2.5: Karma

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11 Karma

Brihadâranyaka Upanishad^²⁴

1. Yâgñavalkya continued: 'Now when that Self, having sunk into weakness, sinks, as it were, into unconsciousness, then gather those senses (prânas) around him, and he, taking with him those elements of light, descends into the heart When that person in the eye turns away, then he ceases to know any forms.

2. '"He has become one," they say, "he does not see." "He has become one," they say, "he does not smell." "He has become one," they say, "he does not taste." "He has become one," they say, "he does not speak." "He has become one," they say, "he does not hear." "He has become one," they say, "he does not think." "He has become one," they say, "he does not touch." "He has become one," they say, "he does not know." The point of his heart becomes lighted up, and by that light the Self departs, either through the eye, or through the skull, or through other places of the body. And when he thus departs, life (the chief prâna) departs after him, and when life thus departs, all the other vital spirits (prânas) depart after it. He is conscious, and being conscious he follows and departs.

'Then both his knowledge and his work take hold of him, and his acquaintance with former things.'

3. 'And as a caterpillar, after having reached the end of a blade of grass, and after having made another approach (to another blade), draws itself together towards it, thus does this Self, after having thrown off this body and dispelled all ignorance, and after making another approach (to another body), draw himself together towards it.

4. And as a goldsmith, taking a piece of gold, turns it into another, newer and more beautiful shape, so does this Self, after having thrown off this body and dispelled all ignorance, make unto himself another, newer and more beautiful shape, whether it be like the Fathers, or like the Gandharvas, or like the Devas, or like Pragâpati, or like Brahman, or like other beings.

5. 'That Self is indeed Brahman, consisting of knowledge, mind, life, sight, hearing, earth, water, wind, ether, light and no light, desire and no desire, anger and no anger, right or wrong, and all things. Now as a man is like this or like that 1, according as he acts and according as he behaves, so will he be:--a man of good acts will become good, a man of bad acts, bad. He becomes pure by pure deeds, bad by bad deeds.

'And here they say that a person consists of desires. And as is his desire, so is his will; and as is his will, so is his deed; and whatever deed he does, that he will reap.

6. 'And here there is this verse: "To whatever object a man's own mind is attached, to that he goes strenuously together with his deed; and having obtained the end (the last results) of whatever deed he does here on earth, he returns again from that world (which is the temporary reward of his deed) to this world of action."

'So much for the man who desires. But as to the man who does not desire, who, not desiring, freed from desires, is satisfied in his desires, or desires the Self only, his vital spirits do not depart elsewhere,--being Brahman, he goes to Brahman.

7. 'On this there is this verse: "When all desires which once entered his heart are undone, then does the mortal become immortal, then he obtains Brahman.

'And as the slough of a snake lies on an ant-hill, dead and cast away, thus lies this body; but that disembodied immortal spirit (prâna, life) is Brahman only, is only light.'

Ganaka Vaideha said: 'Sir, I give you a thousand.'

8. 'On this there are these verses:

'The small, old path stretching far away has been found by me. On it sages who know Brahman move on to the Svarga-loka (heaven), and thence higher on, as entirely free.

9. 'On that path they say that there is white, or blue, or yellow, or green, or red; that path was found by Brahman, and on it goes whoever knows Brahman, and who has done good, and obtained splendour.

10. 'All who worship what is not knowledge (avidyâ) enter into blind darkness: those who delight in knowledge, enter, as it were, into greater darkness.

11. 'There are indeed those unblessed worlds, covered with blind darkness. Men who are ignorant and not enlightened go after death to those worlds.

12. 'If a man understands the Self, saying, "I am He," what could he wish or desire that he should pine after the body.

13. 'Whoever has found and understood the Self that has entered into this patched-together hiding-place, he indeed is the creator, for he is the maker of everything, his is the world, and he is the world itself.

14. 'While we are here, we may know this; if not, I am ignorant, and there is great destruction. Those who know it, become immortal, but others suffer pain indeed.

15. 'If a man clearly beholds this Self as God, and as the lord of all that is and will be, then he is no more afraid.

S'RÎMAD BHÂGAVATAM^²⁵

"The Story of the Fortunate One"

CANTO 6: Prescribed Duties for Mankind

Chapter 1: Dharma and Adharma: the Life of Ajâmila

(40) The Yamadûtas said: 'Dharma is what is prescribed in the Vedas, adharma is the opposite. The Vedas are Nârâyana Himself, the self-born one [from whom they originated], so we've heard. (41) All that manifested with its specific qualities, names, activities and forms has by Him, from His position in heaven, been created through the operation of the material modes of passion, goodness and slowness. (42) All [the divinity of] the sun, the fire, the sky, the air, the gods, the moon, the evening, the day and the night, the directions, the water and the land bears witness to [or structures] the personal dharma [the very nature] of the embodied living entity [see also B.G. 8: 4]. (43) Adharma [in the sense of going against nature] with all these [witnessing divinities] is recognized as the mental condition qualifying for the retribution that is acknowledged as valid for the karma of the offenders deserving punishment. (44) They who under the influence of the natural modes are engaged in actions motivated for results, can be of good, pious deeds as well as of deeds directly opposite to that oh pure souls, but no embodied soul can exist without engaging in action. (45) The extent to which someone in this life is of certain righteous or bad deeds, assures him in his next life of the enjoyment or suffering that is their result [compare B.G. 14: 18]. (46) The way one in this life among the living beings oh best of the demigods, experiences the different effects of the natural modes in the form of their three attributes [viz. knowledge, movement and inertia], one may having landed elsewhere [in a next life] expect to have a similar experience. (47) Just as the present time carries the characteristics of what was and what will become, someone's present birth likewise is indicative of the dharma and adharma of what one did and will be doing. (48) The godhead [of Yamarâja] is a great Lord as good as Brahmâ; he in his abode sees before his mind's eye the form one previously had and then concludes to the future one will have. (49) Just like someone who with what he projects in his sleep has lost the awareness of what precedes or follows that dream, one is equally unaware of a life before or after this [present] birth. (50) With the five working senses, the five senses of perception and their five objects engaged in pursuing his goals, he with his mind as the sixteenth element is of awareness, but he himself as the one [soul] constitutes the seventeenth element in enjoying the threefold nature of reality [see also B.G. 3: 42-43]. (51) With that sixteen part subtle body [the linga] as a result of the three forces of our greater nature, the living entity is subjected to a [difficult to overcome] repeated series of births [transmigration or samsriti] in which it experiences jubilation, lamentation, fear and misery. (52) The embodied soul who lacks in awareness for not being in control of his senses and mind, against his will is lead to actions for the sake of his own material interests; thus bewildered he like a silkworm weaves himself in[to the cocoon of] his own karma. (53) No one can exist but for a moment without doing something. One is by the three modes automatically forced to perform the fruitive activities belonging to one's nature. (54) On the basis of the imperceptible, unknown cause of that so very powerful personal nature, from womb and seed the gross and subtle body finds its existence to the likeness of the mother and the father [see also B.G. 8: 6]. (55) Because of this association with material nature the position of a living entity has turned into an awkward one of forgetfulness, but if one but for a short while manages to enjoy the association of the Lord, that problem is overcome.