from the thoughts which cause such desires.  When such a sage works in the world outside he is only expressing the will of the Divine and not his own desires and therefore, it is said that his actions are purified by the fire of knowledge.

Lord cites such a person who has no attachment to the fruits of action, who is ever content and independent as an example of a person who is actionless even when he is in the thick of action, which has no selfish motive but is only for the welfare of the world.  It does not mean that such a wise person has no concern for the results, only he has no mental dependence or intellectual attachment to the expected results of his actions. Only preoccupations with the desired results give one worry and anxiety and free of that always one feels calm and satisfied, without stress and tension.

Now a doubt arises as to whether such a person will incur sin when he indulges in selfish activity to take care of his body, without which he cannot work for the good of the world,  Lord clarifies in verse 21 that activities for maintenance of one’s body is no sin, when a person

• ·  has renounced all possessions
• ·  has his body and mind under control
• ·  is free from desires and
• ·  engages only in minimum activity to maintain the body, while remaining unattached to it.

For such a realized person will be ego-less and views himself as an instrument of Divine and feels Divine will flows through him as action and that he is not a performer of any action.  What causes bondage is not the action but the selfish attitude to action born of one’s Ajjanam.  Being egoless and knowing world as manifestation of God, he is content with what comes to him spontaneously without effort and is free from jealousy.  Having perfect control over his mind and body, he accepts with equanimity the pairs of opposites in life like heat and cold, success and failure, good and bad, joy and sorrow, gain and loss etc.  As the egoistic motive of action is consumed by the fire of Jnanam, only to external world he appears to be acting, while he is really actionless and not bound.  Lord then emphasises the dissolution of all actions done in the yajna spirit by such a wise person who is a jnana karma sanyasi,  free from attachment, established in Jnanam and is liberated, and proceeds to point out how the actor, the act and the action are all different manifestations of the one Supreme only, in his eyes (4-24):

ब्रह्मार्पणं ब्रह्महविर्ब्रह्माग्नौ ब्रह्मणा हुतम्। (Brahmaarpanam brahmahavirbrahmaagnau brahmanaa hutam)
ब्रह्मैव तेन गन्तव्यं ब्रह्मकर्मसमाधिना।। (Brahmaiva tena gantavyam brahmakarmasamaadhinaa)

The ladle is Brahman. The offering is Brahman. It is offered into the fire of Brahman by Brahman. Verily Brahman shall be reached by him who sees Brahman in every action.

Though a Grihastha Jnani, a jnana karma sanyasi,  works in the world as a householder, in the back of his mind, he is always aware of  ‘Sarvam Brahma mayam jagat’ enshrined in Isavasya Upanishad as ‘ईशा वास्यमिदँ सर्वं यत्किञ्च जगत्यां जगत् I’ (Ishaavaasyam idam sarvam,Yad kincha jagatyaam jagat.)-‘Whatever moves here in this world, everything is pervaded or covered by God’.  So after attaining Athma Jnanam, Jnani sees Brahman everywhere in everything including the actions. the doer, the result, the instrument and the action itself.  These have no existence apart from Brahman, as a shadow has no separate existence from the object.  What appears to the ignorant as separate entities is seen as One only by the wise person. So the knowledge of Brahman removes all duality, dissolving all actions performed by the knower of Brahman without binding its performer, irrespective of the asram of the performer.  So as Swami Paramarthananda observes  “with jnanam, every asram is wonderful; without jnanam,every asram is painful” 

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Athma - One and Many

Sanathana dharma i.e. Hinduism has six systems of philosophy based on Vedas, which are known as Shad-darsanas. Each is a way of looking into the Truth.  One of them is Uttara mimamsa, also known as Vedanta, as the philosophy is based on Upanishads, which constitute the latter part of Vedas, i.e. Veda anta bhaga. Vedanta has three main subsects Advaita, Visishatadvaita and Dvaita. They all base their philosophy not only on Upanishads, but on Brahma Sutras and Bhagavad Gita as well and all these three together are called “Prasthana Thriam”, three authoritative texts.  The difference between the systems arises due to the difference in their interpretation of the texts.  Before going into a brief discussion of the three Vedanta schools of philosophy and their treatment of Athma, let me  at the outset explain that I will be referring in this blog,  Athma, the sentient force behind the body-mind complex, as Jeevathma and Brahman, the Cosmic equivalent of Athma, as Paramatma.  Jeevathma is what is commonly referred to as soul in all religious literatures.

Dvaita

Dvaita is a Sanskrit word that means "duality, dualism”. The Dvaita or "dualist" school of philosophy originated with Sri Madhvacharya who was born in Karnataka state in 13^th century. Madhvacharya called it Tattvavada and based his philosophy on Bhagavatha puranam as well along with Prasthana Thriam.  To Madhvacharya Lord Vishnu is the Paramathma and Paramathma is saguna and is different from Jeevathmas, which are many, and from the insentient objects, Jada.  Paramatma is a real eternal entity that governs and controls the universe.  According to Madhvacharya there are two orders of reality: 1. svatantra, independent reality, which consists of Paramatma alone and 2. paratantra, dependent reality, which consists of jeevathmas and jada.  So as per Dvaita philosophy, there are three realities Paramathma, Jeevathma and jada, one independent and two dependant on the one independent.

“I” is supposed to be the insentient body containing a sentient  jeevathma, which is different from the ever-powerful Paramathma, from other insentient objects that constitute the world and also from  other jeevathmas.  Madhvacharya outlines  pancabheda, the five-fold difference between

1.  Paramatma and Jeevathma

2.  Paramathma and Jada

3.  Jeevathma and jada

4. one jeevathma and another Jeevathma

5.  one jada and another jada

Jeevathma can never be one with Paramathma and Moksha, Liberation, is described as the realization that all finite reality is essentially dependent on the Supreme Paramathma.  Bhakthi yoga is the means for Liberation. Further Jeevathmas are divided into three grades.  One grade of Jeevathmas, mukthi-yogyas, only qualify for liberation, another, nithya-samsarins, are subject to the eternal  transmigration cycle of entry and exit in bodies while a third grade, tamo-yogyas, are condemned to eternal hell. 

So in a nutshell as per Dvaita philosophy, Jeevathmas are many and Jeevathma  is the servant of Paramatma and Jeevathma can never claim unity with Paramatma.

Visishtadvaita

The Vishishtadvaitic thought is considered to have existed for a long time and Ramanujacharya who accepts the Prasthana Thriam as well as the works of Alwars as the source of authority for his philosophy is now revered as the main proponent of Visishtadvaita philosophy.  Visishtadvaita is so called because it inculcates Advaita, oneness with Visesha,  attributes.  Like Dvaita, it holds Lord Vishnu as Paramathma and He is supreme as creator and redeemer. He is saguna, with qualities of omnipotence, omniscience and infinite love. He has no base attributes like sorrow, mortality, and change in Him.  

Ramanujacharya introduces a new concept “aprathak-siddhi” meaning “inseparability” to define the relation between Paramathma, Jeevathmas and Jagat.  All the three are Real but they are not separate Realities, as Jagat and Jeevathmas form part of Paramathma as His body.  Paramathma is Angi and Jeevathmas and Jagat are His Angas.  So all the three are eternal and inseparable but not the same. The three forming one is the non-duality part and Jagat and Jeevathmas inhering in Paramathma as attributes to a substance is the qualification part of non-duality.

Moksha is through Bakthi and Grace of Paramathma, that is attained through Prapatti or saranagathi  to Lord.  Karma and Jnana are only means to Bhakthi.  Moksha means giving up the worldly existence and passage to Vaikuntha to remain forever in presence of Lord Vishnu. The liberated Jeevathma attains to the nature of Lord but does not become identical with it. The Jeevathmas are classified in three groups :

1.   Nityas, or the eternally free Jeevathmas  who were never in Samsara
2.    Muktas, or the Jeevathmas that were once in Samsara but are now free
3. Baddhas, or the Jeevathmas  which are still in Samsara

So in a nutshell Jeevathmas are many and part of Paramathma but not Paramathma itself like a seed in the jackfruit which is not jackfruit itself. 

Advaita 

Though there had been earlier exponents of Advaita philosophy it is Sri Adi Sankara who perfected it and gave a finishing touch to it.  The Advaita philosophy enunciated by him is beautifully summed up in one line “Brahma Satyam Jagan Mithya Jivo Brahmaiva Na Aparah – Parmathma (Brahman) alone is Real; this world is apparently Real and the Jeevatma is not different from Paramatma”   Here Mithya is the word used to describe the world.  Mithya is not false but something which appears true but on investigation revealed as not true.  For instance the blueness of sky that you can perceive ordinarily but on investigation is revealed as not true. Same way with sunrise and sunset for sun does not really rise or set.  As Swami Paramathmananda states "Mithya object can have experienceability, transactability and utility but has no Reality"  

In my blogs on Athma and Jeeva-Iswara Ikyam, advaitic view of Athma and its identity with Brahman have been discussed.  To sum them up, Reality is Paramathma only and everything else is manifestation of Paramathma with form and name and that Paramathma is same as Jeevathma, in terms of the idiom used in this blog. 

To revert back to the terms used in the earlier blogs; as per Dvaita, Athmas are many and Athma is different from Brahman that is Saguna; as per Visishtadvaita, Athmas are many and different from Brahman that is Saguna, but they have a special relationship of Angi and Anga with the Saguna Brahman;  and  as per Advaita,  Athma is one and identical with Brahman that is Nirguna, and is defined as “Existence, Consciousness, Bliss” which is its intrinsic nature.  Swami Jitadmananda while describing Swami Vivekanananda’s practical Vedanta says “By Vedanta Vivekananda always meant all the three schools of Vedanta; dualism ( Dvaita) leads by the process of reason to qualified monism (Visishtadvaita) and qualified monism culminating in the same way in Advaita.  Dualism, qualified monism and non-dualism (Advaita) are only three gradually ascending stages of vision which unfolds themselves as one develops finer and finer intelligence”.  A jnani with advaitic vision experiences Brahman as “isness” of his thoughts in the inner mind in meditation and as “isness” behind the many in the outer world when interacting with the outer world involving duality.

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Kannappa Nayanar & Saakiya Nayanar

Ananya Bhakthi with unconventional worship

Narada Bhakthi Sutras in Sutra 2 defines Ananya Bhakthi as one of Supreme love directed towards Lord.  In Sutra 81 it further explains that it can be expressed in one or more of the following 11 ways: 

1)    Through love for glorifying His qualities

2)    Through loving attachment to His Divine Form

3)    Through love of ritual worship

4)    Through love for constant remembrance of Him

5)    Through love of service to Him as a servant

6)    Through love of attachment as to a friend

7)    Through love as to one’s beloved

8)    Through love as to one’s own child/parent

9)    Through love for a total surrender of oneself

10)  Through love for complete absorption in Him

11)  Through love as expressed in pangs of separation for one’s beloved 

Kannappa Nayanar is an Ananya Bhaktha whose bhakthi cannot be categorised under any of these eleven.  Of him another Ananya Bhaktha, Manickavasagar, whose life was described in an earlier blog titled “Manickavasagar – Jijnasu Ananya Bhaktha” states:

“கண்ணப்பன் ஒப்பதோர் அன்பு இன்மை கண்டபின்

என் அப்பன் என் ஒப்பு இல் என்னையும் ஆட்கொண்டருளி”    (திருக்கோத்தும்பி)

Even after seeing that I do not have Bhakthi comparable to that of Kannappar, my Father has graciously blessed me also.

Kannappar did not hesitate to give even his eyes to Lord seeking nothing in return and let us see his life and Love for Lord briefly in this blog.  Kannappar was not the name his parents gave him, which was Thinnan.  He was born in a hunting family in Uduppoor near Kalahasthi and his father was the chief of the hunting tribe.  Thinnan  was brought up like any other lad in the tribe. unlettered, with forest as the school and the hunting arts the only lessons.  When Thinnan grew up as a big lad his father asked him to lead the hunt and sent him with other hunters.  In the hunt chasing a wild boar he and his two friends, Kaadan and Naagan, got separated from the tribe.  Thinnan killed the boar only as they neared the base of the Kalaththi Mountain.  The mountain cast a spell on Thinnan and he wanted to explore it. His friend Naagan told him there was Kudumi Thevar there whom people worshipped. What Naagan referred to as Kudumi Thevar was only the holy Shiva Lingam

Leaving the hunted boar under the guard of Kaadan, he went up the hill to see Kudumi Thevar, led by Naagan.  The instant he saw the holy Lingam, his heart melted for the Lord who was there all alone by Himself, with no person to serve Him and with no weapons to defend Himself against wild animals. Then he noticed some flowers and food strewn there and wondered who would have done this.  Then Naagan explained to Thinnan that he had once seen in a hunting trip a Brahmin bathing him with water, putting the flowers murmuring something and placing the food there before leaving.  Now Thinnan decided to stay there guarding Him and to look after Him as Naagan told, bringing water, flowers and food.

 His friends’ protest did not shake him.  He told his friends to convey to his parents that he had decided to stay and look after Kudumi Thevar.  They left him with his new-found concern for Kudumi Thevar.  He plucked some wild flowers and decked himself with them. He chose choice pieces of meat of roasted boar after testing it through tasting. He then filled his mouth with water.  Then he took all the three to Shiva Lingam uphill.  He then poured the water from the mouth on the Lingam, adorned the Lingam with the flowers brought decked in his head and the meat which he had tested, before the Lingam and entreated the Lord to accept them, in his own way. Armed with his bow, he kept vigil there that night.

 The next morning he went for hunting to find food for the Lord.  The priest came as usual and finding meat at the site, hurriedly cleaned it thinking that some wild animal had come and had its kill there or some hunter had desecrated that place. After cleaning, he bathed again in the river, and then with fresh water and flowers went on with his routine worship and left.  Sometime after he left Thinnan came with water in the mouth, meat in hand and flowers on head. Cleaning the site of flowers the priest had used, he went on with his routine of spitting, adorning and offering and entreating, happy in his worship.

 The following morning when the priest saw the repeat of previous day he concluded somebody was desecrating the place and he made a prayer to Lord that this act of desecration be stopped.  This routine of priest and Thinnan alternating their worship in their own way, each cleaning the others’ and the priest lamenting over his inability to prevent the act of “desecration” continued for six days.  On the sixth day Lord appeared in the priest’s dream and told “What you consider desecration is an act of worship by my devotee who loves me dearly.  Tomorrow you watch, hiding yourself from his sight, and see for yourself how deep is his devotion for me”. 

Next day the priest finished his routine and hid behind a big tree to watch what was going on.  Thinnan came as usual, with meat in hand, water in mouth and flowers on head.  When he approached the Lingam, he saw blood oozing from its right eye.  He dropped everything on hand, went hither and thither in search of the miscreant who perpetrated this.  Finding none, he collected some medicinal leaves and squeezed the juice on the bleeding eye but blood did not stop.  As he was worrying about his inability to stop the bleeding, he remembered an old saying “Treat flesh with flesh”.  He unhesitatingly  plucked out his one eye using his arrow and pasted it on the bleeding eye and the bleeding stopped; maybe the first eye transplant operation.   When the bleeding stopped,  he danced in ecstasy that his treatment had worked and Kudumi Thevar was cured.

But this happiness was only short-lived as blood started oozing from the left eye.  This time he was not worried as he knew the cure and he had also one more eye to give.  But then a doubt came to him that if both eyes were not there how could he know where to paste?  Only for a moment he hesitated and then marking the spot on the Ligam by placing his foot there, he proceeded to pluck out his other eye. Then the Lord revealing His full form held his hand and said “Halt Kannappa, Halt” and Thinnan fell at Lord’s feet with awe and reverence.   His plucked out eye was now restored and his name too changed to Kannappar.  Both Kannappar and the priest, who was a witness to all this, were blessed with Moksha. 

His intense boundless selfless love for Lord is Ananya Bhakthi only, earning for him Lord’s vision and blessings of Moksha, however unconventional and outrageous be his mode of worship which the orthodox priest considered even revolting.  He is revered as one of the 63 Saivite saints called Nayanmars and called Kannappa Nayanar.  His worship and Bhakthi is portrayed in Sivananda Lahari by Sri Adi Sankara, without mentioning the name, as follows:

  मार्गावर्तितपादुका पशुपतेरंगस्यकूर्चायते

 गण्डूषांबुनिषेचनं पुररिपोर्दिव्याभिषेकायते

 किंचित्भक्षितमांसशेषकवलं नव्योपहारायते

 भक्तिः किं न करोत्यहो वनचरो भक्तावतंसायते ॥63॥

 Marga varthitha paduka pasupathe rangasya koorchayuthe,

Gandoo shampoo nishechanam pura ripo divyabhishekaa yathe,

Kinchid bhakshitha maams sesha kabalam navyopaharayathe,

Bhakthi kim karoth yaho vana charo bhaktha vatam sayathe.     

The footwear repeatedly used on the road and worn-out becomes adornment to the Lord,  water carried in the mouth and spouted becomes divine bathing, the remnants of a partly-eaten piece of meat becomes freshly prepared offering to the Lord and the tribal living in the forest becomes the crest-jewel of devotees of the Lord.  Wonder of wonders! What is there that devotion to the Lord cannot do?  

Another Ananya Bhaktha of similar unconventional worship is Sakhya Nayanar, whose mode of worship is mentioned in Sivananda Lahari in verse 89 in the following words.

धनुषा मुसलेन चाश्मभिर्वा

वद ते प्रीतिकरं तथा करोमि 

Dhanusha musalena chasmabhir vaa,

Vada they preethikaram thadha karomi.

Please tell me whether I should propitiate you by bow and pestle or by stones and I will do as you bid me.

Saakkiya Nayanar, whose original name is not known, was deeply interested in truth and in his quest for truth went to Kanchi to study various religions.  He was attracted to Buddhism and became a Buddhist monk.  But after a time he got disenchanted with the atheist philosophy of Buddhism, and decided that through the worship of Lord Siva only he can attain the goal of liberation.  He chose to worship Him as Lingam, the Rupa-Arupa manifestation of Lord Siva.  But he did not change his religion or his attire of a Buddhist Monk.  He became an ardent devotee of Lord Siva and he wanted to be initiated in the formal worship of the Lord as Lingam.  He was looking for a Guru, when he spotted an elderly ascetic doing pooja of a Lingam in an open place.  When he approached the ascetic for initiation, seeing his attire of a Buddhist Monk, the ascetic thought he was making fun of his pooja.  So to chase him away he threw a stone at him.  This act itself Saakiya Nayanar took as initiation and started throwing a stone daily at this Lingam as an act of worship with selfless devotion.  

Daily only after this ritual he will take food.  Other times he had no thought other than that of the Lord. One day he forgot this ritual and remembered this at the time of  taking food.  Immediately he got up without taking food and fasted the whole day.  Next day as first thing in the morning he went to that place and throwing a stone at the Lingam, he pleaded tearfully for forgiveness of the Lord for forgetting to offer worship to Him the previous day. His sincere supreme love for Lord moved the Lord, who appeared before Saakiya Nayanar and blessed him with Moksha.

Both above cases show that with Ananya Bhaktha , it is not only the fruit, flower, leaf or even water that Lord gladly accepts, as stated by Him in Gita 9-26, but even the stone and the meat;  for in Bhakthi, Bhava is more important than form.  Faith and sincerity in the worship and unconditional boundless reverential Love for Lord in whom total trust is placed, and from whom nothing for oneself is sought are the important criterions that distinguish the Ananya Bhakthi from ordinary Bhakthi. And this Kannappa Nayanar and Saakiya Nayanar demonstrated in their unconventional worship of the Lord and were blessed with Lord’s vision and Liberation by the Lord.  

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