Essays on the Gita - Track 905

Therefore, there is an argument that you can never have a synthesis of Knowledge and Action; you can have action until you arrive at a certain high level of silence, as a concession, as if a lollypop to a child, but ultimately it has to be given up, because when you reach into silence no action is possible. And yet, Sri Krishna speaks of the muktasya karma, Sri Krishna speaks of the karma of one who is liberated, mukta, one who is completely liberated, one who is in absolute nirvaEla; having reached nirvaoa, Sri Krishna speaks of a tremendous flow of action. But how is this synthesis possible, unless that in the very nature of silence action is possible to synthesise? Therefore, Sri Krishna has to explain to Arjuna that Reality itself is a miraculous and a marvellous being who combines in himself akoara and koara; He is at once Akshara and Kshara; He is at once Immobile and Mobile. If the Reality itself is capable of this union of Immobility and Mobility, then surely you can reach a state of consciousness where you can be also immobile and mobile. Therefore to say that in silence there is no place for action is not true because in the Reality itself these two states obtained??? simultaneously. The Divine who needs nothing, who wants nothing, who is self existent, perfect, as Sri Krishna himself says, "'I need nothing and yet I am all the time active". He says, ""not for a single moment I remain without action, although I need nothing, I am perfect". This combination, since it is rooted in the reality itself, therefore it is possible for us to arrive at this unity and this synthesis.

Now, similarly it is said about Bhakti that if you remain in the state of ecstasy or union with the divine, everything else seems to be so stuff less, so tasteless, so much without meaning at all; the enjoyment of the union with the divine is so sweet, so wonderful, that there is no tongue which can describe that joy, and when you are seated in that state of consciousness, all idea of knowing God is worthless, all idea of doing work is worthless, what is this! When you are in a state of complete ecstasy of union, what is this work we are talking about! What is this knowledge you are talking of! In the state of enjoyment do you care for knowledge? Whether He is one or two or three, whether Reality is one or dual or triple or Trinity: all these discussions are useless when you are absolutely enjoying. When the sugar is being eaten, you don't discuss the composition of sugar, you are absolutely absorbed in the enjoyment of the sugar. So, the Bhakta says that all this talk of knowledge, this discussion of entering into a complete silence, what is this complete silence in which there is no ecstasy, no enjoyment as compared to this enjoyment and sweetness, what is this dryness of this knowledge in which there is only silence? But this union, this sweetness, this hundred of relationships that you can establish with the divine, you can play hundreds of games with the divine, both of hide and seek and of a complete union manifest. As compare to that, what is this in knowledge? And what is this action! Doing this action or that action, what difference does it make? This world is all the time, sometimes better, sometimes worse, and this goes on, and on, and on, whether you do this or you do that, ultimately of what meaning? Ultimate meaning is to be able to arrive at a point where you can for ever enjoy this relationship with the divine and ecstasy, and that is the supreme state; and Sri Krishna himself says, "Bhakta is my dearest": so, where is the place for action? Of course action you can do if you like, but there is no necessity of it , no inevitability of it, and after all when you are situated in the state of ecstasy even to do action is not possible. Just as the jnani was saying that when you are seated in the state of knowledge, action is impossible; similarly, when you sit yourself in the state of devotion, action is not possible, it is going down on a lower level of doing so many machinations of action, various kind of devices that you employ, various kind of means and ends you join together. What is all this? Sit all the time in complete union with the divine and enjoy hundreds of relationships with the divine.

On the other end the Karma Yogi says: what is this knowledge, what is this devotion? If you cannot change this world, there is so much of poverty in this world, there is so much of ignorance in this world, so much of division in the world, so much of inertia in this world, so much of quarrel and strife, so much of seeking, is it not possible to set this world into some order? And how can you put this in order without action? And what is the point in sitting in silence, or sitting in enjoyment when there is so much of spollier??? and poverty and strife in this world? How can you enjoy the peace of this Nirvana, how can you enjoy the Ananda of union with the divine when there is so much of pain and suffering in this world? If God is only ecstasy, if God is only silence, surely this is not the God which I want, I want that God who can really succour the poorer, the downtrodden, the one who is suffering, and heal the pain of this world. I want that God who comes on this earth, and cures all the ills of the world. So, what is the need and what is the point in achieving that God if He cannot really act in this world masterfully, triumphantly, and destroy all that is obstructing the highest on this earth.