Karma Yoga - Part 3

           How are you going to take it ? Here , Lord says , "You are the author of the action . Plan and execute the actions well . You are not the author or the cause of the results . I am the cause of the results ". When the results comes , recognise the Lord as the infallible order who dispenses the results in keeeping with that order . This is so because there are a number of factors , many hidden variables , over which one does not have any control . In our common parlance , we have expressions revealing this . When a person is congratulated on having achieved something , he would say , "It is the blessing of the Lord " . It only means that you are responsible for your actions , but Isvara is responsible for the results of the actions .

         Having been brought up in this great culture , a culture of the rishis , we have a certain in-built attitude – the attitude of glad acceptance with reference to anything that comes from the altar where it was offered . When it comes from that altar , we receive it with a certain attitude . You go to somebody’s house and the person tells you , “ Welcome to my house , please come “ . He plucks right in front of you a rose from a rose plant and gives it to you . You take it near to your nose and say thank you .It is a beautiful sense object , it is a flower , a symbol of welcome , of friendliness , of love . This giving of a flower is something common in all the world cultures . But suppose he offers this flower at the altar of Ganesha which is there in his compound and then gives that flower to you , you will not take it to your nose as it is no more a sense object , it is more than that . You look at it as something coming from the Lord and therefore you have a different attitude – an attitude which converts the object into prasada . You would take it near your eyes since it is as sacred as your eyes . It is again cultural , a religious cultural form of accepting something sacred , as sacred as my eyes . So , it is prasada . 

          Suppose a person gives you a couple of laddoos . You generally love laddoos . But , the doctor had warned you the other day , that you should not take laddoos as you have diabetes . So you say that you don’t want laddoos .He says that the laddoos are from Tirupati Balaji . Without a second thought you immediately stretch both your hands and bend down . What makes you bend down and what makes you receive that laddoos differently is a cognitive change . Previously you saw those laddoos as canon balls of calories , but they are now seen as prasada . That change is cognitive . That is the change we require . That has nothing to do with anything else . It is just a change of understanding that brought in its wake the attitude of prasada  . You envelop it as prasada . 

           So , you look upon it , you visualise it as something that comes from the Lord . It this is true with reference to the prasada from the altar of the Lord or from a temple , you already have an in-built attitude to extend it to cover every result of action that you undertake . Everybody has desires  To have desires is healthy . Lord Krsna himself says that I am the desire (that conforms to dharma) in everybody . If you don’t conform to dharma , then your individual ego’s presence is a little more than what is necessary . To have desires is not a blemish . You have to learn to fulfil them . Enjoy the process of doing action to fulfil your desires and when the results come , be ready to take it as prasada . Isvara , the Lord is the author of the result of action through the laws .Whatever you get , equal or more or less or opposite , is prasada . Prasada is not an object , it is an attitude in which I open my arms and welcome it .

             Like even in a beautiful marriage reception where a lot of people attend  .  A person with a beaming smile and nicely dressed stands there to welcome the people coming in .Now a person whom he knows well but had lost track for ten years walks in . He goes ecstatic about it and greets him with great joy . But he should not enter into a conversation with him ,asking him , “ Eh ! Where are you nowadays ? “ . He has to simply say , “ Welcome , come in “ and sprinkle the rose water on him . He has to also welcome others who are coming and so he sends him in and continues with his job .  Then , his enemy comes . He can neither ask him to get aside nor avoid seeing him . Probably it is a good time to settle old accounts and welcome him  . He has to say , “Welcome, please come “ . Life is like this . 

             Day after day , the present effort and the past karma combine themselves to shape different types of situations for you . All situations all experiences are all shaped by your own actions . And therefore , as they come , I receive them cheerfully with an attitude or prasada . Once I develop such an attitude , my life is in harmony with Isvara and every moment I feel the presence of Isvara in my life .