Karma Yogi and Jnana Yogi

 

Gita essays – 8

In Chapter 4, Lord Krishna glorified Jnanam, as a great purifier that washes off all sins, past and present, and praised Jnana karma sanyasi as actionless in action and not bound. But in the concluding verse of this chapter Lord told Arjuna “Get up and take to karma yoga.”  So Arjuna was confused and wants know for certain which is superior; karma sanyasa or karma yoga.  These two represent two life-styles, one is pravritti marga where you engage in action as a householder, renouncing attachment to action, while other is nivritti marga, where you renounce action itself as a sanyasi. Arjuna is confused as to whether sanyasa asrama is compulsory for gaining Jnanam to achieve liberation and if so why should he not straightaway renounce action itself and take to sanyasa.  Lord Krishna clarifies that what is important for liberation is only Jnanam which can be attained in both ways of life and one who tries to differentiate between them is only ignorant in verse 5-4.

सांख्ययोगौ पृथग्बालाः प्रवदन्ति न पण्डिताः। (Saankhyayogau prithagbaalaah pravadanti na panditaah)
एकमप्यास्थितः सम्यगुभयोर्विन्दते फलम्।। (Ekam apyaasthitah samyag ubhayor vindate phalam)

Ignorant (people) assert that sanyasa and karmayoga are different, not the wise. By resorting to any one of them properly, one attains the results of both.

Physical renunciation of objects is no renunciation at all. What is wanted is the renunciation of egoism and desires. So one does not become a sanyasi by merely giving up actions due to laziness or some other personal or family problem,  One is a true sanyasi who is free from raga, dwesha and other pairs of opposites. Asram is no bar to obtain Jnanam but it is difficult for one to become a true sanyasi with a pure mind free from attachments, without going through a life of karma yoga. So a life of karma yoga is preferable for an ordinary person, advises Lord Krishna. Then Lord goes on to describe karma-yoga as a sadhana for Jnanam ultimately.

A Karma Yogi lives in the world without bondage like a lotus leaf on water.  With selfless action and without anxiety for the fruits, he has inward peace at mental and intellectual levels. He finds divinity everywhere at all times. As he sees the divinity of the Self as all pervading, Lord remarks “he realizes his own Self as the Self in all beings”.  Even in the common, natural and unavoidable activities of the world like eating, sleeping, breathing, speaking, closing and opening of eyes etc., a man of wisdom will not have any sense of doership or egoism.  As he identifies himself with the Self always he remains only a witness of the activities of the senses.  As he has no attachment, whatever actions he performs at the level of body, mind, intellect and senses, they are only for the purification of the self and not for selfish benefits. Dedicating all actions to the Lord and abandoning attachment, he totally surrenders to the Divine will.  Thus united to Lord he attains eternal peace and is not born again.  On the other hand the one who is motivated by desire and attachment to the fruits of actions and who is full of egoism and sense of doership can be considered as unharmonised with the Divine will, and is bound by his actions and continues in the cycle of birth and death.  Attaining Athma Jnanam, karma yogi lives happily as a Jnana yogi, established in Self-knowledge, mentally renouncing all actions and not identifying himself with the body which is called a city of nine gates.  He is totally free from the consciousness of “I”, “me” or “mine” and also from the idea of acting or causing action and he lives only for exhausting the prarabhdha karma, which caused his present body.  He attains videha mukthi when the prarabdha karma is exhausted.

Then Lord goes on to explain the nature of Athma and about Jnana yogi who has successfully gone through all the four stages listed below and is firmly established in Jiva-Brahma-Ikya Jananam.

1)    Discovery of the value for the knowledge of one’s higher Self, Athma Jnanam

2)     Discovery of the higher Self, Athma, as his Real Self

3)    Gradual identification of oneself with Athma, the higher Self, while simultaneously disidentifying oneself from ahamkara, the lower self

4)    Effortless, constant mental Identification with Athma, one’s higer Self

Athma, one’s higher Self, is akartha and aboktha and it is only under the influence of maya /prakrithi, one’s ego-self, ahamkara, acts and enjoys the fruits of action.  So Athma has no hand in one’s papams and punyams. Maya’s avarana sakthi, veiling power, covers one’s Jnanam and as a result one mistakes in ignorance his ego-self as the Real Self and imagines in his ignorance that his Real Self, Athma, is the doer and enjoyer and papams and punyams result from the actions of Athma.  When this ignorance is destroyed by Self-knowledge, the reign of ego ends and Athma that is Brahman becomes revealed as Self just as the objects of the universe are revealed when the dark clouds covering the sun are dispelled and move away.  Identifying his Real Self with Brahman, he continues to live as Jivan muktha and attains videha mukthi at death gaining freedom from the cycle of birth and death. He is a Brahma nishta, ever established in Brahman mentally.  He is no more a samsari but a samadarsi, seeing divinity everywhere and in all forms of life, human or otherwise. He does not depend on his senses for his pleasure and satisfaction, with the knowledge that they are generators of pain and suffering in the long run. Facing the pleasant he is not elated, and facing the unpleasant he is not depressed and he accepts with equanimity the play of opposites in life, keeping his desires under his firm control.  Before concluding Lord Krishna declares that for success in spiritual sadhanas to become Jnana yogi one should restrain the impulse of kama and krodha and should not indulge in sense pleasures, understanding their impermanence besides acquiring doubt-free knowledge of Athma

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Positive psychology and Purusharthas

Positive psychology is the scientific study of what makes life worth living.  It is a new branch of psychology to help normal human beings lead happy, fulfilled lives with a sense of well-being as contrasted with the study of abnormalities and dysfunctions of the human mind. It is a departure from the Freudian focus on making life less miserable to making life more happier.  In short its emphasis is on “What is right with you mentally” rather than “what is wrong with you mentally.”   Martin Seligman the founder of this branch of psychology defines it as the branch of psychology that uses scientific understanding and effective intervention to aid in the achievement of a satisfactory life rather than merely treating mental illness.  This is reflected in an interview with CNN on the current state of psychology.  When asked to describe in one word Seligman said “Good”. When he was asked to describe in two words, he changed it to” Not good”.  The interviewer taken aback asked him to describe in three words and he came out with the reply “Not good enough”.  That is in the field of treating unhealthy minds it is good, while in the field of helping healthy minds not good, and so overall not good enough.  This study originated in 1998 when Martin Seligman was elected the President of American Psychological association and he made positive psychology theme of his term.

As per Martin Seligman good life is “using your signature strengths every day to produce authentic happiness and abundant gratification” i.e. to continuously be happy and fulfilled.   Seligman has classified happiness in three broad categories.   

1) The happiness that one derives from a “life of enjoyment”, the Pleasant life.  The emphasis here is on savoring as much pleasures as possible through the normal avenues of entertainment, relationships, hobbies etc.. Seligman says this is most transient and ranks it low.

 2) The happiness that one derives from a “life of engagement’, the Good life. The happiness comes from one’s accomplishments, achievement of goal, meeting a challenge.  This happiness ranks only average as the feeling of fulfillment or satisfaction does not last long.

3) The happiness that one derives from “a life of meaning and purpose”, a meaningful life, The happiness comes from the feeling of satisfaction, one derives, when contributing to something bigger than themselves and more permanent than themselves like organizations, social groups, belief systems etc.. This ranks high on the scale when rendered selflessly and affords enduring satisfaction. 

After this short outline of Positive Psychology, let us go to a brief study of the Purusharthas.  Purushartha is a word used in our scriptures to describe human goals.  Though the individual goals may be different and numerous they can be broadly grouped under four heads; Dharma, Artha, Kama, and Moksha.  Now we shall see them, though not in the same order as stated above. Artha is one that gives security, economic, emotional or social.  So it can be basic physical needs like food, shelter, clothing and health and also higher emotional needs that come from fame, status, fortune and success and from relationships.  All forms of luxury needs to enhance the comfort or for sense gratification, entertainment and social pleasures come under Kama.  Dharma lays down the code of righteousness and the moral values that must govern all actions whether of Artha or of Kama. Moksha is the goal of liberation from the cycle of birth and death which is characterized by let-go and withdrawal.  The scriptures have also clubbed together all the paths of action and called it as Pravritti marga and the path of withdrawal as Nivriiti marga.  Whatever may be the goal the end-aim of all actions is one’s happiness and well-being only.  So we can consider Purusharthas as our scriptural divisions and compare it with the modern divisions of Practical Psychology in the area of enhancement of human happiness and well-being.

Kama corresponds to Life of enjoyment, Artha to Life of Engagement and Dharma to Life of meaning and purpose.  All of these come under Pravriiti marga only and so cannot give one lasting total happiness, which can be achieved through nivriiti marga only.  Withdrawal does not mean taking to Sanyasa or total cessation of activities.  It is not even what the Positive psychologists call “the learned helplessness”,  which is resignation born of a belief, or beliefs, that one has no control over what occurs, and that something external dictates outcomes, e.g., success.  Withdrawal or detachment is not only internal renunciation of attachment to results while being active in the activities of the world i.e. family, profession, and society; but also the internal renunciation of the feeling that you are the conglomeration of body, mind and intellect by replacing it with the knowledge of your true Higher Self. So here you renounce internally even the feeling of being a doer or enjoyer.  This is as indicated by Lord Krishna  in Gita (5-13)

सर्वकर्माणि मनसा सन्यस्यास्ते सुखं वशी । (Sarva karmani manasa sanyasyasthe sukham vasi)

नवद्वारे पुरे देही नैव कुर्वन्न कारयन् ॥ (navadware pure dehi naiva kurvan na karayan)

Mentally relegating all the actions to the city of nine gates (the body with nine openings), be the the embodiment of Bliss without stress of doing oneself or of getting done by others.

Positive psychology which is less than a decade old and which lists spirituality, calling it “a search for the Sacred” (Sacred can be inferred as God), as one of the contributing factors to the feeling of well being and happiness may one day move to the millenniums-old wisdom of Vedas that realizing that ‘the Sacred’ one is searching is one’s  own Higher Self  and living this Truth is the ultimate prescription for Absolute uninterrupted happiness, with a feeling of total fulfillment.

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