Perfecting the Means

Perfecting the means is a constant effort that requires steadfastness and humility. It requires placing importance upon every thought, every word and every deed. Our actions produce effects in both seen and unseen ways. Therefore, we should not be attached to the ends for we may not know or understand the actual effect.

It can be a great challenge to maintain our equilibrium when we are faced with difficult circumstances. We recognize the difference when an action is done in anger, impatience or intolerance, versus when our action is performed in joy, sincerity or selflessness. We think we know what will be the outcome, but we don’t have control over it. In fact, we barely have control over our own thoughts, let alone our words and actions. As difficult as it is to control our thoughts, it is impossible to have control over the results of our actions. The best we can do is employ appropriate means. We know every cause has an effect, yet we don’t know all the conditions and circumstances at play. Why should we be attached to the results or fruits of our actions? The life of yoga is freedom from such attachment.

The Bhagavad Gita implores us not to worry over the results of action. An action is a given cause. When the cause is given, its effect is inevitable. Therefore, good actions bring forth good results. We recognize this in the biblical expression, “the good tree bringeth forth good fruit.” Performance of good work brings only good to the world. If we have given out a good cause, a good result is bound to come. All negative actions produce inharmonious results. Then why worry over the result of an action? Worry is destructive. By worrying over the result of a good action, we destroy to a certain extent the good result that the given cause might have produced. But this does not mean that we must be unthoughtful about the result of our action. Before we engage, we must, to the best of our ability, find out what result our action is going to produce. Then when the action is done, we should not worry over the result.

When we work with pure concentration, completely immersed in our work, losing ourselves within the Self, we inevitably produce a noble result. Karma Yoga is constant self-remembrance in the performance of action. Our actions not only affect our own individual life, but they also influence the lives of others. There is a reverberation effect. It is like a boomerang that is sent out and returns to us. Our actions touch us as well as everyone around us.

Srimati Karuna
Gandhi’s Steadfast Yoga

The Wisdom of Jnana Yoga

Jnana Yoga is the path of wisdom. In the perfection of knowledge we overcome maya, or the illusion of the unreal. The unreal has no existence, or at least, it is transitory in nature. The Real can never cease to be. Constantly engaged in the world of objective thought impressions, we become entangled in what is considered the web of maya. By wisdom we transcend maya. By the revelation of our true nature, we disentangle ourselves from the web of confusion. We are then able to think and act with discernment.

Jnana Yoga is the yoga of knowledge, not knowledge in the intellectual sense but that of pure consciousness. It is that knowledge that is inseparable from the true experience of Reality. A person who can see through the multitude of physical forms and worldly attachments, sees through the illusion of maya and can concentrate the mind on what is Real. In the purity of mind we establish the light of truth in our life. The desire for wisdom is innate within us.

The motto of the Gujarat Vidyapith, the university established by Mahatma Gandhi in Ahmedabad, India in 1920, stresses that knowledge is that which liberates us: Sa Vidya Ya Mukte Ye. These words can be found engraved on the wall of the university and on its seal.

Freedom is attained in the knowledge of the Self. Attainment of self-knowledge requires self-mastery, self-discipline and constant practice. It is, in essence, what Gandhiji meant by swaraj. Commonly, we learn of the movement for India’s independence as swaraj. But to Gandhiji, it personally meant more than the self-rule of a nation or home-rule for India. In his mind, swaraj meant rule of the self or individual self-mastery, leading to self-realization. Swaraj over this little self involves practicing self-control by putting aside limitations in the form of biases and prejudices, impatience and intolerance. We want to move beyond the chitta or mind stuff that keeps us from understanding the true nature of the soul within us and all beings. We want to be free of that which binds and limits us. Gandhiji referred to swaraj as the key ingredient on the path of wisdom. The Jnana Yogi must strive to overcome the littleness of mind in order to realize larger noble truths. Self-study and introspection will guide us if we give proper attention to insight and intuition.

This wisdom (jnana) is not mere book learning. In it there is no room for doubt. It begins with faith and ends with experience.

M.K. Gandhi

Wisdom is the discerning nature of the soul. It is not merely intellect but a higher state of consciousness that guides us internally. Self-knowledge has a value unequal to any other possession in life. It is that which alone reveals the true nature of ourselves and the world around us.

Srimati Karuna
Gandhi’s Steadfast Yoga