Karma Yoga, Non-attachment and Liberation

Unless The Lord builds the house, its builder labors in vain. Unless The Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. - Psalm 127:1

 

The word ‘yoga’ comes from the ancient Sanskrit language and is etymologically related to our English “to yoke.”  It refers to any means by which we can reconnect our individual beings with Being.  “God” as Being is never really separate from who and what we are, instead this sense of separateness exists within our minds and is the foundation of the ego or false self.  Yoga techniques work primarily with the mind.  Not in the sense of intellectual education but more in the sense of helping us to differentiate our conscious essence from the mind.  As Rishi Patanjali explains, “Yoga means bringing the patterns of mind into a state of stillness, wherein one can recognize one’s true self-nature.” 

The practice of yoga does not require a withdrawal from life.  Karma yoga is the yoga of action, of heartfelt service in this world.  At the same time it is joined with an attitude of non-attachment.  With yoga practice we are always balancing between two extremes.  We are learning not to be conditioned by the world as it appears to be, nor to escape into some artificial transcendence.  In meditation we can connect with a tremendous sense of bliss, this is our self-essence: being-consciousness-bliss.  It is very, very nice, however as long as we are in this life we cannot just stay there.  Instead we have to bring this bliss, this love and joy into actuality in this world.  Be mindful of all the darkness in the world but, turn up your own light.  “Be the change . . .”

In the Bhagavad Gita this whole dilemma is addressed brilliantly.  Arjuna, a warrior General feels despondent on the eve of an epic civil war.  He ponders the possibility of withdrawing from battle.  He questions the meaning of life and existence.  And he wonders about the nature of the soul.  His mentor, Krishna, just happens to be a Divine Avatar.  He helps Arjuna to understand the spiritual path of non-attached action, Karma Yoga.  It simply means committing to the action that is right for the time without worrying about the outcome.  Leave the outcome up to God.  Things may not turn out the way we think they should be, but they always turn out for the best.  “Fulfill all of your duties;” says Krishna. “Action is better than inaction.  Even to maintain your body, Arjuna, you are obliged to act.  Selfish action imprisons the world.  Act selflessly, without any thought of personal profit.” 

Is this even possible?  It takes practice.  Meditation is essential.  Practice yoga and meditation regularly to help stabilize your consciousness in Self-essence.  Use the rest of your time to practice karma yoga.  Of course, be sure to get enough nourishment and sleep.  Take care of your physical vehicle.  Practice prayer and devotional song.  Read and contemplate spiritual literature.  These are all important aspects of yoga.  Non-attachment grows naturally out of on-going meditation practice.  We learn that the objects of the world have little or nothing to do with our inner state of total well-being.  We might not be able to fix the world, but we might be able to communicate this deeper awareness to others. 

Then again, action without attachment is very powerful.  Who knows what is possible?

What's Really Gonna Happen on 12/21/2012

We're living the end of time. Not the end of the world, but the end of a world age-a 5,125-year cycle of time-and the way we've known the world throughout that time. The present world age began in 3,114 B.C. and will end in 2012 A.D. Because the end of anything also marks the beginning of what comes next, we're also living the start of what follows the end of time: the next world age, which ancient traditions called the great cycle.  – Gregg Braden

I first heard about the 2012 thing in the writings and ravings of Terrence McKenna, went on to read a lot of the literature surrounding it.  John Major Jenkins’ Maya Cosmogenesis 2012 (Bear & Company, Santa Fe, NM: 1998) was the most daunting, detailed and perhaps compelling.  Daniel Pinchbeck’s 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl, (Tarcher, 2006) was probably the most entertaining. 

I remember a time in 2008 when I was going through the breakup of yet another “serious” relationship when this particular meme really hit home.  McKenna’s prophecies started to gel in my mind and I started to recalculate my life meaning.  Unfortunately while I wallowed in depression things went on around me.  It is important to pay attention to what is happening Now.  Maybe the biggest impact of this looming date is that a large majority of us will be Present! 

Out of everything I’ve read, the videos I’ve watched and the expensive multimedia events I’ve attended, there seems to be three alternative takes:  1) It’s the end of the world, 2) It is an energetic step into a new age of consciousness, or 3) It’s nothing, bullshit and fogetaboutit.  Leaning on the four-dimensional logic suggested by Nagarjuna, I might say that we have to give all possibilities equal value and we have raise our consciousness above even those thought processes.  It is what it is.

Swami Niranjan has addressed these questions in a video satsang.  I recommend you watch it.  Please . . .  It is the essence of wisdom and simplicity.

http://youtu.be/jc9WQY2SOIg

Releasing Our Thought Karma

You are not a helpless victim of your own thoughts, but rather a master of your mind. What do you need to let go of? Take a deep breath, relax, and say to yourself, "I am willing to let go. I release. I let go. I release all tension. I release all fear. I release all anger. I release all guilt. I release all sadness. I let go of all old limitations. I let go, and I am at peace. I am at peace with myself. I am at peace with the process of life. I am safe."  - Louise L. Hay

 

It seems many of us think of “karma” strictly in terms of outward physical actions.  If you hurt another; you will be hurt back.  This is actually just the surface of events that spring forth from the unseen realms of mind and consciousness.  Once we have entered into the domain of physical happening, it is already over.  The deed has been done and there is no turning back.  We might try to “take back” words spoken in anger.  We might wonder if certain negative thoughts contributed to our current situation.  Our experience of reality is the outcome of our inner processes vis-à-vis the processes of nature.

Karma is composed of a three dimensions of activity: thought, emotion and action.  If we don’t pay attention to thought and desire, we have little control over our actions.  If we are not aware of our thoughts then we are controlled by our emotions.  It is at the level of thought that we might possibly have some leverage in this cosmic deal.  The problem is that most of our thought processes happen on a subconscious level.  Unfortunately, whether we are aware or not, these thoughts affect our health, our careers, relationships and the shared world that we deem “reality.”  Underneath it all is a deeper level of reality referred to in Yogic terminology as Atman, “the Self.”  When we are aware at this level we are free from the compulsions of thought, emotion and habitual activities.  As Nisargadatta Maharaj explains, “When you are free of the world, you can do something about it. As long as you are a prisoner of it, you are helpless to change it. On the contrary, whatever you do will aggravate the situation.” 

Meditation helps us step into the Atman level of perception.  It helps us to step outside of our personal dramas and experience the presence of the timeless infinite being within.  Because we are temporarily experiencing ourselves as human beings, we are continually pulled back into thought, desire and action.  It’s alright that is what we are here to experience.  Meditation however gives us access to that deeper, more expansive way of knowing.  Instead of just living the drama, we are at least able to edit the script.

With a deep cleansing breath we are able to let go of inner storms of confused thoughts and emotions, rest briefly in all-pervading peace and then reengage with the “real world.”  The first step is to formulate positive, loving and compassionate thoughts.  Let these turn into positive, loving and compassionate feelings and deeds.  In this way your thoughts can change the world.

The Heart & Soul of Spiritual Relationship

Love is the only reality and it is not a mere sentiment. It is the ultimate truth that lies at the heart of creation.
- Rabindranath Tagore

In most of our human relationships, we spend much of our time reassuring one another that our costumes of identity are on straight. 

– Ram Dass

 

Why do we enter into relationships?  What are we looking for?  Too often we are seeking someone else to convince us to love ourselves.  We wander around at a masquerade party of soul’s hoping to find someone who feels safe enough for us to let down our facade.  At the same time we are completely invested in that mask and are afraid to look behind it.  We feel separate and estranged and can only accept the “safety” of someone who can be a comfortable masquerade partner.  Thus ego-centric “love” can never be anything other than a counterfeit. 

We are all wounded and vulnerable.  We all suffer.  We feel unworthy of love and thus cut ourselves off from our essence.  Then we look for it in someone else: Mom, Dad, husband, wife, child, lover, whoever.  And do we get righteously pissed-off when they can’t or won’t give it to us!  This seems to be the nature of our human existence.  We feel our individuality so strongly that we live in fear, no absolute terror of crossing our imaginary ego-boundaries.  Then we blame it on someone else.  True love cannot be limited to a particular relationship, is not based in need and desire and is non-attached.  As Marianne Williamson writes,

The love in one of us is the love in all of us.

‘There’s actually no place where God stops and you start,’

and no place where you stop and I start.

Love is energy and infinite continuum.

Your mind extends into mine and everyone else’s.

It doesn’t stay enclosed within your body.

(A Return to Love)

This, of course, is not just “mysticism” it is verified by modern physics. 

As a relationship therapist I get to see over and over again how we project our shadows, our wounds and fears, onto another and then call it “love.”  And it is in this sense that our relationships can possibly lead to the healing of our souls; however it can do so only when we are able to look at ourselves in the mirror of self-reflection.  Open, honest and non-judgmental self-reflection is the awakening of true love within us.  It opens the pathway to conscious consciousness evolution, or enlightenment. 

Buddha referred to this kind of self-reflection as “maitri,” or “loving-awareness.”  It is a common cliché that we need to love ourselves first before we can love another.  The problem is that like with most clichés we pay no attention.  Your loving acceptance of yourself, paradoxically opens the door for growth and change.  When we are able accept and allow ourselves to be who we are, we discover that we are beings of evolving conscious, unfolding love.  There is no actual effort involved.  All effort is simply resistance.  “Resistance to the disturbance,” writes Vernon Howard, “is the disturbance.” 

Relationships are an interesting kind of mirroring process.  We see ourselves reflected in each other and the things that we seek to change in the other are aspects of ourselves.  When we seek to change the world, it is often like cleaning the mirror to get rid of a blemish on our own faces.  To truly love another one has to be at peace within oneself.  One has to be free and non-attached.  It is the recognition of both of us as sacred and autonomous beings, individual expressions of Divine Unity.  We are beings of love.  Any need to change ourselves or the other is really an impulse of violence.  “The ultimate state of Love is freedom,” writes Osho, “absolute freedom and any relationship that destroys freedom is not worthwhile. Love is a sacred art. To be in Love is to be in a holy relationship.” 

Often times we turn our relationships into functions.  We put out ads where we want someone who is such and such height, weight, etc.  Or maybe we want a sense of humor, intelligence; someone to share our interests.  In this sense relationships seem to be about fitting a job description rather than opening up unconditionally to another being who essentially, deep down, one’s Self.  We forget sometimes that the tradition of marriage is really based in ownership.  It is a barely disguised form of mutual slavery.  As we awaken however we might be able to create a new kind of relationship based in mutual respect as sacred spirit beings; relationship based in freedom rather than control, love rather than need.