Karma Yoga - Part 2

               Another important definition is samatvam yoga ucyate - sameness is called yoga . The sameness of he mind with respect to the responses , in the wake of desirable and undesirable situations is yogah . How to gain this sameness ? Lord Krsna says that with reference to karma alone one has a choice , one has got freedom , never with reference to the result . The answer lies in this statement .

               This statement of the Lord is interpreted / translated as "perform action without expecting results " . Lord Krsna would not talk to Arjuna without expecting the result of his teaching being understood by Arjuna . And the person who translates thus and publishes the book should perform action without expecting the result !

I asked him , " Eh , how many copies did you print ? "

He says , " I printed 3000 copies" .

"Why not 5000 copies ? "

"No Swamiji , money will get locked up and I cannot afford . It is very difficult to sell " .

" When do you expect to sell all the 3000 copies " ?

" I think in two three years I can sell them all " .

"Do you expect that " ?

"Yes , I expect that . "

                 What does he write in this book ? Don't expect any result for action . It is foolish , nobody can perform an action without expecting some result . Even a fool will not perform an action without expecting result . He is a fool because he expects a result that is not there . " Perform action without expecting results " - is not the teaching of the Lord . What Lord teaches here is this : you have a choice over your actions , not over the results of actions . As a human being , you have got the freedom to do , or not to do , or to do differently . A donkey doesn't have this freedom . Action is very important . What one does is very important . Others may not care what one thinks . Thinking will change automatically if one does what is proper .

                  You have a choice over action .You can clap , you need not clap , you can keep your hands on your head also , you have all the freedom to use your hands as you want , as long as things go well  . Once I perform an action , the result is taken care of . As even I bring my hands together to clap , the result is there - the sound . An American came to India , for some business collaboration . As he was leaving New York , he asked one of his Indian friends who were around to send him off , " How do you greet each other in India ? " . He demonstrated namaste by joining the palms of both the hands together and in the process he created sound also . This American was received in Bombay with garlands , and he went about  greeting everybody doing - namaste  , clapping aloud . Indian friends were shy of saying anything to him because he was an important person . He wanted to meet a Swami because he had heard a lot about them . I happened to be in Bombay at that time and they brought him to me . He said , " Swami , namaste (Clapping) " . Then , I called him aside and told him - "This" (clapping) is not namaste , this (clapping) is perhaps for killing mosquitoes . Just bringing hands together without making sound is namaste. The sound is not part of namaste  . I can produce sound while joining the hands , or I can gently put my hands together and create no sound . There is a difference in action . But suppose he claps and keeps saying "Hands ! Don't make noise , don't make noise " , they will make noise . You have choice over your action , not over the result . Result is taken care of by the laws and the laws are impartial , they are infallible . One of the laws is the law of karma . When you buy stocks , they go down thereafter and when you dispose them off , they go up sometimes , not always . This is what we call karma . That karma also may be part of your ownpast actions getting unfolded day after day . They may function as an inhibiting factor in getting what you want . You can only plan and act .

                    Now , any result that comes is of four types . It is either equal to your expectation , or more than your expectation , or more than your expectation or less than your expectation or totally opposite to your expectation . My standard example is crossing the road and getting the bus . You want to cross the road and catch the bus . You crossed the road and caught the bus - equal to your expectation . You crossed the road and got a lift to your house , a friend stops his car and takes you to your house . This doesn't happen every day but it does happen  - more than your expectation . You were crossing the road  and after two days you woke up in the local hospital asking certain philosophical questions like , " Who am I ? " . The emergency ward is always full . Nobody goes there with a prior appointment . You do not call up the emergency ward and say "Tomorrow at 4 o'clock I am going to meet with an accident , please keep a bed ready for me " . Every action is fraught with these four types of results from the standpoint expectation , equal to what you expect , more than what you expect , less than what you expect , or opposite .