Action and Attitude, A story

Action and Attitude are the two pillars on which karma yoga is based on. Right action and right attitude.

The basic tenent of karma yoga is "You reap as u sow" or "Every action has equal reaction" or "what goes around comes around". Which means you do bad, you get it back and u are doomed. You do good, it comes back to you and you should be happy.

As per this rule, You be good and do good always, and you should be eternally happy!

But This is only half of the truth. we see that this doesnt happen in the real world. Gita explains the missing half. It is bcos of our attitude..ie attachment that the good deeds can result in sorrow. We do good and expect good result. So we are sad if we dont see the result. we try to "own" our "actions" and hence the "credit". Good deeds resulting in sorrow bcos of this wrong attitude!

You do good and say "I have done my job to the best of my ability. God wanted this good to be done and he chose me. I am thankful to Him for that. He is capable of making a donkey recite vedas if he wishes so! Whatever good i did reflects his greatness and not mine"
(This, If you believe in God or the Supreme soul who is omni potent, omni present and omniscient:-) Otherwise refer note1)



In this case the doer is happy irrespective of the outcome of the good deed. Good action with right attitude (detachment to the result) never brings sorrow. The doer is eternally in action and eternally happy!

This is karma yoga as per my understanding.

At the same time, the concept of "action" or "karma" is not as simple as it looks. It should be understood at a very subtle and abstract level as well. karma yoga (detachment) should be followed in essence and not just in letter. You may breach it in letter if the essence is retained. This is the unique beauty of Bhagavad Gita ! I gives the person total freedom in implementing it.

A story comes to my mind to illustrate this.

A Guru and his disciple were traveling in a jungle. They come to a stream and have to cross it to go to the nearest village before dark. It was raining and the stream was already full and the currents were strong. On approaching the stream, they find an anxious lady pacing up n down the bank, agitated and almost in tears. She is a milk maid who lives on the other side of the stream. She delivers milk in villages on this side of the stream and returns every evening to her village. Everything was ok when she crossed the stream in the morning; the water was only knee deep. But now the stream was overflowing and even a 6 feet man would be drowned till his shoulders and would barely make it to the other side. There was no way that this lady could cross it by herself. On seeing the gentle men, she approaches the disciple and asks him if he would carry her to the other side. The disciple humbly says, “Lady, we are sanyasins and we should not even touch a lady, so even imagining carrying you on the back is against the rules! I am helpless“
The Lady then in her desperation approaches the Guru and repeats her request. The Guru without even batting an eye lid, reverentially accepts her request and carries her to the other side of the stream on his back. They leave the lady on the other side of the bank and continue their journey. The disciple is dumbfounded! He can’t fathom his Gurus action and at the same time can’t question him or doubt his intentions.

He just can’t keep his mind off the topic of “Guru carrying the lady”. After a few hours of walking in silence, the Guru turns to the disciple and says, “I carried the lady only till the other side of the stream. Why are you still carrying her???”

So what do you, my fellow ilanders, think about the moral of this story?



Note 1: Even for a rational atheist, it is only logical to realize that the result is out of his control. It is like giving the board exams. You study hard and write well doesnt mean you get good marks for sure :-) It depends on the mood and nature of the person who corrects your paper. Some teachers are lineient and some are strict. A mark here and a mark there...which could make all the difference for you, but it is outside your control. So why fret about sth you can't help? Quite rational, isnt it?)