Throw the Dog a Bone
Topic: Two Stages of Karma Yoga
Dear James, is the following a good short definition of how to sin intelligently?
“Leave the future out, just be present with the desire, don’t make a big drama out of it, don’t idolize it either, just be present with the desire and enjoy it and know that the desire and acting it out is pretty silly and what you really want is actually knowing that you are okay, you are fine, you have never been born and you will never die.
Remember, don’t get too wrapped up in your idea of who you are, namely a great spiritual hero; even great Swamis need to sin intelligently to keep their sanity.
James: No. What you describe is for the second stage of karma yoga which is where you stand up to your desires and don’t do the action. In the first stage your vasanas are too strong to resist so you consecrate the results to Isvara and do what you are compelled to do. BUT you don’t indulge in the vasana every time you feel it. At first, perhaps you indulge nine out of ten times. And one time you say no. The one time you say no and survive you get the idea that you are actually OK if you don’t have a second donut with your coffee. After a while, you indulge 8 out of 10 times and don’t indulge 2 times and you get a bit of confidence. You think, “Maybe I don’t need to drink a whole six pack when I go out with the boys.” You go out and have four beers and you have a good time and the hangover is barely noticeable. You get more confidence in yourself. Eventually, you withstand the desires most of the time because they have been weakened by not indulging them and you indulge them once in a while. When you are not indulging a particular vice you are experiencing the subtle bliss of the self, which is always good. Once you have mastered karma yoga you can comfortably say no most of the time. There is no particular moral reason why you should not-indulge in what you want if you are a samsari, although nobody likes to suffer.
The second stage. But if you are an inquirer, you want to have a certain degree of control of your emotions so you can discriminate the Self from the not-self. You need to focus on your sadhana, not on the things that distract you. Dogs are always hungry. They will chew on every bone you give them. It’s not good for them to eat all the time, so you give them enough to satisfy them but not more. Samskaras will eat you up.
