Question: How can the pride of doership be wiped out, as this pride of doership is an obstacle to God Realization ?
Answer: Ordinary people perform all actions for themselves. By doing actions for your own self, there remains within the pride of doership. But a Karmayogi does not perform any actions for himself. The Karmayogi believes that whatever he has acquired from the world, is of the world, and not his own. Therefore, whenever an opportunity arises, at that time he engages the body, senses, mind, intellect, money and all other things that he has acquired from the world, to render service to the world. And while he is rendering service to the world, the Karmayogi believes that it is only the things of the world that he is using to serve the world, in other words, all the possessions, the time, the capabilities etc. belong to that which is being served. By believing so, the pride of doership does not remain.
In doership, there is intent of enjoyership. A Karma Yogi does not perform any actions with the expectation of enjoying their fruits. He who has expectation of fruits and enjoyment, is not a Karmayogi. Just like when wash your face with your hands, within there is not a feeling that I have done a big favor. Because a man considers both the hand and the face as parts of his body. Similarly the Karmayogi considers the body as part of the world. Therefore if one part has rendered service to the other part, then where is the question of pride of doership ?
It is an accepted practice that with whatever aim a man enters into an activity, then at the end of that activity, he becomes immersed and one with that very aim. Just as a business man starts to conduct his business with the aim of earning money, then at the moment of closing the shop, his attention is drawn naturally and automatically towards the money, and he begins to count the money. His attention does not go towards, who were all the customers who had come to his shop today ? What race and class were they from ? etc. Because he has no specific concern for the customers. A worldly man performing actions, having the aim of mundane worldly things, however much he remains engrossed in the world, he cannot become identified and one with the world, because in reality there is no unity and oneness with the world. The world is every moment, ever changing and insentient, while the Self is uniform and sentient. The Self is unchanging and is consciousness itself. A
spiritual aspirant who performs actions having God as his aim, gets naturally identified with God Himself (whether he realizes this fact or not), because the Self is naturally established and identified with God. In this state of identification, when the doer, in the form of doing his duty, becomes one with His aim (essence of God), then where arises the question of pride of doership ? There remains no such question.
The aim (God Realization) for which a Karmayogi performs all actions, in that essence of God, there is no pride of doership, i.e. there is no sense of doership. Rather at the beginning and end of all activities, having the experience of oneness wth the aim (God Realization) there remains in the Karmayogi no sense of doership.
All activities performed by all beings have a beginning and end. No activity remains forever. Rather no one’s sense of doership remains forever. Therefore at the end of every activity, also comes the end of doership of that activity. But man makes the mistake that when he performs any activity he considers himself to be the doer of that activity, but also when he does not perform that activity, then too he continues to consider himself as the doer of that activity. In this manner, by continuously believing himself to be a doer, his pride of doership in not wiped out, rather it becomes even more firm. Just like a man while he is giving a discourse, considers himself to be the orator, but at other times too if he continues to regard himself as an orator then his pride of doership is not wiped out. It is only by considering himself to be an orator at all times that thoughts and feelings arise within that other listeners must serve me, must respect me, must fulfill my
needs, and how can I sit in the midst of these ordinary men ? How can I do this ordinary work ? etc. etc. In this manner, his association with his oratory activities remains forever. It is for this reason that through oratory activities, such as giving discourses etc. there is an inner feeling within of acquiring wealth, name, fame, relaxation and something or the other. If there remains no desire to attain anything for your own self, then the doership only remains as long as one is performing the activity, and at the end of the activity the doership merges with his aim.
As one who is consuming food, sees himself as eating, only while he is eating the food, a Karmayogi also regards himself as doing, only when he performs the act of doing something and not at other times. Suppose a Karmayogi delivers a discourse and he wins name and fame for doing so; then inspite of that, if an occasion arises to hear a discourse from others, he can easily listen to it, without expecting any honor, respect and status, for in this new occassion he considers himself as a listener, not a speaker, without having any superiority complex. He becomes the listener or the speaker, according to the need of the moment. Thus his pride of doership does not remain constant. A thing which changes actually, does not exist. So how can a relationship with it remain constant ? By thinking so, a spiritual aspirant comes to realize his egolessness.
An actor in a drama plays the role of Harishchandra, but while playing that role, he does not regard himself as the real Harishchandra. Similarly, a Karma Yogi, while performing all actions according, to the scriptural injunctions, does not regard himself as the doer. He, like an actor, serves the world with the worldly things, without regarding these as his own or for himself. Thus he has no pride of doership, in the least.
Similarly, he accepts his affinity for his kith and kin, while serving them, only in order to serve them. He performs his duty to the best of his ability and available resources, to his family and others, even though they may be ugly, heard hearted and quarrelsome. Morevoer, he thinks that his wife or children are not only his, but also belong to others. e.g. his wife is the children’s mothers, her father’s daughter, her brother’s sister and so on. Thus, they have also a claim on her.
Additionally, a spiritual aspirant performs his duty efficiently, like an actor without focusing on the duty of others. By having pride of doership, a man thinks of the duty of others and by thinking so, he deviates from his own duty. While a Karma Yogi does not accept his constant affinity for his caste, order of life, sect, circumstances etc., and so he peforms his duty efficiently. A thing which is not constantly in existence, is for that matter, not in existence, at all. Thus, the sense of doership of a Karmayogi is automatically wiped out.
From “The Bhagavad Gita – Sadhaka Sanjivani” in English pg 320, in HIndi pg 183 by Swami Ramsukhdasji
Ram Ram
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Special Nectar! Just Released!
The devotees in Oradea, Romania rented a large hall and advertised a Krishna consciousness program to the general public. When I arrived to give my lecture on this topmost of all self-realization systems I was delighted to see the hall packed so full of people that some members of the audience had to stand or sit on the floor. After a kirtan that was wonderfully super-charged by the participation an enlivened assembly of Romanian and Hungarian devotees, I spoke for one hour to the interested audience explaining the basic principles of reality. Many sincere, intelligent questions were asked, and I got some challenges as well, which as usual were easily defeated by the powerful light of transcendental knowledge as revealed by Lord Sri Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita.
