Karma & Dharma..

These days I am thinking about religion. Do I believe in God?. I think I do. But does it matter whether I believe or not?. Is it relevant in the scheme of things?. Or is there a right god or a wrong god?. How do you say that?. Importantly, who is to say that?.

 I believe in a God who minds his own business. This is what Sri Ramana Maharishi says

 "Just as in the presence of the magnet the needle moves, it is by virtue of the mere presence of God that the souls governed by the three (cosmic) functions or the fivefold divine activity perform their actions and then rest, in accordance with their respective karmas. God has no resolve; no karma attaches itself to Him. That is like worldly actions not affecting the sun, or like the merits and demerits of the other four elements not affecting all pervading space. "

Thus, the God I believe in does not interfere in the worldly affairs and determine whether someone is going to lose money or gain. Why does God has to worry about me going bankrupt and save me?. To reward me?. I think its absurd. If I think that out of all the worlds in the universe God has chosen this little rock we call Earth to be fit to create some Species and concern himself with the day-to-day affairs of the species he created, I think he must be crazy. Then, does God not concern himself with us?. What are we suppose to do?.

Karma yoga is defined very clearly in Gita. What it ultimately says is that the renunciation of the material world is the step to realize oneself. How do we do that?.
Vivekananda mentions that the only person who ever practiced Karma Yoga was Buddha. To quote ,

" He is the one man who ever carried this into perfect practice. All the prophets of the world, except Buddha, had external motives to move them to unselfish action. The prophets of the world, with this single exception, may be divided into two sets--one set holding that they are incarnations of God come down on earth, and the other holding that they are only messengers from God; and both draw their impetus for work from outside, expect reward from outside, however highly spiritual may be the language they use. But Buddha is the only prophet who said, "I do not care to know your various theories about God. What is the use of discussing all the subtle doctrines about the soul? Do good and be good. And this will take you to freedom and to whatever truth there is." "

Thus being a Karma-yogi is something of an ideal situation. The baseline is to detach ourself from the work we do. To realize that we do our duty because it is our karma. I think it is a hard philosophy to practice, but probably the best I have known for ever. Have I ever done one thing without motive?. I should say no. Probably, all my actions have a motive at least at the sub-consious level, if not outright obvious. Being one who is immersed in the world of samsara, how do I achieve this?.

Hindu Dharma dictates that wife is an integral part of the pursuit of dharma. The wives of great sages are worshipped as much as the sages themselves. So is it correct for one to educate one's wife into following the dharma(if she is not so keen to!)?. What if she doesn't want to?. Here is what Sri Chandrasekara swamigal has to say about marriage

"The purpose of marriage in our religion is to purify the husband further and to impact the wife fullness as his devoted and self-effacing companion... Here it is an Atman connection. But this very connection is a means of disconnection also - of freeing the Atman, the self, from the bondage of worldly existence."
"A man who is not yet fully mature inwardly is assisted in his karma by his wife. By doing so, by being totally devoted to her husband, she achieves maturity to a degree greater than he does."

So what happens when the wife does not help?. I could not find an answer to that. What does a mortal bound by his karma to do?. To force one's will on wife is 'akrama' since it will be against the Hindu dharma to do it. In the older days, it was easier to enforce this without even realizing it since we taught our girl children to obey and follow and nothing more. But in the semi-modern society of today, where the girls are educated and decide what they want, how do you 'educate' saying that you want her to be your side since the Dharma demands so?. It is bad karma. It is the same with an unwilling son or daughter.

I read Vivekananda's 'Karma Yoga' long back when I was in school. I dont remember understanding a lot of the things that are said. Like 'atman' and 'jiva'. I dont want to pretend now that I understand those things. But I am always making an attempt to attain that knowledge. But being conscious of the fact that I am doing this itself gives a motive to this. Thus showing the long path I still have to traverse.

Ref:
http://www.ramana-maharshi.org/whoami.htm
http://www.kamakoti.org
THE IDEAL OF KARMA-YOGA - Swami Vivekananda
http://www.bhagavad-gita.us/