Gita: A Mantra for Success
Gita: A Mantra for Success
Episode 6 - Karma Yoga - Chapter 2.3
What is Karma Yoga? And who is Karma Yogi?
“You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action,” Krishna tells Arjuna (verse 2.47). With this simple phrase, Krishna sets out the essential principles of the Bhagavad Gita’s doctrine of Karma Yoga.
Karma Yoga is the first step for those who are interested in following a spiritual path. Even if you are not spiritually inclined, Karma Yoga is the Yoga that is applicable and relevant in your daily life too.
Who is Karma Yogi?
Krishna says, “Karma Yogi is someone who is neither elated by good fortune nor depressed by bad. Such a person is free from attachment, fear, and anger.”
In this episode, we discuss
- Story of a hare and a tortoise and what tortoise teaches us to be a Karma Yogi.
- A story of a man who dug the mountain to create a path for the villagers.
- We discuss Karma Kanda using the example of the famous movie Oh My God- OMG
What is Karma Kanda?
In the Vedas, there are three divisions or Kandas – Karma Kanda, Jnana Kanda, and Upasana Kanda. Karma Kanda is the section of the Vedas that lists rituals, ceremonies, and actions, which, when performed, lead one to power and prosperity. On the other hand, Jnana Kanda comprises of philosophical teachings and knowledge. And Upasana Kanda has more to do with Bhakti or devotion.
Finally,
Krishna says, “When you keep thinking about objects, attachment comes. Attachment breeds desire. Such desires develop a lust for possessions, and from lust, anger arises. From anger comes delusion. Delusion degrades one’s way of thinking, and when thinking is degraded, intelligence is lost. And when the intelligence is destroyed, a person is lost (verses 2.63-64)”
Hello, everybody, welcome to our podcast Gita, A Mantra for Success.
Vee 0:13
So last week, we discussed Social Dharma. We received feedback from the audience that we include day to day stories like we did last time about Rob the Janitor. Okay? Or the story from the movie Deewar. I think that's great. We'll be more than happy to include such examples, especially involving movies, or real life stories. Anyway, how are we going to start today?
Dee 0:36
Let's dive directly into Karma Yoga and try to understand how we can be a Karma Yogi. Karma Yoga is the first step for those who are interested in following a spiritual path. In any case, even if you are not spiritually inclined, I think Karma Yoga is the Yoga that is applicable and relevant in our daily life too. All actions are called Karma, but any activity with an absolute detachment to the fruits of the work is Karma Yoga. So, I think the difference between Karma and Karma Yoga is the intention. A simple example. So we do these weekly podcast right? Right.
If we start thinking like oh we are doing this weekly podcast because we want to get followers very quickly, we must increase our download numbers and so on. So we are, if we are stuck with the numbers, then that is Karma But if our intention is, we are doing these weekly podcasts because we are enjoying the process, we are giving our best and our goal is to make sure that people who are listening to us are enjoying them - that is Karma Yoga. Okay. Make sense
I still feel that the concept of Karma Yoga is simple. Everybody understands it? Is it easy to become a Karma Yogi? If I do not have any desire for the outcome, then why would I even take any action? Or rather how can I progress if I do not have any attachment to the outcome? And to be very honest with you, I am not alone in thinking so, okay. Arjuna actually, he also understands. By this time, he starts opening up with Krishna.
Vee 2:15
Okay about time.
Dee 2:16
Yeah. And you know, he kind of understands the concept of Karma Yoga. But he still has the same question as, as I'm asking.
Vee 2:23
Let's break it down. Let's make it a story like everybody wants. Let's go back to the story, a moral story of the hare and the tortoise. The race was between the two animals, right? Yeah, the hare was obviously super fast compared to the tortoise, but now who was attached to the outcome? The hair was really attached to the outcome. He already knew he was, he would win? Yeah. And he was celebrating his win even before the start of the race. Right? Yeah, yeah, he was attached to the success. So much was his attachment that he lost sight of what he wanted to do. And he took the tortoise for granted. As he was running, he looked behind, he could not see the tortoise, and he's like, let me take a nap. Right? Yes. And let's go back to the tortoise. No, he was not attached to the outcome. Obviously. He was not?
No, if he was attached to the outcome, he would never have even allowed that hare to talk him into the race, he would have said no, I don't want to race. His mind would already said I'm going to lose. Why bother?
Dee 3:24
Interesting,
Vee 3:25
Right? And what he decided was okay, let me just take action. My goal is to go from point A to point B, which is start to finish. And I'll just keep going forward. That's my goal, not sideways, not backward, just forward. And that's all he did. He didn't let the external factor bother him that the hair really took off really fast. And he saw him napping. He didn't stop to chat or wake him up. He just kept going. Oh, yeah. And in this case, he's the Karma Yogi, always consistent. And, yeah, he got the result without even thinking about it.
Dee 3:58
That's a good example. I go back to my question again. All right. So does this mean that such a person has no sense or desire at all? I mean, don't you think this tortoise did not desire to win at all? Like, what do you think?
Vee 4:11
No, no, that is not the point. See, desire is obviously going to happen. It comes at everybody. But Karma Yogi's Don't get distracted because of desire. Those desires are not the reason they move forward.
Dee 4:25
And they're consistent, right?
Vee 4:27
Again, of course, of course.
Dee 4:28
So I guess consistency is the key for success, correct?
Vee 4:31
Absolutely. Absolutely. So even if you're not the most intelligent person, you are, let's say, average, below average, and you're consistent. You still going to succeed.
Dee 4:43
Here's another story about hard work and being consistent. Okay, have you heard about the mountain man?
Vee 4:49
Yeah, please go on.
Dee 4:50
Yeah, so Bollywood actually made a movie about this guy too. So this guy mountain man, his name is Dashrath Manji Okay, so he was a very poor laborer from Bihar. So one day his wife met with an accident and she died and she died because the nearest town with a doctor was almost, I think 70 kilometers, which is, almost close to 43 miles away from... from the village. Wow. And she died due to a lack of medical treatment.
Vee 5:17
So they couldn't get them there?
Dee 5:19
No. Well, so after the death of his wife, he decided to break a path through a small mountain so he could connect his isolated village with the nearest town.
Vee 5:30
Why? Because the mountain was in between …and he had to go around?
Dee 5:34
Umm - everybody ridiculed or taunted him. You know, he did not care people making fun of him or whatever because his life purpose became his God. Right. And all that mattered to him was to keep digging and creating the path for others and he single-handedly carved out a tunnel in the mountain to create a path for villagers. He succeeded but it took him 22 years.
Vee 5:59
There you go! Mountain man is a great example of someone whom Krishna would describe as a Karma Yogi and this person has found the highest goal. And when you find purpose in life, you can resist any desire, distraction, overcome difficulties. It looks like that's exactly what he did.
Dee 6:17
You know, is it easy to find the purpose in life?
Vee 6:20
Yeaa la.. I really don’t think it's easy, right? If it's easy, everybody would have found it. Yeah. If you read the story of successful entrepreneurs, scientists, writers, Nobel laureates, you know, pretty much anybody who's successful in their own field. They find their purpose, and they are committed to it. And invariably, all successful people have similar stories of personal struggle but never giving up.
Dee 6:45
I think, like, whenever we listen to other stories, it makes sense. Okay, they found the purpose and they did whatever they did. Again, let me go back to my question again. How do we find the purpose in life? Is it that easy?
Vee 6:57
Simple answer. It is not. Yeah. But having said that, it comes to our mindset, right? So from our childhood, we are made to think that the purpose of our life equals pass exams, find a job, get married, have children, and become machines. So the more we believe these formal rules, the more fearful we become. Right? And I think this fear makes us very ignorant.
Dee 7:22
You know what, you sound more like Krishna. Okay. Krishna says precisely the same.
Vee 7:28
I've been saying something along these lines for years. Right? So here is a Mantra for you to stop following the rules made by others. Always question and if it makes sense to you, go ahead and follow it. But don't judge others if they do something different.
Dee 7:44
Yeah, actually, Krishna also says the same thing. He says stop following the rules made by others. That is kind of what Krishna would call Karma Kanda
Vee 7:53
I think you should explain the concept of Karma Kanda
Dee 7:56
You know, Karma Kanda is like what you're saying, you know, you're following religion or tradition without even understanding or questioning, you know what before we explain Karma Kanda we can speak about this particular movie and no other movie has described Karma Kanda better than Paresh Rawal’s movie - Oh my god. Oh, I know you love that movie. So just go ahead.
Vee 8:16
Okay, I will. Let's give a brief synopsis of the movie. Oh my god. Omg. Kanji Lal here is an atheist man who is born a Hindu. He owns an antique shop in Mumbai, right? But he sees God as nothing more than a business proposition. Right? So one day and there's an earthquake, and it destroys his store. But he has insurance. So he files an insurance claim with his insurance company. But they reject his claim saying I'm sorry, Your shop was destroyed by an act of God. So it's not covered under the policy. Right? So now he doesn't have any choice so he decides to file a lawsuit against God.
Now the movie has exceptional courtroom drama, when the Legal Notices are actually sent to different religious leaders. So what happens is when this is all going on, and these religious fundamentalists actually get go crazy, and they actually try to murder Kanji.
There's a consultant. His name is Krishna Vasudev Yadav played by Akshya Kumar, right? So he comes in, he actually rescues him. He basically is he tells Kanji to read the three books, religious texts, Bhagavad Gita, the Bible, and the Quran. Yeah. And he tells that all the knowledge needed for one person to live a happy life and solve all the problems in life are in these three books.
He's not convinced, but he says, trust me read these books and tell come back to me. So he actually reads all of them really sincerely. Right? So after reading these, he makes some great arguments in the court. And he's actually doing a great job. He finds support from the public, and everybody's on this side, and he's almost in the middle of winning the case. But he suffers the stroke in the middle of the courtroom and he actually falls into goes into coma. Yeah, yeah.
So now when he is in the coma, the consultant in this case Akshay Kumar, he's in his hospital room right? So he says he's God, but he does not have any role in creating religion and it was man made Yeah, okay. He can guide those who seek answers, but he does not have any have any control over how people behave..
Then he takes actually a dig at devotees like Kanji’s wife, she does not, you know, use her intellect. But she just follows all religious practices, because that's what people did, or some Godman said that because of her and people like her, there are a lot of Godman, who are only in this for either money or power, and they always misinterpret God's teaching, and they sell it for profit.
So here Akshay Kumar basically tells Kanji that he prefers interacting with people like him because even though he says he's an atheist, that's fine. He's questioning this stuff. He's questioning the reason
Dee 11:00
Yeah yeah I think Krishna appreciates his inquisitive characteristics, right? Yes.
Vee 11:05
And he trusts his intelligence. Yeah, right. So God in this case, Akshay Kumar basically says, You know, I prefer guiding atheist who is seeking knowledge, than the narrow minded people who are just driven by materialistic desires, they have not read the Scripture, they don't understand anything. They think if I go to the temple and pray, I will get money or power or whatever they're looking for materialistic desires.
Dee 11:27
So let me stop you there. So that materialistic desire is Karma Kanda. Oh, there you go. So in Bhagavad Gita. Krishna takes the same stand when he criticizes some of the Vedic ritual practices. Let me clarify that Bhagavad Gita is not anti Vedic. In the Vedas, there are three divisions right? One is Karma Kanda. The other one is Yana (Jnana) Kanda and Upasana Kanda.
So Karma Kanda is the section of the Vedas that list all these rituals and ceremonies You know, when performed lead one to power and prosperity. For example, in Ramayana, Dashratha did not have any child any son. So as he did that Yagya and Rama and other three brothers were born, right. So, so that is Karma Kanda like I will do this and you give me that
Vee 12:23
yeah, it's called bribe
Dee 12:24
Yeah whatever you call it, that is Karma Kanda and on the other hand, the Jnana Kanda compromises of the more about philosophical teachings and knowledge, okay, and Upasana Kanda has more to do with Bhakti or devotion.
So let's come back to Karma Kanda. Krishna doesn't it's not criticizing Dashratha. But what he is telling inner peace is never possible for those that are only interested in materialistic pleasures recommended in the Karma Kanda. Whatever you follow, at least make an informed decision based on the Jnana or knowledge that you have gained. I think that way. You know, Krishna was a rebel as he criticizes Vedic rituals at his time, right? Yep. And he's kind of asking us to be a rebel in some ways. You know, he's asking us to at least question and not just follow blindly.
Vee 13:16
Yeah, makes sense. Makes sense. Agreed. Agreed. So anyway, we talked about Karma Kanda and Karma Yoga. Is there anything else we would like to cover in this podcast?
Dee 13:26
Well, I think one big question one might have is how can we go about life without at least some sort of attachment Right,
Vee 13:34
Right. So in the Gita, Krishna recognizes this. He knows that everybody is going to have some desire Karma Yogi's also have desire. He basically says, and I quote, those who abstained from sense pleasures, also crave for them. But they have the self-control to let go of such desires. Yep. Self-control, again, is the key.
Dee 13:56
Yeah. So give me some day to day life examples like any Mantras for successes as Karma Yogi?
Vee 14:00
okay, you do not have to become a Mother Teresa or Mahatma Gandhi, you might, but let’s not shoot for that. Right? Then people get a goal that big, they might almost give up. So lets not go there.
We are going to say, let's start small. You can be a Karma Yogi but by doing little things again consistency. For example, let's take healthy living or fitness, right? You want to be fit and healthy, right? It's not easy to be fit and healthy. Right? You have to sleep on time. You have to get up on time, you have to exercise consistently. All this is consistent. There will be desire. There will be temptation but you have to control that right and you really you need discipline to be fit.
People who are fit and follow this consistently. It's not like they don't want to eat a samosa one day or ice cream or cookies they do, but they do control. So when you control your desire, at that moment, you become a Karma Yogi.
So that's one aspect. So again, that can be another aspect that relates to your work. It could be another aspect that relates your hobbies. This is one part of it.
Dee 15:01
Yeah, of course, I think that is why Karma Yoga is so applicable in our day to day life. What I love about Karma Yoga is this concept is not asking us to become a monk or go to jungle, you know, or meditate or do those complex Yoga poses. All it is saying is to take action, right? And just be mindful of our intention as we are talking, listening and going on with our day to day life.
Yes, just anything right. And so it's just like,
Nowadays I've started to be mindful about my Karma Yogi moment. So even when I am really attached to something, I'm like, Oh, this is anti Karma Yogi or if I am lazy and not consistent. I'm like, Oh, I'm not being Karma Yogi
Vee 15:43
Good being mindful.
Dee 15:45
Being mindful. So it's really like, you know, being mindful about every step and you just track like, Are you being Karma Yogi or not?
Vee 15:52
Make sense. Okay. I think that's a lot to process. We gave a lot of information. I think we should stop here and summarize what we spoke in today's podcast, right?
Karma Yoga. We mentioned it briefly in the last podcast, but we explained it much more in detail today. When we do our prescribed duty with absolute detachment to the outcome that is Karma Yoga. As difficult as it sounds, we can start becoming a Karma Yogi, but little things like we just mentioned, right? Be consistent. No matter how your day is, find the purpose in your life. And more important, do not worry about what society thinks it's not easy, but if you go at it, you will find it.
We spoke about the example of the mountain man, everybody thought he was crazy after his wife’s death, but he kept going 22 years. That's not easy. Not That's right. That is another example of a Karma Yogi.
Be mindful of Karma Kanda the moment you're following these dogmatic rules, tradition, because somebody told you or because it is part of your culture without questioning them, and you're doing them for your personal gain. That is Karma Kanda right. And Karma Kanda is a source of pretty much all your miseries. Yeah, yeah.
And we gave the synopsis of the movie Oh my god, which is exactly what Karma Kanda is
Dee 17:13
Any mantra for today?
Vee 17:14
Going back to the tortoise and Hare story, always aim like the tortoise focus, detached, consistent. Move forward. Again, that is Karma Yogi. Yeah. Don't give up. Keep going. It sounds a little cliché, but that's pretty much it.
Dee 17:28
That's the mantra for success, right? I mean, it's very simple. Be consistent. It's very simple, but it's very powerful.
Vee 17:34
Yeah, and pick a few things in your life and start small. Yeah, right. Anyway, I think we should wrap up here. We finished chapter two of the Bhagavad Gita today. In the next episode, we will start with chapter three, we will discuss more about Karma Yoga. And Krishna actually shares the secret for happiness in the third chapter, which is the power of gratitude. We will discuss that in detail in the next podcast. Thank you, everybody.