A life in praise of Karma?

Jayant Patel?

The Glory of Karma, BP Singhal, Ocean Books Pvt Ltd, Pp 143 (HB), Rs 200?

As we already know, right from the tiniest of particles to the mightiest mountains, from the smallest of microbes  the biggest among all life forms, everything is constantly and incessantly in a state of flux – in a state of increasing activity. Everything in the cosmos is continuously in motion. As human beings are a product of Nature, it is axiomatic that no human being at any point of time can exist even for a moment without doing work. Even when Lord Krishna descended to Earth in human form, he acknowledged the importance of karma, as he stated in the Bhagavad Gita, “There is nothing in the three worlds that I need to do. There is nothing that I desire and cannot have, yet, oh Arjuna, I abide in the karma.” Here Krishna is unequivocally declaring that karma is supreme and even He cannot transcend it.

The Gita says, “Yogah karmasu kaushalam,” that is, ‘you can achieve communion with God through perfection in action’, so, any man who has no clue about God, he can reach God directly through karma.

The second aspect of karma, according to the author is that through perfection in action, every man can achieve the primary purpose of human life.

The third aspect of karma is ‘work is worship’. It is only when the full potential of ‘work’ unfolds that it becomes clear that every kind of work, when done in ‘perfection’ helps in achieving God.

The fourth aspect of karma is that when man keeps himself constantly energised, there are two mighty power-houses of limitless energy – one is the soul and the other is ahankar which exists in every atom of water. Those who succeed in mobilising the soul power by identifying their ‘being’ with their soul will discover that fatigue stands banished.

The fifth aspect is ‘as you sow, so shall you reap’. This is based on the law of cause and effect and means that you should do good but shun evil if you want to achieve happiness.

The sixth aspect is that it is not good to attribute everything good that happens to luck. What we Hindus believe is that we carry with us our samaskar, that is, for good or for bad, we get only that which we earn by our deeds.

The seventh aspect is we should be able to tell our children that they are citizens of a truly free and swadhin (independent) country.

The eighth aspect of karma is that primary purpose of human life is to achieve salvation for the soul. Lord Krishna shows the wondrous way on the road to perfection by stressing on nishkam karma, that is, doing work without thinking about the fruit or the result.

The ninth aspect is paras neeyat, that is, an intention when adopted could herald the golden era of every human being, enabling him to achieve the finest in the material world while transcending the law of cause and effect and achieve communion with Divinity. One must learn to accept the words of the guru who is the Divine on Earth.

(Ocean Books Pvt Ltd, 4/19, Asaf Ali Road, New Delhi-110 002)?