But it is a most difficult thing to give up the clinging to this universe; few ever
attain to that. There are two ways to do that mentioned in our books. One is
called the "Neti, Neti" (not this, not this), the other is called "Iti" (this); the
former is the negative, and the latter is the positive way. The negative way is
the most difficult. It is only possible to the men of the very highest, exceptional
minds and gigantic wills who simply stand up and say, "No, I will not have
this," and the mind and body obey their will, and they come out successful. But
such people are very rare. The vast majority of mankind choose the positive
way, the way through the world, making use of all the bondages themselves to
break those very bondages. This is also a kind of giving up; only it is done
slowly and gradually, by knowing things, enjoying things and thus obtaining
experience, and knowing the nature of things until the mind lets them all go at
last and becomes unattached. The former way of obtaining non-attachment is
by reasoning, and the latter way is through work and experience. The first is the
path of Jnâna-Yoga, and is characterized by the refusal to do any work; the
second is that of Karma-Yoga, in which there is no cessation from work. Every
one must work in the universe. Only those who are perfectly satisfied with the
Self, whose desires do not go beyond the Self, whose mind never strays out of
the Self, to whom the Self is all in all, only those do not work. The rest must
work. A current rushing down of its own nature falls into a hollow and makes a
whirlpool, and, after running a little in that whirlpool, it emerges again in the
form of the free current to go on unchecked Each human life is like that
current. It gets into the whirl, gets involved in this world of space, time, and
causation, whirls round a little, crying out, "my father, my brother, my name,
my fame", and so on, and at last emerges out of it and regains its original
freedom. The whole universe is doing that. Whether we know it or not, whether
we are conscious or unconscious of it, we are all working to get out of the
dream of the world. Man's experience in the world is to enable him to get out of
its whirlpool.
What is Karma-Yoga? The knowledge of the secret of work. We see that the
whole universe is working. For what? For salvation, for liberty; from the atom
to the highest being, working for the one end, liberty for the mind, for the body,
for the spirit. All things are always trying to get freedom, flying away from
bondage. The sun, the moon, the earth, the planets, all are trying to fly away
from bondage. The centrifugal and the centripetal forces of nature are indeed
typical of our universe. Instead of being knocked about in this universe, and
after long delay and thrashing, getting to know things as they are, we learn
from Karma-Yoga the secret of work, the method of work, the organising
power of work. A vast mass of energy may be spent in vain if we do not know
how to utilise it. Karma-Yoga makes a science of work; you learn by it how
best to utilise all the workings of this world. Work is inevitable, it must be so;
but we should work to the highest purpose. Karma-Yoga makes us admit that
this world is a world of five minutes, that it is a something we have to pass
through; and that freedom is not here, but is only to be found beyond. To find
the way out of the bondages of the world we have to go through it slowly and
surely. There may be those exceptional persons about whom I just spoke, those
who can stand aside and give up the world, as a snake casts off its skin and
stands aside and looks at it. There are no doubt these exceptional beings; but
the rest of mankind have to go slowly through the world of work. Karma-Yoga
shows the process, the secret, and the method of doing it to the best advantage.
What does it say? "Work incessantly, but give up all attachment to work." Do
not identify yourself with anything. Hold your mind free. All this that you see,
the pains and the miseries, are but the necessary conditions of this world;
poverty and wealth and happiness are but momentary; they do not belong to
our real nature at all. Our nature is far beyond misery and happiness, beyond
every object of the senses, beyond the imagination; and yet we must go on
working all the time. "Misery comes through attachment, not through work."
As soon as we identify ourselves with the work we do, we feel miserable; but if
we do not identify ourselves with it, we do not feel that misery. If a beautiful
picture belonging to another is burnt, a man does not generally become
miserable; but when his own picture is burnt, how miserable he feels! Why?
Both were beautiful pictures, perhaps copies of the same original; but in one
case very much more misery is felt than in the other. It is because in one case
he identifies himself with the picture, and not in the other. This "I and mine"
causes the whole misery. With the sense of possession comes selfishness, and
selfishness brings on misery. Every act of selfishness or thought of selfishness
makes us attached to something, and immediately we are made slaves. Each
wave in the Chitta that says "I and mine" immediately puts a chain round us
and makes us slaves; and the more we say "I and mine", the more slavery
grows, the more misery increases. Therefore Karma-Yoga tells us to enjoy the
beauty of all the pictures in the world, but not to identify ourselves with any of
them. Never say "mine". Whenever we say a thing is "mine", misery will
immediately come. Do not even say "my child" in your mind. Possess the child,
but do not say "mine". If you do, then will come the misery. Do not say “my
house," do not say "my body". The whole difficulty is there. The body is
neither yours, nor mine, nor anybody's. These bodies are coming and going by
the laws of nature, but we are free, standing as witness. This body is no more
free than a picture or a wall. Why should we be attached so much to a body? If
somebody paints a picture, he does it and passes on. Do not project that tentacle
of selfishness, "I must possess it". As soon as that is projected, misery will
begin.
