Philosophy ofDivine Love
All these verses state that remembrance of God must
Practical Sadhana
(Preparatory Devotion)
of
Karma-Yoga
The meaning of karmayoga is generally known to all
through the Gita-
tasmat sarve$u kale$u mam anusmara yuddhya ea
(Gita)
Lord Krsna instructed Arjuna, "Remember me at all times,
and continu~' 'to perform the actions of the senses, viz. fight
this war." In other words, the mind should be constantly
attached to Lord Krsna, and other necessary duties should
also be performed si~~ltaneously. How do we practically follow
this philosophy of karmayoga. This appears to be a serious
problem because the senses cannot work without the support
of the mind. Everyone experiences the fact that if the mind
is absorbed elsewhere, the senses are incapable of performing
actions. How then can anyone engage in an action like war,
which requires total concentration, without the involvement of
the mind and intellect?
yo mam smarati nityasa~ .
tesariJ nityiibhiyuktiiniim .
evariJ satatayuktii ye..••••.••.•.
tesam satatayuktiiniim . a detached spirit. You should not derive happiness from them.
. (Gita)
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be constant. Once this problem is solved, the karmayoga of
the Gita can be performed practically.
Let us reflect upon this. There are two kinds of karma
or actions. One action is that in which there is only involvement
of the mind, and the second action is one in which there
is not only involvement, but also attachment of the mind.
If the difference between these two types of karma is
understood, then the secret of practical karmayoga will easily
be grasped. Let us take an example to understand the
difference between the two. Suppose a devoted wife's husband
has gone to England. He has come back today, after an
absence of four years. His wife joyfully prepares various kinds
of delicious food for him and serves them with great love.
Now suppose the wife cannot cook in the evening for some
reason. She instructs her servant to cook a variety of dishes.
Accordingly the servant cooks and serves the master, just as
his wife did. On both the occasions the husband praises the
food.
Observe, both of them appear to have performed the
same kind of action, and the food was equally delicious. What
then is the difference between the two types of karma? The
difference is that the wife's action involved the mind as well
as attachment, whereas the servant's action involved only the
mind. The wife cooked with pleasure because she loved her
husband, but the servant cooked as a part of his duty and
did not experience pleasure, as there was no love involved.
The servant's attachment was centered on his own family.
Just as this servant performs the duty of cooking with his
mind attached to his own wife and children, you too must
attach the mind to God and perform your worldly duties with
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Let us take another example. A nurse or doctor, working
in a maternity ward witnesses the birth of many children,
but does not experience any happiness from them, because
there is no attachment involved. We see proof of this when
some child happens to die. The nurse merely expresses to
the parents of the child, her regret and inability to do anything,
adding that it could possibly have been the will of God. The
grief-stricken parents take the child from the nurse. The mother
is weeping bitterly. This is due to attachment. But the nurse
has no attachment. After the parents leave, she goes back
to her work unaffected by this tragedy. Now we too have
to limit ourselves to the mere performance of duty like the
nurse. There should be neither the experience of happiness
nor sorrow.
A bank cashier gives away millions of rupees a day, but
he is never distressed. However, if he happens to lose even
a hundred rupees from the salary he has received, he is worried
and miserable. He makes a frantic search for it, and curses
his own carelessness. But he is not the least worried about
the millions of rupees he gives away, because they do not
belong to him and there is no attachment.
Your neighbour is crying upon the death of his son,
while you are enjoying a cup of tea next door. You call
out to your wife, "Give me another strong cup of tea because
I don't know how long I will be at the funeral." After enjoying
your breakfast you go to your neighbour's house. Before
entering the house, you put on an expression of remorse.
This expression continues till you get back home, and then
it gives way to annoyance, "Of all the days,. he chose to
die on a Sunday. Just the day I had planned to spend the
morning sleeping."
The reality is that the actions we perform, Le. the actions
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we have to perform, even though we do not experience any
happiness, do involve the mind, but there is no attachment.
Those actions which bring happiness, not only involve .the
mind but there is attachment also. One can be referred to
as detached action and the other as action of attachment.
Most of our daily activities consist of detached actions, i.e.
actions that are of the nature of duties. Given a chOice, who
would work in an office under subjection? But nevertheless,
if it is your duty, you must.
Suppose you are sleeping comfortably in bed and
.someone knocks at your door at midnight. You get out of
bed, muttering angrily to your Wife, and open the door. It
turns out to be an old neighbour, who now lives in another
town. You immediately conceal your actual feelings of
annoyance and express pretended feelings of pleasure. "Oh,
it is you, TripathL What a pleasant surprise! We have been
looking forward to your arrival for many days. In fact we
were talking about you just before going to bed last night.
Why didn't you send me a telegram? I would have come
to meet you at the station. I am sure you must have had
a problem getting here at this unearthly hour. " Deceiving
Mr. Tripathi with this wonderful act, you pick up his suitcase
and bring it into the house, calling to your wife, "Look who
is here! I was just telling Tripathi how eagerly we were awaiting
his visit. Get some dinner ready, while I help him to the
guest room." Now Tripathi who is actually starving, pretends
to be very considerate, "There is no need for all this formality.
I am not really hungry. Besides, this is no hour to eat."
But you insist in pretension, and it does not take Tripathi
very long to accept your hospitality. Much to the annoyance
of your wife, dinner has to be cooked, and Tripathi enjoys
a hearty meal. After a formal chat, everyone goes to bed.
But before sunrise, Tripathi is up, ready with his baggage
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to leave. Again you have to force yourself out of bed,
expressing your amazement, "I really don't understand your
hurry. Why are you ready to go so soon? You have only
been with us for a few hours. There is no way I will let
you go." Thus saying, you make a half-hearted attempt to
snatch his bag to prevent him from going. However, Tripathi
has to go, and so he does. He has hardly reached the gate
and you have already started grumbling, "How inconsiderate
can people be? Fancy disturbing anyone at midnight. The
next time I hear anyone knocking at that unearthly hour,
I am going to tum a deaf ear." This is what is referred
to as detached action. You are perfect in this art. It is also
referred to as social etiquette today. Where there is no love,
but only duty: that is detached action or action of non-
attachment.
Let us take another example to understand this. A man's
son is suffering from typhoid. He rushes to the doctor's house
on his motorcycle. Driving a motorcycle in traffic, definitely
requires proper concentration of the mind. Though worried
about his son to whom he is very attached, he uses his
mind to drive through the traffic, and safely reaches the doctor's
house. He impatiently pleads with the doctor to rush and
see his son. The doctor gets ready. Every second waiting
for the doctor, brings restlessness to this man, although he
does not have any love for him. He loves only his own
son. The doctor eventually goes to his house, examines his
son, writes the prescription and leaves. The father rushes out
again to buy the medicine.
Observe, all these actions of the father, going to the
doctor, buying the medicine, etc., were all performed with
the involvement of the mind but with the attachment centered
on his son alone, and not on the doctor, or the medicine.
In the same way, we too must lovingly attach the mind to
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God and perform our worldly duties with a detached spirit.
We must not let the consequences of our worldly actions make
us either happy or unhappy.
Some people raise an objection that action without
attachment cannot be performed perfectly. It only amounts
to forced labour. Such an objection is naIve. The truth in
fact is that action involving attachment cannot be performed
perfectly. For example, a child happens to be suffering from
a stomach-ache and is crying. The mother hears the child
cry and unable to bear it, gives milk to the child, even though
she had just fed him. Now the pain gets worse. But a nurse
often performs her duty towards a child better than the mother
does, as she feeds the child at regular intervals, even though
the child may scream or cry. Observe in this case, love actually
harms the child, while the nurse who is detached, performs
her duty perfectly.
A judge presiding over a case, can only give an impartial
judgement if he is perfectly detached from both the concerned
parties. However, if he happens to love either of them, he
will be partial. And if he happens to hate either of them,
he will be unjust. Action is performed best when the mind
is devoid of both love and hate.
It is a fact of everyone's experience that wherever there
is love, there is definitely some kind of irregularity in the
work performed. When we love a person, we experience
happiness when we see, hear or touch that person. The result
is that the mind does not remain in a balanced state, and
work becomes irregular. The same happens when the mind
is lost in anger, jealousy, greed etc. Work is bound to suffer.
It is only when one is devoid of love and hate, that work
can be performed perfectly.
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If we centre our love on God, and limit ourselves to
the performance of duties in the world, then both our goals
will be accomplished smoothly. Duties of the material world
will be performed properly, and we will also attain our goal
of realizing God. Look at the gopis _.
ya dohane' vahanane mathanopalepa-
prenkhenkhanarbharuditokl!at:Jamarjanadau
gayanti cainamanuraktadhiyo' srukat:J~hyo
dhanya vrajastriya urukramacittayana/:!
(Bhiigavatam)
They constantly loved Lord Kr~J:la and thought of Him
while performing all their household chores. We have many
examples of devotees working in the world with the mind
attached to God. King Janaka, Dhruva and Prahlada ruled
their kingdoms, and Arjuna fought a war. We too have to
work in the same way.
All these examples prove that everyone is well-practised
in karmayoga. Your attachment is centered only in a handful
of people, such as your wife, husband, children, parents, etc.,
and you limit yourself to the mere performance of duty towards
others. Now all you have to do is restrict yourself to the
level of duty-performance, even towards the handful you are
attached to. It is the nature of the mind to love. If this
love is directed to God, then both the material and spiritual
goals can be attained simultaneously. This is the Gita's
philosophy of wisdom-
yoga/:! karmasu kausalam
(Gitii)
Fix the mind on God and continue to work with your
senses and body, just as a wheel moves, but the axle remains
fixed.
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Philosophy ofDivine Love
It is said that work is hampered when love for God
increases. This does not happen in the beginning, but it does
happen sometime later. However, there is no need to worry.
Even if duty eventually falls away from you, there is nothing
to worry about, because you will not be held responsible.
But if you deliberately discard your duties, and do not even
love God then you will be punished for your negligence.
Therefore, we should practically follow the discipline of
karmayoga, by performing our household duties and
simultaneously devoting the mind to God. This will initially
require practice but it will gradually become natural. When
a person learns to ride a cycle, he experiences difficulties
in the beginning. However, when he is well-practised, he can
engage in talking while his hands and feet continue to work
on the cycle. In the same way, after a little practice, karmayoga
will become natural for you.
Besides karmayoga, performance of karma-sarhnyasa is
also important. The first thing you have to do in karma-
sarrmyasa, is to fix a regular time daily to devote yourself
in chanting the name, attributes and pastimes of the Lord,
with a feeling of longing. This longing should be accompanied
by tears. The rest of the day can be engaged in all the
essential duties of the world, with constant remembrance that
Lord Kr~J:la is watching your every action. Offer all your actions
to Him. In this way your actions will be justly performed
and you will not feel tired either. Your devotion too will
gradually develop and become firm. Try it once and see for
yourself:' benefit is certain!
Tears of longing are essential in devotion, because they
lead to the purification of the heart. [t is then that the Guru
grants Divine Love according to spiritual law. Thus, realizing
God you will attain your ultimate goal of Supreme bliss.
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Philosophy of Divine Love

However, there is one important subject that needs

reflection and that is, the nature of bad association and the
need to stay away from it. If we are not careful about this,
we could lose more than we have gained through devotion.

The Nature of
Bad Association

There are only two entities apart from the soul. One
is God, and the other is Maya. One is truth, and the other
untruth. God and His Saints alone are the truth, hence
association with them with complete involvement of the mind
is referred to as 'satsanga' (good association). Contrary to this,
whatever subjects we have left, are endowed with the three
gUl}as - tamasa, rajasa, and sattvika. They belong to Maya, and
are hence untruth. In short, that association which leads to
attachment of the mind to spirituality is satsanga (good
association); apart from this, all other subjects are kusanga
(bad association).

Once a person falls into bad association, the decisions

of the mind change accordingly. Therefore the spiritual aspirant
is unable to judge with his own intellect that he has fallen
into wrong company. Just as a drunkard's intellect is influenced
according to the quantity of intoxicating alcohol he has drunk,
the intellect or the power of reasoning is destroyed according
to the quantity of bad association. We cannot judge with this
impaired faculty of reasoning that we are actually falling, or
have fallen, into bad association.

The second point is that, so long as a person considers

the body as the self, he can never easily admit that he has
fallen. Therefore, there is always need of a Saint, who
constantly reminds the unconscious devotee of his mistakes,
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