KARMA YOGA 24

Karma cannot be the direct cause of liberation but by purifying the mind-stuff (chitta) it may create the spiritual condition whereby the Self may shine through the finest veil of Maya, dispelling the last shred of ignorance and standing self-revealed. This is the conclusion of Adi Shankaracharya. Karma belongs to Maya and, therefore, cannot reveal the Self which is ever self-revealed, so to say. But the great importance of karma lies in that all spiritual practices in a way fall within its fold and without these spiritual disciplines liberation is not possible. Thus, karma is the one imperative both for world-maintenance and spiritual liberation although, as aforesaid, it cannot directly effect liberation. Be it as it may, karma yoga is the universal method of grappling with the forces that beset us in the world. The world with its myriad vibrations holds us captive and this is universal karma. We also must counter the bondage thereof with self-karma and extricate ourselves into freedom. This tussle of karma in opposite modes causes the flow of life in the universe and makes for the fascinating spectacle that the cosmos is. Life on earth is not an isolated phenomenon in the cosmos divorced from the rest of the universe around. It is not a disjoint occurrence but is ' part ' of a cosmic continuum. Therefore the karma which we perform to free us from Maya is intimately linked with the rest of the universe and derives sustenance from it. As such the fight for freedom is very tricky and difficult to win for the very nature of all karma is to bind as it derives its life from the cosmic energy which all the more vindicates Shankara's philosophical stance on the status of karma as the purifier of the mind-stuff and not the direct dispeller of ignorance. What is the prescription then for freedom ? Well, this it is. Perform Karma with all your might but do so in a detached manner that you may cut the already-existing links of the karmic chain that binds you and not forge fresh links to it. Keep working your way thus towards the goal till you are so approximate to the Self that your efforts take a reverse mode of working towards worklessnss till perfect NAISHKARMA is reached. Then the final problem. How to give up the aspiration for freedom itself ? The moment you work towards it you create fresh aspiration, however subtle, of freedom. And this binds. Now Shankara is again vindicated. Karma fails to liberate, being itself the product of ignorance and therefore the cause of bondage. I believe there is a quantum law operating at this level. The moment karma takes one to the absolute outermost fringe of Maya, quantum laws make the soul disappear in Brahman with the simultaneous disappearance of the whole of Maya for it. All karma vanishes and all its effects are burnt to nothingness as the ever-existent reality of the Self shines in supreme glory, the One without a second, the One that is beyond the conceptions of dualism and non-dualism, the Atman, the Brahman, the Sachchidananda.