Liberation through Selfless action

Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita , Shloka 2.40: “In this path (of yoga action) there is no danger of unfinished business, nor are there latent within it the opposite, canceling effects of duality. Even a little practice of this religion will free one from dire fears and colossal sufferings (which are inherent in the unceasing cycles of death and rebirth)”.

Swami Kriyananda writes in his book, The Essence of the Bhagavad Gita, that, “Yoga is inseparable from action, for it provides the “how to” of the spiritual path.” Unlike worldly actions, yoga is liberating because there are no thwarting cross-currents of ego involved. 

Every ego-inspired action has a reaction, a karmic rebound. Selfless actions — meditation, service, Guru devotion, and kriya yoga — free us from action and karma. Yoga practices are especially effective because they cooperate with the natural flow of divine grace.

Swami Kriyananda often told the story of a brother disciple who practiced kriya yoga and meditation many hours a day, but only with the thought of what he would get in return. When he was assigned the job of raking leaves, he stormed out of the Guru’s ashram, declaring, “I didn’t come here to rake leaves!” Practicing kriya with so much self-involvement actually reinforced and strengthened his ego.

Strange as it may sound, Kriya did hasten his spiritual progress, as he needed to go through the experience of learning that yoga meditation can not be practiced only thinking of yourself and what you are going to get out of it.

Selflessness is Saintliness

The goal is Selflessness. If we can learn to act in complete selfless offering to God in whatever we do — whether it is service, meditation, chanting, kriya yoga or even kindness to our family members —that in itself is liberating. Selflessness is saintliness. When we are selfless we become saint-like from inside because then there is no ego blocking the flow of divine grace through us.

Become a Jivan Mukta

Paramhansa Yogananda told a struggling disciple:

“Your job for now is to give to God, don’t worry about all the karma you will still have to complete, let God worry about that. First destroy in yourself the source of karmic involvement, that source is your attachment to the ego. Once the ego has merged in Him then any actions you perform will no longer revert to yourself. Your actions will be like writing on water, they will leave no trace in the mind.

“In severing yourself from egoic involvement in any action that you perform, you will have cut the Gordian knot of delusion. This is the state of the Jivanmukta: one who is free from inside even while living in this world. Being inwardly free, nothing he does can ever affect him again.”

Yogananda said that we can choose to act in freedom and in selflessness. When we act in that way we reach the stage of jivan mukta — even in that very moment of selfless action we experience some of the freedom of the jivan mukta. The essence of becoming a jivan mukta is to be free, from inside, of any egoic involvement. That can be practiced in every moment and in every action. It may be the most important thing to apply in meditation, Kriya, and service.

Kriya = Selflessness

Kriya and karma both have the same root word — ‘action’ or ‘to act’ — but karma is binding because there is ego involved. The ego asks ‘what’s in it for me?’ and acts with likes and dislikes and emotional reactions. That results in a karmic rebound. Any pure selfless action could be considered kriya — an act that liberates rather than binds. Kriyanandaji said that every kriya (referring to the technique of Kriya Yoga) should be an act of devotional self-offering. 

One of our brahmacharis worked tirelessly over the course of two years, facing many hurdles in getting the government approvals for building our Ananda India monastery. During that period, he never complained, lost faith, or doubted. He said that doubt about whether we would succeed or not was never even an option.

There is a deep truth in that attitude. Doubt is a choice — he had decided not to take that option. His attitude of pure selfless giving, done with perfect faith, had no karmic rebound. That way of serving and giving is the way to divine freedom.

In the Mahabharata one of the characters, Karna, had such an attitude of complete selfless giving. In the final battle between the brothers Arjuna and Karna, Krishna told Arjuna that he could defeat Karna only if all of Karna’s spiritual merit (accumulated good karma) was first used up. To help his disciple Arjuna, Krishna approached Karna in the battlefield, disguised as a wandering sadhu seeking alms.

Krishna asked Karna for all of the spiritual good karma and merit that he had ever earned. Karna replied, ‘I give you all of the spiritual merit I’ve ever gained in the past, that I am currently earning and that I will ever gain in the future.’

The Lord also asked Karna to follow the ritual of blessing the alms with water. In the absence of water Karna blessed the offering with the blood coming out of his wounds, offered it to Krishna and fainted. Soon after he was roused awake, feeling drops of refreshing water on his face.

Opening his eyes, he saw the Lord in his full splendor blessing him. It was Krishna’s tears of compassion that he felt as gentle rain drops. Krishna told Karna that his generosity was pleasing to Him and he granted Karna any boon that he wished.

What would you ask for, if God offered to grant you any wish? Stop and think about it for a moment. Karna asked only that in future lives he again be selflessly willing to give to anyone whatever that that person asks.

Krishna replied, ‘Your sins are insignificant when compared to the merit accrued by your charity and magnanimity. Your present suffering is due to those sins but fear not Karna, by your final act of surrendering even your merit to me, I myself shall take on the burden of your sins and will relieve you from your physical pain’.

Krishna then told Karna that he would never again have to reincarnate. He became a jivan mukta not because he worked out his karma, but because he had developed completely pure selflessness of giving.

We should learn to live as if we were a jivan mukta, with the attitude of selfless giving in everything that we do. Then the Lord himself will come and bless us with freedom and liberation just as he did with Karna.

Aum Peace Amen