Bhagavagd Gita - Session 26- Track 2610

Question: Can we say that svabhāvais complete and Karma is incomplete?

You may say so, provided that we know that Karma is not fully understood except ‘in reference’ to svabhāva: it is incomplete, but becomes complete when you know it as a part and movement of svabhāva. In svabhāvathere is perfection, in Karma there may be imperfection, but that imperfection can become fulfilled when svabhāvabegins to flow into it.

Question: When we talk of Karma that means ‘Karma which binds’ and ‘which does not bind’, both are included in Karma?

That karma which is a movement of svabhāva, does not bind you: it is visargaḥ, it is a flow. The bondage comes in when that same karma begins to flow in Apara Prakriti. As long as it moves in Para Prakriti, karma does not bind you: na karma lipyate nare( īśa Upn. 2), the karma does not bind you when that karma is simply visargaḥ, of svabhāva. Karma is called a movement of svabhāva, when it results in a specific bhūta, or article, or product, bhūtabhāva, Sri Krishna explains it: bhūtabhāvodbhavakaro visargaḥ karma: karma is that subordinate movement of svabhāvawhich ultimately produces and results in bhūta, it becomes an object. karma is that which takes you to the result; karma is that which takes you to the fruit. Therefore karma and phala are closely connected; every karma has a phala; karma is that which leads you to phala, automatically, you cannot avoid it. Every karma has a phala, it is bhūtabhāva automatically it results in a form, it will take a shape.

Sri Krishna Himself says: “I am the doer of actions, but nothing touches Me, I am still akartā.” In Para Prakriti there is all svabhāva, and all movement of Karma, all results, all fruits come out, and yet all of them proceed from akṣaraṁ brahma paramaṁ; they all proceed from akṣara. Therefore in akṣara, they completely become devoid of any kind of attachment: na karma lipyate nare, nothing attaches you, it is like jalakamalavat; it is an outflow, visargaḥ, but inwardly it remains completely dry, akṣaraṁ, it is immobile.

Now, let us continue further, although I am taking more time today but I will finish the sentence: (VIII, 4)

adhibhūtaṁ kṣaro bhāvaḥ…now karma is that which leads you to bhūta, to the products; products themselves kṣaro bhāva. All the creatures, all the objects, these particular pieces are all bhūta, they are all results of karma; karma of a shaping, karma according to the form. But ultimately all karma ultimately leads you to adhibhūtaṁ.

We can see the logical order: from Immobile comes svabhāva, which is adhyātma. From adhyātma, from svabhāvacomes karma; karma leads to the results and fruits; fruits are called adhibhūtaṁ kṣaro bhāvaḥ; they are all in mobility. Characteristic of all bhūta(s) is that they are all mobile, the exact opposite of immobile. brahma is akṣaraṁ, but all bhūtas are kṣaro bhāvaḥ, they are all kṣara. In that you will not be able to find any akṣara that is constantly moving. But what you see as results is preceded by something that is invisible; these are all visible objects, bhūta(s), ultimate results, ultimate fruits.

But before that arrived at there is an intermediate stage: adhibhūtais the ‘objective reality’, that which is before our eyes, that which we can see as shaped objects. But all the shaped objects are shaped. And who shapes? karma is the visarga, is the movement; adhibhūtais the shape; but who shapes? There is adhidaivatam. That which shapes are the cosmic energies; they are called gods in the language of the Veda. They are cosmic energies and these cosmic energies begin to act in the form of will, in the form of intelligence, in the form of sense.