Chapter 7 - Duty or Motive in Karma

buddhiyukto jahātīha ubhe sukṛtaduṣkṛte |

He who performs his duty, understanding the secret of work, rises above good and evil.—Bhagavad Gita, II, 50.

Activity of mind and body is the condition of life, and absolute inactivity means death. This activity finds expression variously in the ordinary work of our everyday existence; and this work can be divided into three classes, according to the motive which inspires it. The first class includes all that we do for the preservation of the senses. The second embraces all actions done from a sense of duty; and the third, all that is done freely and with love. The actions of the first class, performed to satisfy the cravings of the animal nature, are mainly guided by two motives—hunger and propagation of species. If we go down into the vegetable kingdom, we find these motives expressed in the activity of trees and plants. From the lowest amoeba to human beings the same expression is equally present, the difference being not in kind but in degree. As we rise higher in the scale of evolution, we observe that these motives become more clearly defined, until they reach their culminating point in man, the highest of all living creatures. Through a further process of evolution, these two motives again, when inspired by a love of self, produce the sense of right and wrong and the sense of duty. The second gradually develops from the first, and this invariably proceeds from love of self. This love of self, moreover, is very limited at the outset; since the self at this period is that which is identified with the body. Not only is this the case in lower animals, but in human beings also, who live on the animal plane and whose spiritual eyes are not open, and who identify soul with body and spirit with matter. They are unable to distinguish one from the other. In every individual, at this point, the self is the centre of all things, and that which benefits the self becomes the unique object of attention; then the individual begins to call that which is beneficial to himself right, and that which causes him pain and suffering wrong. Moved by the love of self, he first takes care of the lower or narrow, limited ego, of that which we understand by the terms ‘I’ and ‘Me’, without recognizing the ‘Self of others. At this stage of development he has no other thought than to seek his own pleasure and gratification, or to avoid that which may bring him discomfort and suffering; as we find in savage tribes, whose sole concern is for the lower self, who are, so to speak, all 7/ all ‘Me’ By degrees, when the moral nature begins to unfold, this same individual learns to reverence the rights of others; and by others here is meant those who are closely related to the self—the nearest relatives or those with whom the person is constantly associated. He now feels that he should not do anything to injure his nearest of kin; and this is the first dawning of the sense of duty. Henceforth, the idea of right and wrong is no longer confined to the motives of selfpreservation and self-gratification, but includes the selves of those joined to him by family ties. When the individual soul finds a relative, who cares for his bodily needs or gives him certain pleasures, he commences to feel for that relative, and thinks that he ought to protect his life and seek his comfort as he would his own. This is the awakening of the sense of duty towards the family.

Next, if he comes in contact with a neighbour who brings comfort or pleasure into his life, he develops for him the same feeling as that which he bears towards his blood relation, and he strives in turn to defend his interests. Hence the origin of duty towards friend and neighbour.

In this way, if, in our own experience, we try to trace the relation existing between us and those not connected with us by ties of blood, we shall find that our feeling of duty towards them has gradually sprung from the basic principle of love of self. The particular duty of individuals, however, will vary according to the nature and circumstances of each one; for there can be no absolute standard of duty for all, since duty is in its essence relative. In this great workshop of nature, everyone is bound to discharge the duties, laid upon him by his special environments, and these environments are not always the same. As the environment varies, so will the duties vary; and as individual natures differ, so must the sense of duty differ, according to each nature and its specific tendencies. That which is duty for one person, may not be duty for another; that which is duty at one period of life, may not be such at another period. A child has its duties towards its parents, but when he reaches youth new duties arise. When he goes to school, he must assume the duties of the student life; when he marries, the duties of the married life begin; and when he becomes a father, duties to his children bind him. When, again, he remembers that he bears a definite relation to his country or state, he awakens to a sense of duty towards the nation and the government.

So, in the case of every individual, it will be found that what was duty at one moment ceases to be such at another; while new duties come up to take the place of the old ones. We all had certain duties at school, but where are they now? Gone! We do not think at present in the same way as we did when we were students; other duties have arisen and crowded out those of that time. Life is divided into different stages, and each stage has its obligations. It is a continuous process of evolution and progression in which higher duties are evolving out of lower ones and binding the soul for the time being. When we go to our office, official duties claim us; when we return home, we are met by household duties. Our whole existence is a series of occupations, each of which brings with it a feeling of ought; and this feeling is the sense of duty in us. There is no such thing as duty in an objective sense; we cannot get it from outside. It is purely subjective. When we perform certain acts under certain circumstances, and are conscious that we ought to do them, that feeling of obligation is duty. But who tells us that we should? Our own inner self. Impelled by natural tendencies and partial knowledge, we begin to think that under specific conditions we should perform these acts; and so long as we hold to this belief, we are forced to do them. The feeling which binds us to these special acts of body and mind is the sense of duty. Duty creates a kind of bondage between the individual and his environment. If we do not have the sense of duty, we do not feel this bondage. It is, in fact, a condition which makes us slaves while it lasts.

In our daily lives, we discharge our many duties like bondservants; yet we keep imagining that in doing them, we shall be happy through the satisfaction which will arise from the consciousness of having done them! but the next instant conditions change, our environment shifts, and we are confronted by another set of duties and a new feeling of ought.

Nothing can make us free so long as we are fettered by this sense of duty. It is the greatest bondage of our lives.. We may look upon it as eminently commendable to be perpetually constrained by the idea of ought and to force ourselves to do that which seems to us duty for the moment; but it is absolutely necessary for us to realize that this never lead to happiness. We have only to go back in our own experience to find that although we have performed numberless duties, we have not gained any lasting happiness from their accomplishment. If we should ask an old man of eighty or ninety, who has fulfilled all his oligations [obligations?] to family, society, and country, if he is happy, will his answer be in the affirmative? No; he will almost surely say: ‘Although I have done all that was required of me as father, husband, and citizen, yet am I not happy’. Then we stop and put the question each to himself: ‘If I do my whole duty, shall I be any more at peace?’ And we are forced to admit: ‘Most probably not’. The mere fulfilment of duty in itself cannot be productive of permanently good results. We must know, among the multiplicity of duties that surround us, which is the most important; and finally we must face the problem: ‘What is the highest, the one real duty of life?’

Some people say that helping others is the highest duty. But why should we help others? Because some one has said so, or because it is written in some book? Why should we not kill everybody and enrich ourselves? The Bible declares: ‘Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man’.^[1] The Quran says: ‘Follow the teachings of Mohammed; this is the whole duty of man’. Zoroaster tells us: ‘Follow the teachings of the Zend Avesta and obey the commands of Ahura Mazda; in this lies the whole duty of man’. But why should we fear God? The answer comes: ‘Because if we do not, He will punish us’. But why does He command in one way for one nation and in a different way for another? How, when the scriptures all vary, can each lay claim to supreme authority? In the Quran we read that a man may marry twenty times—Mohammed himself had eighteen wives—and this is one of the commands of God under the social conditions prevailing in that particular country; but it would scarcely do in America. Variation, indeed, is a salient feature of so-called divine commands, and when a man has read all the scriptures of the world, he does not know which to follow. Why, then, should we obey the decrees of God? There are many who do not believe in punishment; what is left for them? They will not be impelled to observe God’s commands, since they have no fear of His wrath; therefore such persons will have no duty.

The word ‘duty’ is an abstract term, and, like all abstract terms, it cannot be defined. We can, however, get some idea of what is meant by it, if we study the different scriptures and reduce their teachings to their simplest forms. In the commands of God, we observe that all those which say: ‘Do not do this or that’, may be summed up in the admonition: ‘Do not be selfish, be unselfish’. Let any divine command be analyzed, and this will be found to be its basis. Any action that leads one from selfishness to unselfishness, that broadens and elevates the character, that brings freedom to the soul and directs it Godward, is good, and, therefore, becomes the highest duty of every individual. On the other hand, that which shuts one within the narrow walls of one’s limited lower nature, is selfish and should be avoided. When a man has realized this, his idea of duty will no longer be confined to the sayings of any book or of any person, but will be founded upon the universal law of unselfishness. His standard will be: ‘That which uplifts the character is right, that which degrades is wrong’. The particular line of action, however, which will elevate or degrade an individual, will vary according to his nature and his environment. Elevation and degradation should not be measured by the standard of any one particular person in one particular stage of development, but by the loftiest ideal of all individuals, of all sects, and of all religions. The highest common standard is the absolute freedom of the soul from every bondage. That which leads to such freedom, is elevating; that which keeps one in bondage, is degrading. Therefore, it is said by Hindu philosophers: That which elevates the soul, which brings prosperity and absolute freedom, both here and hereafter, is true duty’. This ideal of duty is like the pole star which points the way to the ship of the human soul in “the troubled waters of the ocean of activity, gradually guiding it across the deep sea to the land of perfect freedom.

We have only to be constantly mindful of this one fact, that to be unselfish is our sole duty, and apply it to our daily round, to be sure that our highest duty is being accomplished. In ordinary life, we are confronted by various kinds of duties—towards ourselves, towards our family, our neighbour, towards society, country, humanity, and finally, as the culmination, towards all living creatures; for the one idea which is universal and common to all in every country and in all ages, is the non-injuring, either mentally or physically, of any living being. First we start from the lower self, from the ‘I’ or ‘me’, then by degrees we come to recognize the self of others. When we begin to feel for others in the same way as we do for ourselves, we commence to rise above the limitations of this narrow self; and at that very moment we have taken our first step towards unselfishness. The end is reached when we realize that all living creatures are equal to ourselves. Jesus the Christ said: ‘Love thy neighbour as thyself’, and ‘Love your enemies’, but He did not preach: ‘Love all living creatures’, as did Buddha. When a goat was going to be killed, Buddha came forward and offered his own life for that of the goat. The goat’s life was saved, and the man who would have killed it, afterwards became Buddha’s disciple. When we begin to cherish all living creatures as we cherish ourselves, we have reached the state of development where the sense of ‘I,’ ‘me’, and ‘mine’ vanishes; where we see all creation as one on the spiritual plane. Therefore it is said in the Bhagavad Gita: “He who sees the same divine Self equally abiding in all, doth not kill himself by his Self and so attaineth the supreme goal”.^[2] This realization of oneness of spirit is the highest ideal of life. It is the climax of unselfishness,’ and becomes identical with Divine love, because God loves all creatures equally. His love, indeed, shines alike upon all, as does the light of the sun upon man and beast without distinction of kind.

When this love or feeling of oneness awakens in the soul, we rise above all duty, and work, not through a sense of obligation, but through love. Which is the higher of these two motives? Love must be higher than duty, and where there is love, there can be no thought of duty. We observe in ordinary life how, when one person falls in love with another, he loses all feeling of duty towards friends, relatives, and society; because love has annihilated all consciousness of other duties and freed the soul. While we are bound by duty, we are slaves; but if in this condition of slavery we are carried away by a strong feeling of love, all the sense of duty to family or society, which previously held us in bondage, melts away, and at that moment we become free. So we see that wherever there is true love, there is freedom, and no vestige of duty can remain. God has no duty towards any living creature, but He has love for all. We should try, then, to distinguish between love and duty; since duty puts us in bondage, makes us slaves; while love brings freedom and emancipation to the soul.

When the feeling of love towards every living creature comes to any one, that person is free from all duties, from all bondage, from all attachment to his physical nature. He does not seek sense pleasure, neither does he care to preserve the lower self or to protect the body, because he realizes that he is not the body but soul. Even when the body is tom in pieces, he is not moved, but holds to the consciousness of his spiritual nature, his Atman or divine self, which cannot be cut in pieces, cannot be burnt by fire, moistened by water or dried by air.^[3] In realizing this, he also works without thought of return. Even those who do their duty with the hope of return, cease to think of results when they begin to be actuated by love; and all work performed through this higher motive of love takes the form of acts of worship of the supreme spirit.

Duty is seldom sweet, when not accompanied by love, on the contrary, it is exceedingly bitter. Suppose a wife has to perform her duty towards her husband, if there is no love, is it pleasant? Or, if the husband must do his duty towards his wife, not from love, but simply because they are bound together by law, is there any happiness in it? Where there is love, however, there is joy and peace, and love never seeks any return.^[4] True love makes one work for love’s sake, and the sense of duty disappears. He who understands this, knows the philosophy of work; and, moved in all his actions by love alone, be becomes blessed and a divine worker.

Jesus gave himself to mankind, because he loved them. Buddha helped humanity, because he saw men miserable and suffering and could not resist his desire to save them, any more than could a man who, seeing some one drowning and losing all thought of himself, of his very life even, rushes to the rescue. That which makes us forget our own self or our own life, is true love and beyond duty. Or rather it is the fulfilment of the highest duty, and must, therefore, bring freedom. Then whatever we do, we do through love and live in this world like incarnations of Divinity.

The final end of duty is freedom and Divine love, and with the awakening of this love comes all knowledge. Divine love and Divine wisdom are one. They unfold the inner self simultaneously and lead us to God-consciousness. The moment that a man loves all living creatures as he loves himself, he has known the Self of all and has risen to the realm of God-consciousness; he is no longer on the human plane. Divine love means expression of the feeling of oneness. This oneness does not appear on the physical but only on the highest spiritual plane; therefore when any one reaches this state, he knows God and sees Divinity in everything. He does not see black man, white man, or lower animals, but the divine self behind these various forms. God is manifesting everywhere and through every form equally.^[5] When such a man looks on the face of a person, his eye-sight goes below the surface to bottom, to the very core, to the Soul of that soul; and through his deeper vision he perceives that the source of consciousness, existence, and bliss within that individual is the same as Atman or the Divine spark within himself. In thus seeing oneness, he performs his highest duty, becomes one with God, and declares as did Jesus the Christ: ‘I and my Father are one’. He dwells in that supreme God-consciousness forever; he has no trouble, anxiety, or sorrow; he is free, emancipated and blissful.^[6] How can there be any sorrow, suffering, misery, or pain where there is nothing but Divinity? All these exist where the idea of duality or multiplicity prevails; but with the recognition of spiritual unity comes the cessation of pain, sorrow, and suffering.^[7]

The universe is one ocean of Divinity, and all fear of death and punishment must vanish with the realization of this Truth. The real self never suffers. It is already divine and free from birth and death;^[8] and when we know this, life becomes worth—living here and now. Otherwise, we may perform duties forever without finding peace and happiness; but when we realize our oneness with Divinity and reach that state of superconsciousness, or God-consciousness, all our desires and duties are fulfilled, all the knots of our hearts are rent asunder, all doubts cease forever, all questions are answered,^[9] and the individual soul passes all laws. He, who has understood the one supreme duty and fulfilled that, has reached freedom and gained Divine love and Divine wisdom on this earth. He transcends all the law of karma, the law of compensation and of retribution and enters into the abode of everlasting existence, intelligence and bliss.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Eccles, vii, v. 13 [18?].

[2]:

samaṃ paśyan hi sarvatra samavasthitamīśvaram |
na [?] hinastyātmanātmānaṃ tato yāti parāṃ gatim ||
     —Bhagavad Gita, XIII, 28 [29?].

[3]:

nainaṃ chindanti śastrāṇi nainaṃ dahati pāvakaḥ |
na cainaṃ kledayantyāpo na śoṣayati mārutaḥ ||
acchedyo'yamadāhyo'yamakledyo'śoṣya eva ca | 
    —Bhagavad Gita, II, 23-24.

[4]:

yuktaḥ karmaphalaṃ tyaktvā śāntimāpnoti naiṣṭhikīm |
ayuktaḥ kāmakāreṇa phale sakto nibadhyate ||
     —Bhagavad Gila, V, 12.

[5]:

sarvabhūtasthamātmānaṃ sarvabhūtāni cātmani |
kṣate [īkṣate?] yogayuktātmā sarvatra samadarśanaḥ ||
     —Bhagavad Gita, VI, 29.

[6]:

samaduḥkhasukhaṃ dhīraṃ so'mṛtatvāya kalpate ||
     —Bhagavad Gila, II, 15.

[7]:

yatra hi dvaitamiva bhavati taditara itaraṁ jighrati, taditaraṃ itaraṁ paśyati * *; yatra vā asya sarvamātmaivābhūttat kena kaṁ jighret, tat kena kaṁ paśyet (vṛha0 u0 2.4.14) |

asyai tadātmakāmamātmakāmamakāmaṃ rupaṃ śokāntaram (vṛha0 u0 4.3.2) |

[8]:

na jāyate mriyate vā kadācinnāyaṃ bhūtvā bhavitā vā na bhūyaḥ |
ajo nityaḥ śāśvato'yaṃ purāṇo na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre || 
    —Bhagavad Gita, II, 20.

[9]:

bhidyate hṛdayagranthiśchidyante sarvasaṃśayāḥ |
kṣīyante cāsya karmāṇi tasmin dṛṣṭe parāvare ||
     —Mundaka Upanishad, 2.2.8.