WHAT IS THE MEANING OF FREEDOM
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👀 (KARMA YOGAM) 👀
❤ FREEDOM ❤
IN ADDITION TO MEANING WORK, WE HAVE STATED THAT PSYCHOLOGICALLY THE WORD KARMA ALSO IMPLIES CAUSATION. ANY WORK, AN ACTION, ANY THOUGHT THAT PRODUCES AN EFFECT IS CALLED A KARMA. THUS THE LAW OF KARMA MEANS THE LAW OF CAUSATION, OF INEVITABLE CAUSE AND SEQUENCE. WHERESOEVER THERE IS A CAUSE, THERE AN EFFECT MUST BE PRODUCED, THIS NECESSITY CANNOT BE RESISTED, AND THIS LAW OF KARMA, ACCORDING TO OUR PHILOSOPHY, IS TRUE THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE UNIVERSE. WHATEVER WE SEE, OR FEEL, OR DO, WHATEVER ACTION THERE IS ANYWHERE IN THE UNIVERSE, WHILE BEING THE EFFECT OF PAST WORK ON THE ONE HAND, BECOMES, ON THE OTHER, A CAUSE IN ITS TURN, AD PRODUCES ITS OWN EFFECT. IT IS NECESSARY, TOGETHER WITH THIS, TO CONSIDER WHAT IS MEANT BY THE WORD "LAW". BY LAW IS MEANT THE TENDENCY OF SERIES TO REPEAT ITSELF.
WHEN WE SEE ONE EVEN FOLLOWED BY ANOTHER, OR SOMETIMES HAPPENING SIMULTANEAOUSLY TO RECUR. OUR OLD LOGICIANS AND PHILOSOPHERS OF THE NYAYA SCHOOL CALL THIS LAW BY THE NAME OF VYAPATI. ACCORDING TO THEM, ALL OUR IDEAS OF LAW ARE DUE TO ASSOCIATION. A SERIES OF PHENOMENA BECOMES ASSOCIATED WITH THINGS IN OUR MIND IN A SORT OF INVARIABLE ORDER, SO THAT WHATEVER WE PERCEIVE AT ANY TIME IS IMMEDIATELY REFERRED TO OTHER FACTS IN THE MIND. ANY ONE IDEA, OR ACCORDING TO OUR PSYCHOLOGY, ANY ONE WAVE THAT IS PRODUCED IN THE MIND-STUFF, CHITTA, MUST ALWAYS GIVE RISE TO MANY SIMILAR WAVES. THIS IS THE PSYCHOLOGICAL IDEA OF ASSOCIATION, AND CAUSATION IS ONLY AN ASPECT OF THIS GRAND PERVASIVE PRINCIPLE OF ASSOCIATION.
THIS PERVASIVENESS OF ASSOCIATION IS WHAT IS, IN SANSKRIT, CALLED VYAPATI. IN THE EXTERNAL WORLD THE IDEA OF LAW IS THE SAME AS IN THE INTERNAL - THE EXPECTATION THAT A PARTICULAR PHENOMENON WILL BE FOLLOWED BY ANOTHER, AND THAT THE SERIES WILL REPEAT ITSELF. REALLY SPEAKING, THEREFORE, LAW DOES NOT EXIST IN NATURE. PRACTICALLY IT IS AN ERROR TO SAY THAT GRAVITATION EXISTS IN THE EARTH, OR THAT THERE IS ANY LAW EXISTING OBJECTIVELY ANYWHERE IN NATURE. LAW IS THE METHOD, THE MANNER IN WHICH OUR MIND GRAPS A SERIES OF PHENOMENA, IT IS IN THE MIND. CERTAIN PHENOMENA, HAPPENING ONE AFTER ANOTHER OR TOGETHER, AND FOLLOWED BY THE CONVICTION OF THE REGULARITY OF THEIR RECURRENCE -THUS ENABLING OUR MINDS TO GRASP THE METHOD OF THE WHOLE SERIES - CONSTITUTE WHAT WE CALL LAW.
WHAT IS KARMA-YOGA? THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE SECRET OF WORK. WE SEE THAT THE WHOLE UNIVERSE IS WORKING. FOR WHAT? FOR SALVATION, FOR LIBERTY, FROM THE ATOM TO THE HIGHEST BEING, WORKING FOR THE ONE END, LIBERTY FOR THE MIND, FOR THE BODY, FOR THE SPIRIT. ALL THINGS ARE ALWAYS TRYING TO GET FREEDOM, FLYING AWAY FROM BONDAGE. THE SUN, THE MOON, THE EARTH, THE PLANETS, ALL ARE TRYING TO FLY AWAY FROM BONDAGE. THE CENTRIFUGAL AND THE CENTRIPETAL FORCES OF NATURE ARE INDEED TYPICAL OF OUR UNIVERSE. INSTEAD OF BEING KNOCKED ABOUT IN THIS UNIVERSE, AND AFTER LONG DELAY AND THRASHING, GETTING TO KNOW THINGS AS THEY ARE, WE LEARN FROM KARMA-YOGA THE SECRET OF WORK, THE METHOD OF WORK, THE ORGANISING POWER OF WORK. A VAST MASS OF ENERGY MAY BE SPENT IN VAIN IF WE DO NOT KNOW HOE TO UTILISE IT.
KARMA-YOGA MAKES A SCIENCE OF WORK, YOU LEARN BY IT HOW BEST TO UTILISE ALL THE WORKINGS OF THIS WORLD. WORK IS INEVITABLE, IT MUST BE SO, BUT WE SHOULD WORK TO THE HIGHEST PURPOSE. KARMA-YOGA MAKES US ADMIT THAT THIS WORLD IS A WORLD OF FIVE MINUTES,THAT IT IS A SOMETHING WE HAVE TO PASS THROUGH, AND THAT FREEDOM IS NOT HERE, BUT IS ONLY TO BE FOUND BEYOND. TO FIND THE WAY OUT OF THE BONDAGES OF THE WORLD WE HAVE TO GO THROUGH IT SLOWLY AN SURELY. THERE MAY BE THOSE EXCEPTIONAL PERSONS ABOUT WHOM I JUST SPOKE, THOSE WHO CAN STAND ASIDE AND GIVE UP THE WORLD, AS A SNAKE CASTS OFF ITS SKIN AND STANDS ASIDE AND LOOKS AT IT. THERE ARE NO DOUBT THESE EXCEPTIONAL BEINGS, BU THE REST OF MANKIND HAVE TO GO SLOWLY THROUGH THE WORLD OF WORK. KARMA-YOGA SHOWS THE PROCESS, THE SECRET, AND THE METHOD OF DOING IT TO THE BEST ADVANTAGE.
SO KARMA-YOGA SAYS, FIRST DESTROY THE TENDENCY TO PROJECT THIS TENTACLE OF SELFISHNESS, AND WHEN YOU HAVE THE POWER OF CHECKING IT, HOLD IT IN AND DO NOT ALLOW THE MIND TO GET INTO THE WAYS OF SELFISHNESS. THEN Y UMAY GO OUT INTO THE WORLD AND WORK AS MUCH AS YOU CAN. MIX EVERYWHERE, GO WHERE YOU PLEASE, YOU WILL NEVER BE CONTAMINATED WITH EVIL. THERE IS THE LOTUS LEAF IN THE WATER, THE WATER CANNOT TOUCH AND ADHERE TO IT, SO WILL YOU BE IN THE WORLD. THIS IS CALLED "VAIRAGYA" DISPASSION OR NON-ATTACHMENT. I BELIEVE I HAVE TOLD YOU THAT WITHOUT NON-ATTACHMENT THERE CANNOT BY ANY KIND OF YOGA. NON-ATTACHMENT IS THE BASIS OF ALL THE YOGAS. TE MAN WHO GIVES UP LIVING IN HOUSES, WEARING FINE CLOTHES, AND EATING GOOD FOOD, AND GOES INTO THE DESERT, MAY BE A MOST ATTACHED PERSON. HIS ONLY POSSESSION, HIS OWN BODY, MAY BECOME EVERYTHING TO HIM, AND AS HE LIVES HE WILL BE SIMPLY STRUGGLING FOR THE SAKE OF HIS BODY. NON-ATTACHMENT DOES NOT MEAN ANYTHING THAT WE MAY DO IN RELATION TO OUR EXTERNAL BODY, IT IS ALL IN THE MIND. THE BINDING LINK OF "I" AND "MINE". IF WE HAVE NOT THIS LINK WITH THE BODY AND WITH THE THINGS OF THE SENSES, WE ARE NON-ATTACHED, WHEREVER AND WHATEVER WE MAY BE. A MAN MAY BE ON A THRONE AND PERFECTLY NON-ATTACHED, ANOTHER MAN MAY BE IN RAGS AND STILL VERY MUCH ATTACHED.
FIRST, WE HAVE TO ATTAIN THIS STATE OF NON-ATTACHMENT AND THEN TO WORK INCESSANTLY. KARMA-YOGA GIVES US THE METHOD THAT WILL HELP US IN GIVING UP ALL ATTACHMENT, THOUGH IT IS INDEED VERY HARD.
