Such learning requires that we take full responsibility for our actions, and this is where I find a contradiction with pujas. In performing a puja, if one asks for divine help or prays for success in an endeavor, one ascribes a component of the resultant success or failure to divine grace, and thereby fails to take full responsibility for one’s actions. Our poor understanding of the exact mechanism through which divine beings assist their devotees erodes our faith that such help will actually arrive — rare are the souls who truly believe they will receive such help and whom the divine never disappoints. So I find it hard to ask divine beings for assistance when doing so absolves me of some responsibility for the results of my actions.

In particular, I find that the Ganesha puja, with its avowed aim to propitiate Lord Ganesha to remove obstacles from our future, is contradictory to karma yoga. This is the same for any sort of prospective puja, such as the Saraswati Puja, which seeks to create auspicious conditions for action. Such pujas leave room for absolving oneself of some responsibility for one’s actions, which I find is less effective when it comes to learning from what we do. On the other hand, retrospective pujas, where we shower gratitude upon the divine for its hand in our success or failure, allows us to remain humble, which is a critical factor in viewing the world objectively. Such pujas let us take full responsibility but little credit — the optimal mix for a scientific way, karma yogic of life.

Note that a puja is not itself prospective or retrospective, but the way in which it is performed is. I find that the verses in the Ganesha, Saraswati, and Satyanarayana pujas, with their requests for auspicious conditions and hopes for specific outcomes, embody the prospective attitude. But pujas in which we only express our gratitude for the outcomes of our actions to the divine are excellent because they are effective for maintaining humility — for this reason, I enjoy the offering sections of the aforementioned pujas. It is just such things as calling Ganesha as bhaktavanchhitadayakaya (he who grants his devotee’s desires) in his 108 names during the puja which alarm me as contradictory to karma yoga.

I don’t think the prospective attitude is bad, merely that it contradicts the principles of karma yoga which I value. In keeping with this, I do not plan to attend pujas which I perceive as prospective, so that I can try to be as purely retrospective as possible in invoking the divine, on my own. But when there are pujas or bhajan sessions or some other spiritual get-together in which the emphasis is on gratitude and praising the divine, then I see no contradiction and will be happy to attend!

What do you think?

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And in order to do that, perhaps there is no better way to understand what others are going through than to go through it ourselves!

John Frame, a student at the Divinity School (who also attends Dharma events from time to time!) is currently trying to do this, by living among the homeless in Harvard Square. Check out his inspiring story here.

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Just as cloud formations, arising from the suns rays, obscure the sun and fill the sky, so the sense of self-identity, arising from ones true nature, obscures the existence of the true self and itself fills experience.

Moreover, Shankaracharya adds that

When he has lost sight of his true self, immaculate and resplendent, a man identifies himself with his body out of ignorance. Then the great so-called dispersive power of desire torments him with fetters derived from desire and hatred.

These quotes are from Shankaracharya’s famous Vivekachudamani, meaning “The Crest-Jewel of Discrimination.” The work is composed of 580 verses in Sanskrit and is structured as a dialogue in which a master tells his disciple about the nature of atman and how to realize the self.

So how does one go about achieving self-realization? Curious to see what Shankaracharya had to say on the subject, I found the following interesting passage (verses 10-13, Vivekachudamani):

Abandoning all actions and breaking free from the bonds of achievements, the wise and intelligent should apply themselves to self-knowledge. After giving up all karma for the purpose of removing the bonds of conditioned existence, those wise men with resolute minds should endeavor to gain a knowledge of their own atman.

Action is for the purification of the mind, not for the understanding of reality. The recognition of reality is through discrimination, and not by even tens of millions of actions. Actions are for the purification of the heart, not for the attainment of the real substance. The substance can be attained by right discrimination, but not by any amount of karma.

Proper analysis leads to the realisation of the reality of the rope, and this is the end of the pain of the fear of the great snake caused by delusion. A perception of the fact that the object seen is a rope will remove the fear and sorrow which result from the illusory idea that it is a serpent.

The realisation of the truth is seen to depend on meditation on statements about what is good, not on bathing or donations or by hundreds of yogic breathing exercises. The knowledge of an object is only gained by perception, by investigation, or by instruction, but not by bathing or giving of alms, or by a hundred retentions of the breath.

What Shankaracharya seems to be suggesting is that it is viveka, or the faculty of discrimination, which leads to the recognition of reality. In other words, introspection/investigation alone is responsible for attaining self-realization. In light of this observation, the above passage raises some interesting questions about the role of action and karma yoga in a person’s life. If neither action nor good deeds such as giving of alms can lead to self-realization, what is the role of karma yoga, which prescribes achieving unity and perfection through action?

My interpretation is that karma yoga is a stepping stone toward self-realization, though it alone cannot be an end in itself. Shankaracharya maintains that action is for the purification of the mind and heart. Thus, perhaps the role of action is to bring purification, and it is only with such purification that one can continue onwards on the path of self-realization by engaging in introspective inquiry.

What are your thoughts?

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“This life is short, the vanities of the world are transient, but they alone live who live for others, the rest are more dead than alive”

Tonight, I decided to find the context of the quote, so that it might provide some sort of background into what he meant.

The quote comes from a letter to the Maharaja of Mysore, in 1984, about his duty to the masses. Here is the text of the letter, as found in the Prose Writings section of Volume 4 of the Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda. I have bolded portions that sparked my interest — I’m really interested in knowing what you all think of the passage!

Shri Narayana bless you and yours. Through your Highness’ kind help it has been possible for me to come to this country. Since then, I have become well known here, and the hospitable people of this country have supplied all my wants. It is a wonderful country and this is a wonderful nation in many respects …

Nowhere on earth have women so many privileges as in America. They are slowly taking everything into their hands; and, strange to say, the number of cultured women is much greater than that of cultured men … they require more spiritual civilization, and we, more material.

The one thing that is at the root of all evils in India is the condition of the poor. The poor in the West are devils; compared to them ours are angels, and it is therefore so much easier to raise our poor. The only service to be done for our lower classes is to give them education to develop their lost individuality. That is the great task between our people and princes. Up to now, nothing has been done in that direction. Priest-power and foreign conquest have trodden them down for centuries, and at last, the poor of India have forgotten that they are human beings. They are to be given ideas; their eyes are to be opened to what is going on in the world around them; and then they will work out their own salvation.

Every nation, every man, and every woman must work out their own salvation. Give them ideas – that is the only help they require, and then the rest must follow as the effect. Ours is to put the chemicals together, the crystallization comes in the law of nature. Our duty is to put ideas into their heads, they will do the rest. That is what is to be done in India. I could not accomplish it in India, and that was the reason of my coming to this country.

The great difficulty in the way of educating the poor is this. Supposing even your highness opens a free school in every village, still it would do no good, for the poverty in India is such, that the poor boys would rather go to help their fathers in the fields, or otherwise try to make a living, than come to the school. If the poor boy cannot come to education, education must go to him. There are thousands of single-minded, self-sacrificing Sanyasins in our country, going from village to village, teaching religion. If some of them can be organized as teachers of secular things also, they will go from place to place, from door to door, not only preaching, but teaching also.

Suppose two of these men go to a village in the evening with a camera, a globe, some maps, etc. By telling stories about different nations, they can give the poor a hundred times more information through the ear than they can get in a lifetime through books. This requires an organization, which again means money. Men enough there are in India to work out this plan, but alas! they have no money. lt is very difficult to set a wheel in motion; but when once set, it goes on with increasing velocity. After seeking help in my own country & failing to get any sympathy from the rich, I came over to this country through your Highness’ aid.

The Americans do not care a bit whether the poor of India die or live. And why should they, when our own people never think of anything but their own selfish ends? My noble Prince, this life is short, the vanities of the world are transient, but they alone live who live for others, the rest are more dead than alive. One such high, noble-minded and royal son of India as your Highness can do much more towards raising India on her feet again and thus leave a name to posterity which shall be worshiped. That the Lord may make your noble heart feel intensely for the suffering millions of India, sunk in ignorance, is the prayer of — Vivekananda.

What do you think of the passage as a whole? I tend to agree with Swamiji’s ideas of education — however, the quote that I for so long idealized seems to lose its power in the context of the passage. It seems like Swamiji only uses it to implore the Maharaja for support, which, for me, someone adds a different perspective to the quote itself.

At the same time, the words of Swami Vivekananda (for me, at least) are so powerful that even though in this scenario, they seem to have a specific purpose, they are still applicable even when pulled out of this context — the idea of selfless service as a duty, as the very nature of life is very morally appealing to me; and that makes me more comfortable with incorporating the idea into my life, even though the quote is a bit out of context.

What do you think?

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This makes life a tad bit easier for those of us that are enamoured by more than one of the four yogas. I, for one, am very much interested by Karma Yoga and the selfless service that I am able to perform while practicing that yoga. At the same time, I truly enjoy the aspect of Bhakti Yoga where I am singing and getting lost in the bhajans and other songs in the name of God.

At the end of her post, Sonali wrote:

…this way, people can choose a path based on what fits them most! … Vedanta seems to give every individual the chance to excel in a chosen path — forcing us to follow the path of another will simply hinder our progress. This, is the idea of swadharma — to each, his own.

I completely agree with that. I’d like to simply add on that although one may choose one of the yogas as their main path, he or she will still inevitably practice the other yogas. The importance one gives to each yoga may vary as time progresses, but the four yogas will remain constant.

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