Yoga and Sannyasa = Pujya Gurudev

Two-fold State of Akarma:Yoga and Sannyasa –II

=Pt.ShriRam Sharma Acharya

Vinoba’s Talks on the Gita – 9 Two-fold State of Akarma:Yoga and Sannyasa –II The nature of the state of akarma Let us take a familiar example to understand the naturalness of an action. When a child first learns to walk, it has to put in a lot of efforts. We encourage it and appreciate its efforts. ‘Hey, it has learnt to walk!’ we say with pride. But later, walking becomes effortless, the child can then walk and talk at the same time. It is the same with eating. When a child is given solid food for the first time, we celebrate the occasion, as if the act of eating is something great [1]. But in the course of time, it becomes quite natural. How hard it is to learn swimming! In the beginning, one finds it tiring; but later one goes for swimming to relax, to shake off fatigue. Swimming is then no longer a tiring activity; the body floats over water effortlessly.

The mind is in the habit of getting tired; it gets tired when it is consciously engaged in work. But when actions flow naturally, no strain is felt. Karma then becomes akarma. It is then a matter of joy. Such transformation of karma into akarma is what we want to achieve. It is for this purpose that we should perform karma in accordance with our swadharma. In doing so, our defects will come to light. To remove them, we should take recourse to vikarma. If all this is constantly practiced, the mind reaches a stage where it is no longer perturbed by actions. It remains calm and clear even though we are doing thousands of actions. If we ask the sky whether it gets scorched by the sun and drenched in the rain and shivers with the cold in winter, what reply will we get? It will say, “I do not know anything; it is for you to judge what happens to me.” ‘Pisen neslen keem nagven loki yeoon janaven’- It is for others to see whether a lunatic is naked or clad; he is totally unaware of it. In short, when we go on performing actions in the pursuit of swadharma with the help of vikarma, they gradually become detached and purified, and eventually become natural and effortless. Such actions then become second nature.

Even the most trying situations are not then felt to be daunting. This is the key to karmayoga. If we do not have the key, our hands will simply get bruised in trying to crack the lock. But the lock can be opened in a moment once we secure the key. The key to karmayoga makes all the actions light and of no bother. This key can be secured by conquering the mind. There should, therefore, be continuous efforts to subdue desires and passions in the mind. Whenever we become aware of any impurities in the mind in the course of action, we should try to cleanse the mind. Outward actions then cease to be troublesome. The egoistic feeling that ‘I am the doer’ vanishes. The powerful forces of desires, passions and anger subside. There is then no feeling of anguish. Even the awareness of performing an action is no longer there. Once a gentleman wrote to me, “We have decided to do japa (recitation) of Ramanama (Lord Rama’s Name) a certain number of times. Please join us and inform us how much japa you are going to do daily.” The gentleman was acting according to his lights. I do not mean to disparage him. But should we count how many times we have taken the name of the Lord? Ramanama is not a thing to be counted.

A mother cares for her child. Does she publish the report thereof? Were she to do so, we could just say, ‘Thank you’, and be free from our obligations to her. But a mother does not submit any report. She rather says, “What have I done? I have done nothing extraordinary. Is this a burden to me?” Karma ceases to be karma when one does it with full dedication and with the aid of vikarma. Karma then becomes akarma. There is then no question of any strain or tensions or anything untoward. It is impossible to describe this state. One can at best give a rough idea. The sun rises daily. But does it rise with the idea of removing darkness, making the birds fly and inducing people to work? It just rises and that is all. Its very existence sets the universe in motion. But it is not aware of it. If you thank it for dispelling the darkness, it would be at a loss to understand what you are saying. It will say, “Have I really done so? Please bring a little darkness. If I could dispel it, then only I would claim any credit for doing so.” Can we bring darkness to the sun?

The existence of the sun may dispel darkness and bring light; some may read good books in that light and some may read bad ones; some may harm others while some may help others; the sun is not in any way responsible for the merits or sins committed in its light. It will say, “Light is my nature. What else but light could there be in me? I am not conscious of giving light. For me, to be means to shine. I do not feel any strain in giving light. I do not feel that I am doing anything.” Giving light is natural to the sun. Same is the case with the saints also. Their very existence is enlightening. If you praise a man of wisdom for his truthfulness, he would say, “If I adhere to the truth, what is so special about it? What else can I do?” Untruth just cannot exist in such a man. This is what akarma means. Actions become so much a part of one’s being and nature that one is not even aware of their happening. The sense organs are then naturally disposed to what they should be doing; right action flows from them on its own accord. ‘Sahaj bolne hitopadesh’-Counsel of wisdom flows out without any self-conscious deliberation and effort. When this happens, karma becomes akarma. For a man of wisdom, performance of good actions becomes as natural and effortless as singing is to the birds. Just as a child thinks of its mother naturally, the saints think of God. Another example of such a natural action is the crowing of a cock in the early morning. Panini [2] has given this example while explaining swaras (musical notes). The cocks have always been crowing every morning. But has anybody presented them scrolls of honour? Crowing is a cock’s natural action.

Similarly, it is natural for a sage to speak the truth, to have compassion for all the living beings, not to find fault in others, to serve everybody. He cannot, in fact, live without this karma. Do we honour anybody for having taken his food? Just as eating, drinking and sleeping are normal and natural actions for worldly persons, serving others is natural to a man of wisdom. Helping others is his second nature. Even if he were to decide not to help others, it is impossible for him to do so. Karma of such a sage can be said to have become akarma. Such a state has also been given the sacred term ‘sannyasa’. Sannyasa is nothing but such a blessed state of akarma. It can also be called karmayoga. It is karmayoga since the man of wisdom goes on acting; and it is sannyasa since there is no feeling of doing anything even while actions are done. The man of wisdom acts with such ingenuity that the actions do not bind; hence it is yoga; and as nothing is done even after doing everything, it is sannyasa. Notes: 1.Reference is to a custom named ‘ushtavan’ prevalent in Maharashtra 2.A great grammarian of ancient India [Reproduced with kind permission of Paramdham Publication, Pavnar from Chapter 5 of ‘Talks on The Gita’ by Sant Vinoba Bhave, 16th edition (Jan 2005)]

Thanks GOD,Thanks Sadguru,

Shiv Sharma