How to enrich your life with Karma yoga attitude

How to enrich your life with  Karma yoga attitude

 

For anyone who wants to prosper in life has to do karma religiously and rigorously.  He has to engage himself in any action, which produces productive output.  Some people say performing various activities or work like donkeys, have no meaning. One must perform smart working. I have no idea what is exactly known as smart working. Hard working  with smartness has no substitute. The only thing is, it must produce output, which is beneficiary for you, your family members, your neighbors and society at large. For example, you are a good student and you study very well, acquire many academic qualifications and ultimately plunge into a teaching career. So your attitude and hard work to do excellent studies not only benefiting you, it is doing well for society. As a teacher, you are imparting your knowledge to many people.

Most of the people have no idea how this karma can be interpreted as yoga attitude. They cannot even accept this logic. They feel that karma is done for the purpose of existence and survival. So, karma yoga is wrongly interpreted by  people.  A wealthy industrialist, who is busy in making wealth for self and his beloved people, thinks that he is performing karma yoga. Some people perform their duties without much expectation. Whatever results they get, they feel happy They feel they are doing karma yoga. But here is the catch. A person, who is engaged in all types of family responsibilities and has liabilities to discharge has to expect results out of all his actions. There is nothing wrong in this concept. So, the karma yoga attitude  needs to be explained from the attitudinal point of view.  Let us explain what is the karma yoga attitude and what is its importance.  By following the Gita’s teachings, Karma yoga has six tenets.

 

1. Our performance of work should be done ethically. It must be performed based on certain laid down  socio-ethical codes. One should not deceive others and not to do any work of cheating.  One should not snatch other’s right.  Even otherwise, the code is explicitly clear, one must do work without harming another person.  By your work, if you hurt other’s feelings and allow him to lose and suffer and you enjoy the benefits, then your attitude of karma yoga is faulty.

 

2. If  any activity has been chosen by you, you must take it granted that the same is a blessing from God. You must perform it diligently; without any procrastination. Any role, which you like to perform, say either as a teacher or lawyer or student, or a spouse or religious preacher, it should be done perfectly, sincerely and without any pretense. If you perform your duty with an utter sense of negligence, that does not fall into the karma yoga attitude.

 

3. Your focus must be in the job, but not on the fruits of your labor.  It is true that you need to have the appreciation, benefit and remuneration, but don’t worry; it will come, if the work is reasonably done perfectly. Take the example of a cricket match.  As a batsman, your focus will be for playing your natural game to score more runs and ensure the victory of your team.  But in the midst of your playing, if you continuously watch the scoreboard, your attention will be diverted and you cannot perform well. You will be in anxiety. This state of mind will spoil the quality of your playing. Of course, It can happen to anyone. 

 

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Further, It does not qualify as karma yoga.  No one should think that desiring the fruits of action are wrong. You must expect good results out of your actions. No one can stop.  What I am trying to say that if you provide  hundred percent input, the output will be  there. The percentage may vary.  We should only focus to our job, but not on the results.  Attachment to karma yoga attitude says that you perform your duties always remembering God and believe that the results will be in His hand.

 

4. Whatever the results you are able to achieve from your efforts, you must accept the same as God’s blessing.  If results are not as per your desire, do not blame yourself, because the result of any efforts not only depends on your present karma, but  it is linked to your past karma also.

 

5. Whenever you accomplish any feat, you must not show any  ego. If extraordinary result is achieved by you, then also, you should not brag for the same as normally people do. You must think that your result is not only for the result of yours, but it is linked to very many persons’ efforts also. Many people are responsible for our success.  For example, our parents, our teachers, our friends and all our family members equally play a role for the result, which you derived.  Whether you believe or not, even God plays a very vital role in making you perform so well in your life.

 

6. This last point is very important.  Mostly, we want to keep the appreciation with us and not want to share the same with others. This is a wrong practice. Whatever fruits you receive of your hard work, you share the same with everybody and it is a fact that everybody will appreciate it and will be pleased to hear your achievement. Even your enemy will feel joy to hear your success. So, if you want to achieve a definite goal in your life, you have to progress  step by step. And for that you have to perform your karma with karma yoga attitude.

 

The way we do our karma, it is based on selfishness, egocentric and carelessness. In all our achievements, the feeling only comes that it is “I”, who have done this without taking anybody’s help.  Precisely, that is the reason, many people are doing their karma, but  don’t achieve the result as they desire. You need to work, do good to others, feel for others and remember god in all your endeavors.  Needless to say that your life will be blooming like a flower and you will be able to enrich your life.  

 

 

 

Plant,nurture,love and then accrue the benefit

Plant, nurture, love and then accrue the benefit

Just by planning, you cannot achieve a target. You have to work as per the planning, ensure the beginning in the right direction, continue your efforts and finish the task with perfection. Finally, you have to match the output with your planning to ensure your achievement. By any chance, if the result is not perfect, you have to change the direction and redo the planning. In this painstaking process, you have to nurture all your actions, give continuous efforts, love to enjoy your efforts with all your sincerity and then you can accrue the real benefit. Remember that the benefit what has been accrued is to be also passed on to the others. Then only a total cycle of complete satisfaction will be evolved. If you consider the case of a seed, you will find it has no identity on its own. But in reality, seed is the only power behind the tree. When this seed grows and becomes a tree, it is  recognized as Brahma.  But you cannot expect any tangible benefits from seed. But trees can give you the benefits of shadow and fruits. To provide these benefits, the tree has to go below the ground, break out of its shell, sprout and then grow as a tree. The tree has no ego. It never refuses to use its existence to the earth. If it ever thinks in that manner and feels that everything starts and ends with its own existence, the seed will not become a tree.  It will be probably trampled by the pressure of human beings feet or will be eaten by rats. Similarly, out of our arrogance and hubris, if we always think and brag our existence, we will collapse or we will live halfheartedly. Some people have a knack to think, “Every thing is in me.”  “Why should I be dominated by others?”  In that state of living, we will never realize God. We will be in the shackles of the dark alleys of worldly affairs.  Let us take a case of sapling.  When you plant a sapling, you have to nurture it regularly. You have to provide water, fertilizer and medicine.  You have to ensure and save it from the scorching sun and heavy rain.  When you take care of the sapling, it will grow, become a tree, and gives either flowers or fruits. You have to take adequate care before you plant a sapling; you have to ensure the seed sprouts and grows. You need to fence the area, so that the animals are not in a position to destroy it.  Once it becomes a tree after taking all care, you need not to do anything more. The tree then continues to give you its fruits. Similarly, in our life, till the time we attain our goals, the fence of yamas and niyams and the teachings of a guru and his influence are very much required. Once we understand the true meaning of life and its surroundings, we will think always good for others and we will  do good to others, which  ultimately benefits the total mankind. In this life, nothing is really binding us. We may reach and touch the supreme power, once we shed all our egoist approach and we get rid of thinking in terms of “I”.  This thinking of “I” only causes harm to all our senses and we are not able to progress. So, we need to break out from the shell of “I” which only causes our downfall and invites all our miseries. Our presence in this world is like a holistic journey.  As you see a map for the purpose of navigation, the life map shows you the journey of your life from where to start, but it depends on you how ably you start, you manage your state of affairs and you perform your journey. The navigation of life map also helps us to decide to take a particular route to reach a particular destination.  We don’t have practical knowledge of these fundamental things, we have no practical experience and we do not have enough knowledge to reach the particular destination. The reason behind this, we lack knowledge of ground realities.  We are not aware whether our journey of life will be smooth or not.  We may encounter many impediments and unwanted incidents in this journey.

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Our path of the journey might not be ideal.  If somebody, who has already undertaken this type of life journey, it is better to take his assistance to help us. We can then undertake our journey courageously.

Our life journey can be metaphorically compared to an ordinary travel. When we travel an unknown place, we try to gather many details, namely climate, road conditions, eateries there, clothes required to protect from cold, if the climate is cool and very many other things. Some people are careless not to collect many details and ultimately landed into a problem.  Why we collect all these details? Just to avoid any perils. Further, there may be ferocious animals or robbers on the way. The roads may not be smooth. If someone, who has already traveled this particular place and accompanies us, the journey may be peaceful and harmless. But we must trust him. If we cast a doubt of his authenticity, then we will not have peace of mind. We must have total faith in the person, who accompanies us. In our life journey if you consider someone as your  guru, you must rely on him so that he will try his best to guide you and   you  achieve the goal anticipated from your life journey. We must focus our attention to implement the truth, what we have read. We must open our heart to our guru.  Then only, we can fill our heart.  For that we must shed our ego and learn to inculcate an attitude to surrender.  For example, moisture is the reason for a seed to sprout; the same way a mother hen causes an egg to hatch. If you want to realize the “self”, you have to come out from the shell of ego.  For this purpose, the grace of the guru is a must and your discipline to get this grace is inevitable. The true guru, is available within us, but we are not able to find because of our ego. This ego only pushes us in the dark, alley of ignorance and makes us spiritually blind.  In reality, the outer self, is always trying to awaken our inner self. Until our inner self awakens, we are not able to understand the real meaning of our life and its journey and the purpose.  In that case, we are not able to nurture the thing, which we plant.  No sooner, our inner self  is awakened, we  will be able to nurture the planted thing and love them to grow so that all of us can be benefited.

Your greatest enemy is your isolation

Man is a social being. He cannot not want live in isolation. He always prefers to move with others, share feelings and emotion and want to remain in groups. By any chance, if he is in a type of claustrophobia, he will not be in a position to tolerate that particular situation. Of course, there are people who like to be in isolation because of their mental frame and habits. To avoid isolation, you must identify the cause of proper living., which is  mostly based on your desire to mix with groups and assimilate others culture with your own. We must fill our lives with feelings for others and these feelings are the real causes of our mutual affinity and progress. Logic alone cannot express these feelings. The heart of the education is education of the heart.  You must inculcate a habit to put cent percent effort to discharge your duties, whether you perform the same either at office or at home. Only applying logic and trying to accomplish your duties alone is not possible; you have to take the help of others, convince them to help you and take other people’s advice. In the same way, you have to extend help to others when they need. Otherwise, your accomplishment will not yield any result. You will be treated as a failure person. To avoid a life of seclusion, you must be emotionally fit and your emotion must be filled with the power of intellect. Both are dependent on each other.  An emotional phase without intellect is woeful. We all know that intellectually, life is impermanent. But by guiding emotions, we feel and expect life to be permanent.  So, you must exercise the power of intellectual to know the causes of emotion, which drives you to perform your activities and not allow  you to remain in isolation. You do many things and to know the outcome of the same, you utilize your power of judgement and emotion. For example, you are watching a movie of your favorite hero or heroine; you enjoy the same and you get elated. Exerting your feelings, you  try to equate you with the hero, and want to submerge yourself emotionally to the various scenes of the movie. In this state, you try to find out the similarities of your personality and the theme of the movie. You like to be associated with various scenes of the movie mentally. You will find there is an exchange between the movie and your feelings.  You will feel that the movie is watching you. You will know through your heart, how the movie is spreading influence for you through its plot, theme and characters. You will try to understand the meaning of the movie. In the same way, when you go through any book, you feel the meaning of the various words, sentences, paragraphs and the contents of the book through your eyes, through your understanding and through your perception.  Finally, you will appreciate how the book is contributing and is helpful to increase your knowledge for a particular subject or matter.  Can you accomplish your work in this manner?  Can you identify all your beloved people and connect with them in this way?  You must learn many things through your feelings.  It is a continuous process to keep yourself busy. You have to feel, to think and think to feel.  Then whatever you do, it will bring joy and work becomes a holiday.  You don’t need a break in your life.  Your work becomes a movement of joy.  Your holiday or any other rest day will be full of work and activities, because you are so much engrossed in that joyful situation. Your feeling of isolation will never appear in your mind. All will be like a spiritual vacation for you.  You must look everything impartially. If you engage in a quarreling situation with your beloved, you just don’t decide to leave him.  Because, by leaving him, you are not gaining anything.  You continue to keep your same mind, which has created the conflict.  If your mind is polluted, no matter wearing a nice and clean white shirt will not be responsible for ethical purity.  If your mind is not getting out of the volatilities, you will not be in a position to move friendly with others.  Slowly, you will be isolated and forced to remain in isolation. 

                                                                     

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In the stage of isolation, wherever you visit, whatever you do, whatever you think, all will produce a fragmented result and you will be always in conflicts.  So, the cause of the conflict is not the other person, but your mind only.  Your mind is incapable to deal properly with the other person because you are dealing with others being in isolation.

Life is glamorous, if you see from the fence. If you observe the life within itself, it is perilous.  Sometimes, its constraints are so severe that it will be like a rising tide bouncing on the bank of the river and make you to drown.  Any difficulty is like a big tide.  You must know how to deal with it.  So, the root cause of your isolation is not the place itself or not the environment; it is your mind only. When the same mind can make others gleeful, why you are not able to bring that syndrome in your life? In a similar situation, when  others  become happy, why you are in a dilemma and invite sufferings? Have you thought anytime? When you use another person for the purpose of your own gratification, then “I” become more valuable than “others.” This  type of situation occurs when you quarrel with your beloved, with any of your family members or with your friend because you give prominence to your own identity. Each of us is using the other person to meet our demands and needs and this only creates isolation. This isolation creates conflicts as a fundamental rule of proper living. If you want to curb isolation, engage in connectivity.  How you will do? Just love, spread love; automatically, there will be connectivity.  Shredded the ego as the same only brings isolation, which is your number one enemy.

How to be happy perpetually?

Who does not want to be happy?  Show me one person, who will say that he is not bothered about the happiness?  You are able to identify a poor fellow, who does not have any shelter, clothes and no provision of two times food, he too has a tremendous hunch or desire to become happy. Contrarily, there are people, who are poor, stay in a one room house, somehow manage to earn a few thousands and discharge their worldly responsibilities and feel happy whatever minimum they have. They don’t grumble, don’t mutter about their poor conditions and they mostly laugh to endure all constraints. Psychologically, all of us want more and more and always want to be happy. We always search for various avenues that will make us happy.  Most people spend most of the time on mental masturbation how to be happy perpetually. Despite their longings, they are always drenched in one or the other kind of sufferings.  If somehow they receive the blessings of happiness by God grace, it is neither unadulterated nor make them feel the  satisfaction of happiness on a continuous basis. No one has any inclination to seek sufferings, it comes  as an inevitable outcome of very many circumstances in which neither you have any control nor you can impose any restriction.

 

Most of us seek happiness through the fulfillment of various wishes, but such inclination is not always guaranteed.  When you chase your desires to become happy, you may not get it all the time, as if the bright sun is eclipsed by dark clouds in between many times.  During this intermittent stage, you feel anxious, perturbed and sad, depriving you from happiness.  All the sufferings are the derivatives of your non-fulfillment.  When you have multifarious desires, you seek the pleasure of the world with abundance.  This enthusiasm to receive happiness only brings sufferings. Human beings are subject to change in conditions.  The impulsive behavior arises when you do not have any control on your mood.  At some point, you feel happy and at some other times, you feel gloomy and become sadist and downhearted.  These mood swings favorably, if desires are fructified and if not, then it brings sufferings. When you are satisfied, it gives a momentary happiness, but it is not a long lasting.  Immediately after that, you may be engulfed with anxieties. Your mood can swing your behavior. If you want to be happy all the time, you must learn the techniques to ascertain nihilism in everything. If you don’t have any longing to receive any extraordinary materialistic comforts, say you are not crazy to stay in a palatial house, you have no greed for costly wardrobe, gadgets or you don’t have desire for gold and silver jewelry and also you don’t have any greed to dine in swanky eateries, then you are not bothered about your sensual comforts.  So, why you will be afflicted with painstaking situations? When there is no painful situation, there is no suffering.  And in the absence of suffering, you are always happy. In reality, of course, it does not happen.  Desire is a wicked friend of yours.  It leads you to illusion.  Under this illusory influence, you get addicted for greed inviting pains. On the contrary, desirelessness makes you like a rock.  You are then neither moved by pleasure nor by sorrow. You are not upset by the onslaught of the opposites.  If you become steadfast and continue to sail your boat in the stream of no avarice, you will be able to get true happiness. But the state of complete desirelessness is not that easy to achieve.   

 

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On the basis of the strength of your character, if you can say no to all the materialistic comforts, costly gadgets, expensive clothing, posh houses and wealthy living, you will tap the unfailing inner source of eternal and never ending blissful status. Believe it or not, the above phenomenon is not based on the glamorous objects of the world, but is completely based on your distinct spiritual knowledge and self-realization.  But when your desirelessness becomes only a mere showmanship, you will not be able to accrue the benefit of perpetual happiness. The reason is that you show no desire, but in reality, you crave to obtain the comforts and want to be happy.  So, this is a dual game played by you, which may make you happy for the time being, but not for long. True happiness starts when you learn the art of right adjustment to other persons and their needs. This right adjustment depends on your tenacity to forget your own identity. This value system of yours increases when you show genuine love for others.  When you reach this stage in your life, you learn the importance and influence of spirituality and convert a life of limited self into a life of love.  When you show a life of love, you reach the stage of God-materialization, which provides you unlimited mental happiness and bliss. The happiness of God-realization must be the goal of all creations. You cannot visualize and understand the feeling of this stage unless you experience Godhood. Through this route, when happiness arrives in your life, it is worth to face all types of physical and mental sufferings possible in this world.  In the midst of sufferings, under the experience of Godhood, you will feel, as if there is no suffering at all. It may not be possible for all to be God-realized, but still, you can achieve power to control your mind through yoga practice. Slowly you will reach a stage, where you will be able to allow your all pains to pain you without making you unhappy. And that is the beauty of this God-materialization. When one becomes God-realized and attain the stage of Godhood, everything will become insignificant to him.  The happiness on the stage of God-realized is self-sustained, ethical, pure, fresh, boundless and indescribable. You will be perpetually happy, if you show your non-attachment to all the possible attachments and desire to attain God-realized state in your life.

 

Understand our election with God's election

During the time of election, most of us engage ourselves to elect members, both for state assembly and parliament. These elections are conducted as per the terms of the respective houses, namely Parliament and State assembly. The different  parties, jump into the fray to retain their seats and acquire more seats with an inclination to form the next government either at central or at respective states. These elections are the statutory norms prevailing in our country. The common public expresses their interest and take part in these elections to vote for their chosen candidates. People gather to listen to their leaders and appeal them to extend the benefits of various social welfare schemes and suggest them to  incorporate best possible strategies in their election manifestos so that the selected candidates are in a position to win. The party members and the functionaries  campaign for their candidates and ensure their victory. In short, it is just not an equation of politics only and it is pandering to the electorate. With the advent of religious and the  fanaticism involved therein, and the influence of religious preachers, monks and saints and when the same are coupled with contemplative prayers and other rituals, elections assume shade of spirituality also. The poor fraternity  can be considered as an epitome of God’s preferential choice. Our this election can be metaphorically compared to the election of God also. On God’s election, you have to only serve the privileged sections of the society and seek His blessings. God’s election in a didactic metaphor and as per the Biblical explanation, through this type of election, God is choosing His coworkers. For the purpose of election, God choices and commissions the youngest, weakest, intelligent and accommodate the people, who have a strong background with a noteworthy deeds. Biblical heroes Jacob, Joseph and King David are the youngest and religious minded persons of their families.  Without bothering of the seniority and hierarchical orders in the family, Joseph is elected as the governor of Egypt. The shepherd David is chosen as the king bypassing the real and legitimate choice of the handsome and beautiful sons of Jesse. God entrusts the responsibility of choosing a king to Samuel, saying “Do not look at the appearance or height or stature, for God does not see as men do; they look at the outward appearance, but God looks within the heart.”  We all know how we elect our representatives or rather force to vote for someone special. If we do not compose the music to those powerful people’s tunes, the fatal consequences will be thrust upon us; we all are aware of this fact. But in God’s election, the same is completely different.  In this regard, the story of most powerful Goliath and little David is to be refreshed once again. Leaving all the arms and weapons, which were given to David by King Saul, David says, “I cannot walk with these; for I am not used to them.”  When common people like you and me are bestowed upon with God’s blessings, why they will fear Goliath and this is the inherent meaning of this preaching.  So, David, like  common people challenges Goliath, “You come with sword and spear; but I come in God’s name,” and smashed him with a sling and a stone.  Like the heroes of the Bible, there are many women characters also indicated therein.  They are Ruth, Esther, Judith, and Mary.  Our women at earth are the archetype of these Biblical heroines. They mingle with God mentally to perform various religious missions.  When Ruth becomes widowed, she did not leave her mother-in-law Judith. In the same way, when Esther was elected queen out of the Hoi Polloi, she got King Ahasuerus to save her people. Mary showed her wholehearted devotion to God throughout her life observing the various ups and downs, including the pathetic crucifixion of his son Jesus.

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God’s election was not only limited to the “little ones” individually.  But almost all the groups, namely widows, orphans and aliens were getting special favor from God.  Since these sections were without a spouse,  parentless and friendless respectively, God used to show His special mercy to them.  Divine blessings erupt automatically because they were less privileged and were experiencing lack in their lives. God used to substitute their “lack” with His love and affection. God used to protect them, guide them, so that divesting lacking; they can emerge and become victorious. Jesus teaches us that our salvation depends on our mental frame, attitudinal behavior and response to God’s children, the poor fraternity. The Hindu religion preachers like Swami Vivekananda always advocated for the importance of serving poor people. This extending service with a pure and loving heart to the poor is tantamount to consider as  noble deeds and services to God and in this way, you can take part in his election. The famous poet Tagore has written about this service to the poor and the preferential presence of God, “Here is your footstool and there rest your feet where live the poorest, the lowliest, and the lost.”  Logically, we take part in the postmortems once the election results are declared and we think, introspect what went wrong so that we get to defeat. We are also elated to win and analyze the reasons for our winning sequence.  But for all of us, this could be the time to reflect upon the veracity of truth behind this win or defeat.  We must find out the magic of the broom. We, common people always pass through lacking, but have a longing for more and with this burden of lack, we continue to survive days after days, months after months and years after years. When we mentally take part in God’s election  means we are reaching out the poor and deprived sections of the society, we get His blessings and mental satisfaction.  In earlier days, our country was dominated by one party and family. They invariably used to win the election. The sequence has now changed. Now the election system is on the basis of  multi-party systems. People are spontaneously taking part in the election and express their opinions, as deemed fit to be.  But in the election of God, you can only elect the poor, but weak and the fittest one as God prefers to stay with them all the time. If you follow this principle in your life, you can choose God and seek his blessings for ever.