For this blog series on karma yoga, I draw my learnings from the Bhagavad Gita Home Study book by Pujya Swami Dayananda Saraswati. Any error in the way I have blogged upon on any aspect, is due to an error in my understanding alone. 

There are certain topics that seem overwhelming when we hear about them.. We are not sure if we are ready for them and we drop them aside; or rather we think we have dropped them.. But they linger on in the mind.. The mind is one that doesn’t let go that easily especially if it is something that it finds difficult to understand.. I wonder though – Does the mind give up or does the ‘incomprehensible’ topic stay in the deep recess of the mind, only to be out like a flash at the right place and the right time?

One word that I have heard for many years now, from different people and at different occasions is the word mOkshA.. I really couldn’t understand this word and it was also being used in different contexts (though the meaning is the same when I applied the meaning given in the paragraph below as one I could relate to) and as late as a few months back, I was still struggling to understand what this word meant.. One context where it is used is when someone passes away – then you hear the sentence “This person attained mOkshA”.. So for me, this meant that mOkshA was somewhere else. The question of “Why should I be aiming for something that is out of my current experience and place?” would immediately occur.. The other context I would hear the word mOkshA was during discourses or while reading books related to the scriptures. From them I have understood mOkshA to be the highest level one needs to attain, after which there is no rebirth. This also drew a question from me “I am somewhere down below and what needs to be attained is far higher. And I am far away from thinking of rebirth, so why even think of mOkshA?’

Reading and listening to this word many times made me curious – So what is mOkshA ? mOkshA is defined as Liberation or Freedom from Bondage – the bondage of samsArA, the cycle of birth and death. I was not able to understand this and knowing myself, this is one topic that has been eluding my understanding. One explanation of mOksha that caught my eye from a book by pujya swAmiji was “Free from all afflictions”.. Afflictions include any kind of problems, likes (rAgas) and dislikes (dwEshas), joys (sukha) and sorrows (dukha), past and present.. Each one of them being created by the individual.. That got me hooked.. I thought, “So here is the meaning of the word and this makes sense to me.. And if all these afflictions are created by me, it should also be removable by me, isn’t it? This got a trifle more clarity and there was that ‘eureka’ moment of understanding.

The next question popped up, “Is it possible to gain freedom from all these afflictions? Life is made up of them, isn’t it? So how do we live a life that is free from them?” That set me thinking..

There are those moments when I get the feeling (and so perhaps may many others) “Why do I need these afflictions which make life so complicated?”

There are those other moments when when something happens that I like or dislike and the thought of “Well, it had to happen now. Why spend moments brooding over it? I was just an instrument in this. Someone who is far more powerful than all of us is pulling the chain and I am just an instrument to make this happen.” There is that sense of detachment and dispassion and the moving on mentally, happens seamlessly.. And when this detachment and dispassion occurs, there is that sense of calm and a sense of not being bound by anything. There is a sense of being free and this sense lasts for maybe a few seconds. Though such situations are few and far between, it gave the thought that it is possible to have moments of Liberation or Freedom from afflictions, many times and most time and perhaps all times? There arose the thought, “So mOkshA is for here and now and for the present life; we are not talking about some later life that I cannot envision. Now that makes living interesting!!”

So what do we need to do if we need to attain this mOkshA or Liberation / Freedom from bondage / affliction while living here in this world? Like everything in life, if we need to know something we need to seek answers and gain knowledge. Knowledge of what will make me attain mOkshA?

Knowledge of the self or self knowledge – because knowledge of the self will help us to understand our afflictions. But don’t we know ourselves? Actually no. We are covered by many layers and every situation that we face helps us peel off a layer, revealing that small teeny weeny bit about ourselves, but that’s not enough.

So what exactly is this self knowledge? I have no clear answers and also don’t want to assume anything. It seems to be like that goal towards which we are journeying. Some steps seem clear and some are hazy and some give no view at all.

The curiosity on self knowledge triggered, the question ‘What do we need to do to gain that self knowledge?’ occured.. The answer to this question was rather interesting.. Self knowledge can be gained by following one of the two life styles – karma yoga and sanyAsa yoga. A sanyAsi is one who pursues knowledge to the exclusion of all obligatory duties. The life of a sanyAsi is one of renunciation – renunciation of duties and pursuit of knowledge. Personally, given that I was not going to renounce any of my duties and take to sanyAsa to pursue knowledge, I knew that this yoga was not the journey for me.

This meant that I need to look at karma yoga as the lifestyle to gain self knowledge. This was getting clearer and clearer but it also lead to many questions.. Here are just some of them..

  • What is karma yoga?
  • What does this lifestyle involve?
  • How do I live this lifestyle?
  • To live this lifestyle, what should I let go? (I can’t ask what I should I gain because I will gain self knowledge :-))
  • How will living the lifestyle of karma yoga help me gain self knowledge?

I am sure that this is the beginning of a wonderful period of learning, on this topic.. The blogs that follow will answer these questions and perhaps raise many more questions as well..