Karma, is Sanskrit for action; thus Karma Marga means the path of Action. Karma Marga leads the aspirant to Moksha (Liberation), through paths that are based on the following principles:
- Everything that occurs, occurs for a cause, and everything that occurs, has an effect
Every action, that one does, leaves an impression within oneself, and is called samskara. These samskaras accumulate to form vasanas, attributes, which are carried forward from one life to another. For example, you might have a natural inclination for arts, an inborn interest for which you cannot find a reason. You might even be born into a family that encourages art. All these are effects of your vasanas, from previous life.
- These vasanas drive your evolution, from inanimate to animate, from centipede to snake, from snake to fish, from fish to cow, from cow to man
- Understanding these natural inclinations, these vasanas, is a requisite to eliminate them. Because, only when these vasanas are uprooted, can bliss descend. Vasanas are very deep rooted and subtle. The key to elimination of vasanas, is detachment.
- Detachment is the single-most important practice in Karma Marga. Detachment is required from the actions that you perform. You need to understand that you are a mere witness to the occurrences in this world and that all that occurs is the effect of a separate cause. This state is called the Sakshi Bhava, the State of the Spectator – a spectator to the scenes on the stage called Life.
- By maintaining this state, you do not abandon life and its requisites. The point to note is that you do not adopt inaction, but perform all actions with the utmost care and the utmost perfection, so that the vasana that drives you to this action gets exhausted. For example, you do not abandon your job and rush to the forest and sit idle on a warm rock waiting for realization to dawn. You perform your duties as a son, a husband, a father, an employee or a master with the utmost devotion to the role – at the same time, you maintain within yourself the Sakshi Bhava and remain detached from the results of your actions. You act and surrender the results to the Absolute Truth, that Truth, which creates, sustains and dissolves this universe and beyond.
- The key is to burn off all your existing vasanas and form no new samskaras – all this while remaining right in the middle of your entrusted roles. Much like the lotus leaf which floats on water, but never wets itself.
- The aspirant, thus maintains a constant remembrance of the truth that his true self is the Atman. The name, body and the situations he is in, are Maya, falsehood. The Atman does not have a name, but all names are its; does not have a form, but dwells in all forms; it does not move, but is all over; it is not wet by water, not burnt by fire, nor is it cleaved by sword. It is verily the Atman that creates, sustains and destroys the cosmos and it is this Atman that one needs to realize.
As vasanas burn through detachment, and once new samskaras stops forming, clarity and knowledge dawn upon the aspirant and he starts to see the Atman shining as his own self and in everything that he sees.
To be continued…
Next Part: Abhyasa Marga
