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What is Right Karma or Concise Gita for Daily Practice?

--By Prakash Narain* from Maryland (USA)

The law of karma judges us by our intent behind the act and not by the act itself.
Acceptance of the law makes us correct our intent from the present onwards for correct acts. Forgetting our past, our correct acts suppress our past and secure us freedom from misery from now onwards.
What should I do ? was the simple question Arjuna put to Shree Krishna.
His reply was the discourse known as the Gita .What is concise Gita for us for
this question which we face daily? Firstly, under the law of karma, we should surrender our past to God because we can do nothing about it and resolve to act correctly from now onwards.
Secondly, we should remind ourselves that in their reality all are one with us
in God and so we should love all as ourselves in our mind and to the extent
practical in our conduct .This is jnaana.There is no point in hating anyone because it was God who made him powerful to hurt as a consequence of our past karma.
If not 'A,' 'B' would have been there as God's instrument to hurt us.
Thirdly, we should check that none of the six passions motivates our act, which
makes it wrong. Love expressed in benevolence makes acts right because it creates oneness, which is Brahman.
The six passions are excess of

Kaama (desire, including lust),
Krodha (anger),
Lobha (greed),
Moha (attachment or the feeling of 'mine'),
Ahamkaara (ego) and
Matsara (envy).
Fourthly, we should intend hurt to none.

Fifthly, the fruit of our act is our right because it is inseparable from the act. No act is possible without desire or fruit. By our choice, we surrender our desire for specific fruit to God.This is because we have faith in His being the personification of love for us as his children. So, He will give us the best for us that He knows. We do not truly know what is the best for us to ask for and when.
Lastly, we pray to God that if our intent is incorrect, He may prevent the act or correct its result. Even after these checks, if we hesitate, we should make use of another belief. If we surrender our good act and ourselves to God, He becomes the real and we the apparent doer of the act. So, we dedicate our correct act to God and surrender ourselves to Him. All this also applies to our duty to defend our family, life, property and country. By our surrender, we become detached from the act and its result both, because the act is now desireless for us. Notice that when we thought of the act, it was motivated by a desire, but the dedication to God of its specific fruit that we initially desired makes it desireless for us.This constant attitude of dedication and surrender is difficult till we realize that no result that we expect from any of our acts is ever a certainty.
These steps are the concise Gita for us.It is for quick and hopeful decisions for our karma in predicaments we all face daily. For predicaments we need guidance in scriptures and from gurus. A little thinking develops our trust in the efficacy of these steps to become our quick sifting second nature.The steps free us from anxiety, strain and fear and set us on the selfless and fearless path of karmayoga of the Gita.This path ensures us a successful life filled with the bliss of the highest order on one hand and on the other makes our life truly spiritual. Gita explains the rationale of our beliefs to strengthen our faith in these steps. Thus, Gita teaches us to associate God with every thought and act to make our daily working life spiritual and thereby make God care for, guide us and protect us because we live in our divine nature or Dharma.(see Gita 9:22)
The above steps steer us clear of any intractable situation.The steps destroy the baseless and unnatural fear of sin and therefore of God.This fearlessness is the aim of the Gita and of the Indian Philosophy.Those who always act out of love do not have to think of control over senses and passions or about right and wrong acts or the above steps. Love for all takes us above dharma and adharma both in the manner of a jeevanamukta (the liberated in life). Following these steps, we get the strength to treat all setbacks as 'this too shall pass.' If we live in love of all, its form is selflessness.Both constitute bhakti. At the end of the Gita, Shree Krishna advised Arjuna bhakti. So, Arjuna received bhakti based on jnaana or jnaanabhakti and enjoyed its indescribable bliss on the earth.This bliss was greater than that of Self-realization, salvation or of heaven.That is why Shree Krishna gave it to Arjuna. (Gita 18:53-57, :63-66)

*About the Author
Mr.Prakash Narain was born in December 1917
in Haveli Jugal Kishore, Chandni Chowk, Delhi
and since 1981 lives in Maryland, USA
email: authorip@hotmail.com