"The wise sees knowledge and power as one; they see truly" - Bhagavad Gita
The following excerpt from
Shankaracharya’s discourse at Jnana Vapi shows how he created a bridge between
the path of knowledge and the path of action.
“Jnana Vapi” means “well of
knowledge”. It is also the name of an area
that lies behind the famous temple of Shiva in Banaras. While Shankaracharya was in Banaras a
spiritual conference was arranged to take advantage of his presence.
Some one from the audience started the
discussion by saying, “According to you, sir, knowledge alone is the liberating
force. The individual soul becomes bound
to the cycle of birth and death as a result of its actions, and therefore in
order to attain liberation we must stop performing actions. If that is the case, how are we to survive in
the world?”
Shankaracharya replied, “It’s true that
ultimately knowledge is the only liberating force. But we cannot disregard our duties and follow
the path of knowledge exclusively. In fact,
there is no contradiction between the path of knowledge and the path of
action. It is simply a matter of
following aparticular path at a particular stage of life. As long as we have not understood the nature
of our internal world, the nature of our body, breath, mind and soul, as well
as our relationship with the external world, we must adhere to the path of
action”.
“But even though we are following the
path of action, we must keep exploring its strengths and weaknesses. We must also keep in mind the importance of
discovering the inner essence of knowledge.
The path of knowledge leads directly to Self-realization. But the path of action is in no way inferior
to the path of knowledge, because it helps lead us to the path of knowledge.”
“No one can survive without performing
actions. But if we perform them without paying attention to the process of
action, to the fruits of action, and to our attitude toward the fruits of
action, then it entangles us in the snare of birth and death, and to the
experience that come between birth and death”.
“Therefore in the process of performing
actions we must learn how to be skillful. Most of our actions are motivated
either by the desire to gain something or by the fear that we will end up with
something we do not want. Thus from the
beginning our mind is focused on the fruits of actions and when these fruits
are achieved, we become attached to them.
If the fruits are not achieved, we are disappointed and dissatisfied
because of our intense desire and high expectations. In both cases, fear is the inevitable
outcome. Either we fear losing the
objects we have achieved through our efforts, or we fear that we will not
achieve those objects.”
“This fear cripples our creativity and
destroys our peace of mind. If we are
successful in our actions we cannot rest, because either we want more or we are
afraid of losing whatever we have attained so far. If we are unsuccessful we are tortured by
insecurity and fear of the future. So we
must learn how to perform actions without getting attached to their fruits.”
As Shankaracharya paused, someone from
the audience interrupted: “Sir, even the most ignorant people have some idea of
why they are tring to do something.
Before attempting to act on the physical level, they think about what
they want to accomplish. As the
objective becomes clear, they decide on what means and resources to use to
achieve that goal. As a result, they
perform an action. Therefore, behind any
action there is some degree of desire.
The stronger the desire, the more energy is devoted to the task. Because of that desire, people place a value
on the goal they want to achieve. And
depending on how valuable that goal is, they decide which other tasks should be
postponed or disregarded. Thus I do not
understand how they can even begin to perform their actions without any desire
or attachment to the fruits”.
Shankaracharya replied, “I did not mean
that we should set a task at random and start performing it without having a
goal. There are three kinds of
actions. First, there are the compulsory
actions we must perform for the sake of maintaining our existence: eating,
bathing and cleaning our houses and clothes are examples. These actions do not create karmic bonds”.
“The second kind of actions are
obligatory. We must perform them for the
sake of maintaining healthy relationships with others. For example, we have karmic bonds with our
closest relatives that can be loosened only paying off our karmic debts to
those who are connected with us. We must
discharge our obligations to our parents, our children, our spouse, and even to
our community and society. Although we
are often tempted to underestimate the importance of these duties, deep in our
heart we know that their call cannot be ignored without creating inner conflict
and guilt. Self-condemnation
results. Avoiding thisis reason enough
to perform these obligatory actions.
They create karmic bonds only if they are not performed”.
“The third category includes actions we
perform with the intention of achieving specific objects for either temporal or
so called heavenly purposes. These
actions are binding. It is the nature of
the human mind not to be satisfied with performing only the first two kinds of
actions – it takes them for granted. The
sense of purposefulness, satisfaction, and fulfillment comes when we perform
actions that are not mandatory. They are
the challenge for us.”
“In this area we must learn to perform
our actions selflessly, lovingly, and skillfully, and then we must surrender
the fruits of these actions to the higher truth. By doing so, we minimize the effect of
previous karmic bonds. In other words,
attempting to attain freedom from the bondage of karma by performing actions is
like using one thorn to extract another.
Sooner or later we reach the realm where there are no more thorns. That is the realm of knowledge”.
“Understanding that the purpose of
performing actions is to extract the roots of previously performed actions
gives us the strength we need to perform our actions selflessly and lovingly
without becoming attached to their fruits – which then become like extracted
thorns. Extract one thorn with another,
and throw them both away. In this way we
attain freedom from the bondage of karma.”
“It is necessary to have the desire to
extract the thorns of our previous action.
This is not an unhealthy desire – it motivates us to perform our
actions. It is the desire to keep the
fruits that is binding.”
In this way Shankaracharya shared his
knowledge and elevated the consciousness of those who studied and practiced
under his guidance while he was in Banaras.
Excerpts from:
The Himalayan Masters: A living tradition
by Pandit Rajmani Tigunait
