Derek: Thank you for your super valuable reply! Your understanding and the clarity in Vedanta are amazing, hopefully, one day I also will reach that full clear knowledge that you reached.
Sundari: Thank you.
Derek: I am still struggling with the application of karma yoga, it’s a constant question, how to apply this, how to stay grateful, how to get more and more in that energy/attitude of karma yoga. If something disturbs me or makes me sad/angry, instantly the sentence “take it as prasad” jumps up into my mind and I am quiet and more peaceful again. I can clearly see a connection between my actions and how Ishvara is doing his karma phaladata job…I get more and more careful how I act, what I say, how I think, how I structure my days…
Sundari: It is funny how many people don’t quite fully grasp karma yoga even though it is the most important tool for self-inquiry and the most logical response to what the Field of life brings to us. I am going to give you the long-ish reply to this, and I have attached a satsang on the different stages associated with karma yoga. At the end of the satsang, I have added the five karma yoga worship rituals. it is important to know them and practice them daily.
The reason karma yoga is not easy is that it is a tool to disarm the spoilt childish ego, which abhors change. The one that claims ownership and doership and does not like to relinquish the idea of control, even though it is never in control in the first place. However, why should we not want to have control over our future experiences? Does it not seem natural that we want to have our desires fulfilled? Well, yes it is human nature. But the problem is it should be obvious that wanting to control the outcome is about as nonsensical as wanting to control the weather. Why not just let the future unfold as it will and experience it as it does? If only it were so easy. life would be a whole lot less painful. But being human, knowledge is power. The main reason our brains insist on try to project the future even when it is always more beneficial to for us be here now is that our brains find it gratifying to exercise control. Not just for the future it seems to buy us, but for the exercise itself. Being effective—changing things, influencing things, making things happen—is one of the fundamental needs with which human brains seem to be naturally endowed.
Much of our behavior from infancy onward is simply an expression of this desire for control. Take a cursory look at any baby and you will see who has everyone dancing to meet their every need. If we have been properly looked after and loved as babies, we never have it so good again! It is bizarre that we are born wired to control in a world beyond our control. This fact is not obvious to us, however. Civilization’ is our species attempt to reign in the intractable forces of nature. While we can argue that we have come a long way since caveman days, we could also argue the opposite: as much as things change for better or worse, they stay the same. Yet most of us steadfastly believe our desires will prevail and fortune will favor us, which if we are blessed, it does. In other words, we get what we want. Those who subsidize fortune-telling industries do not want to know what is likely to happen just for the joy of anticipating it. They want to do something to ensure getting what they want or avoiding what they don’t want.
Not to have desires or think about the future requires that we convince our frontal lobe, the part of our brain wired to plan and control, not to do what it was designed to do. Like a heart that is told not to beat, it naturally resists this suggestion. Desires in the form of mental simulations of the future arrive in our consciousness regularly and unbidden, occupying every corner of our mental lives. Unfortunately for us, our brains are programmed this way. Studies show that most people think about the future more than the past or present and are more than just part-time residents of tomorrow. Desire is intricately linked to time and control for the express purpose of gaining something we do not currently have.
How come we can’t do something such as be here now, happy with what we do have instead of unhappy with what we don’t have? Why do our brains stubbornly insist on projecting us into the future to get what we want, when we have so much right here, right now? Apart from prospection and emotions like hope, fear, and desire, the most obvious answer is that thinking about the future can be more pleasurable than acutely living it. We like to fantasize about the future because reality seldom matches our expectations. It is something we find hard to admit, but a fulfilled desire rarely matches the energy required to fulfill it. And even less acknowledged is the reason we do feel good when a desire is met is not gaining or avoiding the object itself, but the removal of the pressure of desire, which is painful.
The truth is, no matter how hard we try to mine reality for more of anything, be it security or pleasure, it can only give us the basic pleasure and security of existence, no more. It’s true that a successful life is preferable to a miserable one. But though we may think we experience more pleasure and excitement during high moments, actually, our pleasure level remains the same no matter our circumstances. This may seem hard to believe given that most people don’t have the luxury that wealth seems to provide and lead stressful lives striving for security and wealth. But though the truth may be hidden or ignored, just take a quick look at very wealthy people. You think they are experiencing more pleasure because they have more of everything, especially control? They are not and do not. They have the same problems as everyone, the same lack of control, and must work even harder to convince themselves that they are having more fun. Hence their lavish, and sometimes obscene attempts to flaunt and spend their wealth. But there is no more pleasure to be found. If you do not have pleasure at this moment, here and now, as you are, minus any object, regardless of your circumstances, more of anything will not give it to you. Not permanently, anyway.
Thus, we believe we are not enough as we are, so we chase objects to make us happy. As nothing in the Field is really what it appears to be, and nothing stays the same or can be held onto, our desire to control is powerful. The feeling of being in control is seemingly so rewarding, we continue to act as though we can control the uncontrollable, simply ignoring the obvious. Perhaps the strangest thing about this illusion of control is not that it happens but that it seems to confer many of the psychological benefits of genuine control.
A strange fact is that the one group of people who seem generally and genuinely immune to the illusion of control (and are not so hounded by desire) are those clinically depressed. They are far less inclined to chase objects or to overestimate the degree to which they can control events in most situations, which is probably why they are depressed in the first place! These and other findings have led some researchers to conclude that the feeling of control—whether real or illusory—is one of the wellsprings of mental health. But is it, really?
Yet, it seems inescapable that as human beings we come into the world with a passion for control and most of us go out of the world the same way. Research suggests that if we lose our ability to control things, we become unhappy, helpless, hopeless, and depressed, and occasionally, dead. Many suicides are the result of this feeling of utter hopelessness, as are many illnesses. Some philosophers have stated that over and beyond any other human need is the need for order and control.
Impact is rewarding; when we get what we want, it makes us feel successful, safe, that we matter. Mattering makes us happy. The act of steering one’s boat down the river of time is a source of pleasure, regardless of one’s port of call. And success is possible in this world with timely and appropriate actions. But there is one small problem with this kind of happiness. Ultimately, we don’t have control. Life is a zero-sum game, we lose as much as we win, and sooner or later, this is what brings everyone down. If we have not developed some equanimity or found a way to live with the vicissitudes of life, we are most likely to land up sad and depressed, regardless of how fortunate or unfortunate our life circumstances.
The only solution to this conundrum is karma yoga, even if it goes against how the brain is made and how society is programmed: the need to win at all costs not only to make a difference but to survive. Karma yoga is not good news for the ego. It sees no benefit to this practice and resists it tenaciously, as though its existence depends on it. And it does. Giving up control is tantamount to giving up identification with the small, limited self, the one who acts for results and owns things. It is totally counter-intuitive.
This is why it is so important for, and the only way, to negate the doer. But freedom from limitation is not about denying the existence of the ego, perfecting the ego, or banishing the ego. It is about understanding that the ego is not real. When Self-knowledge makes it clear that it is Consciousness apparently experiencing the ego and not the ego experiencing Consciousness, the ego gets on board with the idea of freedom from the limitation of doership, the small ego identity.
You still get to be the apparent person you are, and this person will have a certain inborn nature and be doing things a certain way until the day the body dies. But the sense of doership will be negated and binding likes and dislikes rendered non-binding, so, the suffering that is created by desire no longer obtains. Rather than follow the foolish advice of gurus who tout ego death, you need to make friends with your ego and educate, not eradicate it, not that ego death is even possible. Enlightened or not, you cannot function in the world without an ego. If you patiently educate your ego in the karma yoga spirit, it will like you because you have given it good noble work and you will like it because it will stop being a problem.
Karma is an identity issue, fundamentally. It does not mean not acting. It is an attitude one takes towards actions and their results. It means responding appropriately to what life asks on a moment-to-moment basis. It is consecrating every thought, word, and deed before you speak or act to the Field of Existence, which is to say to your Self, whether or not you see that both the person and the Field of Existence share a common identity with you, Consciousness. It is possible to take the right action with the right attitude and still get a result we do not want because the Field of Existence considers the needs of the whole before it takes our individual needs into account.
However, we can definitely maximize the chances of getting a positive result with appropriate and timely actions. Life works in mysterious ways is the truth but because the Field of Existence runs on natural and consistent laws that apply to everyone. But the results of action depend not only on the nature of the field but also on the nature of the action taken. The results of action do not necessarily depend on the state of mind of the doer because one can achieve a negative result with positive actions or vice versa.
Here is a great saying relating to desire and karma yoga from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad:
‘You are what your deep driving desire is. As your desire is, so is your will. As your will is, so is your deed. As your deed is, so is your destiny.’
How we relate to results determines how peaceful our mind is. If we are very attached to the idea of getting what we want (strong likes and dislikes), Life will soon prove to us that we lose as much as we win, maybe more. At best, we will be happy half the time and unhappy the other half. More likely though, when one is driven by likes and dislikes, the mind is agitated regardless of whether we get what we want because nothing ever really satisfies the mind for long, other than Self-knowledge. It is the contention of Vedanta that happiness is a natural state and our true nature existing independently of winning or losing. Actualizing this knowledge is freedom.
Action itself can never fail us; it only produces results. A given expectation may be said to have failed, but the one with the expectation has not failed. That I have failed or that the action has failed is the wrong conclusion; the expectation is the problem. Understanding this is particularly important for people who feel the need to do things perfectly or feel they have failed. Nobody fails. It is only a matter of wrong judgment because we are not omniscient, and we cannot have the knowledge of all the factors that shape the results of the actions. Action can produce likes and dislikes only if the result is looked upon as a success or failure.
When the result is looked upon as a function of the invariable laws of action, or what is even better, if it is looked upon as the grace of the Field of Existence, no new likes and dislikes are created, and peace of mind is maintained. With this attitude towards results actions born of likes and dislikes become the means of eliminating the likes and dislikes. The mind becomes free from the agitations of elation (rajas) and depression (tamas). Such a mind is tranquil and contemplative. Contemplation is not something you do. It is the nature of sattva.
If peace of mind is the aim, taking whatever results that do come as a gift will be the attitude one brings to everything. Sameness of mind (towards success and failure) with respect to action is another definition of karma yoga and is the essence of peace of mind, sattva. In cultivating the right attitude toward life, one performs one’s duty by conforming to the pattern and harmony of creation and thus one becomes alive to the beauty of the cosmic order. When the mind becomes clear, we can see the natural order. At the beginning of our spiritual practice, karma yoga is an attitude we must cultivate, but eventually, it is simply knowledge because it is obvious that the Field runs this way, so becomes the default position of the mind.
If you understand what karma yoga really is, you will know it always works no matter what result you get. This is because life is not about getting what you want; it is about the one who does not want. If control is what you are after, you do not understand this. If practiced correctly, karma yoga takes the existential burden of doership off the shoulders of the limited person and puts it squarely where it belongs, onto the Field, onto Isvara. The point of karma yoga is to clear the mind of enough likes and dislikes so that it becomes composed enough to do sustained self-inquiry. Only inquiry removes the problem of doer-ship because it shows that you, the Self, cannot be the ego (doer) that is known to you. When that is clear, the doer can appear in you but you do not identify with it.
As far as the doer goes, there are appropriate actions you can take that are pretty likely (but not guaranteed) to give you what you want. We do have relative free will in that we can make choices to succeed. If this were not possible, it would not be possible to achieve anything in the apparent reality. If we act taking the karma yoga attitude halfheartedly, but really, we know that deep down our likes and dislikes are making the choices, there is no escape from ignorance and there will be no peace of mind. There is no fooling reality. For karma yoga to work you must be totally committed and convinced that if you could have solved your problems, you would have done so by now.
The right attitude, karma yoga, is not a path. It is a life committed 100% to perform an action as yoga. It takes skill to perform an action with the right attitude, which is doing what needs to be done, whether you like it or not. Thus, likes and dislikes…how I feel about the situation…do not come into play. Your likes and dislikes often prompt you to perform an action that is not conducive to peace of mind so a karma yogi refrains from performing it because it is not proper for them. Therefore, for peace of mind, I perform actions in harmony with the natural order (dharmic actions) and avoiding actions that disturb the order (adharmic actions).
Karma yoga is keeping one’s attention on the motivation behind one’s actions and adjusting one’s attitude when it is found to strengthen binding likes and dislikes. When the projecting energy (rajas) dominates, the mind cannot observe itself. It is caught up in the future, the thought that things need to be different, so the mind acts to correct the situation, usually in negative ways. It does not act to correct itself because the energy of revelation and clarity (sattva) is obscured by projection (rajas) and the dulling energy (tamas). When tamas predominates, the mind is too dull to discriminate; it is prone to denial and avoidance.
A mind at peace accepts that every result is the right result. The more you appreciate the laws, the more you are in harmony with the things around and you can find your place in the scheme of things. Failure to appreciate this fact results in low self-esteem, the feeling that “I am a failure.” The solution to low self-esteem is the understanding that one’s knowledge of all the variables in the field that produce results is and always will be limited. Therefore, the results of one’s actions can never be known, which is why karma yoga is common sense logic!
Karma yoga produces a sattvic mind, but it is not that the mind “becomes” sattvic; it is that Self-knowledge removes the excess rajas and tamas which cause the agitation which prevents you from experiencing your true nature, Existence/Consciousness/Bliss. When the mind is sattvic, you automatically think dispassionately about things and discrimination comes naturally from such a mind.
A person who has been on the spiritual path for a long time but whose mind is still rajasic, does not understand the value of karma yoga. As Krishna says, ‘a little karma yoga removes a lot of agitation.’ What you do with the gift of life is your offering to the Field, which is obviously intelligently designed so there must be an intelligent architect. And the Field controls us completely right down to causing us to breathe and eat and digest our food, so we can call it God. What we do with the gift of life is our offering to God. If you appreciate this fact, which should be second nature, you will not offer a greedy angry vain licentious life to God. You will offer a pure life as a wonderful gift with a cheerful smiling face. You may wonder why, considering the downsides of life, you should present a cheerful smiling face. However, if you are fair-minded, you can find an upside for every downside because life is a perfectly equilibrated duality. The half-empty glass is half full. A positive attitude is no less realistic than a negative attitude.
Derek: For 30 years I have a picture of Ishvara, a statue from Tibet, and I worship Ishvara every morning, lightening candle and pray for deeper understanding, for letting me do the right decisions, and to let me use the situation in a wise way to grow and realize my true nature. Not to change my karma which is in the pipeline now, instead let me learn most of this karma and get the right teaching out of it, that’s the way I started praying now.
Sundari: Good. Include the five karma yoga rituals in your daily prayers added at the end of this satsang. Print them out and keep them somewhere visible.
Derek: I feel so much gratitude when I listen to Ramji, sometimes I am very emotional and so happy when he speaks, so much power I feel inside myself. In fact, I feel more and more amazing power in myself, like nothing is a problem and all is well, striking happiness, especially when I listen to Ramji. I am very excited! Strong Rajasic Happiness. I try not to be attached because I know it ‘ stay and it’s not reliable, it comes and goes.
Sundari: When you listen to Ramji unfold the teachings, you are listening to your Self, big ‘S”. Know that the excitement the jiva is experiencing is the bliss of the Self, it does not belong to or come from the jiva. Hearing the teachings simply removes the ignorance in the way .of appreciating your true nature, which is bliss It may feel rajasic but it is rajas in the service of sattva, which is right where you want rajas to be.
Derek: There is still a strong change between too much rajas, followed by tamas, back to rajas, a bit manic, but in a healthy way. In fact, these days I feel very confident, I also started to lose weight and my sleep is so very good now, much better than before. There is a strong routine now, start the day with Vedanta, finish the day with Vedanta, listen when I prepare and cook my food, always vigilant and carefully analysing the thoughts and emotions, ideas which come up and look at them in the light of the teaching.
Sundari: That’s good, a sign that Self-knowledge is working. Remember, self-inquiry is applied knowledge, not purely intellectual knowledge. A happy mind is a mind that is your friend, that is not taken over by involuntary thoughts, in service to sattva but not enslaved by it, either. All the gunas are objects known to you and have upsides and downsides, so essentially it should not matter which one is manifesting in the mind. But as sattva is the springboard for Self-knowledge to assimilate if there is too much rajas and tamas with reference to sattva, peace of mind is not possible. A mind that is so agitated or dull cannot sustain self-inquiry, so mind management, meaning guna management, is vital.
Derek: Thank you and Ramji over there for that great possibility and access to that knowledge, I am so full of gratitude…I try all my best to pay back to Ishvara! ♡♡♡ I really have to hold myself back to tell other people about it, somehow, I get enlightenment sickness now, because my heart is too much fiery overflowing from joy and bliss…It’s best to always keep quiet and go on working on myself, I guess. So, I keep quiet and don’t talk. Control of speech!
Sundari: Enlightenment sickness is only a problem if you have it and don’t recognize it for what it is. It is natural to feel so excited when the power of Self-knowledge becomes evident, of course, we want to shout it out from the rooftops. But it is usually a bad idea, sadly. Qualifications are required for Vedanta, there is no getting around that. That does not mean that you should not occasionally make some well-thought-out statements when the time is right. Most of the time it is better not to disturb the minds of the ignorant though. Leave that up to Isvara who knows how to do a great job of it!
Derek: Ishvara gives me a vaccine in some days by the way, so also Corona is taken care of somehow…and I was always protected all this time, even working with corona patients for nearly one year now. Even the doctors joking about me because I never got sick. Everybody else got the virus at my working place. I think this has also to do with my strong faith in Ishvaras Words. Even if Ishvara is an impersonal force, I feel like he is a person somehow these days. Devotion to him has entered me deeply somehow…
Sundari: It is fine to worship Isvara as a person if you keep in mind that a person is also the Self, and not outside of you. That is the difference between dualistic and nondual worship. It all comes down to the Self. Have you read the three stages of devotion? That would be a good satsang for you too.
Take some time to contemplate this email before you write again. Let it sink in, don’t immediately respond.
See the Five Karma Yoga rituals below.
Much love
Sundari
The Five Offerings of Karma Yoga and Worshipping the Environment
Taking Care of the Environment is a Form of Self-Love
It is our duty as humans to take care of the Field which gives us everything we need to live. An attitude of gratitude is a prerequisite for a happy life. Yes, the Field may not be real, but that does not mean that we should not care about it. It exists, we exist in it from the jiva perspective, and it sustains us while we are in the body. We look after our body because we want to enjoy peace of mind. The environment, the Field of Existence, is Isvara, is you, the Self. Lovingly acting as its steward and contributing to preserving it is a devotional practice and much encouraged as a practice.
An Attitude of Gratitude
Because I value life more than anything and because it is a gift from the Field of existence, I reciprocate by taking the three dharmas into account and offering my actions as a gift to the Field. Karma yoga is a giving, not a getting attitude. It is the appropriate response to life’s demands. It breaks the hold of rajasic and tamasic desires and converts an extroverted emotional mind into a peaceful introspective sattvic mind.
What you do with the gift of life is your offering to the Field. The Field is obviously intelligently designed so there must be an intelligent architect. And the Field controls us completely right down to causing us to breathe and eat and digest our food, so it is called God. What we do with the gift of life is our offering to God. If you appreciate this fact, which should be second nature, you will not offer a greedy angry vain licentious life to the Lord. You will offer a pure life as wonderful gift with a cheerful smiling face. You may wonder why, considering the downsides of life, you should present a cheerful smiling face. However, if you are fair minded, you can find an upside for every downside because life is a perfectly equilibrated duality. The half empty glass is half full. A positive attitude is no less realistic than a negative attitude.
The best life is not a material life because it does not tap our real potential and it is a life of problems that tends to compromise our authenticity. The best life is a sincere life, one that manifests our innate spiritual potential and adds real value to the world. To do what you love is the best worship you can offer, assuming it doesn’t involve injury.
How does karma yoga work? Before I act I offer the actions to the Field and when results come, which they do every minute, I take them as a gift, even if they aren’t what I want, in which case I see them as instructive, corrective offerings from the Field that help me to avoid actions that will produce unwanted results in the future. In this way I set up healthy communications with my environment.
Of course, it is not easy because the ego, the most tamasic function in the Subtle Body, abhors change and does not like to relinquish the idea of control, even though it is not in control of the results in the first place. Rather than follow the foolish advice of gurus who tout ego death, you need to make friends with your ego and educate, not eradicate it, not that ego death is even possible. Enlightened or not, you cannot function in the world without an ego. If you patiently educate your ego in the karma yoga spirit, it will like you because you have given it good noble work and you will like it because it will stop being a problem.
Karma yoga is not only right attitude; it is right action. Actions can be classified in terms of how well they serve to prepare the mind for inquiry. They are (1) sattvic, those that give maximum spiritual benefit, (2) rajasic, those that are neither beneficial or detrimental and (3) tamasic, those that are harmful and lead one away from the goal.
Tamasic Karmas
These actions build unhelpful vasanas that take the doer away from liberation. Violence in thought, word and deed, lying, cheating, stealing, gambling, drinking alcohol, taking drugs, excessive sex solely for pleasure, etc. are examples of the third class of karmas. They are considered sins because they produce a dull and agitated mind. They are not recommended for anyone and are definitely prohibited for karma yogis.
Rajasic Karmas
The second class is desire-prompted activities that basically contribute to our material wellbeing. These activities do not directly contribute to preparing the mind, but they are scripturally sanctioned because indirectly they make it possible to pursue liberation. They are not considered sins if they do not compel the individual to violate dharma or ignore the legitimate needs of others, in which case they increase selfishness, a detrimental characteristic. In fact, the Vedic scriptures proscribe several rituals for getting money, property, certain types of children, etc. They are not encouraged or discouraged.
Sattvic Karmas
The first class of actions, sattvic karmas, are necessary if karma yoga is going to bear fruit. They are giving karmas, not grabbing karmas. The more you give, the more you grow. Karma yoga involves actions that add value to every situation, offerings that contribute to the wellbeing of the dharma Field. The intention of a karma yogi is to enshrine sattvic karmas at the forefront of her life, to see that rajasic karmas are relegated to subordinate status and to eliminate tamasic karmas. Of course, it is impossible to eliminate tamasic actions altogether. Certain situations demand them. Sattvic karmas bring about maturity and spiritual growth. These actions are not based on desires for tangible results like money, fame, status, pleasure, children and so forth. They should be considered compulsory actions…assuming the desire for liberation.
What are these karmas? They are called the Five Essential Worships (pancha–maha–yajna) There is no tangible benefit from these karmas. One of these practices does not replace the other. Just as eating only desert at the expense of other nutritious foods is not enough, all five are necessary. Each one affects a different part of the psyche and the psyche as a whole needs to be healed. These practices are the essence of karma yoga because they directly contribute to spiritual growth.
1. Worship of God in Any Form. Isvara/Maya the creator of the dharma Field is God. Karma yoga is worship of God. Most modern spiritual people have abandoned religion because so much suffering has foisted on humanity in its name. But the religious impulse, the Self loving itself, is as hard wired as the desire for identity. So, it is incumbent on a karma yogi to choose a symbol of the self that is attractive and uplifting and worship it regularly. It can be anything because every object is just God in a particular form. It may be a ritual sacrifice or a puja in front of an idol or a photo. It can be telling the beads, visiting a temple, or doing service or giving money to a church or mosque.
2. Unconditional Reverence for Parents, especially difficult ones. For instance, if you don’t feel love when you think of your parents you should inquire into why you have a problem with them. You should ‘heal’ the relationship in your mind by understanding, for example, that if the other person could have been different they would have been different and that they did their best according to their conditioning. Find a place in your heart to accommodate them and give them credit for the good qualities they instilled in you. They are no longer in your life physically, perhaps, but they are still in your mind. They are part of it and it is made out of you. Until you have a loving feeling about that part of your mind, you will not be free to inquire properly. In any case the essence of enlightenment is love, so you might as well start somewhere. Once you have dissolved the negativity bring an image of them into your mind and fill the image with love. Keep the love flowing to the image as long as possible.
3. Worship of scriptures. The purpose of karma yoga is to cultivate devotion, develop your understanding and gain a contemplative disposition so that you can assimilate the meaning of the teachings. You should not think that you will start inquiry one fine day when you are contemplative. You should set aside a half an hour or an hour a day, or more, for study of Vedanta. Pick a text, read a verse or a few pages each morning and contemplate throughout the day. You don’t become contemplative all at once. You have contemplative moments throughout the day and insights all along. Cultivate those moments and the extroverted mind will gradually turn inward.
4. Service to humanity. Worshipful service simply means responding appropriately to legitimate small everyday requests for help. When someone wants something from you, see if you can’t accommodate them, assuming it is a reasonable desire. If you are helping others, at least you are not wasting your time indulging tamasic and rajasic habits. Service isn’t only doing what others want, although it might include that. It is showing an accommodating openness to others, not shutting them out. Because ego, born of a sense of inadequacy and inferiority, looks for opportunities to feel special, virtuous and recognized, humble service keeps these tendencies in check. It is based on a recognition of the essential oneness of all. It is also wise because everything we need comes through others. Service-oriented individuals are generally well looked after.
5. Worship of all sentient beings. There is no distance between us and nature. We are born in it, live in it, and die in it. Worshipping nature is continual mindfulness of our environments, beautifying them and contributing to them always, including the body, our most intimate contact with nature. How we relate to everything in our delicately balanced ecosystem has a powerful effect on our state of mind. Recycle. Reduce your carbon footprint. Go green.
Much love,
Sundari
