Dear Sundari,
I hope you’re having a great time in the US! It’s been a while since I last wrote to you. All is going well here, thankfully.
I’ve been struggling for months now to understand the logic of karma yoga, as you might remember, and I feel progress is finally happening. I realized I was trying to understand too much at the same time. All I got was superficial understanding on a variety of topics. Now my energy and attention are focused on the karma yoga teaching.
The question I have is around the topic of responsibility. I’m beginning to see that the results of karma are not in my control (finally!). My knowledge and power are both limited as an individual and because of this I simply don’t know how karma will unfold. The fact that I do karma in the first place shows that I’m not in control of the karma-phala.
But what about responsibility? Since I can’t claim ownership of the result, am I really responsible for what happens? Or is this just a relative term necessary in this transactional world?
Swami D. mentions:
“Depression is created by some onerous responsibility you have assumed, one that is absolutely illegitimate [believing you are the author of karma-phala]. You take what does not belong to you and then smart under it because you cannot always produce what you want. This is a fact.”
What’s the proper understanding around the notion of responsibility? I feel I’m confusing it with ownership or authorship of the result, which I can see are not true.
As always, thank you very much for your help.
Much love,
Sundari: Lovely to hear from you again, and I am happy to hear that karma yoga is finally assimilating. It is a surprisingly difficult concept, even though it is common sense.
I agree with Swami P regarding depression. Along with all our jiva problems, our dissatisfaction with life and depression all stem from two main issues:
1. We confuse what ‘belongs’ to the jiva with what ‘belongs’ to Isvara. What does this mean? We take on the existential burden of doership. We do not understand Isvara nor the jiva, what is the same and what is different about both. Therefore we fail to read what life presents to us correctly, we are deluded by ignorance (Maya). It is not our fault. The burden of doership weighs us down and wears us out. We grow cynical, disassociated and then depressed.
2. We are unhappy because we did not get what we wanted as children (to be loved, seen and heard) and we then go on as adults trying to remedy the lack in our lives. Driven by this desire we chase objects (experience) in the vain hope that we will end our suffering. But it does not work because all objects/experience are value neutral, and cannot give us what we seek. Ultimately what we seek is fullness, the Self, because everyone knows that is who they are, even if they do not know that they know. It is inescapably our true nature.
With regards to your question of taking responsibility when we take action – if this is done with the karma yoga attitude, it is with the knowledge that you never made your (jiva) self the way it is, nonetheless, you take appropriate dharmic action and are not responsible for results. The jiva is programmed a certain way and is born into the life circumstances conducive to working out its karma. As you know, Isvara is karma phala datta, the giver of karma. From this perspective it would seem that the jiva cannot be responsible for anything.
However, this is complicated because the answer to who is responsible is not either/or but both/and. As inquirers, our main aim is to have a sattvic, peaceful mind. Moksa is for the jiva, after all, because as the Self, you are ever-free. As the jiva lives in the world and interacts constantly with the field, for peace of mind it needs to understand and manage the instrument for knowing anything, the mind, which is conditioned by the gunas. Without mind (guna) management, we suffer because the mind manages us. Isvara requires us to act appropriately to what life presents to us. If we do not take appropriate action, we get the corresponding karma, or lack of the karma we desire.
The primary law of the universe is non-injury. If we break this law in any way, in thought word or action, we cannot avoid the blowback karma. Therefore, we must take responsibility when or if we do – which means understanding how we acted or failed to act in light of Self-knowledge. If we do, we have the ability to respond appropriately and rectify the situation. Isvara does not care one way or the other. But you will care if you don’t because you will suffer as breaking dharma always hurts us more.
But if we are not the doer, and didn’t make ourselves the way we are, are we ever to blame for anything? As the Self, no. But as the jiva, yes. With the emerging science of epigenetics, we know that our karma is not purely genetic nor purely due to our life circumstances – the nature/nurture argument. It is also a result of how we interact with the field of existence (Isvara/gunas). It is a two way street. The mind seemingly affects Isvara and Isvara definitely affects the jiva. They share the same identity as the Self, how could they not in a nondual reality?
To make a permanent change to your jiva blueprint, you first need to make a change in the Causal body – Isvara. This is hard to do. The conscious creative mind amounts to about 5 % of the jivas blueprint. The other 95 % is unconscious content – and the real driver of our fears and desires. Herein lies a big problem. How can the puny jiva make a change in such a powerful system as Isvara?
And the answer, as stated above, is that you as the jiva share the same identity as Isvara, which is Consciousness. That’s why it is possible. But it is only possible with Self-knowledge. You may succeed to a certain degree with lots of determination to twist the psyche into the shape you want it. Therapy does help a bit, as do other things like positive affirmations. Did you know that there are as many self-help books on affirmations to achieve this change as there are religious books in all religions, on the planet? Why do you think this is so?
Because it is really hard to change the unconscious program, Isvara. It requires knowledge based repetitive action; i.e., the application of the nondual teachings to everything you think, say and do. For as long as it takes. This means making a sankalpa – living with intention – to acting appropriately 24/7 with the karma yoga attitude, managing the gunas with knowledge and with a devotional practice such as prayer and meditation. Chanting a mantra, taking a stand in Awareness as Awareness, practicing the opposite thought are all very powerful practices. But while a little karma yoga, jnana yoga and devotion go a very long way to improving your life pretty fast, there is no quick fix. The durable and persuasive jiva program does not give in easily. It is an entrenched tyrant.
Lucua gave a powerfully simple technique to manage the mind:
Show up
Know what you value. Follow universal and personal dharma
Disregard your opinions. Never judge
Do your best
Leave the rest to Isvara.
And if you listened to Ben’s talk last Sunday, he also gave a very powerful meditation which really helps with the difficult process of nididhysana because it is simple and repetitive. Try it. This is where the ‘hard work’ of inquiry comes into play. As we have said to you often, freedom from and for the jiva is difficult, it comes one thought at a time, when the mind is totally dedicated to moksa and single pointed. Keep up the good work and trust Isvara to do the rest!
Much love
Sundari
