Upadesa Sarah of Ramana Maharshi – Sloka 2
Krithi mahodadhau pathana kaaranam
Phalam asaashvatham gathi nirodhakam
Word meaning
Krithi Mahodadhau – the big ocean of action or work
Pathana Kaaranam – is the cause of fall down or spiritual declination.
Phalam asaasvatham – fruits of actions are temporary and not permanent
Gathi nirodhakam – and they obstruct the progress of a spiritual seeker.
Sloka meaning
The big ocean of action is the cause of fall down. The fruits of actions are not permanent and they obstruct the progress of a spiritual seeker.
Explanation:
Here, Maharshi is explaining the futility of action which he had mentioned as “Karma Tad jadam” or Karma is insentient in the previous verse.
Action is a big ocean. The world based on actions is termed as a big ocean by great Mahatmas and realized beings. Sankaracharya himself has put it as “Iha samsaare bahudusthaare” – this ocean of samsaar is tough to cross over.
Sankara again says in Soundarya Lahiri “Janma Jaladau nimagnaanaam” – one who is immersed in the ocean of birth and death, he is saved by the Goddess Tripurasundari.
Any action (which is not accompanied by renouncement of the expectation of the fruits and as an offering to the Almighty) becomes the cause of bondage.
A person is performing an action of “Sandhya Vandanam”. This very action becomes the source of sorrow if not accompanied by the right attitude. There are people who do Sandhya Vandanam expecting the Almighty to shower special blessings on them. Thus their action is accompanied by the seeking of the fruits of the action. But when aging comes, it becomes impossible for them to do Sandhya Vandanam. Now they proclaim “I did lot of Sandhya Vandanam but still God did this to me and I am unable to do Sandhya Vandanam”. The very action which was considered very sacred became the source of falling down and pin pointing to the Almighty.
Thus, any action which is not accompanied by the right attitude becomes the source of sorrow. And any action with expectation expects results. When a person attains the results, he strives either to sustain the fruits or to get higher fruits – thus he goes on doing more action with expectation. Thus, this cycle of action and results, desiring more and more continues and this cycle is a big ocean which causes the fall down of the seeker. The seeker instead of seeking the higher power of the Self and its realization, strives for doing action again and again. Thus, the action itself becomes the cause of bondage.
This is what Maharshi indicates by “ocean of karma is the cause of spiritual fall down”.
The actions are finite things. It is done by the finite Ego and the surroundings that help the action are also finite. Hence, such a finite action can never give infinite result. Therefore, all actions can not give infinite result.
When a person does the action of cooking, the result is the cooked rice. The action is limited by the person doing it and the objects used for the action (rice) is also limited or finite only. Therefore it can give finite or limited cooked rice only. This limited cooked rice can be used only for a short period and by some people alone. Thus, the happiness or bliss that a person gets from this limited result is also limited. And when a person gets limited happiness, he is never contented. Unless a person is content, he will have the temptation and desire to do more action. Thus the vicious circle of actions will continue.
A person gets contentment and completeness only when he seeks nothing, only when he doesn’t desire anything. This non-seeking can happen only when he has infinite bliss within himself. The Upanishads proclaim that “that which is complete can also give eternal happiness”. This eternal bliss is present only in the Self. This eternal happiness is experienced by each person during deep sleep where nothing is experienced and the person remains as the pure Subject without objects. This is the ultimate and final state where the person seeks nothing, the person has nothing to be gained or learned & rejoices in the eternal bliss of the Self.
Therefore, any action can not give a person realization of the Self because action is in itself finite & the Self is infinite. The Self one already is, but unaware of. There is a ignorance veil that blinds the reality and makes the person think that he is the limited being with a body and mind. This makes him think that “he is finite” & only God or Paramatman is infinite. This limitation makes him think that he is associated with the body and mind and that he is the doer of actions. Thus, whatever actions and results happen, he finds himself affected by those. Thereby he seems to become sad and seems to be suffering from delusion.
Therefore, action can never give a person the completeness, the perfectness, the satisfaction and eternal happiness because these are present in the Self alone. The Self is unknown due to ignorance and thereby it can go only through knowledge about one’s own real nature.
Actions are propagated by desire alone. Desires come when the person forgets the reality of his being complete. Thus, ignorance causes desire & desire in turn causes actions. Therefore action can never remove ignorance and ignorance can be removed only through Knowledge.
And as actions are born out of ignorance, actions only lead to more and more ignorance. Therefore Maharshi says that actions obstruct the path to realization.
But, Maharshi going forth will be explaining that actions endowed with the right attitude of non-expectation and offering to the Almighty will indirectly lead to realization.
Knowledge about the Self can be completely apprehended only when the mind is pure. When the mirror is impure, one cannot see one’s own face & even if one sees the face, he will see it as dirty only. But when the mirror is pure, the face is seen as such. Similarly the Self is realized when the mind is purified alone. If the mind is not purified, then Egoistic approach will come & a person will just argue about the ultimate reality being Advaita or Dvaita or whether there is God or Paramatman and all. These arguments will never lead to the ultimate reality. And this is the reason we find lot of people “so-called Knowledgeable” who are well versed in the Upanishads and Gita, but still unable to apprehend the ultimate reality & fight amongst others about futile issues like whether God is there, whether women can chant Vedas or not and all. These are termed by Mundaka Upanishad as “learned fools” and these people quote slokas and guide others like a blind man guiding another blind man.
The Mundaka Upanishad says
“Esho anuraatma chetasaa veditavyo” – This subtle Self is known only through a pure intellect or mind.
“Jnaana prasadena vishuddhasatvah tatah tu tam pashyathe nishkalam dhyaayamaanah” – The Self is known only through knowledge in a pure intellect & is realized as without parts during times of meditation and absorption.
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad says
“Manasaiva anudrashtavyam neha nana asthi kinchana
Mrityoh sa mrityum apnothi ya iha nana iva pashyathi”
The Self must be known through the pure mind alone & through enquiry. The ultimate reality is that there is no duality, not even little. He who sees the illusory duality (as it were) goes from death to death (that is he suffers in this illusory world).
Any action accomplishes four outputs or results. Result arising out of any action can be classified into these four types.
Sureswaracharya says about this in Naishkarmya Siddhi
“Utpaadhyam aapyam samskaaryam vikaaryam cha kriya phalam.
Na muktir yatah tasmaat kriya tasyaa na sadhanam”
The four types of results of actions are
Utpatti – Creation or origination
Aapthi – attainment
Samskaaryam – purification
Vikaaryam – modification
The Self or the ultimate reality termed as Brahman in the Upanishads is not attainable by any of these.
The Self is not born, hence it cannot be CREATED. Since the Self is not born, it cannot change or modification is not possible in it – therefore no MODIFICATION is possible in it. As the Self is without birth & always present as “I-I”, it cannot be ATTAINED. Since the Self is complete & perfect, there is no purification possible in it.
Thus, the Self can not be the result of actions. But when a person does action for purification of the mind, then he becomes eligible for apprehending the ultimate reality of “I am the Self”.
Therefore Maharshi in this sloka and the first sloka emphasizes the futility of doing actions without the proper attitude.
But one has to constantly remember the ultimate goal which is realization that “I am God, I am the Self, I am perfect and of the nature of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss absolute”. Until this is realized, search for completeness will be there & there will be no contentment and eternal happiness.
But when the person realizes that “I am the God, I am the Self of the nature of Bliss absolute”, there remains nothing more to be attained by the person & therefore he rejoices in the eternal bliss of the Self. This ultimate knowledge can be attained or realized only when the mind is pure and one of the ways to attain purity is the path of action (with the proper attitude). This path of action is doing actions without any expectation and as an offering to the Almighty.
Thus, this sloka which explains the futility of action (without the proper attitude) can be summarized as
Actions
Are cause of fall down into the ocean of birth and death (indicating sorrow and suffering)
are finite & there fruits are also finite
obstruct the progress of a spiritual seeker
Krishna mentions in Gita Chapter 9 about performance of action endowed with devotion & says that there is no restriction for such actions.
“Patram pushpam phalam toyam yo me bhaktya prayatchathi
Tadaham bhakti upahritum asnaami priyataatmanah”
A flower, a leave, a fruit or some water – whatever you offer to me with devotion – that offering which is associated with devotion I partake.
“Yad karoshi yad ashnaasi yad juhosi dadaasi yat
Yat tapasyasi kaunteya tad kurushva mad arpanam”
Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer in the homa kunda, whatever you give & whatever austerity you follow – offer these unto Me.
What is the use of such offering???
“Shubha ashuba phalairevam mokshyase karma bandhanaih
Sanyaasa yoga yuktaatma vimukto maam upaishyasi”
Thus, he becomes liberated from the dual results of bad and good as well from the bondage of action (which causes a person to be born again and again and get deluded into the ocean of samsaara). He, having established in renunciation of actions (mental renunciation) gets liberated and attains Me (realizes his own reality as the Self which is the same as Brahman and same as the Lord).
And this action or karma yoga has no restrictions of women doing it or sinners doing it
“Maam hi paartha vyapaasrithya yepi syuh papa yonayah
Striyo vaishya sudraah tepi yaanthi paraam ganthim”
Those who take refugee in Me even if they are born of low-birth or children of sinners or women & sudraas – still they attain the Supreme state of eternal happiness.
Therefore, any person can do this karma yoga. There is no time limitation, no space limitation, no creed or caste limitation to this karma yoga and when this is followed it leads a person to the ultimate state of Oneness and that person rejoices in the eternal bliss of the Self.
Maharshi in the next sloka describes how action done with proper attitude leads to realization and completeness.
Phalam asaashvatham gathi nirodhakam
Word meaning
Krithi Mahodadhau – the big ocean of action or work
Pathana Kaaranam – is the cause of fall down or spiritual declination.
Phalam asaasvatham – fruits of actions are temporary and not permanent
Gathi nirodhakam – and they obstruct the progress of a spiritual seeker.
Sloka meaning
The big ocean of action is the cause of fall down. The fruits of actions are not permanent and they obstruct the progress of a spiritual seeker.
Explanation:
Here, Maharshi is explaining the futility of action which he had mentioned as “Karma Tad jadam” or Karma is insentient in the previous verse.
Action is a big ocean. The world based on actions is termed as a big ocean by great Mahatmas and realized beings. Sankaracharya himself has put it as “Iha samsaare bahudusthaare” – this ocean of samsaar is tough to cross over.
Sankara again says in Soundarya Lahiri “Janma Jaladau nimagnaanaam” – one who is immersed in the ocean of birth and death, he is saved by the Goddess Tripurasundari.
Any action (which is not accompanied by renouncement of the expectation of the fruits and as an offering to the Almighty) becomes the cause of bondage.
A person is performing an action of “Sandhya Vandanam”. This very action becomes the source of sorrow if not accompanied by the right attitude. There are people who do Sandhya Vandanam expecting the Almighty to shower special blessings on them. Thus their action is accompanied by the seeking of the fruits of the action. But when aging comes, it becomes impossible for them to do Sandhya Vandanam. Now they proclaim “I did lot of Sandhya Vandanam but still God did this to me and I am unable to do Sandhya Vandanam”. The very action which was considered very sacred became the source of falling down and pin pointing to the Almighty.
Thus, any action which is not accompanied by the right attitude becomes the source of sorrow. And any action with expectation expects results. When a person attains the results, he strives either to sustain the fruits or to get higher fruits – thus he goes on doing more action with expectation. Thus, this cycle of action and results, desiring more and more continues and this cycle is a big ocean which causes the fall down of the seeker. The seeker instead of seeking the higher power of the Self and its realization, strives for doing action again and again. Thus, the action itself becomes the cause of bondage.
This is what Maharshi indicates by “ocean of karma is the cause of spiritual fall down”.
The actions are finite things. It is done by the finite Ego and the surroundings that help the action are also finite. Hence, such a finite action can never give infinite result. Therefore, all actions can not give infinite result.
When a person does the action of cooking, the result is the cooked rice. The action is limited by the person doing it and the objects used for the action (rice) is also limited or finite only. Therefore it can give finite or limited cooked rice only. This limited cooked rice can be used only for a short period and by some people alone. Thus, the happiness or bliss that a person gets from this limited result is also limited. And when a person gets limited happiness, he is never contented. Unless a person is content, he will have the temptation and desire to do more action. Thus the vicious circle of actions will continue.
A person gets contentment and completeness only when he seeks nothing, only when he doesn’t desire anything. This non-seeking can happen only when he has infinite bliss within himself. The Upanishads proclaim that “that which is complete can also give eternal happiness”. This eternal bliss is present only in the Self. This eternal happiness is experienced by each person during deep sleep where nothing is experienced and the person remains as the pure Subject without objects. This is the ultimate and final state where the person seeks nothing, the person has nothing to be gained or learned & rejoices in the eternal bliss of the Self.
Therefore, any action can not give a person realization of the Self because action is in itself finite & the Self is infinite. The Self one already is, but unaware of. There is a ignorance veil that blinds the reality and makes the person think that he is the limited being with a body and mind. This makes him think that “he is finite” & only God or Paramatman is infinite. This limitation makes him think that he is associated with the body and mind and that he is the doer of actions. Thus, whatever actions and results happen, he finds himself affected by those. Thereby he seems to become sad and seems to be suffering from delusion.
Therefore, action can never give a person the completeness, the perfectness, the satisfaction and eternal happiness because these are present in the Self alone. The Self is unknown due to ignorance and thereby it can go only through knowledge about one’s own real nature.
Actions are propagated by desire alone. Desires come when the person forgets the reality of his being complete. Thus, ignorance causes desire & desire in turn causes actions. Therefore action can never remove ignorance and ignorance can be removed only through Knowledge.
And as actions are born out of ignorance, actions only lead to more and more ignorance. Therefore Maharshi says that actions obstruct the path to realization.
But, Maharshi going forth will be explaining that actions endowed with the right attitude of non-expectation and offering to the Almighty will indirectly lead to realization.
Knowledge about the Self can be completely apprehended only when the mind is pure. When the mirror is impure, one cannot see one’s own face & even if one sees the face, he will see it as dirty only. But when the mirror is pure, the face is seen as such. Similarly the Self is realized when the mind is purified alone. If the mind is not purified, then Egoistic approach will come & a person will just argue about the ultimate reality being Advaita or Dvaita or whether there is God or Paramatman and all. These arguments will never lead to the ultimate reality. And this is the reason we find lot of people “so-called Knowledgeable” who are well versed in the Upanishads and Gita, but still unable to apprehend the ultimate reality & fight amongst others about futile issues like whether God is there, whether women can chant Vedas or not and all. These are termed by Mundaka Upanishad as “learned fools” and these people quote slokas and guide others like a blind man guiding another blind man.
The Mundaka Upanishad says
“Esho anuraatma chetasaa veditavyo” – This subtle Self is known only through a pure intellect or mind.
“Jnaana prasadena vishuddhasatvah tatah tu tam pashyathe nishkalam dhyaayamaanah” – The Self is known only through knowledge in a pure intellect & is realized as without parts during times of meditation and absorption.
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad says
“Manasaiva anudrashtavyam neha nana asthi kinchana
Mrityoh sa mrityum apnothi ya iha nana iva pashyathi”
The Self must be known through the pure mind alone & through enquiry. The ultimate reality is that there is no duality, not even little. He who sees the illusory duality (as it were) goes from death to death (that is he suffers in this illusory world).
Any action accomplishes four outputs or results. Result arising out of any action can be classified into these four types.
Sureswaracharya says about this in Naishkarmya Siddhi
“Utpaadhyam aapyam samskaaryam vikaaryam cha kriya phalam.
Na muktir yatah tasmaat kriya tasyaa na sadhanam”
The four types of results of actions are
Utpatti – Creation or origination
Aapthi – attainment
Samskaaryam – purification
Vikaaryam – modification
The Self or the ultimate reality termed as Brahman in the Upanishads is not attainable by any of these.
The Self is not born, hence it cannot be CREATED. Since the Self is not born, it cannot change or modification is not possible in it – therefore no MODIFICATION is possible in it. As the Self is without birth & always present as “I-I”, it cannot be ATTAINED. Since the Self is complete & perfect, there is no purification possible in it.
Thus, the Self can not be the result of actions. But when a person does action for purification of the mind, then he becomes eligible for apprehending the ultimate reality of “I am the Self”.
Therefore Maharshi in this sloka and the first sloka emphasizes the futility of doing actions without the proper attitude.
But one has to constantly remember the ultimate goal which is realization that “I am God, I am the Self, I am perfect and of the nature of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss absolute”. Until this is realized, search for completeness will be there & there will be no contentment and eternal happiness.
But when the person realizes that “I am the God, I am the Self of the nature of Bliss absolute”, there remains nothing more to be attained by the person & therefore he rejoices in the eternal bliss of the Self. This ultimate knowledge can be attained or realized only when the mind is pure and one of the ways to attain purity is the path of action (with the proper attitude). This path of action is doing actions without any expectation and as an offering to the Almighty.
Thus, this sloka which explains the futility of action (without the proper attitude) can be summarized as
Actions
Are cause of fall down into the ocean of birth and death (indicating sorrow and suffering)
are finite & there fruits are also finite
obstruct the progress of a spiritual seeker
Krishna mentions in Gita Chapter 9 about performance of action endowed with devotion & says that there is no restriction for such actions.
“Patram pushpam phalam toyam yo me bhaktya prayatchathi
Tadaham bhakti upahritum asnaami priyataatmanah”
A flower, a leave, a fruit or some water – whatever you offer to me with devotion – that offering which is associated with devotion I partake.
“Yad karoshi yad ashnaasi yad juhosi dadaasi yat
Yat tapasyasi kaunteya tad kurushva mad arpanam”
Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer in the homa kunda, whatever you give & whatever austerity you follow – offer these unto Me.
What is the use of such offering???
“Shubha ashuba phalairevam mokshyase karma bandhanaih
Sanyaasa yoga yuktaatma vimukto maam upaishyasi”
Thus, he becomes liberated from the dual results of bad and good as well from the bondage of action (which causes a person to be born again and again and get deluded into the ocean of samsaara). He, having established in renunciation of actions (mental renunciation) gets liberated and attains Me (realizes his own reality as the Self which is the same as Brahman and same as the Lord).
And this action or karma yoga has no restrictions of women doing it or sinners doing it
“Maam hi paartha vyapaasrithya yepi syuh papa yonayah
Striyo vaishya sudraah tepi yaanthi paraam ganthim”
Those who take refugee in Me even if they are born of low-birth or children of sinners or women & sudraas – still they attain the Supreme state of eternal happiness.
Therefore, any person can do this karma yoga. There is no time limitation, no space limitation, no creed or caste limitation to this karma yoga and when this is followed it leads a person to the ultimate state of Oneness and that person rejoices in the eternal bliss of the Self.
Maharshi in the next sloka describes how action done with proper attitude leads to realization and completeness.
posted by vedanta at 6:59 PM
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