Sanyasa vs. Karma

Sanyaasa vs Karma

Naa karmanaa na prajayaa dhanena

Tyaagena Ekena Amrutatwam aanasuha

(Sanyaas Suktam Maha-Narayan upanishad)

The Sutra clearly states that Sanyaasa is the Samaadhaan, not Karma (in itself).

The question but remains, as to what Sanyaasa denotes, and does Sanyaasa really indicate giving up of Karma ?

In fact the truth is that it is Karma alone which fructifies itself into Sanyaasa..

and Sanyaasa (Jnana or Bodh) is nothing but giving up of the body consciousness and getting established in Spirit Consciousness or Sacch Khand

and further still, even when the awareness of Sanaasa gets firmly established the body still continues to perform its Karma as per the dictates..

Karma and Sanyaasa are not at all opposed to each other, they are truly mutually supportive.

So we see that the only problem lies in understanding the true purport of Sanyaasa and Karma and not in comparing their relative merits..  

However but, whatever be said about Karma and Sanyaasa, the Samaadhaan is and will always be Love and reverence or Bhakti..

because it is Bhakti alone which puts the mind on the track of righteous deeds (Karma) culminating in the consciousness of Spirit Self (Sanyaasa)..

Yes, where Karma is the suprastructure or scaffolding and Sanyaasa the taste of spiritual  existence.. Bhakti is the foundation of all that is…..

Yes where Karma is the necessary training essential for the health of the mind and 

Sanyaasa denotes that otherworldly existence which is beyond this mind rendered healthy by Karma, 

Bhakti is the constant impulse and nourishment which feeds the very roots of both Karma as well as Sanyaasa..

Naa karmanaa na prajayaa dhanena

(not by karma, nor by fame and following nor through earning of riches and properties)

(can one attain the intended result of freedom from sorrow, suffering and death) so to say

all that one does as a part of religious practices or follows as dictates in the form of nitt nem (niyama) or rituals

the crux of which of-course is the development of a blemish-less personal character;  

the japa tapa dhyana keertan prayers etc.

the visiting or the upkeep and building of places of worship etc and 

provisioning of food and shelter etc. to the poor n forlorn

and earning thereby, of the riches, prowess, honour and fame of being a master of all masters

all this will not redeeem you

all this will not give the intended result

didn’t you say, you dont just want to ‘Do well' anymore but 

you would rather want to ‘Be well’ instead

so none of these things are really going to see you to your intended wellness in-fact….

Tyaagena Ekena Amrutatwam aanasuha

it is the tyaga alone, which ensures salvation from suffering and death

tyaga of what ? shruti refers to the tyaga of illusion….

the illusion, the imagination that you have imposed upon yourself since the past so many births, that you are the body,

yes it is the tyaaga of the illusionary body consciousness, 

which will finally give you your wellness and

but let me also show you glimpses of the road ahead...

the moment you loose body consciousness (of course as a reward of your religious practices)  

you will almost immediately get the glimpse of your true consciousness or 

let us put it this way

the moment you get back a glimpse of your atmic or true consciousness 

you will loose body consciousness and also

the moment you see ur truth distinct from the body 

you will know that the uni-verse is truly one uniform single whole

there is you alone all around, your God alone all around,

you will have no idea of what is body and what is not body

and of-course all the distinctions between different bodies too will, kind of disappear..

furthermore if however this experience happens to dawn upon you before the time is really ripe,

which in-fact happens rather far too often,

your mind, thus freed from the bondage of illusion, 

in every likelihood, will bounce back into its old untrained animal habits 

which you so painstakingly avoided, during your years of saadhana, and 

thus as a result of these fallen ways

you will not only loose this experience of your truth

but you may seriously go off track, plumb deeper, back into the hell-fire of lust and lucre..

though it is besides the point that this distraction, this dereliction of the divine directives

will surely equip you with a first hand experience of 

what constitutes sin and what is merit..

and when you again choose to set your feet on the path of religious rites and rituals

this time you will be more careful about avoiding sin i.e the inevitable falls on the path..

Bhagawan Sri Aadi Shankaraachaarya, in his Viveka Choodamani states, 

“Baarambaar dosh drishti karne se (that is to say by repeatedly doing the sin of looking at the creator as the creation, energy as matter- and suffering thereof)

vishaya samooha se virakt ho kar (dissociating from material consciousness),

chitta ka apne lakshya mein (the consciousness getting established in its goal i.e truth) sthir ho jaana, hee Sham hai..

Sham, damm, uparati, titiksha, shradha, samaadhaan are considered to be the sum of six virtues which make a blemish-less character..  

Sin and Merit

although sin is nothing but a symbolic term used to denote endless suffering 

and the original sin really is singularly one and that is the very tendency to forget ones reality, 

to loose ones true consciousness and reduce oneself to body consciousness but  

in day today practice, there is no doubt that sin constitutes 

all those evil thoughts words and deeds which make one forget ones relaity

and keeps one bound to untruth and thus suffering.. 

merit on the other hand constitutes those guided thoughts words and deeds enjoined by one and all religions

which helps one to become aware of ones reality

and stay ever established in it, wedded to it..

thus we see

(karmanaa prajayaa and dhanena) ie. 

all that one does as a part of religious practices or follows as dictates in the form of nitt nem (niyama) or rituals

the crux of which of-course is the development of a blemish-less personal character;  

the japa tapa dhyana keertan prayers etc.

the visiting or the upkeep and building of places of worship etc and 

provisioning of food and shelter etc. to the poor n forlorn

and earning thereby, of the riches, prowess, honour and fame of being a master of all masters

yes all this helps us to dissociate from and transcend the illusionary mind state

realise another facet of ourselves which is beyond the illusion called mind and is far more real than it

these practices help get rid of the illusion that all that is around, is the ever changing ephemeral world

yes all this helps us to get permanently associated or wedded to the awareness that 

all that is around is Me and My Blemishless Eteranal lord only…

Ahamatma sarvam idam and

Sarvam Vishnumayam idam

Iyaahni baalli kyaa kare

Jaa dhann kantt na bhaawai

(what can the soul do, when the mind does not love The Beloved Husband)

Karanpalaah kare bahutere

Sa dhann mehal naa paawai

(howsoever much she tries, she can not reach His abode)

Bin Karmaa kichhu paayeeai naahin

Je bahuteraa dhaawai

(without a dhaarmic way of life, nothing can be achieved indeed, howsoever much you may want it to)

Lab lobh ahankaar ki maati

Maaya ma samaani

(when the mind is steeped in the worldly ways)

Inni baati sahu paayeeai naahin

Bhayee kaamman iyaahni

(you can not reach The Beloved, the ignorant one doesn’t know this)

thus does the religion i.e the dos and donts prescribed therein, redeeem me

thus does karma finally give me the intended result

the result of 'feeling well’ and ‘being well’, rather than the childish dream of merely 'doing well’.

Eh jag sachhe ki hai kothari, sachhe ka vich vaas

Iknaa hukam samaaye laye, ikna hukme kare vinaas

ikna bhaanae kadd laye, ikna maaya vich nivaas

Ev bhi aakh na jaapayee,  ji kissae aane raas

Nanak Gurmukh jaaniye jaa koe aap kare pargaas..

and I truly see that

this world is nothing but 

My imperishable Lord Himself

indeed it is His almighty Will that 

some souls get established in the truth- which is Him

some stay drowned in the suffering of illusion- that it is the perishable, good for nothing, toiling struggling world. and

even this can not be said or understood as to who will listen to these words

Yes He alone is Gurmukh 

Who is the chosen one…

Naanak sachh dhiyaayan sachh

Jo mar jamme, so kachhan kachh

the one who starts seeing the truth (becomes) is the truth (as per the Will or Ordnance of the Almighty Lord)

the one who sees untruth (continues to be ) is untruth (again in strict accordance to The Almighty Will)

God, if you see, god you are; dust, if you see, dust you are..

Om Pooranam adaha (that) Poornam idam (this), Poornaat Poornam udachyate (created out of),

Poornasya Poornam aadaaya (added or subtracted), Poornam eva avashishyate (remains)..

this is what one utters after one is established in The Self or Atma

Poornaat Poornam udachyate

Infinite Absolute Fullness has come out of The Infinite absolute Fullness

Shaashwat can not have arisen out of nashwar 

it is infinite alone which comes out of infinite 

and what remains too is infinite alone..

when gold ornament is made out of gold

what remains is gold alone)

Me, this whole has come out of the whole

gold and gold ornament are one and the same, what is the distinction

do you have to dismantle the ornament to know that it is gold

when a gold ornament is made out of gold

still it continues to be as much gold

it was my own illusionary momentariness called mind which was seeing gold to be the mere transitory ornament instead of seeing it as gold itself

this creation is the creator himself indeed

Eh vish sansaar jo tu dekhadaa, 

eh Hari ka roop hai, Hari roop nadri aaya

it is by His grace and will alone that 

i reach my own true consciousness from where i see that 

its all my beloved lord alone and nothing else

Eh kutumba jo tun dekhda, challe naahin tere naale

Saath tere challe naahin, tis naal kyon chitta laayiye

Aisa kamm moole naa keeche, jitt anta pachhtaayiyae.

(why even begin on this road to perdition and persecution)

Sattgur ka upadesha sun toon howai tere naale

(why dont you listen to the redeeming advice of the guru which is going stay ever with you)

Kaho Nanak mann pyaare toon sadaa sach samaale

(establish yourself in the Truth- the ik omkaar)

here in these verses

my sadd guru reminds the mind to train itself to see only the imperishable truth all around

he reminds the mind to refrain from making temporal material associations

which are the perpetual source of all suffering… he reminds the mind that

it is only the untrained mind which sees distinctions 

it is this illusion of mind (the illusory mind) which needs be trained along the path of spiritual sadhana or enquiry

so that the illusory mind disappears...

hence it is thus, that the necessity, relevance and basis of religion is stressed to be quintessential..

without training or religion i.e the rehat maryada, man is a helpless animal indeed

one may say that

the religious one is the one, who practices the dos and donts which are imposed upon him, according to the wisdom of an evolved being

where as 

the evolved being is the one who lives those self same dos and donts as His own true nature

but the fact remains that the 

dos and donts continue to be sacrosanct

sin and merit is not an illusion, 

it is the hukam and

Hukam razaai chalna

Nanak likhaya naal and

Bikhyan seyo kaahe racheyo, nimakh na hohe udaas

Kaho Nanak Bhaj Hari Manaa, Parae na jam ki phaas

(how and why are you so stuck to the material body consciousness

remember Hari, fall in love with Him, He is a symbol of Truth, of Spirit; 

once you are associated with Him you will go beyond sorrow suffering and death)

Gun Gobind gaayo nahin,  janam akaarath keenh

Kaho Nanak Hari bhaj manaa, jeha bidh jal ko meen..

(untill you fall in love with Govind, the omni-spirit, you are wasting this precious human life

love Him, be with Him, just like the fish loves water and cannot survive without Him even for a moment)

Dhann daara, sampath sagal; jinn appni kar jaan

Ina mein kachhu sangi nahin, Naanak saachi maan..

(if you form relationship with riches, family and material consciousness, 

you have indeed wasted the precious human birth

know the truth from me, even if you cling to material consciousness like a fool, it is not going to stay with you for long) 

Patit udhaaran, bhai haran, Hari anaath ko Naath

kaho Naanak teha jaaniyai, Sadaa basat tum saath..

(know that Hari, your beloved lord is the only one who can raise your mean worldly consciousness and give you back your own consciousness 

and that He is always by your side, but ask yourself if you love Him enough to see only Him around and avoid the distractions of matter) 

so fall in such blind love with Him my beloved self that you see nothing other than Him..  

(Bhakti leads the mind to Karma and Karma in turn attracts Grace which gives the Taste and Awareness of Self Consciousness or Jnana)

Amrat vela, sachh naaon, vadiyaayi veechaar

Karmi aavai kapra nadri mokha dwaar

Shake off all sleep, sloth and laziness my beloved mind, 

start lusting for the beloved right from the beginning of the day, rather early before sunrise, every morning, life after life

Know that its your meritorious thoughts words and deeds alone which will not only ensure worldly bliss  but it will finally entitle you to His Grace which

will bestow upon you — salvation.. 

salvation from the very illusion called mind, which alone is responsible for  

reducing eternity into ever dying momentariness

transformation of the almighty creator into a helpless creation..

transmigration of energy into matter…

Jo sukh ko chaahe sadaa, sharan Raam ki leha

Kaho Nanak sun re manaa, durlabh manukh deha..

anyone who desries eternal bliss, should stay all the time under the shelter of Sri Raam

and Naanak sahb reminds man that it is a rare privilege to be born as a man.. it should not be wasted.

(Raam is of course Sri Ram, the meritorious son of King Dadhratha but He is as much the  embodiment of Almighty Spirit

So as long as you are the ignorant mind in the form of a body, remember SriRam, the son of King Dashratha,

When, by His grace, you attain to the realm of formless Self, stay ever in communion with the formless nameless Ik Omkaar).