The Duty of Karma Yoga: Cooperating with Our Higher Self- 6: Swami Krishnananda.

 

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Saturday 31, Aug 2024, 06:50.
Article
Scripture
The Duty of Karma Yoga: Cooperating with Our Higher Self: 6.
Swami Krishnananda
(Spoken on October 14, 1984)

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In the Saiva Siddhanta School, especially as is prevalent in southern India, four types of worship are mentioned, and they go by the name of charya, kriya, yoga and jnana. Charya is externalised worship, a service that one can do in a temple, for instance, by collecting flowers from the garden or bhel leaves from the forest, by sweeping the outskirts of the temple, by cleaning the veranda, washing the vessels and other things. But there is an internal type of service which is carried on by people inside the temple, inside the holy place, within the holy of holies. You must have seen in temples that there are people who work outside, and there are also those who are directly connected with the worship itself. The internal association is clear, but both charya and kriya are external in the sense that they are performances with the limbs of the body.

But worship can be more internal, and that is yoga. In the sixteenfold worship described in traditional circles, one way is mental invocation of God, though it may sometimes be expressed in recitations, chanting of mantras, etc. There is a procedure called nyasa in the traditional form of Indian worship. Anganyasa, karanyasa, etc., are read in books and are sometimes chanted by people who are proficient in the practice. Nyasa actually means 'placing'. They touch different parts of the body. But people who do not know the meaning of it merely touch, not knowing why they are touching. The touching is a mystical invocation in that particular part of the body which is a corresponding part of the universal Almighty's personality. Our head is tuned up to the cosmical head, our eyes to the cosmical eyes, our heart to the cosmical heart. Whatever part of the body we touch in nyasa, in the sacred placement, as it is called, we are tuning ourselves with the corresponding counterpart in the universal total that is a preparation for the internal worship which is yoga, landing us finally in a total unawareness of ourselves, being tuned up to that counterpart so much, in such intensity, that we feel as if we are that. This is jnana. All these four methods are archana, one of the nine modes of bhakti, devotion.

Vandana is prayer. We have the Lord's Prayer in the New Testament, and various types of prayer in other religious groups. We chant mantras, prayers and passages from the scriptures or we compose our own prayers through our own feelings, whatever they be, a supplication of ourselves before the Almighty, a dedication of ourselves before that Great Being which may be manifest either through utterances of words, by singing, by quoting passages from recognised scriptures, and the like. Essentially, it is requesting God to be condescending, gracious, kind, and protecting. This is also one form of bhakti.

Dasya is total subjection of oneself to the magnificence of God. We feel that we are utter servants, as it were, and God is the Supreme Master. He is the Lord of all lords, the Father of all fathers, the Master of all masters, and therefore, we are His servants. Rarely, in extreme forms of elevated devotion, God is considered as one's own equal, like a friend. We speak to God, as it were, as if He is in front of us. There were some saints in India, and perhaps in the West also, who could speak to God and summon Him, and they could expect God to do anything for them. If they ask Him to bring a vegetable, He will bring it like a servant boy. They develop such an intimate relationship with God that they have no fear of Him. They love Him in the same way as they love a friend. It is rare to find such devotion prevalent in human beings, but it is one of the nine mentioned in tradition.

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