Balvikas

Inauguration of Thapasya at Ernakulam
22-August-2009, TDM Hall
Sri LK Krishnankutty, Karayogam President
and Smt. Lalitha Prasad, Principal, Sai Vidhya Vihar

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“Austerity in Action” was presented by Sukanya Sathish which dealt with the concepts of Karma Yoga. The Laws of Karma and the nature of Karma were explained. Chapter three of Bhagavad Gita was summarised as a set of prescriptions that could be directly put to application in daily life. All actions devoid of any trace of Selfish motives and without any sense of anger, hatred and fear can be called “Sacrifice of Action” and when one constantly strives to do this in all actions it becomes “Austerity in Action”

Remya Ramachandran and Parikshith Warrier then presented a paper on “Austerity of Wisdom”. Austerity of Action when strengthened by ‘Knowledge’ becomes “Knowledge Sacrifice”. Constant engagement in such knowledge based actions devoid of any selfishness leads to “Austerity of Wisdom”.

“Karma” has tremendous impact on everyone so much so that it shapes ones character. Swami Vivekananda’s views on “Character” was summarised as a presentation by Krishnan Nandakumar Kartha. “If you want to judge the character of a man, look at his most common actions” says Swami Vivekananda.

The last of the presentations was on the “All pervasive Nature of Self”. This was conducted by Amitha Menon and delved on the omnipresence of the Self as against being limited by the physical body. Taking recourse to concepts of QED (Quantum Electrodynamics) it was empirically shown how the Self expands to infinity. A true knowledge of the nature of actions and the Self would undoubtedly help us get out of our limiting nature and expand to infinite potentials.

Sri. Satish Kumar Menon summarized a few modern work strategies that reflected the core values enunciated in Karma Yoga of Bhagavad Gita. Kum. C.K. Archana rounded up the seminar highlighting the main conclusions.

KARMA YOGA Assignment
Chapter 3 and 4 of Karma Yoga was covered in detail over a period of over two years. Children are instructed to write a small note on what they understand by the term Karma Yoga. You may assume that you are writing an email to a close friend of yours who does not know what this means. Write in your own words; in as simple terms as possible. Emails may be sent to your Guru at satishkumar.menon@gmail.com

	Rahul Ramachandran Karma is doing what is good for oneself and for others. We should discriminate between good and bad & restrict ourselves from something that we are addicted to. Some of the examples which I do in my daily life are clearing the table after eating food, restricting myself from playing on the computer and seeing TV. during exams. If a person has something that I like very much, even if I have a strong desire to have it, I wouldn't steal it, but would sacrifice that desire as stealing would be against my Karma. This is a type of knowledge sacrifice.
	Siddharth Menon I feel Karma Yoga is doing righteous activities and obligatory duties using discrimination. There are three types of actions-Right Action, In-Action and Wrong Action. We should do In-Action and to do that we should do Sacrifice. That will make Knowledge better and turn it into Wisdom.
	Remya Ramachandran It is said in Karma Yoga that wisdom comes from understanding that the self is superior to the body, mind & soul [the abode of selfishness] & that it is unchanged by desires. He who knows this understands that the same self can be seen in everyone around him including himself. This releases man from the bondage to results of his actions, & he attains peace. One way of attaining wisdom is through austerity of wisdom which means understanding true nature of actions & carrying out selfless actions [true sacrifices]. It also tells us about the 3 forms of karma - action, inaction & wrong action. In - actions are selfless actions which are based on 5 human values. Understanding this is knowledge & following it is knowledge sacrifice. It is the highest form of sacrifice. Thus we must all engage in righteous actions & our obligatory duties [using discriminatory intelligence] devoid of selfishness & hatred. We must carry out our actions in an unbiased manner, unaltered by any of the worldly desires. E.g. of Karma Obeying our parents Taking care of our siblings Sacrificing our leisure time to help a friend Giving up something you really wanted because someone else wanted it more than you did.
	Pallavi Menon We should do obligatory duties and righteous activities using discrimination. We should not be selfish or be angry. Then we will have a lot of enemies. We should use our intelligence to get knowledge and wisdom.
	Amritha Menon Karma Yoga shows us the right way to act so as to attain salvation which, in simple terms, is a feeling of joy and contentment much more than what we can hope to experience through material gains. A person's status is determined by his values and actions. So, to raise our standards, we must perform mandatory duties such as studying sincerely and respecting our parents and teachers and righteous acts such as charity donations, helping weaker students and so on. Discrimination is the most important tool for doing work. We must be able to distinguish between the right and the wrong and follow the right path. Most human acts, even right ones, are selfish to a certain degree. But if we understand that God is nothing but the divinity present in all of us which comes out in the form of different skills, this selfish element automatically vanishes from our actions and we cannot but love and respect all those around us. Selfishness, anger and hatred are the greatest foes of man. This is why Karma Yoga highly recommends 'inactions' which are done purely for the benefit of others without thinking of the results. This world is an illusion created by God. The destination of every person is his source- God. Our virtues, vices and the tools to do work have been given to us but we are the architects of our destiny for we are in full control of our actions. Karma Yoga also highlights the difference between knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge is the acceptance of the things we are told but wisdom, which is superior, is the application of knowledge in everyday life. The importance of sacrifice too is discussed in Chapter 4. In order to be able to sacrifice, we must restrain ourselves, that is, use only what we need and not give way to greed and temptation. This is the essence of Karma Yoga.
	Sukanya Satheesh Karma yoga basically consists of entirely selfless service in which the Ego is given up to the desire to serve God in everything be it plant, animal or man. Karma Yoga is also the path of doing the right thing, of following ones Dharma etc. The easiest pathway to god is by performing ones own karma. Nishkama karma is the right way to attain salvation. Sitting in a closed room chanting mantras and performing pooja may not enable a person to attain Moksha. A man who does his obligatory as well as righteous duties selflessly will gain freedom from the bondage called samsara. Every living organism has its own duties, without performing those duties we cannot reach God. So we must all “Arise Awake and Act” selflessly.
	Bharath Karma Yoga means - We should engage obligatory and righteous duties. We should rule out selfishness and hatred from our life.
	Aswani Karma Yoga gives us an insight into the day to day activities we do in our daily life. We are expected to remain active by engaging in actions .at the same time we should use our intellect to discriminate between the right and wrong .we should perform our obligatory duties and righteous activities .we should work hard irrespective of the results and soon we will get the fruits of our work.
	Parikshith Warrier Karma Yoga is practicing your righteous and obligatory duties without selfishness. Doing the right action without selfishness or hatred is known as in-action. You should do your work for yourself and not to please others. You should have control over your self and restraint. Restraint lies at the root of all sacrifices. You should revere and respect your teachers, inquire of them and do your work with a spirit of sacrifice. The knowledge of the self is the ultimate knowledge that can be learned. Whoever attains this knowledge will attain a state of bliss. Therefore we have to arise awake and do our duties.
	Krishnan Nandakumar In Karma Yoga, man should engage in two types of duties -Obligatory & Righteous .He should use his discriminative intelligence and do the right type of actions. Selfishness & Anger are the 2 worst enemies of mankind & he should never be carried away by them. There are 3 types of actions-actions, inactions & wrong actions. Inactions refer to those actions that carried out with a selfless attitude. The Self is greater than the Body, Mind or the Intellect. It is never affected by Knowledge, Activity or Ignorance. Wisdom lies in understanding this truth. We can attain wisdom by understanding the true nature of actions and by performing Selfless Actions or by Yajnas. Therefore, we should arise, awake and act .We should perform actions without worrying about the end result.