A few years back, there was a Hindi movie, “Oh My God” where the movie ends with a message that an image of god is not necessary and one can be aligned to the idea of god better without an image. What is the idea behind this message? We also hear people making statements that rituals are wasted or ideas in the Upanishads or ideas of Buddhism are a revolt against कर्म-काण्ड. Where did these ideas enter into our brains?  

Some of us may be aware of the rise of protestant religion in the European middle ages which came up with an idea that priests are a problem or one must therefore focus on the scripture by a direct reading as against participating in the rituals spread by the catholics. Since Bharat was colonized, did we imbibe this world-view into our brains unknowingly (or knowingly)? And in this context, when someone makes a statement – “I am not religious”, does it mean that the person is taking a view against rituals. And if this person adds that “I am not religious but am spiritual”, does it not resonate with the protestant view that we can know god directly from a book that is translated into English (as against retaining this in Latin)? Is there any sense is seeing the expressions in the Upanishads or ideas of Buddhism are a revolt against कर्म-काण्ड? And my importing such world views into धर्म, have we created unnecessary confusion for ourselves? 

Whatever the trigger that may have led the director of OMG to convey the message about lack of utility of an image, is there a more sensible way to understand the ideas of our own शास्त्र? This blog conveys my opinion of what may be seen as an appropriate way to understand the utility of कर्म-काण्ड as a means for ज्ञान. For this, we need to clearly know the meaning and usage of the terms अकर्म, कर्म, कर्मयोग उपासना, ज्ञानयोग & finally ज्ञानी. Once the hierarchy in the usage of these words is comprehended appropriately, meaningless-ness of the usage of phrases “I am religious but not spiritual” should become apparent.  If daily chanting of आदित्य हृदयम् in a पूजा गृह is seen as an expression of कर्म-काण्ड (as an example), how each of these terms can be understood in the context of daily chanting of आदित्य हृदयम् is conveyed below.

1. अकर्म – a person who does no कर्म; may talk all theory at best, like an Indology professor may convey a lot of “information” on the ideas contained in the शास्त्र but does no कर्म at all from a धार्मिक perspective. Even a lazy person may be said to live in the mode of अकर्म (lazy from a धार्मिक lens). Essentially, if the focus of the life is अर्थ and काम only, such a one is leading a materialistic life only and such a one may be said to live in the mode of अकर्म. Other words that may be used for such a person is कर्मी or लौकिक-कर्मी or चार्वाक. And when the word अकर्म is used, it does not mean that person does not do any कर्म but actually does not do any कर्म from a धार्मिक perspective as conveyed in the शास्त्र.  Such a person will therefore not be aware of आदित्य हृदयम् or will be aware of आदित्य हृदयम् but will not chant this daily (or weekly or at any time) or may even know the meaning of the contents of आदित्य हृदयम् but will not perform any कर्म as conveyed in the शास्त्र with respect to आदित्य हृदयम्. 
2. ⁠कर्म – someone who chants आदित्य हृदयम् daily because it was done by parents and because of a belief that chanting this daily will enable overall well-being may be said to live in the mode of कर्म. Once who does कर्म does so for obtaining a कर्म-फल and owing to strong affinity to the कर्म-फल, such a person will do नित्य पारायण of the श्लोक. And while this person may also be seen as a कर्मी (since even one living in the mode of अकर्म has affinity to कर्म-फल), the difference here is that when we say that this person is living in the mode of कर्म, we mean कर्म aligned to शास्त्र and not any लौकिक कर्म  that is driven purely by अहंकार. 
3. ⁠कर्मयोग – This is the next level. This person will chant आदित्य हृदयम् daily (or perform any other नित्य कर्म) not solely for any benefit to the family or oneself but because शास्त्र mandates such a कर्म. There is a continuous adherence to the discipline of नित्य कर्म since the शास्त्र said so – and this person has full श्रद्धा over the शास्त्र  and such relentless pursuit of कर्म irrespective of whether फल comes about or not makes one a कर्मयोगी. Along with performance of the कर्म, such a person takes effort to know the meaning of the श्लोक, reads and/ or listens to multiple भाष्याकारs of the शास्त्र on a continuous basis throughout life. A कर्मयोगी derives immense joy in performance of नित्य कर्म and listening or dwelling more in knowing the meaning of कर्म on a continuing basis. And over time, this attitude of performing कर्म not to satiate any काम but because such a कर्म is one’s own धर्म takes over the entire persona of a कर्मयोगी. He is also said to operate in the mode of निष्काम कर्म. And such an attitude contributes to चित्तशुद्धि (cleansing of one’s mind from all sub-optimal लौकिक attitudes) thereby paving the way for attaining ज्ञान. 
4. ⁠उपासना – सू्र्य gives light – ईश्वर gives light of ज्ञान, सू्र्य is essential for life – ईश्वर is essential for life, सू्र्य rises / remains and sets, ईश्वर does सृष्टि/ स्थिति/ लय, etc. When one does उपासना, one no longer sees सू्र्य as an object in the sky but each time one sees it, one likens its qualities with qualities of ईश्वर. In the process, via सूर्य उपासना, सूर्य becomes an आलम्बना (support) to dwell on the qualities of ईश्वर. And when one chants आदित्य हृदयम् daily, one will realize that many words in the श्लोक are referring to ईश्वर only. There is no distinction between आदित्य & ईश्वर – both are perceived as one only or one may say that आदित्य is indeed the भगवान् or ईश्वर. It is not that this person is not aware of सूर्य being one of the lakhs of सूर्य across all galaxies – but the दृष्टि of engaging with सूर्य is to engage with the qualities of सूर्य and seeing their similarities with the qualities of ईश्वर. One who does उपासना thus focusses on imbibing the qualities of ईश्वर into oneself and उपासना is a significant कर्म one needs to undertake necessarily to eventually move into the mode of ज्ञान. 
5. ज्ञान योग: Till now, we are in the mode of कर्म and from now onwards, we are in the zone of ज्ञान. In ज्ञान योग, one learns to see ईश्वर everywhere. नित्य कर्म continues to be performed but owing to चित्त शुद्धि obtained by practice of कर्म योग over a long period of time, one strives to see the qualities of ईश्वर everywhere – one sees space and sees ईश्वर operating through space, one sees water and sees ईश्वर operating through it, one sees a mountain and sees ईश्वर operating through it it, etc. The word योग may be seen as “striving” and thus one who is in a ज्ञान योग mode strives to see ईश्वर operating everywhere – in nature, in animals, in plants and in fellow human beings. This is still a stage of striving since while चित्त शुद्धि has expanded one’s horizons, one has still not been able to attain a state where one sees or experiences ईश्वर everywhere . It is for this reason that this person, while living in the mode of a ज्ञानयोगी continues to perform नित्य कर्म (rituals) and उपासना क्रिया – this aspect of life never changes or stops. And the pinnacle of attainment for such a one living in the mode of ज्ञान योग is to become a ज्ञानी. 
6. ज्ञानी: Pages can be written on this. In the second chapter of the श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता, भगवान् uses the word स्थितप्रज्ञ for a ज्ञानी. This person has attained the state of ईश्वर or one may even say that this person has gone beyond ईश्वर to attained ब्रह्म. Every aspect of conduct, every expression, every word that comes out from the mouth of this person is an expression of ब्रह्म only. Such a one does not see any distinction between life & death since such a one has already attained the state of सनातन (or has become eternal). Such a one does not perform any कर्म – since only a person who sees distinctions between people, animals, universe, etc., is said to perform कर्म while one who is established in one-ness lives such a ज्ञान in day to day actions – and such spontaneous actions are not referred to as कर्म at all (just as भगवान् does no कर्म but whatever भगवान् does is referred to as लीला but not कर्म). Interestingly, knowing that such a person is seen by लोक as भगवान्, filled with immense करुणा towards all, even though such a one may not need to perform any कर्म, such a one continues to perform नित्य कर्म so as to be an example for all beings. Such a one knows very well that if one takes people away from नित्य कर्म, the chance for people to move towards ज्ञान to taken out permanently. And owing to tremendous responsibility that a ज्ञानी carries for all beings, कर्म as conveyed in the शास्त्र continues to be performed till the last day such a one lives among all beings.

Given the above, we may conclude as below:

1. Statements like “rituals are not necessary”, “revolt against rituals”, I am religious but not spiritual” seem like uninformed ramblings or distractions – these may be set aside by those who wish to pursue साधना in a diligent way to attain ज्ञान. कर्म-काण्ड is an essential activity for ज्ञान. 
2. When लौकिक attainments like taking an exam or becoming a CEO require a person to undertake a lot of कर्म, how can one say that one will shed कर्म to attain ज्ञान?
3. वेद itself did not create binary categories of कर्म-काण्ड and ज्ञान- काण्ड – it is the later भाष्याकारs who brought out this binary for ease of explanation. To therefore take out the need for कर्म-काण्ड or questioning its utility is infantile, to say the least. 
4. कर्म-काण्ड is not to be seen as an initial step – instead, it needs to be performed even after one attains a ज्ञान स्थिति.
5. Utility of कर्म is that one attains चित्त शुद्धि – the qualities of discipline, consistency and diligence that one attains deepens that capabilities of the mind and enables it to understand the intent of the कर्म and its benefit in a clearer manner. 
6. Not doing any कर्म will merely give information of the highest – but without taming the mind (viz what कर्म-काण्ड does), one can never hope to attain the ज्ञान स्थिति
7. Lastly, the so-called revolt of the Upanishads against the कर्म-काण्ड is not really a revolt – all they are urging a साधक is that one must not stop at कर्म or उपासना states but continue to engage with कर्म as a ज्ञान-योग – such an engagement will take one to the ultimate goal of धर्म viz attainment of ज्ञान स्थिति.

ॐ तत् सत्