CHAPTER IV.
Karma.
is a Sanskrit word which means action,
KARMA
but it is
generally used to mean a certain
definite connection between what is
being done
now and what will happen in the future. Things
do not happen by accident, by chance, in a disorder-
ly way. They happen in regular succession ; they
follow each other in a regular order.
If a seed is planted in the ground, it sends
up
a little stem, and leaves grow on the stem and the
flowers come, and then fruits, and in the fruits are
seeds again. And
one of these seeds planted will
produce a stem, and leaves, and flowers and fruits
and seeds. The same sort of seed produces the
same kind of plants. Rice produces rice-plants;
barley produces barley; wheat produces wheat;
thistleproduces thistle; cactus produces cactus.
If
a man sows thistles, he must not expect a crop of
sweet grapes; if he plants prickly cactus, he must
not expect to gather juicy apples. This is karma,
and a man, knowing it, sows the seed of the thing he
wants to reap. This is the first thing to remember.
( 45 )
Xow an action is not quite so simple a thing as
it looks. If I ask a person, "Why do you walk
into the town?" he will say: "I wanteds pair of
shoes, and / thought I could get them there;" or:
il
I v:anted to see a freind and I thought he was in
the town;" and so on, in many ways, but always:
"/ wanted and / thought therefore I acted." These
three are always found together.
Now a want is what is called a desire; we desire
to get somthing that is the first stage; then we
think how to get it that is the second stage; then
we act so as
to get it that is the third stage.
This the regular order; every action
is has a
thought behind it and every thought has a desire
behind it.
These three things action, thought, desire are
the three threads that are twisted into the cord of
karma. Our actions make the people round us
happy or unhappy; if we make them happy, we
have sown happiness like a seed, and it
grows up
into happiness for ourselves; if we make them un-
happy, we have sown unhappiness like a seed, and
it
grows up intc unhappiness for ourselves. If we
do cruel things, we sow cruelty like a seed, and it
grows up into cruelty to ourselves. If we do kind
( 46 )
things, we sow kindness like a seed, and
grows it
up into kindness to ourselves. Whatever we sow
by our actions comes back to us. This is karma.
But action has thought behind it. Now
thought makes what is called our character, the
nature and kind of mind that we have. As we
think about a thing a great deal, our mind becomes
like that thing. If we think kindly, we become
kind; we think cruelly, we become cruel; if we
if
think deceitfully, we become deceitful if we think ;
honestly, we become honest. In this way our character
is made by our thoughts, and when we are born
again,
we shall be born with the character that is being made
, by our thoughts now. As we act according to our
nature, or character as a kind person acts kindly, or
a cruel person acts cruelly it is easy to see that
actions in our next life will depend on the thoughts
of our present life. This is karma.
But thought has desire behind it. Now desire
brings us the object we wish for. As a magnet at-
tracts soft iron, so does desire attract objects. If
we desire money, we shall have the opportunity of
becoming rich in another life. If we desire learn-
ing, we shall have the opportunity of becoming
learned in another life. If we desire love, we shall
( 47 )
have the opportunity of becoming loved. If we
desire power, we shall have the opportunity of be-
coming powerful. This is karma.
The student should think over this again and
again he thoroughly understands it. Only
till
when he understands this, can he go on to the
more difficult problems of karma. Karma may be
summed up in a sentence : A man reaps as he sows.
" If
But the student may ask my actions now
:
are the outcome of my past thoughts, and if my
past thoughts are the outcome of my past desires,
am I not helplessly bound? I must act as I have
thought. 1 must think as I have desired." That is
true, but to a certain extent only ; for we are
changing constantly as we gain new experiences,
and the Jiva thus gains more knowledge, and by
the help of that changes his desires. In other words,
while we have actually desired, thought and acted
in a certain way in the past, the possibility of
desiring, of thinking otherwise has also been present
throughout that past ; and this possibility may be
turned, at any time, into actuality, as soon as we
realise, by means of new experiences, the evil
consequences of acting as we have actually done in
the past.
( 48 )
Suppose a man finds that he has acted cruelly:
he learns that his cruel action was caused by his
cruel thoughts in the past, and that those cruel
thoughts grew out of desire to get an object which
could only be ojbtained by cruelty. He sees that his
cruel actions make people miserable, that these
people hate and fear him, and thus make him lonely
and unhappy. He thinks over all this, and he re-
solves to change, but the
pressure of his past thoughts
and desires is very difficult to resist. He goes to the
root of the trouble
the desire for the things that he
cannot get without cruelty, and he who is the
Jiva says to himself "I will not let myself desire
:
begin to wish for them
those things, and whenever 1
I will remember that the desire breeds misery." He
uses thought to check desire, instead of letting desire
control thought. Then instead of desires carrying
him away, as if
they were runaway horses, he
gradually uses thought as a bridle, and keeps his
desires in check. He will only allow them to run
after objects that bring
happiness when they are
obtained.
Young Jivas let their desires run away with
them, and so bring much unhappiness on them-
selves; older Jivas grow wiser, and when the desire
( 49 )
runs out to an object the possession of which would,
as he has found in the past, cause unhappiness, he
remembers that past unhappiness, and by his
thought pulls the desire back.
The student, then, who would make happiness
for others and for himself, must look well after his
desires, must find out by observation and study
which objects in the long run bring happiness, and
which bring unhappiness, and must then try, with
all his strength, to desire only those things the out-
come of which is happiness.
very important to realise that escape from
It is
the bonds of birth and death is not gained by any
special mode of life, but that, as Shri Krshna says :
"
He who, established in unity, worshippeth Me,
abiding in all beings,that yogi liveth in Me, what-
ever his mode of living."* Janaka, the Kshattriya
King and Tuladhara, the Vaishya merchant, equally
reached liberation, and that, not by fleeing to the
forest, but by the absence of desire for worldly
things.
Janaka was King in Mithila over the Videhas
and, having attained to tranquility of mind, he sang
this song: "Unlimited is
my wealth, and yet I have
*
Bfuvjacad-Gitd, vi. 31.
( 50 )
naught. If the whole of Mithila be burned up
with fire, yet for me there will be nothing lost."f
And so he told Mandavya, having repeated this,
that whatever possessions a man might have were
but a source of trouble, and that the gratification
of desire, here or in heaven, could not afford the
sixteenth part of the happiness which comes from
the disappearance of desire. As the horns of a cow
grow with the cow, so does the desire for wealth
grow with its possession. Wealth should be used
for the good that can be done with it, but desire is
sorrow. Looking on all creatures as on himself, a
wise man gains freedom from all anxiety.* By the
teaching of the sage Jajfiavalkya, King Janaka at-
tained liberation, for it "enabled him to attain to
that Brahman which is auspicious and immortal,
and which transcends sorrow."f And having
all
thus learned, he became in his turn a teacher, to
whom even Vyasa sent his son, Shuka, to learn the
religion of emancipation. J
Jajali made great tapas, and became filled with
f MahahhCiratavi, Shanti Parva, clxxiii
*
Maliabharatani, cccxxvii.
t See the great discourse of Yajnavalkya to King Janaka; Ibid.
Shanti Parva, cccxi cacxix.
Jlbid, cccxxvi cccxxviii.
( 51 )
pride; and one day he thought within himself:
"who wide sea and spacious earth is like to
in this
me ?" Then cried a voice-. "Say not such words.
Even Tuladhara, busy in buying and selling, should
not thus speak, and to him thou art not equal."
Then Jajali wondered much that a mere merchant
should be put above himself, a Brahmana and an
ascetic, and he set forth to find TuladMra, and
thus solve the riddle. Vexing himself, he reached
the city of Varanasi, and there found Tuladhara, a
mere shopkeeper, selling, to whomsoever came, all
kinds of goods. Tuladhara stood up, greeting the
Brahmana as was fitting and to him Tuladhara re-
lated the story of the great penance that had inflated
him with pride: "Angry, thou hast come to me,
Brahmana; what service can I render thee V
Much amazed was Jajali at such knowledge
of his past shown by this humble trader, and eager-
ly he pressed for explanation. Then Tuladhara
spoke to him ancient morality known to
of the
all
though practised by so few of living in a
way which inflicted harm on none, or when harm
could not be totally avoided, a minimum of such
harm; he himself asked no loan from any, nor with
any quarrelled; attraction and aversion he had con-
( 52 )
quered; equal his look on all, without praising or
blaming any; when a man is tearless and is feared
by none, when he neither likes nor dislikes, when
he does no wrong to any, then he reaches Brah-
man. Very beautifully did Tuludhara discourse
of the injuries inflicted on animals and on men by
cruelty, of the nature of sacrifice, and of true pil-
grimage, showing how liberation might be gained
*
by harmlessness.
"Man verily is desire-formed; as is his desire
so is thought is, so he does
his thought; as (his)
action; as he does action, so he attains."
a^ *^r- OT 5&%fcr f#
JT?fr q^r rtotitot X II
"So indeed the desirer goes by work to the
object in which his mind is immersed."
"Now verily man is thought-formed; as man in
this world thinks, so, having gone away hence, he
"
becomes.
*
Mnliftbltarutaiii, Shanti Parva, cclxi- cclxi.
f lir'iluidaranyahop 17, iv .">. *2bi&, 6.
\ {'hhandogiiop. Ill, xiv 1.
( 53 )
"Nor do actions affect Me, nor is the fruit o
action desired by Me. He who thus knoweth Me
is not bound by actions."
"Having thus known, our forefathers, ever seek-
ing liberation, performed action therefore do thou ;
also perform action, as did our forefathers in the
"
olden time.
*RriwT5W*Thlf cTTTf : t?^ fqh II
rN r*- e
*rc^rarrew?gir sfscrcfraffcqdgrc I
*nr. f^rr^r%^fr =* s^rfa * fas^re II
^rr^r^Tcr: ^w siw srf%3fT*ra lit
"Whose works are all free from the moulding of
desire, whose actions are burned up by the fire of
wisdom, him the wise have called a Sage."
*
Bhagavad-GHa, iv, 1415. f Bhdgarad-GHa, iy 1923.
5
( 54 )
"Having abandoned attachment to the fruit of
action, always content, nowhere seeking refuge he is
not doing anything, although doing actions.
"Hoping for naught, his mind and self controlled,
having abandoned all greed, performing action by
the body alone, he doth not commit sin."
"Of one with attachment dead, harmonious, with
his thoughts established in wisdom, his works sacri-
fices, all action melts away."
13T ^ srg^r% mmr vs^ % xk reran I
"When all the desires hidden in the heart are
loosed, then the mortal becomes immortal, then he
here enjoyeth Brahman."
iTTrHT5T T\*X* fofe qrfxi. ***$? rj I
rf^rfor ^^T5Triflr^?rf^5 m^^a^ l
^srfe^R^rq; vr^r^^fT v*m *t^t I
ri^r?3[?Trr% ^*w% *T5rr v% *n**i: II
*T^!%fTR*r?*rar3WT^f: *T375!5tV. I
"Know the Self, the chariot-owner, the body t
Kathop, II, vi 14 f Kathnp, I, iii, 37,
( 55 )
the chariot ;
know Reason the charioteer, and the
mind as the reins; they call the senses the horses,
the sense-objects their province. The Self, joined
to the senses and mind, (is) the enjoyer; thus say'
the wise. Whoever is ignorant, always with mind
loose, his senses (are) uncontrolled, like bad horses
of the charioteer. Whoever is wise, always with
mind tightened, his senses (are) controlled, like good
horses of the charioteer. Whoever is indeed ignorant,
thoughtless, always impure, he does not obtain that
goal (but) comes again into Samsara."
:o:-