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The way of Karma yoga

CHENNAI : The essence of Brahama Jnana is the ability to see God in all aspects of creation. The essence of Karma Yoga is the ability to see oneself as merely an agent and not a performer of actions while living in this world. This is what Lord Krishna teaches a deluded Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita, when he shied away from the war thinking he would be responsible for killing his kinsmen, preceptors, near and dear ones, etc. The practice of Karma Yoga is possible only when one eschews ego and remains focused on God as the centre of one's life, pointed out Sri Ramana Chaitanya in a lecture. Whether one is in the midst of Samsara or in a forest having renounced the world, the link with the divine should never be forgotten. This facilitates one to repeatedly understand the truth that it is not "I" who is the performer. This mental frame helps in the realisation of the self.

When the ego is seen as a false entity, then the "I" thought becomes non-existent. A true yogi is able to renounce all actions inwardly, not outwardly. Such action is consistent with the knowledge of self. Both seeing and not seeing are actions, but the yogi knows that he has nothing to do with either of these. He understands that he is different from all these and is merely the observer.

The yogi performs actions merely with the body, mind, understanding, or merely with the senses, but he abandons attachment. He is in the world, acts in the world, but his thought is directed to God and is not of the world. This is the only way to overcome the pulls of attachment. Discipline is to be cultivated from within and not enforced from without. He who is able to see his own self in all beings has a purified mind.

The Bhava by which one is able to perceive divinity in all objects of creation is called Sarvabhutatmabhutatma. Sri Ramakrishna saw the divine mother even in a prostitute.

With the help of the intellect one should understand that the world is a manifestation of Prakriti and of Gunas, and engage in action in a spirit of detachment to transcend the consequences of good and evil actions. Otherwise one is led to misery.

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