The Philosophy of the Karma Yoga of the Bhagavadgita: 2. Swami Krishnananda.

  

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Thursday 30, July 2026, 17:00.
Article
Scriptures 
The Philosophy of the Karma Yoga of the Bhagavadgita: 2.
Swami Krishnananda.
(Spoken on July 15, 1979)
Post - 2.

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Karma yoga is a system of internal training, an educational career into which we get introduced, and it is much more this than the art of solidarity that we are trying to bring about in the world. The world cannot be changed. It is just as it is. It has not changed for centuries and it is not going to change, but the understanding of it changes. The knowledge that we have about the world increases as the training continues further and further, and we are able to handle situations better. For this purpose it is that we are asked to perform our duty.

Our getting fed up with the work in which we are engaged is, again, a matter to be subjected to internal analysis. We cannot totally be free from any kind of work. This is a fact known to us very well and insisted upon by the scriptures on karma yoga. What we generally do is, we give up one kind of work and enter into another kind of work. We are not really getting ourselves free from work totally. The mind wants a change, and it gets tired of a monotonous routine which it has been following earlier. Change is the spice of life. We require variety at all times, whether it is in outward life or our inner spiritual sadhana.

As I mentioned yesterday, we have to proceed from the physical and social level to the psychological, rational and the spiritual stages. We have to live a life of friendliness, servicefulness and adjustment with the outward circumstances of human society, not because that is going to do any good to society but because of the fact that is an indication of the maturity of our own mind. The harmony or the adjustment or the adaptability of the mind in respect of the world outside is an indication of the extent of the education which has been imparted to us. The depth of the knowledge that we have gained in respect of the realities of the world, and the advancement in life, are more a movement inward towards its profundities rather than an adventure in the direction of bringing about a transformation in the outward conditions of life. The whole universe will be the same way in the future it was earlier. We cannot change a whit its essential constitution.

But there is a so-called growth in the entire structure of the cosmos towards a Self-realisation of itself, which is the moksha of the whole cosmos, we may say. Scriptures sometimes refer to this possibility as the withdrawal of the whole universe into the mind of Hiranyagarbha, the Sutratma or the Cosmic Intellect, and the reversal of the whole procedure of outward manifestation into an inner absorption of the cosmos into the Absolute.

This is a symbolic representation of the spiritual evolutionary process through which every sadhaka has to pass. Everyone has to tread the same road, and all the experiences through which ancient saints and sages had to pass are those through which we also have to pass. The experiences of the Buddha or the Christ are also our experiences. It is not merely a story of ancient history that we are reading when we study the lives of these great men because the stages of evolution are set, and we have to tread the same route, transcending the same stages and passing through the same experiences. We have to lift the same cross which the Christ lifted, and undergo the same sorrows which the Buddha had to pass through. Everything which confronted anyone would also be experienced by every one of us at one time or the other. The law of the universe is inexorable and it has no exemptions. It is universally spread out in a most impartial manner, and our success in any walk of life is conditioned by the extent to which we are able to adapt ourselves to the set law of the cosmos or, we may say, to the law of God.

The systems of karma yoga, bhakti yoga, etc., are only internal arts of self-adaptation to the conditions that are demanded of us by the existing rules prevailing in the cosmos. Neither excess on one side nor excess on the other side is permitted. Yuktāhāravihārasya yuktaceṣṭasya karmasu, yuktasvapnāvabodhasya yogo bhavati duḥkhahā (BG 6.17). An excessive emphasis on the side of austerity or an excessive emphasis on the side of indulgence, both are equally disadvantageous because truth is in the middle. “'Everything is' is one extreme, 'Everything is not' is another extreme,” said Buddha, “but the truth is in the middle. It neither is, nor is it not.”

So is this path a subtle razor's edge, sharp like the edge of a sword which is invisible to the naked eye. Many a time it is compared to the track of fish in water or of birds in the sky, a track which cannot be seen with the eyes. It is subtle because it is not either a subject or an object. The path of the spirit is laid between the subject and the object. It is between you and myself. It is in the middle as a connecting link, not as a person or an individual looking at the object or as an object that is perceived by an independent subject. It is neither yourself nor myself. It is not anything whatsoever. It is, therefore, most difficult for the mind to conceive of because of its habit to think in terms of externalities such as I, mine, etc.

The path of the spirit is the way of God, or it is the way in which God visualises things, and our adaptation to this way of thinking is the step we take in sadhana. God has no subjects; He has no objects. He is neither me nor you. He is a link between the two. The placement of oneself in this harmonious linkage between the seer and the seen is what is actually called the golden mean or the via media in the practice. You should not take excessive interest either in your own personality or in the personalities of others. To discard others in the interest of one's own personality is an internal form of egoism, and to emphasise the externalities to the neglect of the welfare of one's own self is another form of egoism, which manifests itself or masquerades itself as altruism outwardly in nature. Any kind of emphasis is a mistake, a kind of suicide that you perform. Even in the interest of a so-called sociable nature, it would be an excess of behaviour. You are as important as others, and others are as important as yourself. You cannot destroy yourself; you cannot destroy others either. To kill yourself in the love of others would be on par with killing others in the love of yourself. Any kind of martyrdom deliberately courted would be an error of approach. This is the samatva which the Bhagavadgita has been teaching throughout its chapters – a balance of emphasis on both sides of the matter.

Hence, our duty would be, properly speaking, more in the nature of an understanding of the events of life in an impersonal manner, and taking them in the spirit of their actualities and not in their idealities. What is, is as important as what ought to be. We should not neglect what is because of our over-emphasis on what ought to be. “Oh, it ought to have been like this.” Well, that may be. We would very much wish that the whole Earth is flooded with the joys of heaven, but it is not so. The Earth is what it is. So to invoke the bliss of heaven to the level of the Earth, we have to take our stand on the Earth first, as we build an edifice on the ground and not in the skies.

Thus it is that whenever we are fired up in the spirit of relinquishment of duties, giving up of work and confining ourselves to an isolated adventure in an internal world, we should be vigilant in what direction we are moving. The Supreme Being, God, is not merely an internal reality, as He is also not an outward object. God is not merely inside you, though it is also true that He is inside you; and He is also not outside as an extra-cosmic creator. The difficulty in the comprehension of the ideal of the Spirit lies here, that God is not merely transcendent, though He is also transcendent. He is above the confines of the mind and also of matter, but He is not confined to any individual internality. “God is within and Guru is inside. I speak to Him from within myself,” is often a notion entertained by even sincere seekers. God is not merely inside you, as you are imagining. He is also equally outside, and He can speak to you in an external language.

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