karmanyevadhikaraste ...

KARMANYEVADHIKARASTE ......

       GEETA IS NOT TO BE WORSHIPPED, IT IS TO BE CULTIVATED. It explains life, soul, duty, karma, gyan and so many other things and aspects which are closely related to our life. It can be read at any time, but to understand it, it needs concentration and attention. Even a person, who has not taken a bath, can read Geeta, Geeta can be read even if you are traveling. Followers of any religion may read Geeta. For these and so many other reasons, it has been called Universal Mother. It is the Geeta which says do the task because it is better to do a task than not to do any task. Geeta speaks about performing of task (duty) appointed by ones nature. It is the Geeta which propounds the theory of karma without expectation of result because expectation is the sole cause of sorrows and unhappiness.
       Srimad Bhagwat Geeta is part of great epic Mahabharat. The battle of Mahabharat was fought in between forces of Pandawas and Kaurawas. Arjun was one of the Pandwas. Arjun very well knew that Mahabharat was being fought for justice. But there were certain illusions in his mind.? In the battle field when Arjun found that army of Kaurawas was consisting of his own brothers, teachers and elders, he felt desperate due to his attachment and associations with his own brothers, teachers and elders to whom he had always paid respect. He thought that by killing them he would commit a sin. After killing them he did not want to enjoy kingdom. Then Lord Krishna explained to Arjuna about temporary phase of happiness and sorrows and about immortal feature of soul. He explains that soul is independent of birth and death and it is the body which perishes on death. Soul can not be destroyed. Lord Krishna enlightened him with karm yoga, Gyan Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, saankhya yoga and so many other yogas. Shri Krishna explained to Arjun the cause of sorrows and unhappiness. He told him that these were due to involvement of human being ?in expectations (expectation of result). ?He explained him how one could be free from sorrows. He preached about karm and result in the following Shlok 47 of Chapter- 2 of the Geeta.
   Karmanyevaadhikarastey maa phaleshu kadachan.
Maa karmaphalheturbhuurma tey sangoastwakarmani.
Explanation: Tumhen apanaa karm (duty) karane ka adhikaar hai, kintu karm ke phalon ke adhikari nahin ho. Tun na toh kabhi apane aapako apane karmon ke phalon ka kaaran mano, na hi karam na karane mein kabhi aashakta hoao.
        You are authorized to perform your duty but you are not entitled for result of your doings. Neither you consider yourself the cause of your doings nor have faith in not doing your duty.
         Most of the people easily assimilate the meaning of karmanyevaadhikarastey, but most of them get confused about the words maa phaleshu kadachana. One should understand that if we correlate ‘result of karm’ with ‘karm’, then we are bound to have expectations and when result will not come as per expectations, sorrow is inevitable.? So in order to avoid sorrow, karm phal (result of karm) and karm are to be treated independent. They require dissociation.
    Let us assume that a student works hard before he appears in an examination. After examination is over, he expects that he should secure 75% marks. When result comes he finds that he has secured only 60% marks. Even if achievement of 60% is to be considered good achievement, the student will not be satisfied. It is but natural that the student will be unsatisfied and this dissatisfaction will be cause of his sadness. On the other hand another student works hard before he appears in the examination. Whenever somebody asks him about his expectation, he says I have done my job.? Whatever the result comes is not my concern. This student also secures 60% marks. He feels happy about his result because 60% is a good achievement. So in order to be satisfied, one has to reduce its expectations to zero. Then whatever will be the result, it always will be either to our expectation or more than our expectation. We can reduce our expectations to zero only if we do our duty and forget about outcome of the duty. Another way of reducing our expectation may be that we should sacrifice work done by us. In that case we know that we have done no work (because work done by us has been sacrificed), then in the normal course our expectation will be zero.
       Here it is to be noticed that first line of the shlok is not to be read in exclusion. Otherwise, in absence of karm (where we do not perform our duty) our expectation will also be zero. In the second line of the shlok it has been specifically said that one should not ignore karm. On the other hand even if we, without expectation, correlate the achievement with any karm, we will not succeed in dissociating of karm with result of karm.
    To follow the theory laid down in above referred shlok, it is essential to understand the meanings of the word karm. Usually karm refers to any kind of act. It is an admitted fact that none can stand actionless at any moment till his last breath. Even when a person sleeps he does a karm. Breathing in itself is a karm. This is evident from shlok-5 of Chapter-3 of the Geeta. This shlok runs as under:
             Na hi kashchitkshanamapi jatu aatisthatyakarmakrut.
             Karytey hyavashah karm saravah prakrutijairgunaih.
Explanation: pratyek vyakti ko prakruti se arjit gunon ke anusaar wivasha hokar karm karanaa padataa hai, atah koi bhi ek kshana ke liye bhi binaa karm kiye nahin raha sakataa.
       Every person has to perform its duty in accordance with its nature. No person can stand actionless even for a single moment.
       Then it becomes matter of concern what does the word karm refers to. Here one can think of three things, karm (swadharm), vikarm and akarm. Karm refers to an act which is expected from any person in the specific situation in which he is. For example if one is student then his swadharm is the religion of a student consisting of all those acts which are expected from a student, if somebody is a doctor then his swadharm is the religion of a doctor consisting of all those acts which are expected from a doctor. Karm is an act for which person has right to perform. Vikarm is the act for which a person is not authorized by its nature to do it. Akarm refers to the state in which a person does not perform its karm. So definitely karm refers to ones duty according to ones nature.
       Without karm, we cannot even earn our livelihood. Therefore, karm is essential for life. Shlok -8 of Chapter-3 of the Geeta runs as follows:
           Niyatam kuru karm twam karmjyaayo hyakarmanah.
           shariryatrapi ch tey na prasidhyedakarmanah.
        Apana niyat karm karo, kyonki karm na karane ki apeksha karm karana shrestha hai. Karm ke bina toh sharir nirwah bhi nahin ho sakata.

        Do your task appointed by your nature, it is better to go for karm than remaining without karm. Without karm, life cannot even go on.

Yagyarthatkarmanoanyatra lokoayam karmbandhanah.

Tadartha karm kaunteya muktasangah samaachar.

       Yagya ke ruup mein karm karana chahiye, anyatha karm ke dwaara is bhautik jagat mein bandhan utpanna hota hai. Atah hey kuntiputra phalakanksha se mukta hokar niyat karm karo. Is tarah tum bandhan se sada mukta rahoge.
       One should perform karm in the form of yagya, otherwise karm becomes cause of bondage in this materialistic world. Krishna directs Arjuna for doing his duty without expectation of result and tells him that in this manner he will always remain free from bonds.
      In a yagya we offer things to deities and thereby disown such things by burning them in the pious fire of yagya. In the same manner we are expected to offer our duties in the name of God and thus acts done by us will be sacrificed or disowned. Thereafter, question of expectations will not arise. When somebody disowns anything by way of gift then he loses right of any gain in return of it.
   Thus we see the theory of karma is based purely on logic and it can be exercised by any person whatsoever religion he follows.