March 2024 Newsletter from Srivatsa Ramaswami--On Karma Yoga
Srivatsa Ramaswami
March 2024 Newsletter from Srivatsa Ramaswami--On Karma Yoga
In April 2024 I am scheduled to teach almost full month. Between April 3rd and 8th I will be teaching a few yoga topics-- in person-- at Omyogashala New Delhi. Here is the link
Between 11th and 14th I plan to teach online on "Yoga for Internal Organs" organized by Ryan Leier Yoga in Canada. Here is the link
Between April 15th and May 5th I will be teaching in person a 100 hour teacher training program, 50hrs of vinyasakrama yoga in the mornings and 50 hrs , a lecture series on 'Bhagavatgita for Yoga Students" in the evening hours-- covering the entire text verse by verse, word by word . One may choose either or both the programs,. One can attend the programs in person or on line. The program is organized by Atmayogashala in Chennai, India. Here is the link.
https://atmayogashala.com/yoga-workshops/
On Karma Yoga
Many with innate faith in the Lord and nurtured by upbringing become Bhakti yogis. They love the Lord and pray to the Lord regularly. They totally surrender to the Lord. They are able to go through the tribulations of life with a certain equanimity. Some of them progress to become intense devotees and attain moksha or sayujya and thus complete freedom(mukti).
Then there are those that believe in heaven and the other place and follow strictly the injunctions (dharma) of the scriptures (vedas) and become dharmis or dharma yogis. They strictly perform the rituals (ishta) and also help the fellow creatures in different ways (purta) and in the process accumulate enough punya (merit) points. With that punya bundle they attain their heaven.
Then there are those that are attracted by the darsanas or the philosophical outpouring of the vedas like samkhya, yoga and vedanta. All these mainly talk about the nature of the Self, the Atman, which is immutable, undying consciousness. Rather than having the default but erroneous (as per the darsanas) impression that the emotion tainted ego as the self, these people have faith in the teachings of these darsanas and consider the self as pure consciousness and the body mind complex as not the self. With this scriptural knowledge that the body mind complex is not the self but the unvarying awareness if the subject, they go through life doing their duties and fulfilling their responsibilities without undue attachment. Such people are karma yogis. In due course some of them after fulfilling their responsibilities devote their life to yoga and attain kaivalya.
Karmayoga presupposes a knowledge of the nature of the self as enunciated in the books and as taught by the teacher. This understanding is known as sruti prajna as per Patanjali or understanding arising out of instructions of scriptures upon which one can rely for these matters. The venerated Ramana Maharshi would consider atma jnana as prerequisite for Karma yoga. Even the Lord, in ch II of the Gita explains briefly but very succinctly the nature of Atman before extolling the virtues of karma yoga in ch III of the Gita. These karmayogis may not have the direct perception of the Self/atman (yougika pratyaksha) but have indirect knowledge through sources like the scriptures and teachers. In course of time some of the karma yogi, free of mundane duties and activities, will engage fully in yoga, attain nirodha samadhi capability and achieve kaivalya
The idea of karmayoga is found in a mantra that is used while doing the sandhya ritual three times a day, a constant reminder that the self is an observer and not an agent/doer. Activities are due to the rajasic influence of prakriti (kama and manyu or desire and anger/dislike) and not the Self with which the buddhi of the sadhaka would identify as the real Self.
Since sandhya is performed after vedic initiation sometime around 5 years. it is significant to note that even children were given to understand the nature of the Self as an observer and not an agent (which is the default understanding of oneself) and mandated to remember it through the mantra three times a day-- all through life, creating the necessary condition for karma yoga and not mere kermis.
कामोकार्षीन् मन्युरकार्षीन् नमो नमः
कामः करोति नाहम् करोमि कामः कर्ता नाहम् कर्ता कामः कारयिता नाहम् कारयिता एष ते काम कामाय स्वाहा
मन्युः करोति नाहम् करोमि मन्युः कर्ता नाहम् कर्ता मन्युः कारयिता नाहम् कारयिता एष ते मन्यो मन्यवे स्वाहा
kāmo'kārṣīnnamo namaḥ |
kāmo'kārśītkāmaḥ karoti nāhaṁ karomi kāmaḥ kartā nāhaṁ
kartā kāmaḥ kārayitā nāhaṁ kārayitā eṣa te kāma kāmāya svāhā || 1||
1. Salutations to the gods! Desire performed the act. Desire did the act. Desire is doing the act, not I (the atman). Desire is the agent, not I (atman). Desire causes the doer to act, not I (atman). O Desire, fascinating in form, let this oblation be offered to thee Hail
manyurakārṣīnnamo namaḥ |
manyurakārṣīnmanyuḥ karoti nāhaṁ karomi manyuḥ kartā nāhaṁ
kartā manyuḥ kārayitā nāhaṁ kārayitā eṣa te manyo manyave svāhā
Salutations to the gods! Anger performed the act. Anger did the act. Anger is doing the act, not I (the atman). Anger is the agent; not I (atman). Anger causes the doer to act, not I (atman). O Anger, let this oblation be offered to thee. Hail!
All creatures act to get what they want (kama or raga) or to get rid of what they not want or dislike (manyu/dvesha/krodha). But the karma yogi even with the paroksha jnana or indirect knowledge of the nature of the desireless atma as the self, acts or does one's duties without desire or hatred. This is possible only with the knowledge of the subject/self as pure unvarying consciousness. Merely extolling the virtues of karmayoga and advising people to do the duty without desire or anger (sans motivation) may be a non starter. The Lord gave the information about the Self in the ch II of the Gita, his first advise to Arjuna--before asking him to act as a Karma Yogi in the following ch III..