Om Namo Bhagavathe Vaasudevaayaa!
The
Five Approaches to ‘Action’ (Karma)
Gita talks a lot about ‘action’ (Karma) in the
Karma Yoga chapter (The Path of Spiritual action). However, Gita does not talk
about what actions to be done; instead, it talks about how the actions are to
be done. It categorically says that each one has to do his or her enjoined
actions. The day to day life in the world is full of actions. Actions happen
every second. Life comes to a standstill without actions. That’s why, Vasudeva
Krishna says He continuously does actions so that people emulate Him. He says
if He stops doing actions, taking cue, people also stop doing actions.
Gita talks about five approaches to action. There
are five categories of people in the world following 5 different approaches to
action or Karma. Let us see what these are:
1.The
non-doers:
These are
a category of lazy people and work-shirkers who avoid doing any action. They
think action leads to consequences and consequences lead to pleasure or pain.
They do not wish to face any such outcome and hence feel not doing any action
is the best course and try to live like parasites on others. We often see such
people in our day to day lives at work, families, society and public life. They
waste away their precious lives and become a burden on the society. Gita strongly
denounces such ‘non-doers’. This is the state of ‘no-action’ or ‘Akarma’.
2.The
indiscriminate doers:
These are
a category who do all kinds of actions. Good or bad, they do all kinds of
actions for their self-interest. They cannot discriminate between what is good
or what is bad. They do actions with the sole intention of benefitting
themselves. These pose another type of threat to humanity. Gita does not speak
good about these indiscriminate doers. Nevertheless, it says these are a shade
better than total non-doers. This is the state of ‘action’ or ‘Karma’.
3.‘Discriminating
Doers’ with attachment to Results:
These are
the middle category who very well discriminate between good and bad actions and
do only good actions. These people can understand the consequences of each
action and have the ‘discriminatory intellect’ (Buddhi) to filter
out the actions with bad consequences and are capable of choosing actions that
give rise to generally good consequence. While performing such chosen actions,
they are guided by their results and get strongly attached to the outcome. Gita
calls them as ‘Karmisthi’. To quote a contemporary example; at work, it
is generally believed that hard work leads to rewards by way of pay hikes and
promotions. So, the desire for hike or promotion prompts these people to put in
hard work. They get strongly attached to the outcome of such hard work and get
overjoyed if they get the desired result. The flipside is, they get depressed
and disgruntled if they don’t get the desired result. We find a large number of
these people at home, work and in the society as well.
4.‘Discriminating
Doers’ with non-attachment to the results:
These are
a class of people ranking above the previous category. These can discriminate
between good and bad and perform the actions with all sincerity and competence.
But they are indifferent to the consequences of such actions. They are non-attached
to the outcome of their actions. They perform actions as they are required to be done by them
but are not affected by the outcome of such actions. They don’t get elated at
success or dejected on failures. These stay balanced and are in a state of
equanimity. These are spiritually evolved people and one will be lucky to find
them in daily life. Gita calls them ‘Karma Yogi’.
5.The ‘Gyani’ or the one who has no requirement
for any action:
This is the rarest of the rare category of
people. One may find one in a million. He is a spiritually realized person who
has no material desires and hence has no requirement for any action. But in the
physical world, they may be doing certain actions for the general welfare of
the world with no personal interest or attachment. Gita calls such a person ‘Gyani’
or ‘Aatma Ram’. In the spiritual world one can find many examples of
such a category of people like Ramakrishna Paramhamsa, Sri Ramana Maharshi, etc.
A Gyani does not gain by doing an action or
does not lose by not doing any action. He has no requirement of any action. Nevertheless,
he may still do some actions in the best interest of the world. But they are
not bound or attached by the results of their action.
Gita places this as the highest form of ‘Karma
yoga’ and impresses upon people to gradually move up from the state of ‘in-action’
to ‘action’ and then to result-oriented discriminating ‘action’ and then to
discriminating ‘action’ with total non-attachment and then finally reach the
destination of the state of non-requirement of action in the journey on the path
of ‘Spiritual Action’ (Karma Yoga).
The flow chart in the jargon Gita would be as
follows:
Akarma ----Karma ---- Karmisthi -----Karma Yogi ----Gyani
A good exposition of the concept of Action. It may not be possible for most to become Gyani. But it should be possible to aim at a healthy balance between Karmisti and Karmayogi by shedding too much of attachment to outcomes
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