The Philosophy of the Karma Yoga of the Bhagavadgita: 1 Swami Krishnananda.

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Monday 20, July 2026, 18:35.
Article
Scriptures 
The Philosophy of the Karma Yoga of the Bhagavadgita: 1
Swami Krishnananda.
(Spoken on July 15, 1979)
Post - 1.

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It is necessary to be very practical and realistic in our approach to sadhana. While we have to be idealistic ultimately, we have also to be realistic and accept the fact that we are still on the Earth and not in the heavens. Many a difficulty of the seeker is an over-estimation and an enthusiasm beyond the level of the Earth. Our feet are still on the ground. We live in a physical body, we live in human society, and we have the foibles of human nature in general.

It is very clear that we are not Godmen. We have not even a clear idea of what God is, let alone be established in the consciousness of God. We are intensely body-conscious. We are acutely hungry when it is lunchtime or dinnertime. We suffer from the pangs of thirst when the sun is very hot. We get fatigued, due to which we fall into deep sleep. And we have anxieties caused by the operations in human society. We have fears from inside, from outside, and from above, called the three tapas, or the tapatreya. All these are staring at us as realities.

This is because we are in one level of what may be called evolution, and that has to be accepted. Call a spade a spade, as they say. We cannot deny that we are intensely conscious of a world outside, and also intensely conscious that we are a body, despite the fact that we assert the bodiless condition of our essential being from the point of view of the scriptures or in light of what we have heard from teachers in satsangas, etc. We can be put out immediately in one second by the circumstances of life, whatever be the affirmation that we are trying to make in an idealistic fashion.

Hence, the stages of yoga commence right from matters concerning our down-to-earth life. We are not merely conscious of our physical limitations but are also intensely anxious about our social involvements, and we cannot deny this fact. How can we suddenly rise to the universal thought of God? There are occasions when many of us feel that work is a bondage. We have no time due to our being busy in the office or having to do a lot of work in the management of the family, etc. One feels oftentimes tired of this daily routine, and there are occasions when we are impelled by sentiments of renunciation occasioned by the sufferings caused by involvements in work and responsibility.

Here we have to strike a very cautious note so that we may not be mistaken in the assessment of the position we occupy in this world. We cannot deny that hunger and the fear of death are realities. Opprobrium that can be cast on us by society is also a reality. These are all psychophysical effects produced by the whole attitude to life that we are born into. Our joys and sorrows are ingrained in the very constitution of our personality from the time of our birth into this world. We cannot free ourselves from the necessity to concede an amount of reality to the experiences that follow as a result of the limitation of our own physical existence. We are tired of life, we are tired of work, we are tired of responsibility, we are tired of everything. When we are likely to tend towards this conclusion ultimately, we have to be very vigilant. Most of us can be said to be living in the same boat of an inner desire to be free from every kind of duty or responsibility or work in this world, if it could be possible. People resign their jobs and seek isolation in their lives.

All this is an external expression of an internal intention, and the justification of this external expression in this matter lies in the relevance of the intention inside to the ultimate goal of life. There are often negative attitudes of mind due to which we cannot adjust ourselves with anything in this world. We are adverse to the prevailing conditions, we are fed up with political conditions, we are tired of social circumstances, we have sorrows coming from our own families, and there may be occasions when we are disgusted with our own body itself.

Now, all these are the sort of negative attitudes which the mind is compelled to project under the pressure of circumstances. There is a difference between subjection to pressure of any kind and a deliberately chosen rational attitude to things. Positivity has to be distinguished from negativity of every kind. An aversion to something is to be differentiated from a love for something. Sadhana is not an aversion to something. Though it may apparently take a shape of withdrawal, this withdrawal is a conditional act tending towards a positive approach to a larger dimension of life as a whole.

Renunciation is not an attitude of disgust with the world. It is a preparatory step that we take to train ourselves for understanding the very same world in a better manner, like the withdrawal of a laboratory technician in a scientific institute, for instance, who may lock himself up in the darkness of the laboratory, not because he is averse to relationships with things, but because he has to experiment with certain facts of life with which he will be able to face life in a better manner. Renunciation is a necessity, and internal withdrawal from external activity, which is usually called renunciation, may be also regarded as a necessary condition, but they are all preparatory steps and not ultimate values.

The aim of life is ultimately an inclusive attitude of consciousness, and not an attitude of exclusiveness at any time. The withdrawal physically, socially or politically is, therefore, something like a runner in a race who lags back only to rush forward after a few seconds. It is a technique which is called for by the biological conditions of the body, or perhaps even psychologically. We cannot understand God unless we understand the world. “First and foremost make peace with your brother before you make peace with God,” is an admonition which may be applicable to every one of us. We should not go from this world with the idea that we have an enemy. That would be a very disadvantageous circumstance in which we quit the world.

The inimical attitude is to be distinguished from the spirit of renunciation. We do not renounce the world because the world is an enemy. The renunciation is a spirit rather than an action. It is not something that we do, but what we think in our mind. While this new avenue of thought may require a physical changing of atmosphere, the emphasis should be on the thought rather than on the action. The mind has not been able to adapt itself with the conditions of life due to its ignorance of its own relationships with people outside and things in general. The duty that we are expected to perform in the world, the so-called work that we are involved in, is also a training of the mind, and not really a positive call for help for the redemption of the world.

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