Karma Yoga
Humanities Essay. A little bit advanced religion type of essay, please check the links for reference if you get stuck! Wrote it for one of my humanities classes, feedback is welcomed.
Karma Yoga
Arjuna in chapter 3 asks some questions about why he should keep fighting and Krishna explains to him why it is necessary to keep fighting. He explains that at the beginning he created two paths; Jnana Yoga and Karma Yoga. Jnana yoga, Krishna, explains is the path of spiritual wisdom and karma yoga is the path of selfless service. Krishna urges to Arjuna that he needs to follow the path of selfless action (Karma Yoga) because that’s his yoga since he is a warrior.
Krishna also explains to Arjuna is that at the beginning there was also created mankind and obligation for selfless service. “‘Through selfless service, you will always be fruitful and find fulfillment of your desires’: this is the promise of the Creator.” (3:10). Selfless service (Karma Yoga) is the path for the “supreme good.” (3:11)
Krishna does not advice Arjuna to follow Jnana Yoga since it is the spiritual path and he is a man of action. Krishna talks about Jnana Yoga as the path for spiritual action, “But they excel who control their senses through the mind, using them for selfless service.”(3:7) this means that there are some people that can follow the path of Jnana Yoga if they are willing to act selflessly and not just for their own good. I think Arjuna would not be able to follow this path since he always wants to act and I think it would be difficult for him to sit still and meditate.
Krishna warns Arjuna about Jnana Yoga as a path of inaction. “Those who abstain from action while allowing the mind to dwell on sensual pleasure cannot be call sincere spiritual aspirants.” (3:6) Krishna points out that while the spiritual path seem to be the easier path to follow it is only for a select few that can actually follow it correctly or at least with the right intentions.
He critics how some people just follow the spiritual path because it is masked as a path of inaction, when in reality it requires just as much selflessly action as Karma Yoga. Jnana yoga requires action to abstain from falling into the path of inaction. Meaning that even if we are in a state of meditation other paths such as laziness and thinking perhaps in doing selfish can easily come as a better option and therefore falling into inaction.
Krishna recommends the path of Karma Yoga to Arjuna. “Fulfill all your duties; action is better than inaction. Even to maintain your body, Arjuna, you are obligated to act.” (3:8) Krishna calls Arjuna to act and not be inactive. He focuses on this more because it is the path that Arjuna needs to follow to achieve the “supreme good.” I think that it can also apply to humanity as a whole, that all of us need to act in other to achieve good or just to get more rewards out of life.
Krishna pushes Arjuna to act in something that goes against his will as fighting those that he loves so much, but Krishna encourages him to act before it is too late. I think this can also be used as an example of how sometimes we need to go against people that have been our teachers and friends to achieve greater good.
Krishna urges Arjuna to fulfill his duties. Krishna talks about how fulfilling one’s duties, “What the outstanding person does, others will try to do. The standards such people create will be followed by the whole world.”(3:21) This means if Arjuna does the right thing many people will follow his example, but more to the point he tells us that if we do great things others will follow our footsteps and make the world a better place. I agree with this idea, because whatever we do connects to the idea of Karma that every action has a reaction.
Arjuna is faced with the challenge of acting now to be an outstanding person. Krishna from verse 3:21-24 he talks about how if he stopped working the universe would fall into chaos. He points out that he always continues to act no matter what and that’s what everyone expect of him.
“The ignorant work for their own profit, Arjuna; the wise work for the welfare of the world, without thought for themselves.” (3:25) Here, Krishna, tells Arjuna to let go of his fears and act for the welfare of humanity. It think this is a very strong message that he calls Arjuna and us to perform, because we can hardly do something without thinking about ourselves first then the rest of the world.
Arjuna struggles to come to his reality that he must fight against those he love and cares for the greater good. I think many of us have gone through this and recognize how hard it is to think of others besides ourselves. This remains me of global warming and how for so long people have refused to do anything about it, they just either ignore it or just pretend it does not exist. Just because it does not affect them it does not mean it is not happening. I think that’s the idea that Krishna is trying to say that the universe is bigger than just ourselves and that we need to act not just based on our selfish desires or for our own profit.
Arjuna asks Krishna what drives people to selfish actions and Krishna answers that selfish desires and anger drive it. He says that they arise from the guna of rajas. Krishna points out that this fills people with evil and put in danger their lives. He gives various examples what it is and one example that I think is important is that of the mirror with the dust on it. I think it is an image of how unclear one might look into the mirror or in this case our lives. The mirror becomes burry when we act selfishly and do not take into consideration others.
Krishna tells Arjuna that the Creator thrives in selfless service. I think here he is referring to the benefit that we might get and not what the creator gets. Because the creator is already the “supreme good” and it does not need any of our selfless service, but is for us to do selfless service and become “supreme good.” Krishna says that he is the creator of everything and that Arjuna must follow the path of Karma Yoga to fulfill his duty in this world. He says that every action is connected to the creator and therefore if we do selfish actions we will suffer the consequences, but if we do selfless actions we might gain the goal that we desire.
Krishna concludes the chapter by saying that all our senses are higher than our bodies and that our mind higher than our senses and above it is Atman. He urges Arjuna and us to act and fight our selfish desires. With selfless action we will rich the “supreme good.”