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Authors: Jack Hawley
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incur no negative karma even while acting in the world.
22 “These wise ones have transcended the pairs of opposites; they are the same in success or failure, indifferent to loss or gain; they never bother to compete or compare, are free of envy, and contentedly shoulder whatever comes to them. They too are not bound by karmic consequences even though performing worldly actions.
23 “All your karma melts away when you are unattached, when your mind is purified in the knowledge that all life is one, and when you perform your duties in the spirit of sacrifice as an act of devotion, an offering.”
The Various Attitudes of Worship
24 “Arjuna, everything, every thing in creation is the Godhead! What is being offered is Brahman; the very act of offering is also Brahman; the one who offers is Brahman; even the fire into which the offering ispoured is Brahman. God is not distant, but is within yourself and is your Self. See Divinity in all your actions and you can actually achieve Union with the Godhead, Brahman. To do so requires being fully absorbed in Brahman, being constantly aware of Divinity every moment. No matter what you may be doing, whether eating, sleeping, working, praying, or breathing, this attitude of worship (which, remember, is sacrifice) aids the development of true knowledge and wisdom.
25 “Some aspirants offer worship to the minor gods. When performed with true devotion these offerings bring spiritual growth. More evolved seekers fully dedicate themselves to the highest Godhead, Brahman, surrendering their individual consciousness to the Cosmic Consciousness — offering up their ego to the Lord.
26 “Some advanced aspirants actually learn to suspend the physical senses of hearing, sight, taste, touch, and smell — offering them into the fire of sense restraint. In this way they control the stimuli at the gate before these enter their perception. Others do the opposite — not restraining the sensations before they enter, but controlling the influence of them on the mind itself. Both approaches produce the same result: purification of the mind, which is absolutely necessary for Self-knowledge.
27 “Others who are deeply knowledgeable (of the True Self Within), in rare acts of worship offer up all their actions and all the activities of their senses, and even the functions of life energy, their heartbeat and breathing. Their minds become suspended, the objective world is negated, ego vanishes. At these times, ego stripped, the Self is so fully identified with Atma —which is the personalized version of Brahman — that the performer of this sacrifice actually merges into Brahman.
28 “There are yet others whose way of worship is to offer up wealth and possessions. Still others offer up self-denial, suffering, and austerities (purifications). Others take clerical or monastic vows, offering up knowledge of the scriptures. Some others make their meditation itself an offering.
29 “Some offer up prana, the mysterious vital energy force within them. They do this through control of the breath, literally stopping their inhaling and exhaling.
30 “Yet others abstain from food and practice sacrifice by spiritualizing their vital energy — that is, by figuratively pouring their own vital life force into the Cosmic Life Force. The whole point of all these various methods of sacrifice (worship) is to develop a certain mental attitude. Those who live with a truly worshipful attitude, whose whole lives are offered up for improvement of the world, incur no sin (no karmic debt).
31 “This world is not for the person who performs no sacrifice, no worship. But those who actually live their lives as an offering partake of the nectar of God. Through selflessness they reach the Divine.
32 “Thus, as you can see, Arjuna, many and various are the offerings that people spread before God. All of them spring from the workings of the mind, senses, and body. Although action in
22 “These wise ones have transcended the pairs of opposites; they are the same in success or failure, indifferent to loss or gain; they never bother to compete or compare, are free of envy, and contentedly shoulder whatever comes to them. They too are not bound by karmic consequences even though performing worldly actions.
23 “All your karma melts away when you are unattached, when your mind is purified in the knowledge that all life is one, and when you perform your duties in the spirit of sacrifice as an act of devotion, an offering.”
The Various Attitudes of Worship
24 “Arjuna, everything, every thing in creation is the Godhead! What is being offered is Brahman; the very act of offering is also Brahman; the one who offers is Brahman; even the fire into which the offering ispoured is Brahman. God is not distant, but is within yourself and is your Self. See Divinity in all your actions and you can actually achieve Union with the Godhead, Brahman. To do so requires being fully absorbed in Brahman, being constantly aware of Divinity every moment. No matter what you may be doing, whether eating, sleeping, working, praying, or breathing, this attitude of worship (which, remember, is sacrifice) aids the development of true knowledge and wisdom.
25 “Some aspirants offer worship to the minor gods. When performed with true devotion these offerings bring spiritual growth. More evolved seekers fully dedicate themselves to the highest Godhead, Brahman, surrendering their individual consciousness to the Cosmic Consciousness — offering up their ego to the Lord.
26 “Some advanced aspirants actually learn to suspend the physical senses of hearing, sight, taste, touch, and smell — offering them into the fire of sense restraint. In this way they control the stimuli at the gate before these enter their perception. Others do the opposite — not restraining the sensations before they enter, but controlling the influence of them on the mind itself. Both approaches produce the same result: purification of the mind, which is absolutely necessary for Self-knowledge.
27 “Others who are deeply knowledgeable (of the True Self Within), in rare acts of worship offer up all their actions and all the activities of their senses, and even the functions of life energy, their heartbeat and breathing. Their minds become suspended, the objective world is negated, ego vanishes. At these times, ego stripped, the Self is so fully identified with Atma —which is the personalized version of Brahman — that the performer of this sacrifice actually merges into Brahman.
28 “There are yet others whose way of worship is to offer up wealth and possessions. Still others offer up self-denial, suffering, and austerities (purifications). Others take clerical or monastic vows, offering up knowledge of the scriptures. Some others make their meditation itself an offering.
29 “Some offer up prana, the mysterious vital energy force within them. They do this through control of the breath, literally stopping their inhaling and exhaling.
30 “Yet others abstain from food and practice sacrifice by spiritualizing their vital energy — that is, by figuratively pouring their own vital life force into the Cosmic Life Force. The whole point of all these various methods of sacrifice (worship) is to develop a certain mental attitude. Those who live with a truly worshipful attitude, whose whole lives are offered up for improvement of the world, incur no sin (no karmic debt).
31 “This world is not for the person who performs no sacrifice, no worship. But those who actually live their lives as an offering partake of the nectar of God. Through selflessness they reach the Divine.
32 “Thus, as you can see, Arjuna, many and various are the offerings that people spread before God. All of them spring from the workings of the mind, senses, and body. Although action in
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