Video 2

Karma Yoga: The Path of Action (Part 2) | Swami Sarvapriyananda

[Music] assert Omar said gamma gamma so oh dear Kamiya Richard mamrie Tonka my home Shanti Shanti Shanti Oh lead us from the Unreal to the real lead us from darkness unto light lead us from death to immortality home peace peace peace from a vedantic perspective this whole idea of karma and samsara it proceeds like this but we are not aware of our infinite nature this not being aware of our infinite nature our divine nature this is called ignorance not being aware of this infinitude this completion this poornatva this ignorant it makes us feel incomplete we automatically feel incomplete and therefore we reach out into the world into what appears to us to complete ourselves actually nothing in the world can complete us nor do we need to reach out into the world but we reach out into the world to complete ourselves and this reaching out is karma we do something for fulfillment and as we do something the results we set in motion these this law of karma cause and effect we do things good and bad and it leads to results good and bad and once the results are there once once we have got stocked up our karma it is not exhausted in one lifetime it will lead to other lifetimes and as we get the results of our capacity Karma's in other lives we are constantly accumulating new karma which leads to further lives and depending on the mixture of karma good or bad our lives are pleasant and unpleasant usually a mixture of both so human life is conceived of as being a mixture of the pleasurable and the and miserable suka and oka there are conceivably higher lives higher in the sense much more pleasant lives so those are the various heavens which spoke our spoken about in Hinduism there are lives which are much more miserable there are the various hell's spoken about in Hinduism and none of these are eternal then you don't go to an eternal these these heavens and hell's are not eternal heaven or hell you go there the results of past karma are upon us we enjoy or suffer as the case may be and once those effects are gone we are back to a kind of mixed existence which is this life so this is called samsara and it goes on and this is not good news the good news in one sense is that actually we don't die with the death of the body we we do exist but that itself is not good news because it's prolonged then then you get another body another limited existence if you've really struggled and being a good person that next existence will be a better one than this but that's also limited that also comes to an end and that's also intrinsically not satisfying the best of all existence in this life if you see even that is not satisfying if you conceive of it I was just thinking about I mentioned it last year and before I set out on my summer tour two tragic events of occurred in Manhattan you know the greatest chef Anthony Bourdain he committed suicide just a few weeks earlier afterwards this great fashion designer Kate Spade she killed herself both in Manhattan now think about it the most happening place in the whole world they're proud of in New Yorkers and Manhattanites of what do we call our search Manhattanites er and they're and they're the highest possible a dream of success the best possible life you are at the top of your career and not a boring career not a drudgery creative you are a chef or a fashion designer and you are rich and successful really really successful at the top of your feet famous and I guess reasonably healthy then why would you kill yourself clearly there was some unhappiness in each case and it's not limited to those people it's it's I'm saying giving those examples as they would be on paper at least but what you what might call realistically expected a perfect life perfect life and yet it shows that also can be in fair with such deep unhappiness and misery that one might want to kill oneself so all of this life is infected with the kind of dissatisfaction someone seeks to attain real deep lasting peace and satisfaction we have been trying all our lives without success without success we try in everything in wealth and physical health and fame and you know building organizations getting degrees in all sorts of ways we try in this world to attain some kind of happiness and we have been trying each one of us in our own way until today for the last 20 30 40 50 60 70 years of our life and clearly we can't honestly say that yes I've got it because I have got that which the Gita says by attaining that nothing greater remains to be attained by being established in which even the heaviest of sorrows cannot shake one have I got that the religion claims spirituality claims such a thing is possible that is the claim of spirituality that it is that definitely the desire of our hearts there's no doubt about it nobody doubts it we may settle for less we may think I am very wise and become mature and I realized the world is like this although there is no permanent happiness there is no deep happiness it's mostly horrible and have to sort of blunder to this world somehow make the best of it many people sort of think that way but even those who think that way if they are offered realistically there is a chance that you might actually attain deep lasting peace you might actually overcome suffering they will jump at it of course who would not so this is what spirituality offers now karma yoga is part of this how do you deal with the problem of karma Shankar Acharya has this equation of India karma karma the whole problem ignorance avidya leading to desire and leading to karma in this link is a lot packed in their ignorance of what you want might ask you know ignorance of what our actual nature that we are Brahman that we are the unlimited we are ever fulfilled we don't know that we don't feel it that ignorance how does it become converted into desire because I feel unsatisfied I feel the need of so many things the moment I think that I am the I do not know my real nature what am i presented with when I see the mind and the body that's my first first experience when I wake up in the morning what do I experience my own thoughts my own personality then I experience this body and through this body I experience the room and and the life waiting out there and that the whole thing is limited and somehow there are things to be done there is unhappiness to be avoided there is some kind of little pleasure to be attained in this world so that is calm and then I'm up and about a jump out of bed or struggle out of bed and that work leads to results that what leads to the moment you wake up you're not born into a new body it's as we go on doing what this body ages and dies but the subtle body suksham sharir are you the self with your mind and the subtle body we'll talk about that that goes on to other lives and your karma changes you that account I think that's why it's called Chase Manhattan it follows you around and it generates a new body not entirely undesirable because if I say I have done so much good I have not got the reward for that weight here's the reward coming here is a body here is a world for you go out there but the other side is also there I've done so much bad and luckily have escaped the punishment I died no you didn't it's going to follow your hunt here is a body and here is a horrible world waiting for you go out and suffer and suffer this is karma and this continuously cycle continues and the whole thing is ultimately unsatisfactory so if you want out of this if you want freedom from this limited existence that is called moksha freedom freedom from what freedom from this in a simplified form this is the bigger word picture simplified form freedom from suffering when you say freedom from the cycle of birth and death somebody might object I don't believe in a cycle of birth and death somebody from the Abrahamic religion might say that I believe in only one life or somebody who is an agnostic who is does not believe in these things I know only this life I don't know my past lives I don't know if I will have future lives so are you selling me a solution for a problem which doesn't exist man who was arrested brought before the magistrate for selling real solutions to imaginary diseases and imaginary solutions to real diseases it was an actual case in the old Wild West is locked up for that so are you doing that no even if you forget all of this there is suffering in this life nobody can deny there is unhappiness there are problems in this life is there any deep solution for that problem and religion spirituality promise that there is a deep solution for that problem we can actually overcome suffering even here there is something to understand it was the philosopher or indem Chakravarti who pointed this out he quoted from the Buddha Buddha said the nature of suffering like this two arrows a man hit by two arrows and how much suffering is there one arrow it's suffering in second arrow even more suffering now what are the two arrows the first arrow is what the world throws at you there is calamities outside there are little personal tragedies in life there is one's people around you who might be a source of suffering months own body is source of suffering and ultimately all suffering comes in into into our minds so this is the thing which the world throws at me first arrow and the second arrow is the suffering that we have inside as a reaction to that remember the two distinct things many of your doctors you've seen patients who are suffering but different patients react in different ways the first arrow is common to all of them the second arrow is different from for each of them and the real suffering is due to the second arrow the reaction that is in the mind oh I'm I am lost I am so unhappy it's so terrible it's so horrible that is the second arrow that really causes unhappiness the unhappiness present in our minds now the Buddha said spirituality what can spirituality do it cannot remove the first arrow it cannot remove the first arrow Sri Ramakrishna for all is Samadhi and visions of the Divine Mother did he or did he not die of cancer he died of cancer Jesus Christ was pinned to that cross and the physical body at least died so there was suffering and there is death all of that is the first arrow in it it continues it continues even after your if you're enlightened that first arrow will still be there you're not enlightened the first arrow will still be there but what enlightenment does what spirituality does any kind of spirituality this is a very deep insight by the Buddha he says it removes the second arrow and our real suffering is the second arrow our real suffering is internal suffering not the happenings of the world or even the body notice how sri ramakrishna very dying of cancer throat cancer which continued and the body died but when hari Mara's asks him are you suffering and he says first reaction yes there is pain here and I cannot eat first ro second when Hari Maharaj says to him hurry the young man who later became Swami Tori Ananda says to him but sir I see that you are in great bliss strange thing to say I see that you're in great bliss what did sri ramakrishna say all the rascal has found me out he laughs that is not a typical reaction of a dying cancer patient terminally ill cancer patient how does he laugh because the second error has been removed by something he has found he may call it the divine mother Kali or the Atman whatever it is so that's what what this whole karma yoga bhakti yoga raja yoga gana you all aims at removing the second arrow remember not the first one I was in Arizona State University in July and they were organizing a seminar with Mayo Clinic so it was on mindfulness as therapy so mindfulness Buddhist mindfulness now I said see the Mayo Clinic is in is engaged in removing the first arrow curing the disease managing the suffering and all the physical problem and yet you have come to the feeling that it is actually not removing most of the suffering of the patient in fact the process of treatment can add to it can give some second third fourth arrow so how do you remove the inner suffering of the patient so along with the treatment you're trying to remove the first arrow that that's important that you have to do it that's what science technology medicine all of that does and the second arrow is removed by that's why you're brought in mindfulness you're thinking about mindfulness if you combine both that's a holistic approach to human welfare first arrow who will remove doctor will remove lawyer will remove maybe the police will remove the disaster prevent prevention people or the relief people they will remove all the problems the people who provide services all the technology we have in the world all is dealing the first error and that's important and the second one is spirituality I will not go into all of that let me go straight into the most important thing while we have time they've got time until 12:00 so let me go into the discussion of the practical aspect how do you practice karma yoga what do you do in karma yoga so there are these four approaches to karma yoga let me just speak about them briefly four approaches to karmayoga let me write them down this you may take as the code teaching about karmayoga the code teaching about karmayoga yesterday's class in today's class together four approaches how does one do karma yoga primarily two things work as the witness work for God this is based on Gareth knowledge this is based on bhakti devotion and these two additional approaches Swami budge energy has mentioned in his book so I have added it so what are these four approaches and one may choose any one of them are depending on your mood whichever first is the guiana approach the gamma approaches that one may work as the witness notice that everything is done by nature and I am the conscious witness there of work goes on the body is working mind is working and I am the conscious witness of the working body and mind witness does not mean ever sit quietly Shankar Acharya comments on the the Gita verse the one who sees action in inaction and inaction inaction that one is the wise one and that one is the doer of all action Karmann Ghia karma appreciate a karma akarma Nisha karma yeah Sabu demon manushya schewe so yuccas a Krishna karmic right so in the bhagavad-gita chapter four eighteenth words a very interesting verse you see sometimes in the gita there are difficult verses suddenly we'll come across a difficult verse a paradoxical language one who wakes in the nighttime and sleeps in daytime one who that one is the yogi and so on the one who sees work in no work and no work in work and sri krishna builds up to it when he's explaining karma to arjuna he says there is something to be understood about karma there's something to be understood about no karma akarma and one might think what is there to be understood about karma what is there to be understood about no work what can no work when you do something that's work when you don't do something that's no work and sri krishna then hits you with this paradoxical statement just the opposite he says the one who sees no work in work and who sees work in no work that one truly sees now that's a very strange thing to say it sounds cool very parent very nice very philosophically very deep but if you rationally analyze it what kind of a silly statement is that a wise person should see work as work when you do something that's work when you don't do something that's no work and that's that's common sense but how is it doing no work is work and doing work is no work how so how seeing work in no work when the unwise person when the ignorant person when the unenlightened person says I will give up work I will give up karma or because it's see it's being told to Arjuna who wanted to stop doing his duty I am going to go to the Himalayas and sit quietly what are you doing no work but that is also work why because there's the doer ship is still there do you remember the five factors we talked about it must be in a living body there must be a sense of doership agency there must be a sense of enjoying or suffering and there must be a sense of moral obligation including choice if all those things are there and then the cosmic result all those things are there then it is karma clearly it is karma now when I decide I will not engage in work in the samsara is it a choice or not it's a choice is there agency involved in it yes then that's also action and that puts you in a much worse position I there is a duty clearly presented to me I have chosen not to do it under for what what reason under the mistaken notion that by doing by that I will be free of karma it's also another karma you are doing and and as a serious violation of of Duty and morality also so the wise person CAES in the unwise person's decision to refrain from work that is also work that is also karma is this part clear why is that Karma because agency is there for example a statement I am fasting but what is what exactly are you doing there you are not eating so that should be no work but we take it as work it's lots of a lot of hard work to fast a lot of agencies involved in not going and raiding the refrigerator it's a good practice but it's a practice look at the word it's a practice not eating is a work but not eating is also probably harder work than am eating so the unwise persons decision to refrain from activity is also activity of a much worse kind the wise person sees that and the opposite the wise person's activity is no activity at all how no sense of agency is there why because a wise person sees oneself as consciousness not as a body mind engaged in action consciousness is aware of the mind thinking is aware of the senses engaged with the world is aware of the hands working the feet walking is aware of all of that but clearly sees that I am NOT doing it a devotee would say everything's been being done by God's will remarried chest or is there the will of Rama or nature is doing everything if we if the is again he is not in the path of devotion will not want to talk about God I am the witness of work being done as I'm the witness of lot of activity in the world and the witness of the activity in the body and in the mind there's actually a state in which one does not feel identified with body and mind though it's so the DOE the Ganim eonni the enlightened one may do a lot of action still can honestly say I do nothing but which I not body and mind for the gannets very clear there's the awareness which is obscured for us but for that person is very clear from that perspective I do nothing I do not suffer from throat cancer also I don't have a throat how can I have throat cancer but the body has cancer or not yes is there pain produced in the body physiologically speaking yes will the body die of cancer yes what about you no problem at all so that is the one way of doing it as a witness and all action may be engaged in and Shankar Acharya gives an example in the bhagavad-gita commentary on that verse which I really liked I remember when I would cross the river Ganga and go to balloon mud on the boat you know what the boatman do if there there is a strong current in the river because of the tides the strong current in the Ganga so they're going to go to to balloon mud from Kuta hut in Barnegat on the other side so the boat man and beverage is directly opposite you know what the below of the both men will do he will aim the boat that way because there is the low tide water is flowing this way so if you aim it diagonally it will come this way you're a pilot so pilot knows that if you have the strong crosswinds you know you don't actually aim at aim for the runway you know him this way so that you are blown into the runway and so what happens is when you go on the boat you're actually moving diagonally to below your mat and suddenly you get the impression you get you get the visual illusion you are steady and the monastry is moving the trees are moving the temples are moving it's an illusion actually the boat is moving and diagonally like this but you get the feeling the boat is still in the river and the river bank everything on the river bank is moving buildings and temples and and trees they are all moving so what when I read Shankar Acharya is commentary on that verse fourteen eighteenth verse of chapter four chapter four action in inaction action in action he says just as a man crossing a river on a boat feels that the boat is not moving but the trees on the shore are moving similarly similarly it's the state of the agony it is the body and mind and senses which are moving and changing presented to his unmoving consciousness but he feels I walk I talk I think I enjoy I suffer exactly like that that's why I really like that person and the commentaries if you actually have that experience and then you see suddenly 1400 years ago Shankar Acharya is mentioned in that very experience you begin to see what they are talking about I know this monk young monk word suddenly had an experience he came and a train had a long journey to Banaras Assam where he came back to our main monestry got down at the local train station and took a rickshaw a rickshaw to the monastery as he was going through the busy streets of Bell or the narrow lanes in the rickshaw it sort of charges down so in India he didn't own lanes to follow you make your own lane that's the rule make your lane and the rickshaw is moving down suddenly he got the feeling for its it's a tremendous feeling overtook him for just a few seconds he is not moving he is an ever-present awareness in front of which the world is whirling one scene had come Banaras and then the train and the station now the rickshaw and before that many other scenes of youth and childhood he as is always present he is not a person traveling through space he is not a person traveling through time time and space are whirling in front of him who is not in space not in time to get a sense of he actually experienced this he did he's in a rickshaw rushing through a narrow lane but he didn't feel that he felt I am the awareness in which these things are appearing so that that is a sort of intimation of what an enlightened person sees karmani occurred my opposite a karma Nietzsche karma action in inaction and inaction in action so that's the first attitude of the gianni who sees it as witness consciousness I am the witness consciousness and witness of all action truly speaking nature does everything everything in this body I am this body and I control this body no you do not every bit of action digestion of food circulation of blood the air being taken into the lungs and then pumped throughout the body everything is done by nature so wait a minute Swami I raised my hand isn't this my decision no not really from your intention of raising the arm to the actual execution of the task so many things have taken place in the nervous system in the muscles one little stroke right side of the brain I'll raise my arm no chance physiotherapy you see unless Nature cooperates with you nothing can be done in the body if nature today says all right you think you're so great you're going to run the body here are the keys you you drive now so many things circulatory system endocrine system digestive system nervous system if you are in put in charge of all of that within 15 seconds 9-1-1 call ambulances to rush a star-like what happened he tried to run his own body we don't its nature whose very reliable copilot and we are the ego says I am doing all this so that is samsara so nature actually does all of the activities in this body and I am the witness there of this one shloka in the Gita which is repeated three times which means this thing everything is done by nature by the gunas of nature said to Rajas Tamas and ahankara Ramudu the the self-deluded by the ego things kotahi mighty boniato i am the doer and then some sarah starts if you are the doer you get the result but yesterday I mentioned 13 chapter says pretty ava karmani kriyamanani server sure nature alone does everything but and the person who sees this sees that the self is the non doer again in 18 chapter it is mentioned the same insight this first approach to karma yoga is mentioned three times in the Gita the witness consciousness another approach the second one this is a bhakti-yoga based approach this one is the most common if you ask what is the way that karma action karma yoga is done in the ramakrishna order how do you all do it most of us almost all of us I think we do it with this we say this word belongs to Sri Ramakrishna this ashram belongs to sri ramakrishna and Sri Rama Krishna has given us this work and I have an opportunity to serve Sri Ramakrishna through this work this is my Lord's universe whichever you put it my Christ my Krishna my Ramakrishna whatever in form you understand God and God it's God's universe everybody in this and everything in this universe belongs to God and I am here to serve so through my actions I am worshipping God I see my Gopala the baby Krishna in everybody who comes to me and as they need in whichever form I can I serve them this is my worship of God so all my action is transformed into worship I've yet told you the story of how in that Lucknow airport once a security guard asked me please tell us something as actually I was going to the airport and I was the only passenger transit passenger and they they frisked you there they make you stand on top of a box and then they so there was only one there in wearing a dress this dress and so the security guard there said give us a talk and he said now yes tell us something and then he called everybody else did not be there no work anywhere it was so all these people there are with guns and everything both men and women policeman policeman they're standing around me listening for the Turner waiting for the talk I thought what do I tell them they made me stand on the box to give a talk and then I told him this that remember it was Lucknow Uttar Pradesh so I said do you do puja before you leave your house and the gentleman said yes Hanuman ji Kabul Charles say I put flowers at the feet of Lord Hanuman before I leave house leave the house for my job and I said when as each person files past you throughout the day you check the person do your job efficiently politely and mentally put one more flower at the feet of Lord Hanuman each person and he was so happy with that he was a delighted smile simple man he delighted smile he said Wow dinner on one jika puja whole day I will be worshipping God yes your whole life is transformed into over ship of God try it don't tell people if you tell your kids now I am going to worship God in you they'll take advantage of you remember I am God I remember when I was put in charge of a hostel like a dorm with little kids there are all 10 year olds and I was taken aback and I was a noob Ramachari I thought if had gotten married I would have got one or two kids now there are 40 kids and none of them they they realize me as what do you call it a soft touch or something so then knew that I can't be very strict so the dorm which I was in charge of was the most disorganized disorganized a riotous dorm throughout and they used to be prizes given at the end of each month for the mini test well the most disciplined well organised storm and we would always be last and one day one after one of these disappointing events were sitting there and and the students were they would come is irate with me and the one of the little I still remember he said in Hindi you know he said Maharaja Jonny did you let it be Swami let it be Mara very mature see after all think about it this way all the other dorms you know they cry twenty-nine days a month and laugh on the last day and we laugh twenty-nine days a month can I own one day so we are very happy so but the powers that be the senior Swami's but not at all happy with my dorm and I got a lot of scoldings because of the poor performance of the dorms so I thought I would shame the kids into doing their work the kids were tough customers they have to and it's hard to get up early in the morning and sweep the dorm and things like that so I would wake them up at 6 o'clock and and the guy is still little kid he's still in bed with his face buried in the pillow I said it's your duty aren't you going to sweep the dorm and he'd look up at me with disgust and he had a broomstick under the bed you know he would reach under the bed while lying on the bed and he would take out the broomstick and sweep like this put it back inside and they would look at me okay Anna bus so one day I decided I'm going to shame these fellows so I took out the broomstick and I started in front of them sweeping the dorm he looked at me puzzled what is Mara's doing then one of the kids and he is he's lucky he's a very big doctor now so I shouldn't take his name his little kid at that time he called everybody else come come come and see and then they burst into spontaneous epsilon applause this is the kind of dorm warden we want [Laughter] who does all our work for happen no but the idea is externally you're doing the same work whether it is administering a dorm or looking after a school or college or office but internally you had this feeling that God alone exists in all of these beings and I do Swami Vivekananda's philosophy was that my god the poor my god the hungry my god the ill my god the wicked he said and how do you serve them through education through food through medicine and treatment through a kind word go out of your way to be helpful and nice to people so that is worship of God in all beings convert your work into God into worship Swami Vivekananda proach anything except has got a very powerful formula people in your life work in your life events in your life never approach anything except as God so this is not very difficult to do these two approaches though we are calling them Karma Yoga one is based on Yana yoga and the one based on bhakti yoga verge energy mirages gotten a quotation from a great monk of our order Swami Madhav Ananda ji who was the president of the order long time ago of course long before I I mean I never I met some of his disciples but I've never met him so about this form swami maharaj ji' writes i consider that the way swami vivekananda has advised us to worship God in man or to worship man as God is bhakti-yoga it's actually work but based on fact is bhakti-yoga as soon as you have the idea of worship it no longer remains confined to the sphere of karma not even karma yoga we can call it bhakti-yoga so this is a kind of book to you actually similarly it is also kind of jnana yoga this first one as a apart from these two so I mean imagine Angie mentions two other approaches to karma yoga the path of surrender this is advanced this is a concept taken from this Sanskrit word is property it's a concept taken from vashisht advaitha Sri Vaishnava which is popular in the south of India a lot of there's a huge community so one of the most advanced practices of bhakti in that path bhakti means devotion to God in that path is called property property means total surrender remember who can do this this is a person who actually you might say is not concerned with the work doing the work but not concerned with the work anymore it's concerned only with God these two can be put Sudama Krishna put in a very simple way he said these two are talking about these two hold on to God with one hand and the and to work with do the work with the other hand with your right hand hold on to the feet of the Lord in your left hand to the work in the world once the work in the world is finished hold on to the Lord with both hands our problem is moment the world calls our attention we hold on to the world with both hands and then it bites us then we suffer it is no first hold on to God and then when the world asks what your attention do the work and then immediately come back that itself is difficult we tend to forget and there are practical hints like swami brahman and they said somebody said I forget God in the day-to-day work so before beginning any work anything you want to drive from here to there before beginning take the name of God Lord I offer this to you during the drive we just remember once or twice mentally yes I'm doing this as a worship of the Lord after it is finished Sri Ramakrishna or namaste we do that whatever work it is we offer it to the Lord then start the next one the beginning of the work at the end of the work in the middle if you can remember yeah so hold on to God with one hand hold on to work with the other do the work with the other and when the work is finished hold on to God God with both hands so this is the one and two especially number two but this is for people who hold on to God with both hands all the time but that means the person who actually feels the presence of God overwhelmingly God alone is real to me the other things recedes to the background how will such a person do work do you know how God does what for such a person is is very nice very nice means what then in the condition is that you hold on to God and God alone not samsara there are instances of advanced spiritual seekers devotees the I think Ram Prasad he is to write his songs all the time and you're supposed to do accounts and his boss caught ability we are not finishing your accounts and then he would find that his accounts are being done who does it who knows Divine Mother did his accounts for him but that means you have to hold on to the divine mother with both hands say oh that's good then divine mother will do my taxes for me I will not but then are you completely holding on to God with both hands so total surrender to God is necessary Sri Krishna says for such a devotee only for such a devotee Ghita he says yoga kshema waha Maha yoga kshema he what does it mean what does yoga mean here here Yoga means getting what I have not got and Shaima means protecting what I have already got that's what a Sam sorry person does all the good things in life which I have got I must protect all the bad things which I've managed to keep away they must be kept away whether it is any kind of physical trouble mental trouble social trouble keep it away all the good things protected and more good things are there in life get those that is samsara now if I say I will think only about God what will happen to my yoga and Shaima this is a special meaning of yoga what will happen shri krishna says i will take care of that I'll take care of it if you can hold on to God the very good deal but it's difficult when you try it you will see that though you are convinced of the deal when we try to do it our minds are so much flowing into the world but we violate the terms of the deal immediately when contract null and void Krishna will say I will not do it for you you have violated the terms of the contract yoga kshema vahanam is the motor of in India life insurance company of India yes they took it from the Gita from the Bhagavad Gita they've taken yogic shame of omnium so life insurances I will take care of insurance very good ideas good I will take care of whatever you need in life all right so that is property very beautiful idea I think it is a story about Tulsi das one great saint who is to live in a hut and many rich people is to come to him and they were robbers who watched it that this monk he lives in a hut but so many rich devotees come to him and they give him gifts oh this must be full of costly things and there were many things in the hut so they decided to rob the hut and then they found they could not enter it because all each time they approached it in the dead of the night they found these two young these two youths standing with bows and arrows patrolling the Tulsi das yes that's too next in the morning David's up days couldn't restrain their curiosity so they went to the say a st. and said forgive us we wanted to rob you last night but we couldn't get in who are those two wonderful you know there's luminous beings and there's a youth who for all night we're walking back and forth in front of your Hut with armed with bow and arrow and Dulcie does burst into tears they're rama and lakshmana that they've come to protect me and you know what his tears were for or because of all this nonsense that is there in the in the hut all those things they now have to be protected and I bothered my beloved Lord and he immediately said you take all of them he told the robber to take everything from here so because we are bothering God for God as promised I will take care of everything and not only that he promises yoga kshema bhajami 'him I will carry what you need what the devotee needs I will carry so the great scholar I think it's jagannatha mist or somebody it was he was in Puri he was writing a commentary to the Mahabharata entire Mahabharata including bhagavad-gita which is in Mahabharata he was writing a commentary when he came to this verse God says I carry what my devotee needs he thought that's mistake why will the Lord carry for the river T this is not good and the devotee it's the Lord Lord will grind so he changed it he cut it out the word of the bahama of the begitu he cut out the world so that's scholarship for you he cut out the word this has to be changed this must be wrong he cut it out and he wrote dog omnia ham in sanskrit I give I grant the Lord says I granted to my devotees whatever they need if their one-pointed devotion is there now he was very poor in his house his wife was thinking there's nothing to cook today there's no food suddenly this youth who comes very beautiful little boy comes with lot of food on his head on a basket and he gives it to the who are you who sent this oh you are a husband has sent this for this is for it for you and then he then she saw a long stripe like somebody has hit him with the cane or something on his face or his back on his back so who hit you like this is terrible or your your husband did this and wife was furious I said wait let him come home why would he hurt this little innocent child and look how nicely he's brought all the food for us so when the scholar returned home hungry and his wife was furious why did you beat that little boy so what little boy it's a little boy who came with all the food for us and look here's all the food and he disappeared weak I couldn't find him but he had this terrible mark on his back like a cut then he realized that he had cut the word of the world with like that like a like a so that that came on the back of the little boy who was none other than Krishna so anyway the Lord takes care of you but takes care does not mean oh that means I want to be a millionaire I won't do any work I'll just take the name of Krishna and Krishna will give me a million dollars no Krishna will take care of what you need that much that is promised when Narendra not went on asking pestering so Yama Krishna he was in dire circumstances his father had passed away we had household debts and his brothers and sisters were young and he didn't have a job what to do and so he finally went helplessly to Sri Ramakrishna and said ask the divine mother see whatever you want in the world you have to ask the divine mother Brahman is totally useless if if you are poor in the world that's all right poor is from same ramen with poor name and form if you are rich in the world Brahman is also fine with that you're same Brahman with rich name and form name and form is not Brahman is not concerned but the divine mother can make a change if you want to change that's why everybody like Q's up before the temple of the Divine Mother Shiva temple sort of formality because she's in charge of the household accounts of the universe the Divine Mother Shiva doesn't have a penny to his name so she Ramakrishna said you go and ask and not in there not said to Sri Ramakrishna's it no no he listens to you you go ahead ask tell tell her that things may improve for me Ramakrishna said no you go today's a Tuesday it said the day of the Divine Mother and I tell you that she will listen to what you ask for go and ask for money so she he goes there and then he come he finds that that it's a living image he it's not just a stone image or something he comes back sort of god-intoxicated and then Salama krishna says what did you see I saw this the divine presence and did you pray yes I prayed for devotion Viveca Vairagya the discernment between the eternal and a non eternal dispassion for the world devotion to her oh that's all right but did you pray for money no I forgot oh how foolish go back go back quickly and and ask for money and then he went back same thing happened again third time sri ramakrishna sent him back this yet time go and ask same thing he asked for devotion he has foreknowledge dispassion then he understood that this is all your play he told Sri Ramakrishna Sri Ramakrishna was very happy because here the disciple had passed the test you must do something for me and then try Ramakrishna says yes all right your family will not lack plain food and clothing plain food and clothing not Kate Spade collection not Anthony Bourdain food just plain food and clothing that not much so Krishna says I will take care of surrender property God takes care of your affairs your work the other one it says Leela this whole universe the devotee ultimately sees this universe as a play of God and I am the friend God is playing with me in this in this form but then remember even disease and suffering and loneliness and death are also play I remember so translated you will not take it as suffering I remember this very touching story it's a Russian Orthodox Church story so this man he goes to the Father in the church and asks you taught us that praise God in good and evil so even things are good I can praise God but when things are going badly how do I praise God it's not easy so father said look I don't know but in the forest there there are Hermits to stay anchorites so this is one who stays there he's a very good hermit go and ask him he can tell you so this man goes into the forest and says in a little cell this emaciated man is sitting there and there are sores on his body and is obviously his ill and his underfed sitting quietly and praying but his eyes are shining it an unearthly joy this man asks him I have a question the father sent me to you to ask you a question how do I praise God when there is suffering he said you know the answer how do I praise God when yourself how can I thank God when unfortunate things happen to me sad things happen to me when suffering when he gives suffering and this Hermit he looked up in the sweet smile he said but I can't tell you that because God has never given me suffering you see that Stan sir divine play all is play I heard the story it's a real thing which happened in the Himalayas I have told some of you earlier there was this monk who is too in a cave see there the system is you have to go for your food beg for your food and there are places it's not as difficult as it sounds there are places where monks you just go there and if you are a monk they will feed you so it's as easy as that one day there was a feast sometimes there are occasional fees but feast is not really a feast compared to what you might think of feast is it's one one extra ladoo that's the feast or in the mango season one mango is a feast so there's a feast have you heard of they are called they're like pancakes mal Pau they're like pancakes so that that was served that day that that's big news the monastic grapevine that day was malpua and that particular place so afterwards when we went to the class the teacher and told us the teacher was teaching us he said lo guy did you all go he said yes kidnap malbok saya how many did you eat somebody said one somebody said to somebody said three and then the monk the teacher said I don't go it comes and he said your karma will bring to you whatever if you if you are obstinate if you don't put forth the effort karma is helpless it has to come to you and he gave the example like letters which are which bear your address the postman will find out and deliver it to you even in your cave he said innocence that's what happens similarly your karma will come too if you don't go to that place somehow food will come to you so he said food came to me then he told us the story of this monk who lived in a cave who did not go out begging but with the villagers liked him very much so they every day they would bring him food at a fixed hour and they would leave it outside the cave he would come out from the cave and eat one day the villagers decided to test him and they did not bring the food at that hour and there from a distance they were watching what does he do now he had this attitude that God is my friend my life is a play with God and he would call God Mara you are my my buddy that's why don't you go to beg like the rest of us other monks would ask he would say Mira are Coolatta my friend feeds me so that day they waited and they saw the monk come out at the appointed hour he looked around no food he scratched his head and then maybe stroked his beard hmm and then he went back into the cave after ten minutes he came out again and looked no food and it kept on happening in intervals several hours later before evening the villagers went up to him and said so what happened didn't your friend feed you today your buddy and he broke out into a dance singing cello hodge merry ER Catelli shallow as merry our kitchen today the will of my friend was done it doesn't translate to willing to English today the will of my friend was done I'm so happy what does it mean all these days I am hungry and I want to eat and my friend with a capital F my they are the body obliges me he feeds me he does what I want today I'm hungry I want to eat but he decided not to feed me today his will was done not mine I'm so happy today today my he didn't fulfill my will he fulfilled his will so jello has made er catalysis I'm so happy today that is that is that it should only that way otherwise everything in life has to be transformed into clay and divine Lila and they really gaudiya vaishnavas they see everything in life every event in your life as the dance of a rather hand krishna everything that is going on in life is the dance of raga and krishna so if you that's another way of demonizing work so these are the this is the main let us say they what I've seen most people do monks and who those were not monks they see work as worship of God okay we'll do Q&A and before that at the end of this book the Swami has given what is called a few practical hints for followers of karma yoga very important observations I have selected 20 he has given 35 so these are very practical suggestions very practical points I will read them out then we will discuss one other than karmayoga all yogic paths implies spiritual practice in solitude karma yoga alone has the power to bring the spiritual ideal directly into the busiest field of life struggles very important for today's life karma yoga very relevant second the goal of Karma Yoga is one's own liberation and the welfare of the world do all work with this twofold end in view at monomakh short-term jaga theta the motor of the Ramakrishna order for your own liberation and for the welfare of the world that is the purpose of Karma Yoga for your own enlightenment not to make you a million bucks or not to make you famous or not to give you awards in life so it is only for my spiritual realization and bring welfare to the world third do all work as either service to God who dwells in all beings or as a participation in cosmic sacrifice that is to say all work must be done either with devotion to God or with knowledge of the self either way the important point is to make karma means of connecting individual life with universal life so either based on God or seeing yourself as the Atman that I am participating in an Universal sacrifice going on here number four look upon all people as potentially divine but do not mention mistake potentiality for actuality God is present in all beings absolutely true do not under eight the reality and the power of evil though the one divine dwells in all the manifestation of the divinity is not the same in all in the sinner and the saying God dwells yes but be careful of the sinner so we have to be careful in dealing with evil minded people and difficult situations so he mentions the example of Viagra Narayan and Mahatma Ryan what is viagra Narayan the story Ramakrishna said NAR I and other Lord dwells in all but that does not mean you will embrace the tiger Lord if you embrace God in the form of the tiger what will happen the tiger will also embrace you in that with the end and the story of mahout narayan how do I deal with life so a monk learned that God is present in all beings then he went out on his daily round for begging in the village for his food and people shouted run away run away oh Lisa run away from the path a mad elephant is charging down this man thought this monk thought that God is I love my guru taught me God is present in all being so God is present in the elephant Narayan is present in the elephant sir how can God harm me there won't be any problem I should only approach with the right spirit that God is there in the elephant even the mouth you know the mountain man who sits on top of the elephant who couldn't control it shouted move away from the path holy sir I can't control the elephant but the man stood calmly an elephant charged down I think the elephant couldn't believe its beady little eyes and he picked up this monk and tossed him into the fields on the side and charged down a random away this man lost consciousness they couldn't find him in the ashram they went out looking for him then they brought him back to the ashram and revived him and when he came to his senses the Guru asked him what happened what happened my child sir you taught me that all is god Narayan is present in everything and then I thought Narayan present in the elephant and but Nara and elephant threw me off to the side he told the whole story and then guru said it is true that Narayan is present in the elephant but the mouth Narayan told you to move out that's why didn't you listen to that Mahatma and one-dot God is present in that also God spoke to that which means all rules of common sense also apply so be careful and then number five every day we should spend at least half an hour in morning and evening in silent contemplation the danger of karma yoga is becoming extroverted busyness I remember the first lesson I learned I was a new I was a novice just one or two months into my monastic life in the evening after them evening prayers I went to the office and I was working in the office and the head of the monastery came and said what are you doing I'm working you should go to your room immediately sit and meditate there or you read something or you sleep don't come out of your room until the bell for the night meal goes see he knows young man Restless active and he's disguising this restlessness in the name of karma yoga you know he said even if you go and sit in your room or even if those in your room literally doesn't mean that you have to sleep but you will not come out learn the value of pulling back from the world and this is specially important for Karma Yoga Karma Yoga busyness busyness is not spirituality number six one of the tests of progress in Karma Yoga is the attainment of purity of mind another test is reduction of stress and strain purity of mind stress and strain if instead of making the mind pure and freeing it from tension work makes it more and more impure or increases mental tension there must be something wrong with the work way work is being done way means your attitude number seven see maturity will bring you to it I was in Harvard the last three days and the most of the people in that batch we are young people and it's something awesome for them to be at Harvard thrilled they are worried they have lot of expectations lot of anxieties all of that is there they are delighted scared proud to be there apprehensive more than once they came and said how can you be so relaxed and you seem to be fairly I'm happy to be there and then I like it everything is nice but also I have no particular expectation from it are nothing really tied up and you don't have to be a monk to have that to happen if you are a monkey it comes very easily just maturity one lady who is little older than the others she has kids she has come back to college and so she's in the same batch she was saying that life has a kind of dreamlike quality after some time so many things have happened in life if you think about your childhood now if you think about the places you lived in especially many of people here are immigrants right here in this so you have lived in different lands vastly different cultures and places if you look back upon it now doesn't it have a dreamlike story like quality especially as you get more mature you have family or children or husband and wife and different jobs different cities different experiences when you begin to look back just with that maturity life does take on a dreamlike story like quality then number seven in karma yoga what matters is not what we do but how we do it in karma yoga there is no distinction between lower and higher work between secular and sacred work all work is sacred as the Bengali saying goes from mending shoes to chanting the chandi judo shall I take a Shanda path a Bengali sing from mending your shoes to chanting the the sacred texts chandi all of it is spiritual you can spiritual eyes all work unless it's openly immoral or bad in every word can be spiritual eyes including eating talking walking everything can be spur spiritual eyes then he says number eight choose the type of work that is a harmony with your temperament so resistance will be less if you have no freedom many people have no freedom if you have no freedom to choose your work try to make whatever work you are asked to do meaningful to you that is somehow connected to God spirituality number nine make your outer life and expression of your inner life let your whole life be an undivided consecration to the ideal so not just meditation when I am that spiritual and the rest of it I have to work in the office that's so boring and awful know what you do as worship in your meditation room that is worship in the office that is worship in the community in the family all of life becomes worship and it can be done it can be done number 18 whatever you may do do it well be efficient in work avoid sloppiness bungling and waste of time these are signs of Thomas and Rajas so karmayoga demands sattvic mind number eleven always prefer collective welfare to self-interest Karma Yoga will always prefer collective welfare to self-interest in the name of service do not exploit other people especially the poor unless one is the spiritual goal in mind very soon Social Work also becomes selfish work I have heard again and again well-known social workers in India running NGOs non-government organizations what we call in this country non nonprofits well-known people but I have heard from people in the organization they will say sir or madam you know is early days used to see that he or she is to come to the field but nowadays what is her and my time interested in going from seminar to seminar collecting awards and you know that becomes I am famous I should be rewarded for my great work which I've done number 12 never do anything against your conscience do not do anything that lowers your self-respect have high self respect without being egoistic karma yogi number 13 make service a way of life do service not as a duty but as a natural way of life service calls for sacrifice always be ready for sacrifice this idea was you've heard of servant leadership Robert Greenleaf he popularized it he has a whole foundation for servant leadership he says that our ideals should be servant ship service and when you get a position of leadership you use that for service but when you're not in a position of leadership you still go on serving because my primary identity is I am here to serve what can I do for you people make this mistake that my job does not allow me to do any service or karmayoga no no there are people around you you can at least be nice to them make an effort so servant ship flows into leadership and if leadership comes very good and once it goes away again servant ship remains current continuous don't wait I will get the opportunity the power the resources somebody said that this person Vinayak he runs an orphanage with more than 1,000 kids a very big organization on the outskirts of Calcutta he's got the Indian President's Award for child welfare and all of that somebody asked him how did you get this idea how did you get this idea and his answer was very perceptive he said it did not begin with an idea it began with a feeling I felt the children are suffering I must immediately do something what is the idea how funds will come what should I do what will be the organizational structure what will be the legal backing all that comes later once some young men enthusiastic they came and said we want to do this thing but there are lot of problems it has to be incorporated there are legal problems and I said have you started first you're starting with putting the cart before the horse drawing up the Charter and the bylaws and what have you actually done in society have you benefited one child one homeless person yet I remember practical lesson there was a homeless person sick on the pavement outside the ashram of Weaver nubra matures we noticed and we were feeling bad we didn't know what to do about it then one monk came along and said what what's going on so there's this person who's who's being sick on the pavement is homeless and he's maybe mentally ill or something and very poor obviously old man the monk told us what is this he is sitting and commiserating get together get one or two other dromedaries young men and it was late in the night go there clean him up feed him talk to him find out about him take him to the nearest hospital do it let me see and we did it we immediately got to a song into action and the man was so happy he couldn't believe his he didn't have his wits about him but that much he understood that people who were being kind to him so here he says make service a way of life number 14 Karma Yoga is not necessarily a technique for attaining success in worldly life I have done lot of service why am I not being recognized was that your purpose I did so much good to the world and one person who started the nonprofit a professor told him we were all doing our MBA you are not going into a corporate life you are starting a nonprofit very good everybody is praising you 25 years down the line maybe you the nonprofit will do well maybe it will not do well one thing is guaranteed all your batchmates will be rich and successful spread all over the world at that time you should not think why am I not rich you must not think that so this is a lifelong commitment remember Karma Yoga is spiritual it's not meant to make you a millionaire or even get you the Nobel Prize or something like that it may happen may not happen but that's not the point that same Vinayak I was talking about him somebody asked him how do you define success he says there are external and intrinsic and extrinsic parameters of success the intrinsic parameter is I know this is the right thing to do there are these children who are suffering successfully or unsuccessfully I must struggle to help them and yes there is extrinsic parameter I start he started with three kids he pulled out of the pavement and just straight away he went and did it he didn't know where the next meal was going to come from didn't know where he was going to stay he started like that and you start doing that three kids thirty kids that's how he progressed one hundred three hundred five hundred thousand and he says this is good as it goes on and we are doing better and better and this is success true this is also Socrates real definite li extrinsic success but it could be and there are so many nonprofits who do not do so well you start with twenty kids and his twenty kids it could have happened but even then I would consider myself a success because I have that intrinsic idea that this is the right thing to do I failed outside doesn't matter but I am doing the right thing so a karma yogi number fifteen karma yogi must always maintain equanimity of mind in success and failure praise and blame he should remain calm there must be forbearance detection sixteen do not blame other people for your troubles or failures in life the attitude and behavior of other people towards us depends on upon our attitude and behavior towards them number 17 in the field of work one of the main problems is to get along well with one's superiors with one's equals and with one's subordinates or juniors some people adjust themselves very well with superiors but find it difficult to adjust with equals and juniors whereas some people get along very well with their equals and juniors but find it difficult to adjust with their superiors always rebel we're told to do something no I won't listen it's a natural kind of mindset or the opposite whatever they are telling me to do yesterday my superior I will do it but I'm nasty to everybody else around another kind of mindset you must get along well with everybody time number 18 time management is an important aspect of Karma Yoga karma yogi should do all work at the right time and within the shortest possible time reading newspapers novels etc viewing TV programs chatting so and he does not know about the web so then not only cause waste of time but reduce efficiency and concentration sticking to a strict daily routine is a great help in proper time management number 19 always remembers free Ramakrishna's advice to the holy mother I will translate in Bengali Jacana German Sheikh Anita moon jackandjill moon token Timon jockey jamun Takata mom basically it means in matters of external dealings act in accordance to place time and person don't be stubborn number 20 last in practical life the real task is to combine work and worship to carry on all activities a service offering to the Lord maintaining your inner contact with the Lord and so Sri Ramakrishna gave this advice to LA to Maharaja for all time to come this is what you how you lead your life what a beautiful thing I'll explain Altran give you the original one in Bengali how do you live your life who is telling sri ramakrishna to whom Swami who became Swami Arbutin and the law to Mara's he was called the miracle of sri ramakrishna because he was completely illiterate not are not just uneducated completely literate and remained so more or less throughout his life and yet he became an enlightened person a Brahma Gani and many people came to learn from him what did he say to LA to Mirage jaga jaga jaga tugby as long as you're awake it must be one of the two jaga jaga jaga means yog arts or sacrifice service or and yoga internally externally sacrifice internally your contact with the it could be month Rajab or it could be prayer it could be visualization whatever it is you're internally connected with God externally working for a service to the Lord who made cally taka daka be before you fall asleep and called pray intensely to the Lord Cosima's etiquette who'll be our hot dumb touchable ugh be in the midst of all work hold on to the Lord and at all times serve the Lord so this is what a beautiful advice he says lifelong guidance before he passed away he told Latimer this is how you live your life jaga Joe KJ get hug be as long as you're awake you are externally engaged in yoga the great service and internally connected with God yes our whoredom touchable ugh be jagat jogiya Huckabee one go miracle attack attack be when you fall asleep before you lose external awareness intensely call upon God Cosima's etiquette herpe in the midst of all activities of life hold on to the Lord and what should be our activity of life all the time try to try to be of service to the Lord remember the famous Hanuman Chalisa which is very popular in North India description of Lord Hanuman his attitude to God Rama kadjic Arabic Oh Arthur always so eager to do the do the work of the Lord very good so this is Karma Yoga comments reactions questions here welcome to you thank you the largest problem I think you'd see is the one you have started with which means the forgetfulness of real nature of the of I forget what I am yes and it would make sense that karmayoga would serve to remove the forgetfulness and I don't see the direct connection it is quite beautiful what you have said but I don't see how would it I mean the problem is seems to be the problem of memory or ignorance right yes it's a cumulative process see the problem with for example meditation in every spiritual retreat one common question will be mine why my mind wanders when I meditate my mind wanders I other thoughts come into the mind other people why does that happen because the moment I cut off the world my mind is left to itself it's very difficult to be mindful and mine other thoughts intrude and my mind wanders but in karma yoga that is not so because the work you're connected to the world if you are looking if you're taking care of an ill person as a patient who is sick that patient will make sure your mind is on the job only thing is that internally we must have this attitude that the Lord is present in far in infant form of the patient the actual work which is your practice the savour of treating the patient that will be done with mindfulness because the patient will make sure that you pay attention teaching a class of fifth graders you can't say my mind is one you cannot mind cannot wander they will make sure that you pay attention your mind will be held there the transformation is internal that all of these people I am dealing with they are none other than the Lord and that will go away from time to time that will disappear but over time that becomes steadier slowly with a particularly difficult that idea that God is present in this form will be very difficult to hold on to the person is difficult but over time it comes I know in our Hospital in Banaras that's the attitude all the monks are supposed to maintain once a year they actually have a worship of the patient's physical worship of the patients all the throughout the year there is worship of the patients with medicine and injections and treatment and bandages but once a year it's actually with garlands and incense and food offerings and like you worship a deity that's to inculcate within the the doctors and the nurses and the monks that we are worshippers and that's the inculcate the feeling of divinity within the patients that we are not taking service as we Candace said let the one who is receiving stand up and receive this the one who's offering kneel down and offer there was a monk I never saw him this to call him burn BRE Baba those who saw him in Banaras he lifelong he practiced that his real practice was he would dress the wounds of the patients and he would continuously think that God is present he was a disciple of the Divine Mother I think and he had more than one occasion visions of the Divine Mother in in the patients and around that area it was well known that you would want to have the patient bandages changed by bond Baba because then he would be cured and the poor people they all knew that and they would queue up for they would always ask they didn't want the doctor they didn't want the nurse they wanted the Swami to come in and even in his old age he had to be wheeled out in a wheelchair he would go to the hospital and change the bandages and treat the patients transformed into I remember when I joined the order the first things that struck me was I told a monk when I go to the temple and meditate I can think of God but when I'm in the school and teaching the kids are doing the paperwork or writing letters and all I can't think of God and the monk said how strange I find that when I'm writing a letter replying to a letter my mind calms down wonderfully I thought he was exaggerating but no no it works another monk whom we knew as a great meditator he would spend hours and hours in meditation then one day the monk of the the head of the monastery gave him the duty of in the evening after prayers which is when it is his meditation time remember this a monk who loved meditation when it is a meditation time it gave him the duty of supervising the study of this of the children the children sit together and study so you have to walk walk around in supervisor make sure and give them help make sure they're not sleeping or whatever that's his meditation time we thought he would be upset one day I was walking with that monk and he said you know and I was a novice you know I discovered something very interesting the feeling I get at the best time of my meditation when my meditation is really deep that feeling I often again and again I keep getting when I'm walking in the midst of all those children doing their work and I feel God is present in them I'm serving them that presence of God I feel there I thought he was exaggerating but later I realized no it's possible okay best kind law of karma oginam this is not karma is not really I think not mentioned in in opening shots they usually talk about John never just mentioned convert more see in the Upanishads Vedas Upanishads are part of the Vedas Vedas have three parts karma who pass an iguana Upanishads are gana pradhana mostly about Jana but there is always every opening shot has some mention of karma as some mention of opposite of asana means meditation so the Vedas always had three components action meditation knowledge ritual contemplation and philosophy so the law of karma would be mentioned in the karma kanda portion of with us yes okay it's not the law of karma not in this sense but karma leads to results so do good karma will get good results do bad karma will get bad results so this proto prototype of the form of of what we call the law of karma today you find in the most ancient part of the Vedas you find in the Upanishads you find in the Bhagavad Gita throughout pedantic literature you find it again and again it bothers me to ask you this is this all a form of self-hypnosis if ramakrishna cancer patient says I feel no pain and feel happy it's a catalyst so it's a is delusional and you're all teaching us how to become deluded not so much he looses a form of prolonged sulphate gnosis and reconditioning just the opposite where Dante insists that we are already hypnotized so I'm Vivekananda sense to the who is overall the process of deep hypnosis remember carefully sri ramakrishna does not say I don't feel pain he in the first she said I do feel pain didn't you say there is it's here it hurts I cannot eat because of the tumor and he says but sir I see that you are in great bliss that's also true is inappropriate effect that's called inappropriate effect is you should not be happy it should not be happy yes so this is from the perspective of a very materialistic science which is you have to be unhappy why do you have a happy it yeah so that inappropriate effect which you're talking about that's PASOK that's pathological but yeah so that's pathological here ceramic Krishna is actually grounded in reality our whole from a pedantic perspective our whole problem is we are living a kind of dream life according to those enlightened people we are the ones who are away from reality there are pathologically disturbed people who are away from our reality also one sign of this is that the pathologically affected person is usually dysfunctional in life Freud was once asked everything you say every procore ding to everybody seems to be disturbed if you say you have a problem then you are mentally disturbed if you say I have no problem then you are really disturbed because you're suppressing all the problems so what is normal according to you and try to give a very nice answer he said the ability to do one's work and to maintain and the ability to work and to love that's a sign of normally that means if you can maintain your relationships in working order and you can take care of yourself and do your fulfill your responsibilities to some extent at least you're ok you're fine so deeply disturbed persons cannot do that usually there's one sign otherwise why would you call it pathological if everybody's if the person is fully functional and also happy even if the person has cancer what is the problem then the person is unhappy or having serious problems at some level you see there is a great discrepancy the mismatch between reality and that person's perceptions and reactions then you call it pathological but in the case of these enlightened people they seem to be more functional than us the places where we struggle they overcome easily and they are able to inspire and guide millions of us down the ages for centuries and millennia look at what Buddha said when he was asked by this young first time when he was walking from both the gaya to sarnath before he delivered the first sermon this little shepherd boy young man he asked him looked at his face and was amazed by the look on his face and said what are you Houston Smith says many people have been asked who are you very few people in history have been asked what are you what are you are you a god and the Buddha said no are you an angel in those angel of course there's a Christian term they would have said Dave Ahdoot or something like that heavenly being no are you a human being but they said no and what are you sure I am the awakened I am Buddha meaning thereby we are not awakened it yet we are away from reality enlightenment you will get a distinct clear perception that you are penetrating through to a deeper level of reality from which you can fully understand the other person's perspective but the other person cannot understand you how do you know that you are at a deeper level or a higher level why is the college student at a higher level than the guns in the kindergarten student because the college student understands everything that the kindergarten student is studying but the kinder got the other way around kindergarten students ruin doesn't understand what the college student is telling so it encompasses our reality and goes beyond that how do we fit ambition in karmayoga and ambition and other modes a selfish desires of the mind and body even little ones you cannot die what is the purpose of karma yoga the purpose of Karma Yoga is ultimately it is for enlightenment or God realization so I have realized that what was what where all my ambitions for till today why do we have ambitions what does ambition lead to what is the purpose of ambition happiness happiness ultimately to my own happiness people are confused they don't understand this if you actually probe there's a nice story is there somebody said I love my job it's really the job which I love working for a big multinational corporation she asked then they do the job we won't give you the money you love the job right no no no no no money I must have given a choice between the job and the money which will do you have to take one and then I will take the money okay you take the money but you can't spend it no no no no I should be able to spend it I need things for my family I had to buy the things for my family alright you can spend the money for the family but they won't be your family anymore it's somebody some random family no no no it has to be my friend ultimately it comes back to me my happiness somewhere in an enlightened way or unenlightened way it has to be connected to the self now this is what ambition is for and the enlightened person a wise person not enlightened wise person realizes this way is not making me happy if I keep on pursuing these ambitions it'll just same result will come the definition of insanity is to keep doing the same things and expecting different results I repeat it again and again expect different results no insanity so now here is religion Vivekananda and others promising you that real deep satisfaction is possible why not try that remember in one sense you are not abandoning ambition you are being ambitious in a wiser way young man became a monk his classmates asked him why do you want to become a why do you want don't you want these things whatever is in life and them a young man replied it's not that I don't want these things I want everything yes can you that person say yes yes Swami ji have a question about introverts who want to do service but it's difficult for them you know it's like they would rather sit in a cave then go out there and interact with people and do service so how can an introvert person be a good karma yogi yes when is lunch now twelve twelve thirty twelve so we have gone into the lunch time introvert your nature suits you to to meditation for example study meditation devotion that will become your primary path don't fight against your nature but Swami Vivekanand always recommended a harmony of the four yoga's remember the problem is not with karma yoga the problem is always with my own mental makeup so that which my mental makeup has not suited me to that I must I must try that will not be easy on me so there are introverts who do come in our order we have to do karma yoga we have to do all the yoga's so not suited to it may not be very practical may not be very efficient also but it does me good often the places where I grow most at the places where I I lack development good Oh shanti shanti shanti hurry he owned that's at sri ramakrishna eponymous too [Music] you