Karma phala tyāgaḿ – Chapter – 15

Shishya expresses, “O Venerable Guru! This indeed is beautiful and astonishing to hear. I am grateful and thankful to You for revealing the inner secrets of the Supreme Self. But, when both happiness and sorrow are inherent in each and every action and inaction, words, thoughts and speech and fruits of the actions and inactions in this universe, how can one maintain either neutrality or equanimity to show gratitude and offer thanks to the Supreme Self? I beg You to pardon my doubt but I beseech You to help me.”

Guru replies, “Son, your question is an unusual one. What causes happiness and sorrow? How do they become inherent in each and every action, inaction, word, thought, speech and fruits of the actions and inactions in this universe? Does it really exist in the inherent nature of the self-luminous akshara? Who is it to say which is happiness and which is sorrow?

Child, any semblance of feeling or emotion is the experience of the manifested state of the self-luminous akshara. To say it is an illusion, will again be ambiguous as its origin and inherent nature is Aksharam. As I said earlier, a created being should know, realize, understand, perceive and experience the unmanifest state of the self-luminous akshara with the help of the “body” or manifested state of the self-luminous akshara that will lead him to be immersed and absorbed into the Supreme Self.

When a sadhana or practice or anuṣṭhāna is undertaken, the natural feeling of a created being is to expect a result or a fruit. It is this feeling of expectation that dictates which is happiness and which is sorrow. It is not only extremely difficult to instruct a created being not to expect a fruit or result for every action and inaction, word, thought and speech but also difficult to implement it, as there is bound to be a reaction that is appropriate to the effort put in.

What must instead be done, is to accept the fruit or result of the sadhana or anuṣṭhāna or practice undertaken as the appropriate acknowledgement of the effort put in and show gratitude and offer thanks to the Supreme Self.

A created being should thus practise acceptance with the feeling that whatever has been bestowed by the Supreme Self is appropriate and in the best interest of all creation and show gratitude and offer thanks to the Supreme Self. This practice of acceptance will lead the rising feeling of expectation to gradually become negligible attaining neutrality and equanimity.

The practice of acceptance along with showing gratitude and offering thanks to the Supreme Self and the practice of Self-Surrender will lead the created being to see the Self existing equally as existing within and outside him and all-pervading which is equanimity and thus, become immersed and absorbed into the Supreme Self.”