Monday, April 9, 2012
What is Karmayoga described by Bhagwat Geeta ?
In this post we shall understand about the Karmayoga & how one can know God through Karmayoga.
Simple meaning of Yoga is to get attached to God or to get one with the God. To attain this, there are many types of Yogas that are expounded in the Bhagwat Gita, like Sankhyayoga or the Yoga of Knowledge, Karmayoga or the Yoga of Selfless Action, Bhaktiyoga or the Yoga of Devotion etc. Among all these Yogas, Karmayoga is the one through which one can attain God by just devoting all his/her daily actions to God i.e. doing service of God by doing/devoting all life actions to Him.
Below are the verses from "Bhagwat Gita-Chapter Twelve- Verse - 6-7", in which God is asking his disciple Arjuna to do all his actions / activities for Him only.
'Ye tu srvani krmani
myi sanyasya mat-para
anany-naiv yogen
maam dhyayant upasate'
'Tesham-aham samud-dharta
mrityu-sansar-saagrat
bhavami na-chirat parth
mayy-avesita-chetsam' ( Bhagwat Gita: Chapter XII verse 6-7 )
'Those people, who worship Me by surrendering all their activities unto Me, are always devoted to Me, always meditate upon Me, Having always fixing their minds upon Me, O Parth - to them, I swiftly rescue from the ocean of birth and death.'
Through above verse 6 & 7, God is telling 'Parth' (another name of Arjuna, his disciple), that those people who work for God only & offer all their activities & work to Him only, to such a Soul He shows great mercy, always protects him & finally rescues him during & after death.
Now, how can we work for God only? This whole world is the creation of God only & knowingly, unknowingly, we all are working for the maintenance of this world only. Just introspect & see that, whatever, work or job (good one), you are doing in this world, it is helping in someway or the other in maintaining & sustaining this world. Just take it in that sense, that if all the people of the earth stop doing their daily work, duties, this whole world shall come to a standstill. In that case nobody shall grow food, vegetables, fruits & other things which sustain our life & hence we shall all die. Same is the case with other professions & each person is adding value to this world by doing his/her duty.
Now, though we do duty to sustain this world only but we don't realize that. As this world is a creation of God, so we should work for Him only. If we develop this sense that we are working selflessly to sustain this world created by God only, then also we shall develop an affinity towards God. In the above verses, God is making very clear that if a person offers all his work & activities to God, thinking this world to be a creation of God only, then also He shall be happy with that person & shall protect & shall deliver that person from the cycles of birth & death. By working for God, we shall attain peace & shall attain His love & devotion. So Let's all Work for God only.
Below is a verse from "Bhagwat Gita-Chapter Two Verse - 47",
"karmany evadhikaras te
ma phalesu kadachana
ma karma-phala-hetur bhur
ma te sango ’stv akarmani" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Two verse 47)
"Sri Krishna said: You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty.
In the above verse God is asking his disciple Arjuna to perform his prescribed duty & not get attached to the fruits of its action. If one does all his/her actions without considering or thinking about the Fruits these actions shall produce & devotes that action & its fruit to the God only, then he/she is not bound by that action & that action shall not bear such fruits which shall be the cause of his/her next birth. Once a person is relieved of taking rebirths then that person can go to the abode of God & live there with Him & he becomes a liberated soul.
Art of doing actions for the sake of God only & doing all his/her actions without thinking or keeping in mind the fruit of that action is only what is called Karmayoga.
Simple meaning of Yoga is to get attached to God or to get one with the God. To attain this, there are many types of Yogas that are expounded in the Bhagwat Gita, like Sankhyayoga or the Yoga of Knowledge, Karmayoga or the Yoga of Selfless Action, Bhaktiyoga or the Yoga of Devotion etc. Among all these Yogas, Karmayoga is the one through which one can attain God by just devoting all his/her daily actions to God i.e. doing service of God by doing/devoting all life actions to Him.
Below are the verses from "Bhagwat Gita-Chapter Twelve- Verse - 6-7", in which God is asking his disciple Arjuna to do all his actions / activities for Him only.
'Ye tu srvani krmani
myi sanyasya mat-para
anany-naiv yogen
maam dhyayant upasate'
'Tesham-aham samud-dharta
mrityu-sansar-saagrat
bhavami na-chirat parth
mayy-avesita-chetsam' ( Bhagwat Gita: Chapter XII verse 6-7 )
'Those people, who worship Me by surrendering all their activities unto Me, are always devoted to Me, always meditate upon Me, Having always fixing their minds upon Me, O Parth - to them, I swiftly rescue from the ocean of birth and death.'
Through above verse 6 & 7, God is telling 'Parth' (another name of Arjuna, his disciple), that those people who work for God only & offer all their activities & work to Him only, to such a Soul He shows great mercy, always protects him & finally rescues him during & after death.
Now, how can we work for God only? This whole world is the creation of God only & knowingly, unknowingly, we all are working for the maintenance of this world only. Just introspect & see that, whatever, work or job (good one), you are doing in this world, it is helping in someway or the other in maintaining & sustaining this world. Just take it in that sense, that if all the people of the earth stop doing their daily work, duties, this whole world shall come to a standstill. In that case nobody shall grow food, vegetables, fruits & other things which sustain our life & hence we shall all die. Same is the case with other professions & each person is adding value to this world by doing his/her duty.
Now, though we do duty to sustain this world only but we don't realize that. As this world is a creation of God, so we should work for Him only. If we develop this sense that we are working selflessly to sustain this world created by God only, then also we shall develop an affinity towards God. In the above verses, God is making very clear that if a person offers all his work & activities to God, thinking this world to be a creation of God only, then also He shall be happy with that person & shall protect & shall deliver that person from the cycles of birth & death. By working for God, we shall attain peace & shall attain His love & devotion. So Let's all Work for God only.
Below is a verse from "Bhagwat Gita-Chapter Two Verse - 47",
"karmany evadhikaras te
ma phalesu kadachana
ma karma-phala-hetur bhur
ma te sango ’stv akarmani" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Two verse 47)
"Sri Krishna said: You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty.
In the above verse God is asking his disciple Arjuna to perform his prescribed duty & not get attached to the fruits of its action. If one does all his/her actions without considering or thinking about the Fruits these actions shall produce & devotes that action & its fruit to the God only, then he/she is not bound by that action & that action shall not bear such fruits which shall be the cause of his/her next birth. Once a person is relieved of taking rebirths then that person can go to the abode of God & live there with Him & he becomes a liberated soul.
Art of doing actions for the sake of God only & doing all his/her actions without thinking or keeping in mind the fruit of that action is only what is called Karmayoga.
Labels: Bhagwad, Bhagwad Gita, Bhagwat, Bhagwat Gita, Chapter 12,Chapter 2, Gita, God, Karma, Karmayoga, Lord, Lord Krishna, Rama,rebirth, reborn, yoga
9:06 AM 0
What is Maya (माया or māyā)
Maya (माया or māyā): In philosophy the word origin of maya is derived from the Sanskrit roots 'ma' ("not") and 'ya', meaning "that". So the meaning of Maya is "that is not" but which appears to be real. Maya is held to be an illusion in philosophy & it is said to be a veil of the true Self - the Universal Spirit known as Brahman. Maya is a subtle force that creates the grand illusion that the phenomenal world that we see is real.Maya is said to be neither true nor untrue. Since Universal Spirit (Brahman) is the only truth so Maya cannot be true. Since Maya causes the material world to be seen, it cannot be untrue also. Hence, Maya is described as indescribable. She has two principle functions - one is to veil the Universal Spirit (Brahman) and obscure and conceal it from our consciousness. The other is to present and promulgate the material world and the veil of duality instead of the Universal Spirit (Brahman).
In the darkness, just like a rope is confused for a snake & this illusion gets destroyed when true knowledge of the rope is perceived in the light. Similarly, in the darkness of the night, a pole may be mistaken for a ghost. As the darkness is removed, the ghost disappears; only the pole remains as reality. Similarly, Maya's illusion gets destroyed for a person when he/she perceives Brahman with transcendental knowledge & light. When the light of Universal Spirit (Brahman) falls on Maya, it disappears.
Purpose of Maya: In reality the purpose of Maya is to produce the duality in this world. Maya performs this role at the behest of the Supreme Lord only. God is not bound by Maya, just as magicians are not illusioned and deluded by their own magic.
Maya is beyond our sense-perception & is invisible but this universe which is its effect, is visible (or perceived by the senses). Maya is like night (or darkness) & is very difficult to be understood. Its nature is not perceived here.
In Hinduism, this world in which we live is called unreal not because of that it does not exist, but because it is unstable, impermanent, unreliable and illusory. It is unreal because it is transient & changing every second. Just check the things around you, these are changing every second. So this changing world, which is not permanent is called Maya or illusion & not real, the changeless.
Lord Krishna in Bhagwat Gita details about the 'Maya' in it's various chapters.
"mama yonir mahad brahma
tasmin garbham dadhamy aham
sambhavah sarva-bhutanam
tato bhavati bharata" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Fourteen verse 3)
"Sri Krishna said: O Arjuna, My womb is the great Nature (Prakriti or MAYA) which is the source of birth of all living entities, and it is in that I place the germ (embryo of life). Thus it makes possible the births of all living beings."
"sarva-yonisu kaunteya
murtayah sambhavanti yah
tasam brahma mahad yonir
aham bija-pradah pita" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Fourteen verse 4)
"Sri Krishna said: O Arjuna, It should be understood that all species of life, are made possible by birth in this material nature (Prakriti or MAYA), and that I am the seed-giving father."
"yavat sanjayate kincit
sattvam sthavara-jangamam
kshetra-kshetrajna-samyogat
tad viddhi bharatarsabha" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Thirteen verse 27)
"Sri Krishna said: O Arjuna, Wherever a being is born, whether unmoving or moving, know that it is from the union between the field and the knower of the field. (Purusha is the knower of the field; Prakriti is the field; Shiva is another name for the knower of the field and Shakti is the field; Spirit is another name for the knower of the field and Matter (Prakriti) is the field).
"prakrityaiva cha karmani
kriyamanani sarvasah
yah pasyati tathatmanam
akartaram sa pasyati" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Thirteen verse 30)
"Sri Krishna said: O Arjuna, One who can see that all activities are performed by the nature (Maya) alone and sees that the self does nothing, actually sees." (The Self is the silent witness).
"ishvarah sarva-bhutanam
hrd-dese ’rjuna tishthati
bhramayan sarva-bhutani
yantrarudhani mayaya" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Eighteen verse 61)
"Sri Krishna said: O Arjuna, The Supreme God is situated in everyone’s heart, and moves them to act by his divine Maya, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy."
Ramakrishna on Maya
Ramakrishna acknowledged the power of Maya in life. He was all love and reverence for maya, perceiving in it a mysterious and majestic expression of Divinity. To him Maya was God.
In the guru Ramakrishna's experience, Maya was divine. Ramakrishna "did not, like a Vedantic scholar, repudiate the world as maya, but gave it a spiritual status, seeing in it the manifestation of Chit and Ananda." Ramakrishna had a "vision of the divine Maya, the inscrutable Power of God, by which the universe is created and sustained."
According to Ramakrishna, Maya projects and withdraws the world.
Further, "Maya . . . is the Mother of the Universe, identical with the Brahman of Vedanta and with the Atman of Yoga.
Ramakrishna discovered that maya operates in the relative world in two ways and he termed these "avidyamaya" and "vidyamaya.' Avidyamaya sustains lower planes, but vidyamaya is enlightening, including qualities like kindness. Vidyamaya elevates a man to a better consciousness. With the help of vidyamaya he then gets free of maya, if only for a while. The two aspects of maya are two forces of creation.
Ramakrishna said further: "When I think of the Supreme Being as inactive - neither creating nor preserving nor destroying - I call Him Brahman or Purusha . . . When I think of Him as active - creating, preserving, and destroying - I call Him Sakti or Maya or Prakriti, the Personal God.
To Ramakrishna maya itself was God - everything was God - [maya] was one of the faces of [the Godhead].
As per Ramakrishna: Maya can not be distinguished from the supreme [Godhead]
As per Ramakrishna: The mighty weaver (Maya) is none other than the Divine Mother.
As per Ramakrishna: Maya releases from bondage.
"I tell you the truth: there is nothing wrong in your being in the world." - Ramakrishna
Vivekananda on Maya
This universe is maya - Vivekananda
Maya is used incorrectly to denote illusion or delusion. - Vivekananda
Labels: arjuna, Bhagwad Gita, Bhagwat Gita, God, illusion, Lord Krishna,Maya, prakrti, Ramakrishna, Vivekananda
9:00 AM 0
THE FAMOUS QUOTES FROM BHAGWAT GITA:
“The wise sees knowledge and action as one; they see truly”
Bhagavad Gita quotes
“One who has control over the mind is tranquil in heat and cold, in pleasure and pain, and in honor and dishonor; and is ever steadfast with the Supreme Self.”
Bhagavad Gita quotes
“The power of God is with you at all times; through the activities of mind, senses, breathing, and emotions; and is constantly doing all the work using you as a mere instrument.”
Bhagavad Gita quotes
Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is.”
Bhagavad Gita quotes
"yada yada hi dharmasya
glanir bhavati bharata
abhyutthanam adharmasya
tadatmanam srjamy aham" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Four verse 7)
"Sri Krishna said: Whenever and wherever there is a decline in virtue/religious practice, O Arjuna, and a predominant rise of irreligion—at that time I descend Myself, i.e. I manifest Myself as an embodied being."
"paritranaya sadhunam
vinasaya cha duskritam
dharma-samsthapanarthaya
sambhavami yuge yuge" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Four verse 8)
"Sri Krishna said: To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I Myself appear, millennium after millennium."
"karmany evadhikaras te
ma phalesu kadachana
ma karma-phala-hetur bhur
ma te sango ’stv akarmani" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Two verse 47)
"Sri Krishna said: You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty."
"na jayate mriyate va kadacin
nayam bhutva bhavita va na bhuyah
ajo nityah sasvato ’yam purano
na hanyate hanyamane sarire" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Two verse 20)
"Sri Krishna said: The soul is never born nor dies at any time. Soul has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being. Soul is unborn, eternal, ever-existing and primeval. Soul is not slain when the body is slain."
"vasamsi jirnani yatha vihaya
navani grhnati naro ’parani
tatha sarirani vihaya jirnany
anyani samyati navani dehi" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Two verse 22)
"Sri Krishna said: As a human being puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones."
"nainam chindanti shastrani
nainam dahati pavakah
na chainam kledayanty apo
na sosayati marutah" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Two verse 23)
"Sri Krishna said: The soul can never be cut to pieces by any weapon, nor burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind."
Bhagavad Gita quotes
“One who has control over the mind is tranquil in heat and cold, in pleasure and pain, and in honor and dishonor; and is ever steadfast with the Supreme Self.”
Bhagavad Gita quotes
“The power of God is with you at all times; through the activities of mind, senses, breathing, and emotions; and is constantly doing all the work using you as a mere instrument.”
Bhagavad Gita quotes
Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is.”
Bhagavad Gita quotes
"yada yada hi dharmasya
glanir bhavati bharata
abhyutthanam adharmasya
tadatmanam srjamy aham" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Four verse 7)
"Sri Krishna said: Whenever and wherever there is a decline in virtue/religious practice, O Arjuna, and a predominant rise of irreligion—at that time I descend Myself, i.e. I manifest Myself as an embodied being."
"paritranaya sadhunam
vinasaya cha duskritam
dharma-samsthapanarthaya
sambhavami yuge yuge" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Four verse 8)
"Sri Krishna said: To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I Myself appear, millennium after millennium."
"karmany evadhikaras te
ma phalesu kadachana
ma karma-phala-hetur bhur
ma te sango ’stv akarmani" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Two verse 47)
"Sri Krishna said: You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty."
"na jayate mriyate va kadacin
nayam bhutva bhavita va na bhuyah
ajo nityah sasvato ’yam purano
na hanyate hanyamane sarire" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Two verse 20)
"Sri Krishna said: The soul is never born nor dies at any time. Soul has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being. Soul is unborn, eternal, ever-existing and primeval. Soul is not slain when the body is slain."
"vasamsi jirnani yatha vihaya
navani grhnati naro ’parani
tatha sarirani vihaya jirnany
anyani samyati navani dehi" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Two verse 22)
"Sri Krishna said: As a human being puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones."
"nainam chindanti shastrani
nainam dahati pavakah
na chainam kledayanty apo
na sosayati marutah" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Two verse 23)
"Sri Krishna said: The soul can never be cut to pieces by any weapon, nor burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind."
8:59 AM 0
Friday, April 6, 2012
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