Value of karma yoga

 The jiva born with a human body, is given to likes and dislikes, and gets ruled by likes and dislikes.

Instead of holding the rein which is the mind and controlling the horses in the form of the 5 senses, as the atma the controller or this body, who is given this free will to control ones own body mind and action, instead this person does not seem to be able to make use of his own free will given to him.

This person seeking joy, and finding joy in the enjoyment of ones own likes and avoidence of ones dislikes, becomes dependent therein upon the fulfilment of ones own likes and on the avoidence of what one dislikes.

Here he or she hits a two fold barrier.

One is that the world is not ready to give in to his own likes and dislikes so he finds out how extremely difficult it is to make the world bend to his whims and fancies.

He also discovers that his own likes and dislikes even when fulfilled happen to not give total fulfilment even under the most favourable conditions. Such as desires fulfilled through righteous means will mean the person is fully able to enjoy what he has rightfully earned, without any guilt necessarily intervening ( atleast unto his own knowledge), but even then the person finds that the joy from desire fulfilment is momentary and the wish now fulfilled, only gives lease for a fresh wish to take over, and a fresh desire to chase.

Thereby the person never finds oneself happy permanently and it appears a cycle of happiness and unhappiness.

Some people take the unhappiness to be a driver to again work and go for the next achievement.

Even that process is full of pains and pangs of sufferings, and there may be again that momentary happiness at the end of it.  Again so much dependent on laws favoring one, and many times they may not favor the individual, based on his past karmas.

Meanwhile the individual is also uknowingly still attaining papa karmas along the way no matter how much dharmic he tries to be. Moreover there is anadi papa karmas that the individual has performed in the past, that is always going to chase him. 

Adharmic route is not even a consideration as the person goeS against his own set of values that he holds dear unto himself . The person hence is not even available to receive the fruit so called of a desire fulfilled via an adharmic route ,  his so called joy is with a rajasic mind that has lost touch with the basic individual who seeks peace, thereby there is not possibility of peace for a person given to adharma and only more and more pain and ashanti is in store.

But a person agiven to likes and dislikes and unable to separate onself from it, eventually gets taken over by greed.

A like fed, doesnt go away, it becomes greed.

It creates attachement.

It also hides ones own sense of dharma and makes one take the wrong path, so leads to more greed and attachement.

Its a cycle which leads to destruction of the individual eventually.

So in order to free oneself from this likes and dislikes route in order to gain the happiness one seeks, there is the route of karma yoga.

it has a 2 fold advice .

YogaH karmasu kausalam.

Giving priority to ones duties, which are to be done, by making use of ones free will, and deliberately doing only ones duties, makes one understand that one indeed has a free will, that one can make use of, and one is the controller of ones own destiny and body mind, and is not at the mercy of any like or dislike.

This hence gives a chitta shuddhi. This duties are the work given by god to you, svadharma, so you are doing gods bidding. It is gods gift given to the individual to uplift himself and extricate oneself from the whirlpool of likes and dislikes and free onself from the samsara. So do your duty, with a thankful attitude to the lord for being present as the dharmica buddhi, and offer ones duties unto him as the lord the manager here, for whose sake you are performing your duties. Here you are assisting the lord in his task of  running this universe, which he does effortlessly yet efficiently and effectively, with benevolence yet with total justice and beauty and harmony.

The other advice is samatvam yoga uchyate. So whatever the results god gives one, for ones actions driven by any kind of desire, even selfish desire, accept the fruits of the action, as one given by the lord. Accept it with grace, and an understanding that lord has given it to you, and he must have a reason for it, and I should accept whatever it maybe with grace and happiness, even if it is something I dont prefer or like.

So via this kind of attitude, I develop a relationship with the lord, and with this attitude that he recommends, I also gain the inner freedom. He also makes sure, "shastra shravanam" is listed as one of the duties.

So in his spiritual program he has included the most important component for my freedom , which is listening to mahavakya .

So mahavakya says I and the lord are one.

This karma yogi individual cannot be the lord with whom he is relating.

So here the oneness refers to the truth of the karma yogi individual.

The truth of the individual is that individual is of the nature of consciousness. The individual is in reality the consciousness itself, that appears as an individual.

What is the reality of the individual its none other than a witness consciousness. Due to ignorance, the individual with the body mind self complex, says I am this body.

The I am here, is actually pure consciousness that has no name form or limitations, is self existent, independent and devoid of any trace of any object or its properties. But due to ignorance, we have with body mind and ego, and individual who says I am this body mind, 'I' being all the time limitless egoless pure consciousness.

Now this same pure consciousness with the garb of ishvara, says, I am ishvara , and the entire universe is his body, and he the consciousness is the material cause and the intelligent cause being all knowledge, and being the magician who manifests all that is here, from within oneself, from unmanifest state to manifest state. Here also he is just pure consciousness.

So if we look at "I am" there is no difference.

Difference is in the name and form when we add 'individual', or 'total' as a suffix to "I am".

This I am is in fact not even ego, its is only in admixture with the name and form, there is an ego identifying with individual or total.

Pure I am, is just existence consciousness.

I can be angry at my lord

 Guru teaches that one can also be angry at the lord.

It is an emotion that is within the order.

It is an emotion that is understandable given the order that is in itself a manifestation of the lord.

Who is this lord, who is all pervasive in and as the orderly manifestation.

The individual thoughts and emotions and desires and likes and dislikes and wants and needs and consciousness are included in this lord. Every other individual is included in this lord.

And the lord of all these individuals is a manifestation of this lord.

This lord, lords over all the individuals and all the entities, and he himself is the existence that lends oneself as 'is' in and through as one and all.

He is non dual.

He is real when we understand himself as trascending the names and forms.

Transcending the names and forms with which he is manifest, he is the unmanifest consciousness, that is sakshi chaitanyam. Manifest as all beings he is the lord.

His manifestation is a miracle, is mithya, like a dream. The fact is that he is manifest.

The fact is that he is ishvara.

I accept him, I need not dismiss him.

Without dismissing there can be non duality when mithya is understood.

Mithya is understood as non dismissive way of resolving him as one and non dual formless being in ones understanding, like resolving pot in clay in ones understanding.

So in my understanding this lord is non dual consciousness alone and nothing else. Isnt that enough. 

negatable and non negateable

 I negate all that I think I am.

So I am this body, the mind, the thoughts, the objects that I know etc. I negate any such understanding as incorrect, based on drk drshya viveka, guided by shastra which brings up this line of enquiry.

However I cannot negate my existence, as throughout the enquiry i exist.

I cannot also negate my nature of being consciousness, as throughout the enquiry, I am negating certain understandings and object confusions, of all of which I am conscious. 

So in the process of this negation itself, I also come to understand the non negatable understanding that I within the enquiry itself understand that I can safely retain, which are the fact of myself being an existent conscious being. 

But beyond this much, drk drshya enquiry does not take me anywhere, there is no other understanding.

There is also no moksha, as there is no purnatvam here, given so much has been negated, and the self doesnt seem to have gained anything, other than now being nothing, but still existent and conscious of being the fact that I am nothing.

But this is where shastra is also saying tvam tat asi, you are that.

When it is said "that" another object should not come into the picture again, since whats the point of taking on now again, what was already negated.

Therefore, here the meaning of 'that' must not include the anatma.

So here , that will need to refer to , sat.

Sat is the cause of anatma.

When we say cause of anatma also, the anatma should and need not be brought in at all.

Because here it is the as though cause. 

As though cause means, same manner as clay is a cause of pot and anything with various forms of clay. 

And even a lump of clay.

It is logically possible and shastra is the pramana, that this is indeed the case.

What shastra has to say about anatma.

Anatma is simply manifestation, and unmanifest cyclically it comes and goes back.

These are its 2 states. 

Both these are not in atma, atma is free from both these states.

Now from the standpoint of truth, anatma in both manifest and unmanifest states, is mithya.

Means it has an as though existence borrowed from I the cause ( which is a non cause or as though cause).

So as though to be a cause is not an issue, as its as though. So as though cause I am, as though maya is, as though jagat is, and as though manifestation, cyclical is, and as though ishvara is, and as though birth and death is.

Because it is as though, I dont have to discuss about it, and because it is as though, I dont have to discuss its effect on me, and because it is as though,  I am not bothered about it, because it is as though, I am can be I am as it is, and when I say sun IS, moon IS, body IS, it as though IS, and that ISness is the nature of I, and I is, and this I is is non negatable, hence satyam, I IS consciousness jnanam, and this I IS pervades everything and hence anantam. Anantam here is a negating word to negate the superimposed limitations due to ignorance. 

Maham brahma nirAkuryam Mama brahma nirakarod

Emotions that reject ishvara apparently, but are in fact within the order of ishvara

1. I am lonely

2. I am depressed

3. I am hurt

4. I am sorrowful

In this the mental order is ishvara, and the perceiver is also ishvara.  Ishvara here means the self also, since the perceiver is the self. 

The idea of the vaikunta isvara and the kailasha ishvara, and the formful ishvara in her loka, is ok.

But ishvara is not limited to that form alone.

ALL is ishvara.

That ishvara is now and here, as the very self, as the perciever, and all that is perceived as well.

All that is perceived is given, and ishvara is present as the given and the giver both.

Here the self ishvara is the experiencer.

And same self ishvara is also the manifest as the given, and is the giver as well.

The mind is given as an instrument of knowing. To a knower.

Now keeping the knower and the mind intact, we look at the truth of the knower.

The truth of the knower is consciousness, sAkshi chaitanyam.

Same sAkshi chaitanyam is ishvara. But in ishvaras case upAdhi is not just knower and knowing mind upAdhi, same sAkshi chaitanyam has to be looked at as being sarvajna sarvavid. To be sarvajna sarvavid, means not having a mind like me, but rather all that is here including the devatas and all the knowledge that everyone has, and knowledge that no one has, all knowledge put together, without requiring a mind, simultaneously both knowing and being that, and being transendent as the same time, that is ishvaratvam.

So from my mind I can understand ishvaratvam.

As far as being ishvara is concerned, I look at the fact that I am the sAkshi "chaitanyam", the shuddha chaitanyam, which is in fact ishvara. 

So being the knower of the limited mind, being the sleeper, being the dreamer, being the content of the dream, being the knower of body mind, w.r.t mind, understanding that the mind and body is given, and the knower status also is given, and is in fact ishvara as the given, so within the ishvaratvam is the jivatvam, as a subset, and that totality is the truth of I, is the truth of ishvara, truth of all that is, that way in terms of truth I am the whole, I can say that , while fully keeping my limited identity and ishvaras total identity as it is intact I can keep and safely say tat tvam asi, but understanding the implied meaning to be the reality which is devoid of that name form or status, as the very truth. 

To the individual knower the benefit of knowing the truth is the safety that I am of essence of non destructive reality which is independent and unassociated with all that is, ever free, ever pure and nameless formless and all pervasive. And also not subject to any limitations as such. So it is a kind of puzzle that the limited knower, is actually limitless chaitanyam, who is ishvara. SO that is what is to be understood, the truth of oneself, which is devoid of any name or form, and every name and form has its reality in whom, that indeed is me, and that indeed is ishvara, so its a shifting of focus to the reality of self, instead of limitations ascribed to the self. 

Limitations ascribed to the self, and both kAlyana gunas and alpa gunas are mithya, So like that if I understand myself as the vastu brahman, then the ishvara understanding is different.

Ishvara is first and foremost myself the vastu, and only then the gunas come into focus.

So here you cannot know this brahman, you are this brahman, it is being and not knowing, its a self evident chaitanyam, hence it is the being. 

Self is not against any limitations such as small knower, small mind etc, as self is independent, and transcendental. So from self point of view, smallness is superimposed on self, and also kAlyana gunas are superimposed on self and both superimpositions self does not oppose, and same time self is not affected by both. 

Sarvavid and Sarvajnah

Atma is sarvavid and sarvajnah.

All knowing and all knowledge.

This atma is none other than sAkshi chaitanyam.

In the upAdhi is individual, sAkshi chaitanyam is still 'all' knowing, all referring to "known + unknown".

Is also all knowledge , being the truth or reality of all names and forms that fall under "known + unknown".

The bheda is only in terms of upAdhi, where there is a jivesvara, wherein there is an individual mind, and the knowledge is known limited fashion via mind, 

And parameshvara, where there is total knowledge, all knowing in detail, infinitely all knowing, where thee is no ignorance of any name or form. So only the upAdhi differs, for one and the same reality who is seen from the standpoint of both individual and totality or maya shakti.

Now with my limited knowledge, I undertake actions.

Here the atma is non doer, and not involved and untouched by any action, whereas the body mind and individual ego, are involved in activity, and are the actor.

The actor is both illumined as well as finds its being in atma the non actor. 

Object reality

Any object 'is'.

Here the 'is' is the svarupa of atma, which is jnanam, or pure knowledge.

This pure knowledge manifests in the buddhi as 'I am', is self evident consciousness.

This pure knowledge is self existent, is satyam.

This has no name or form, and is not thinkable.

Any thought, any object has no existence of its own. It gains existence from this atma, which is satyam.

Atma is not behind the mind Behind is another thought.
Every thought 'is', and that is, is the svarupa of self evident consciousness manifest in the mind.

This self evident consciousness has no name or form, is not available for objectification, in every thought, it is not available as another object, rather is the reality of every object, the reality of every object is a non object atma, object gets resolved in atma.

Subject is also atma, subject loses its subject status, as and when object is resolved in atma.

Thereby atma alone remains, as neither subject , nor object, as pure satchitananda atma.

Observer is satyam

Atma the observer is Satyam. Means does not undergo any change, and is available all 3 periods of time , is consciousness.

Time, space etc. are always objects of consciousness. And consciousness is always the subject.

The objects of consciousness are mithya. Mithya is there reality.

Means, has no independent existence.

When we say any object exists, its existence actually is the existence belonging to its cause, which is consciousness. So consciousness is actually the cause as well. And also happens to be the object.