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YOGA IS SKILL IN ACTION

YOGA IS SKILLIN ACTIONSri Swami ChidanandaPublished byTHE DIVINE LIFE SOCIETYP.O. SHIVANANDANAGAR—249 192Distt. Tehri-Garhwal, Uttarakhand, Himalayas, Indiawww.sivanandaonline.org, www.dlshq.org

First Edition:2015[ 2,000 Copies ] The Divine Life Trust SocietySwami Chidananda Birth Centenary Series—67FOR FREE DISTRIBUTIONPublished by Swami Padmanabhananda forThe Divine Life Society, Shivanandanagar, andprinted by him at the Yoga-Vedanta Forest AcademyPress, P.O. Shivanandanagar, Distt. Tehri-Garhwal,Uttarakhand, Himalayas, IndiaFor online orders and Catalogue visit : dlsbooks.org

PUBLISHERS’ NOTE24th September 2016 marks the auspiciousoccasion of Birth Centenary of Worshipful SriSwami Chidanandaji Maharaj. To commemoratethis sacred occasion, the Headquarters Ashramhas decided to bring out one hundred bookletscomprising illuminating talks of Worshipful SriSwamiChidanandajiMaharajforfreedistribution.To propagate Sadgurudev Sri SwamiSivanandaji Maharaj’s gospel of Divine Life,Worshipful Sri Swamiji Maharaj travelledextensively in India and abroad and showed thepath of divine life to countless seekers through hisspontaneous and highly inspiring lectures. Hislectures, in Sadgurudev’s words, are theoutpourings of his saintly heart, the revelations ofintuitive wisdom.We are immensely happy to bring out some ofhis hitherto unpublished lectures in a bookletform as our worshipful offering at his holy feet onthe blessed occasion of his Birth Centenary. Thepresent booklet ‘YOGA IS SKILL IN ACTION’ is acompilation of his five inspiring talks, given at the(5)

sacred Samadhi Mandir during the year 1994 and1995.We express our heartfelt gratitude towardsthe inmates of the Headquarters Ashram for theirloving service in transcribing, editing andcompiling these talks.May the abundant blessings of the AlmightyLord, Sadgurudev Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharajand Worshipful Sri Swami Chidanandaji Maharajbe upon all.—The Divine Life Society(6)

CONTENTS1. Yoga is Skill in Action . . . . . . . . . . . 92. The Beginning and the End areInseparable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173. Our Journey Must Have a Direction . . . 234. How do you Relate yourself to the Gita . . 295. Two Great Ideals—Paropakara andSakshatkara. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35(7)

1YOGA IS SKILL IN ACTION1Worshipful adorations to the eternal allpervading Divine Presence, the indweller of all, theever-present Divinity that is an ocean ofcompassion, grace and love! To that eternalomnipresent Being our worshipful homage!Loving adorations to the spiritual presence ofGuru Bhagawan whose light, love and powerinstils and moves all things in this Ashram, thisAshram of his, which he brought into existencewith the power of his penance and prayer, hisillumination and Self-realisation.The spiritual field is that area of one’s living,being and doing which you call the life spiritual.We have given it a designation so that we may bein a position to understand its distinction withinthe common set-up of what is known as life ingeneral, which is a life made up of the threeprinciples, or the three factors.The first one is the individual soul in a state ofdeep self-forgetfulness, and it is sense-led anddesire-dominated. The second one is God, which,1 Talk given at Sri Samadhi Mandir on 28/5/94(9)

10YOGA IS SKILL IN ACTIONto that individual soul in this state, meanssomeone from whom we can obtain all ourmundane wants and needs, our earthly andsecular supplies. For that we pray to Him, weobserve penance, worship, we fast and keep vigil.We do charity, we bathe in sacred waters, we doJapa, we do worship with flowers and sandalpaste—all this with the expectation that this Deitywould help us live our secular life in a satisfactory,problem-free manner. The third one is this world,containing all that we require, all that we desire,all that we feel if we acquire and keep andenjoy—then life will become meaningful.So this is an aspect of the life of the Jiva inthis material world of things and one’srelationship with all these things and one’s dailyencounter with God in order that the world mayyield what one desires and make one’s life full.This is the dimension made up of the world, Godand you, where the world is the only reality thatyou know.As distinct from this we spoke of theindividual soul aspiring for God, for the SupremeReality, and this world being considered as a fieldin which one may strive to approach nearer toGod. It is called the spiritual life as distinct fromsecular life. But is it different? Is it completelyunrelated and unconnected? Fortunately orunfortunately, we have to admit that, even though

YOGA IS SKILL IN ACTION11these two may be distinct from each other, butthey are not different from each other because it isthe selfsame individual who has to function inboth these dimensions—the inner subjectivedimension and the outer objective dimension ofone’s life.You cannot escape the fact that day by day,morning till evening, we live, move and have ourbeing in both these dimensions. They are part oflife. Day by day, we have to function upon theirrefutable fact of this world of things, of ourrequirements here, of its very much being here.You cannot just conjure away the world, itspeople, its things, its occurrences, its situationswhich is your ‘field of life’, physically speaking.Prapancha is the only reality we know.Paramatma is something we have heard of and webelieve. Prapancha we cannot dismiss with thewave of a magic wand. One cannot climb to theroof without the help of a ladder.All our spiritual faculties have to be exercisedand developed in the secular setup of this materialuniverse. Because that is the only field we have. Itis due to this ever present fact that the PurnaAvatara Lord Krishna incarnated. He made thehigh point of His Avatara-lila the imparting of theGita Jnana Upadesha to the whole world for alltimes through His immediate disciple who was ina desperate condition, trembling, with palpitating

12YOGA IS SKILL IN ACTIONheart, head whirling, in a state of deep distress.One cannot conceive of a mental and physicalstate more pitiable, more anxiety causing,nevertheless more real than that of Arjuna at theend of the first chapter of the Srimad BhagavadGita. If only you take the trouble to study withkeen attention the abject condition of Arjuna, youwill understand how very serious the situationwas. Making use of this occasion, the ever-presentfriend of mankind, Lord Krishna, imparted Hisunparalleled Gita Jnana Upadesha to humanityand to posterity. He taught the gospel of the hereand now situation of man to Arjuna in hisimmediacy and showed him step by step withgreat sympathy and understanding the way toliberation. He taught him gradually how to makethis involvement in the secular life a success. Itbecame a method of communicating with theDivine in the midst of strife and struggle, actionand occupation.Yogasthah kuru karmani sangam tyaktvaDhananjaya (B.G. 2/48)(Perform action, O Arjuna, being steadfast inYoga, renouncing attachment.)Yat karoshi yad ashnasi yajjuhoshidadasi yat,Yat tapasyasi Kaunteya tat kurushvamadarpanam (B.G. 9/27)

YOGA IS SKILL IN ACTION13(Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whateveryou offer in sacrifice, whatever you give, whateverausterity you practise, Kaunteya, do it as anoffering to me.)Here he gave a formula of securing ourspiritual evolution right in the midst ofmultifarious preoccupations and activity. He waspragmatic. He says, “There are these two distinctdimensions, and your material situation issomething that is inevitable; you cannot simplyignore it. Be brave. Recognize it, and, O Arjuna,you are on the field of battle. You cannot hesitate.You cannot afford to vacillate. You must have allyour perceptions clear, alert, geared to action.And you yourself have to engage in this. But I giveyou a philosopher’s stone which will transform allthat you do into an additional process of helpingyou to attain; it is in addition to your Bhakti, yourBhajan, your meditation, your Yoga.”Therefore, Krishna taught us to synthesisethese two apparently different aspects of our life;seemingly distinct for the simple fact that youyourself have to function in both, the secular andthe spiritual, the outer and the inner, Vyvaharaand Paramatma. Knowing this, he said, “You haveto know the key of fusing them into one”. He gaveus a formula for this fusion of our actions,bringing them together into one concertedmovement towards the Divine. He spoke of all the

14YOGA IS SKILL IN ACTIONYogas—all the 18 chapters are designated asYogashastra.Tasmat yogi bhava Arjuna (Therefore Arjuna,be thou a yogi.) That is the Adesha. Keeping closeto Me, if you fulfill all your duties and obligationsin this world, I shall see to it that nothing willhappen to you. Kaunteya pratijanihi na mebhaktah pranashyati (O Kaunteya, know forcertain that my devotee never perishes.)In this fusion or recognition of the onenesslies the unique vision of the Gita, the uniquedoctrine of being in the world but not of the world;knowing that the differences are apparent, and aninner deeper identity is the truth. So we have toknow the secret of being where we are andattaining what we wish to attain. To this end LordKrishna brought to our attention an unknowndimension of Yoga. Yogah karmasu kaushalam(Yoga is skill in action.) He did not separate Yogafrom Karma. He did not separate meditation fromactivity. He showed us how both these constituteYoga, must constitute Yoga; they should besynthesized, without losing Yoga or ore fight, free from mental fever.) Due toyour misunderstanding you have thrown yourselfinto a ferment, an agitation. You are weeping. Letgo of all these temporary, self-created conditionsand engage in action.

YOGA IS SKILL IN ACTION15While functioning in the field of activity, becentred within. Be non-distinct from within.Samatvam. Such balance within is Yoga.Samatvam yoga uchyate (Evenness of mind iscalled Yoga.)These great immortal and eternal truthsshould be our basis, our very centre, our firmground in which we are rooted while movingtowards God. Samatvam yoga uchyate—Yogahkarmasu kausalam.This lost or neglected concept has caused agreat deal of confusion in the Indian Hindu societyover centuries. Sri Swami Vivekananda andGurudev Sri Swami Sivananda Maharaj have onceagain given back to us this intuition and insight,this knowledge of the essential non-differentiationof the two dimensions of our life; they pointed outthe possibility of their synthesis and gave to us thepath of integrated Yoga. Serve, love, give, purify,meditate, realise—this is integrated Yoga. It is theintegration of the outer and the inner, thedynamic and the static; it is the relationship withthe world and the relationship with God, makingyour life co-exist with the concept of Yoga. May Hisgrace enable us to understand what JagadguruAdi Shankaracharya could not say in so manywords, because he lived 1200 years ago. Many ofthe modern situations of life did not exist in hisperiod. They came into being later on. And it is in

16YOGA IS SKILL IN ACTIONthis new field that Gurudev made his advent,entered and had to function. Therefore, he gavehis realisation, his vision and wisdom to us, toapply to us and the practical Sadhana in life. Thushe has enriched us, blessed us!Hari Om Tat Sat!