Dear Ramji,
Thank you for your response to my comment on last Sunday’s zoom and for the talk. It inspired me to look more carefully at the part in the Gita where Krishna tells Arjuna about Karma Yoga. It was really interesting to overlay what you said with what I’ve read and been taught so many times, realizing with amazement that I’ve missed the practical and transformative point of it. Krishna tells Arjuna that the purpose of Karma Yoga is to neutralize likes and dislikes to reveal the contemplative mind. I realized that I’ve always kind of glossed over that without really understanding the value of what it is and what it requires. Seems that Karma Yoga is not so much a passive and potentially “virtue” infested “consecrating actions to God and wait for Prasad results” as it is an active, roll your sleeves up and self identify the issues as they arise, the seeming miraculous result being an instant dissolve of limiting, big drag for everyone, likes and dislikes.
One example that I think is relatable is my relationship with my boss at work. I can count many things that I really dislike about “her” (haha) and a few things I really like. I was irritated for a couple years, I kid you not, because requests for help, pay scale issues, etc. seemed to fall on deaf ears, plus she seemed to laugh and joke around with other employees more than me. I made up a whole story about who “she” is and all of her many problems. Then I thought, hmm why am I so irritated? Immediately: oh yeah, my mom really neglected me as a kid, that’s why. Simple. It caused an instant dissolution of a painful dislike and now my boss doesn’t have to deal with my prune face hairy eyeball treatment. It’s a win/win.
Don’t React and Your Issue Becomes Clear
I’m appreciating that the appearance of like or dislike thoughts are a gift from Isvara because when they are properly identified and “owned” there is an opportunity to self-remove a jerk from the world and that is a very very beautiful thing. So I just have to tolerate and not react to whatever emotion comes up (a sure sign of a like or dislike) until it blows over and with a little probing my issue becomes clearly visible. It seems to come down to that one crazy basic requirement: just put off reacting till I’ve, as you say, pointed the finger back at myself. It’s so primitive it’s kind of embarrassing. And I’m sure many of us Vedanta crew have been doing some version of this for years. That’s fighting the good fight and living as the author of my own happiness. I know this is all illusory, there is no boss, no mother etc. except for those thoughts of them, and even the thoughts themselves are not real, but without dealing with this apparently real stuff head on (and forgoing the sticky gloss coat of sattvic virtue, my erstwhile and now-in-the-crosshairs preferred method of removing ignorance just keeps chugging along and this Maya thought-world can be very painful indeed.
Thank you Ramji. Your talk about bias is very illuminating – totally loved the writer’s essay about golf – and I’m looking forward to next week’s zoom.
Love
