Miscellaneous - Religion   

From Karma to Jnana

CHENNAI: The route to liberation is not clear to many, especially when coming to grips with the diverse modes of spiritual practice. Through the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna explains the profound truths of wisdom while showing the different stages in the path and instructing the proper practice to be adopted.

In a discourse, Sri N. Veezhinathan pointed out that the focus in the chapter on Karma Yoga is that though attainment of the "realised" state of a Jnani is the ultimate goal, it is only the performance of Karma Yoga that provides the springboard.

Not all are prepared or qualified to attain Jnana at the outset. The path of action is a means of liberation as efficient as the path of knowledge. They are not exclusive but complementary.

While each one is expected to do the allotted work, the emphasis is on the performance of action without attachment. If actions are performed with a view to gaining wealth, fame, or any other desire, the results (of good and bad deeds) become binding on the individual. To get released from the binding effects of Karma, one has to perform one's duty without the feeling that it is he or she who is the doer. The sense of "I" has to be totally absent. All work is to be done in a spirit of sacrifice, and for the sake of the divine.

What is needed is an inward honesty that runs through one's consciousness, speech and actions.

If a person controls the senses and dedicates both the actions and the fruits thereof to God, then such a person is in the right path to salvation. When this is done in all sincerity, the individual is gradually purified and is ready for enlightenment, the ultimate stage of Jnana.

This state of Chittha Suddhi (purity of mind) is a renunciation that has to be found in the depths of one's soul.

To Arjuna's question whether one could adopt the stance of Karma sanyasa (renouncing all actions), Lord Krishna emphatically says that this is not possible and should not be done. No one can abandon or renounce action. All are compelled to act in some form or other.

The accent is only on rejection of personal gain and desire and not on renunciation of actions.

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