Demystifying Patanjali: The Yoga Sutras (Aphorisms) by Paramhansa Yogananda

Author:Paramhansa Yogananda
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781565895201
Publisher: Crystal Clarity Publishers

2-2 | In these ways, our obstacles become minimized.

We should try always to be aware that, in our souls, we are ever perfect. It is we ourselves who created the obstacles to the awareness of that truth. Well, that isn’t quite fair! Yes, it was God who created this delusion of separateness in the first place. Still, our sins or bad karma, and even any karma that we knotted to ourselves with the thought of our separate reality—all these actions, taking place as they do in a realm of duality, must have their opposite reactions.

A freed soul, or jivan mukta, no longer acts with any thought that he is acting for himself. He has risen above ego-consciousness. Thus, though his actions have consequences, these results are not tied to himself. They affect others—and always beneficially, for in that state one desires only the general good—but those karmas do not return to the doer.

The Bhagavad Gita makes the important point that one cannot get out of karma simply by not acting. One who lives in a body is forced to act even by the fact that he must breathe! Those who try not to create more karma by simply not acting become dullards! We cannot but act. It is very necessary, therefore, that we act energetically for the good. Yogananda said, “You have to be very active for God, to attain that actionless state.”

The best way to get out of ego is to serve others with love and sensitive attention to their needs.

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