Tenet 3: Intentions over Results… and Actions

Basically, we can write-off an entire action, irrespective of the results, if the underlying intention is right! The main point here is that although the physical body does generate some karmic residue, the biggest contribution comes from our mind, through intentions and desires computations – from the “Me” corner of the I-triangle. At a technical level, the message of this tenet is to clean-up that Me-corner from all the stored “impressions” – inherited and acquired. After all, the real source of all actions is in our mind, and therefore that is the real generator of karmic residue, consistent with our earlier Akashic records discussion.

Our intentions clear up only with a clear mind – this is how karma yoga integrates the meditation discipline, the dhyana yoga, into its doctrine. A perfect action requires a perfect mind! Krishna tells Arjuna – yoga is skill in action (2.50).  While using our skills, if we get tangled up everywhere, that’s not much of anything, is it? Is stealing a skill?  It depends!  Hence, it’s included in the list of sixty-four cardinal arts… Continuing on, here’s another  interesting question:

Q: What if the resultant “benefit” from an U-I centric action that is compliant with tenets 1 & 2, is negative?

Yogis: As long as it’s brahman centric, and originating intention is also in line with that, then the actor gets a free pass! It’s the intention that matters … not the outcomes. According to Tenet 1, the results of actions are impossible to predict anyway, isn’t it? Then how can Karma be based on something so unpredictable? On the flip side, just standing at the right time at the right place also does not count.

Karma follows the entire causal chain – back to how Akashic records are generated. Intentions and action-selection are solely under actor’s control, and therefore the actor bears full responsibility for the karmic residue for that. The unpredictable results? Not so much!

This message is repeated several times, but here is one from Karma-Sanyasa Yoga (5.10):

ब्रह्मण्याधाय कर्माणि सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा करोति यः।
लिप्यते न स पापेन पद्मपत्रमिवाम्भसा॥१०॥
Brahmaṇyādhāya karmāṇi saṅgaṁ tyaktvā karoti yaḥ|
Lipyate na sa pāpena padmapatramivāmbhasā||10||

Translation: Actions undertaken with U-I (Brahman) purpose, s/he who abandoned any personal attachment, does not contract any karmic debt….

Verses (4.20), (4.21) and (5.7) also convey similar messages: one who conducts actions without being affected by the outcomes, who is beyond polarities and sense of doer-ship, incurs no karmic debt from his/her actions. That’s why yogis spend a lot of time meditating to clean out the lower emotions – strong desires (kama), anger (krodha), miserliness (lobha), strong attachment (moha), pride (mada), jealousy (matsarya) – and to develop higher emotions such as empathy, compassion, universal love and equanimity. From a kriya yoga perspective, the lower emotions are a result of limitations of our nervous system. To Pattabhi Jois’s point, all the circus we go through in yoga studios/ashrams is to expand the capacity of the nervous system to enable development of these higher emotions. The purpose of all the contemplation points we go through is to seed the new capacity with right information. This process of cleaning the mind is called “chitta suddhi”.

There’s this lingering question – is your mind really yours (what criteria do we use to make this assessment)? We will come back to this at some point, but yogis point out that another important thing to do away with is the sense of “doer-ship”. Below is another loaded verse from Gita:

प्रकृतेः क्रियमाणानि गुणैः कर्माणि सर्वशः।
अहङ्कारविमूढात्मा कर्ताहमिति मन्यते॥२७॥
Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ|
Ahaṅkāravimūḍhātmā kartāhamiti manyate||3. 27||

Translation: Actions are performed completely by the fundamental forces (gunas) of nature (prakriti). One who is deluded and bewildered by ego thinks: “I am the doer”.

This is definitely a contemplation-worthy verse – it says that nature is doing all the work, through us, implying that we are just nature’s automatons! Yogis’ advice? Wake up and be fully conscious, if you don’t want to be just an automaton. Strive to rise above nature. Pretty lofty task here but, per yogis, it’s achievable.

In summary, we can now see the chain of thought: “I am willing it with my intentions”, which leads to “I am the doer”, which leads to “I deserve that result”, which finally leads to “hence, I own the benefit”. No karmic consequences included in this chain anywhere! Yogis advise us to address it at the root, at the Intention level. That attitude changes only with a clear understanding of the benefit of zero karma, which in itself is the biggest reward! Let’s contemplate on that….