Devotion and karma yoga
From the Teachings of His Holiness Jagadguru Sri Abhinava Vidyateertha Mahaswamiji
Devotion and karma yoga are inseparable twins. The ideal karma yogin endeavours to bring out his best performance in order to be able to make the best offering to Īśvara. This attitude is evident in all the actions performed by him, be it spiritual or secular. When such a person transforms into a jñānin, the traits that he had developed and mastered earlier will not leave him. It would be extremely beneficial to appreciate this characteristic in our Acharyal. Whatever He did contained great lessons for the observer. Acharyal has taught on many occasions the value and the method of performing karma yoga. His parables drive home the efficacy of karma yoga.
The Lord has explained how a person may perform actions, but avoid being bound by them. A person should dedicate all his actions and their fruits to God and discharge his duties without hankering for the results. This means of performing actions but escaping bondage is called karma yoga. The performer of karma yoga protects himself by dedicating his actions and their fruits to God.
A person had the practice of performing puja to God and offering Him fruits and other eatables. After his worship, he used to partake of an offered fruit as God’s prasāda. An agnostic friend of his mockingly told him, “Your practice of performing naivedya is silly. The fruit that you place before your God remains exactly at the same spot where it was kept. It undergoes no physical change either. Further, it is not the God you worship but you who consumes it.”
The devotee responded with a smile, “I submit a fruit to God with the firm conviction that, in keeping with His statement in the Bhagavad Gītā, He will accept it. Having received it, He is free to do whatever He pleases with it. Since He is omnipotent, He is perfectly capable of making it vanish or leaving it behind in its entirety after having consumed it. I believe that it is He who leaves behind the fruit for me after partaking of it in a humanly-inconceivable way. As far as I am concerned, what I consume after naivedya is the remnant of what God has eaten.” “Recently, when your political leader came to your town, you and numerous others received him and offered him garlands. He certainly did not and could not wear all of them. He then gave you one of the garlands that he had received and you accepted it joyfully. As he walked through the large crowd of his supporters, he tossed some garlands to them and the crowd cheered. It is possible that a supporter got back the very garland that he had given. Just because your leader does not retain the garlands presented to him, you people do not abstain from the practice of garlanding him; you derive joy in honouring him and do not tell him what he should do with the garlands that you give him. Why then are you uncomfortable with my sincerely offering God fruits and feeling happy? When your leader can return a garland to you, why should God not be free to give me back the submitted fruits with His blessings? A karma yogin, in fact, offers to God not just eatables but all his thoughts, words and deeds.”
A man had two servants. One of them was particular about eulogising his employer, but not in executing his master’s instructions. The other sincerely carried out the tasks assigned to him; he also held his master in high esteem. The employer obviously preferred the second servant to the first. A devotee who, like the second servant, sincerely performs the duties ordained for him by God and specified in the scriptures and, further, does so in a spirit of dedication, pleases God greatly and receives His grace in abundance. By the Lord’s grace, his mind becomes very pure. In due course, he realises the Truth and gets liberated.
A woman doted on her young son and took great care of him. One day, she woke up with an intense headache, fever and nausea. Nevertheless, she attended to the child’s morning requirements without any laxity. That day, she found the rice prepared by her to be slightly overcooked. Promptly, she started to cook some more. Her husband noticed this and told her, “You are sick and in pain. Why do you want to strain yourself? The rice that is ready is quite eatable.” “I want to give my son only the kind of rice that he is used to and likes. As for the overcooked rice, I shall consume it,” replied the wife. Out of deep love for her child, the woman did her very best for him. Likewise, a karma yogin, by virtue of his devotion to God, performs his duties to the very best of his ability and refrains from adharma.
