Why do you speak more on bhakti than on karma which the Gita stresses?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

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so why don’t we speak about karma and about karma yoga which is what Krishna demonstrated as a karma yogi actually there are certain things which people are anyway going to do so bodily functions, bodily maintenance this is something which everyone is going to do because we are driven by our bodily nature to do that an animal a she-cat does not need a lesson on karma yoga to take care of her kittens a lioness, a bird, mother bird does not need lessons on karma yoga to arrange for food for her babies for baby birdlets as far as the biological functions are concerned, in today’s world we may do it in more complicated ways animals just go and search for food, we actually get a big education get a degree, get a job and through that we get money and using the money we get food so the whole process is much more complicated but essentially we are doing the same thing so the karma in terms of acting for bodily maintenance it is something which we just do by our biological nature so there is no specific need for instruction in that, the instruction is not needed for karma, it is needed for yoga, how to make our karma into yoga and the yoga happens by connection with God Krishna says swakarmanatam abhyarcha siddhim vindati maanava by your work, worship him thus you will attain perfection now some people translate this Krishna’s words are very specific by your work, worship him some people translate this as work is worship now work is worship is a good moral principle for infusing people with the mood of dignity of labor, equality of all work but work is worship is not a spiritual principle because if work were worship then the donkey would be the greatest worshipper the donkey works so hard so work can be done as a worship by our work we can worship the Lord, that is what the Bhagavad Gita is saying now how can we worship the Lord without work for that we have to cultivate a mood of devotion for the Lord so Arjuna is a warrior he would anyway have fought the war but Krishna by speaking the Bhagavad Gita enlightened Arjuna of how he can do his work in a mood of devotion Karma Yoga and Bhakti Yoga are very similar the yoga aspect is common in Karma Yoga the focus is on the action in Bhakti Yoga the focus is on the intention the intention is to serve the Lord in Karma Yoga basically we do what we like to do and we offer it to the Lord in Bhakti Yoga we do what the Lord wants to do for his pleasure but essentially they are quite similar in terms of what is to be done so actually what we need more is not the instruction to do our work that people are anyway going to do what we need is the instruction of how to spiritualize our work how to do that in a mood of yoga and that has three aspects to it first is that we need exclusive time for yoga we need exclusive time for connecting with Krishna through our sadhana through our puja by this our heart becomes connected with Krishna and only when our heart is connected with Krishna then after that we need to do our work whether it is our family responsibilities or professional responsibilities we can do them in a mood of service to Krishna otherwise it is just a sentiment I think I am doing everything for God but actually there is nothing actually how much time we are thinking of God, how much are we devoting to God it may just be a sentiment, it is a good sentiment to have but it is not it won’t lead to much transformation it won’t lead to much spiritual growth so there has to be exclusive time for devotion to God then after that we can take that and infuse a mood of devotion in our work so before doing the work we pray to Krishna after doing the work we thank Krishna for the opportunity to do that work and we offer Narayanayati Samarvapayami a famous verse whatever I am doing with my body, mind senses, intelligence whatever I am doing all of it I offer it to Narayan that mood has to be cultivated to arrive at Bhakti and then also there is the offering of the fruits to Krishna when we offer the fruits to Krishna through charity then what happens is that which is in our heart see the whole mood is that we want to offer our heart to Krishna but our heart is filled with so many other things of this world so if we can’t offer our heart to Krishna, we offer what is in our heart to Krishna so what is in our heart is the fruits that we want the attachment to Manu is there so we offer part of that to Krishna then what happens? Krishna gets a place in our heart so this way if we see Krishna’s example Krishna teaches the Bhagavad Gita and what he exemplifies to the Bhagavad Gita, what he emphasizes to the Bhagavad Gita is so the whole purpose of the message of the Bhagavad Gita is not just to do karma, it is to do it in the mood of yoga and that’s why when we speak our focus is people are anyway going to do karma but how to transform that into yoga that is the focus of our classes.
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