CHAPTER FIVE

Karma-yoga – Action in Kṛ ṣṇa

Consciousness

Frequently asked questions

• What is KARMA YOGA?

• Ans:our work is motivated by the desire to enjoy its fruits. But when
we offer the fruits of our work to Lord Krishna as an act of sacrifice,
our work becomes karma yoga.
• When one applies everything produced of the body, mind,
intelligence, words, life, wealth, etc.–whatever
he may have within his possession–to Kṛṣṇa's service, he is at once
dovetailed with Kṛṣṇa and hence all his activities become karma
yoga.

• What is the purpose of YOGA?

• Ans: Purification of senses, mind and intelligence.

• Which is better Renunciation of Action (Karma Sannyasi) or

performance of actions (Karma yogi)?
• Ans: Both leads to the highest bliss, but performance of actions is
better than Renunciation of Action.

• action in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is always superior to

renunciation, which always entails a risk of falling.
Renunciation without Kṛṣṇa consciousness is incomplete.

• What bewilders the embodied being covering his real knowledge?

• Ans:Ignorance.

• How can one be a Non-Offensive person?

• Ans: A man of controlled senses cannot be Offensive to anyone.

A man of controlled senses cannot be offensive to anyone

• How can one become dear to everyone, and everyone dear to him?
• Ans:By working in devotion and controlling his mind and sense.
• One who works in devotion, who is a pure soul, and who
controls his mind and senses, is dear to everyone, and
everyone is dear to him. Though always working, such a
man is never entangled

• What is called as the city of nine gates?

• Ans: Material body.

• The material body [nine gates], who creates activities inducing one to
act and create the fruits of action?
• Ans: The modes of material nature. The activities of the body, or
the figurative city of body, are conducted automatically by
theparticular modes of nature.
forgetfulness of his superior nature, he identifies with the
material body, and therefore suffers.

• What are the Nine Gates of the Body?

• Ans:Two eyes, two nostrils, two ears, one mouth, the anus and the
genitals.

• Who remains unaffected by sinful action?

• Ans:One who performs his duty without attachment, surrendering
the results unto the Supreme Lord.
• One who performs his duty without attachment,
surrendering the results unto the Supreme God, is not
affected by sinful action, as the lotus leaf is untouched by
water.

• The result of ASHTANG YOGA describes, liberation can be

achieved by practicing it.
• Ans:By always remaining in that state.
• one can come to that position by the practice of mysticism or yoga,
known as aṣṭāṅga-yoga, which is divisible into an eightfold procedure
called yama, niyama, āsana, prāṇāyāma, pratyāhāra, dhāraṇā, dhyāna, and
samādhi
The eightfold yoga mysticism is automatically practiced in Kṛṣṇa
consciousness because the ultimate
purpose is served.
• Why do a learned transcendentalist or a Krishna conscious person
sees everyone with equal vision?
• Ans:They see Paramatma being present in everyone’s heart.
• The humble sage, by virtue of true knowledge, sees with equal vision
a learned and gentle brāhmaṇa, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a
dogeater [outcasteThe Lord as Paramātmā is present both in the
outcaste and in the brāhmaṇa, although the body of a brāhmaṇa and
that of an outcaste are not the same.

• After knowing about Krishna and my original identity, I become very

attached to spiritual life. So, how to balance professional and spiritual
life?
• Ans: Suppose, you don’t perform your professional duties well
because of spiritual activities, then people will criticize Krishna on
behalf of you and you will never like this. So, we should be very
efficient in our professional duties so that we get enough time for
spiritual practice.
• krsna conscious person is daksha that is expert he knows to balance
both, we should follow examples of mahajans like ambrish maharaj
and janak maharaj. krsna himself was an expert and also srila
prapbupada, bhakti vinoda thakkur and many other devotees are
perfect examples of balancing spiritual and material life. (one can
read in details about how they used to carry on their daily life and be
inspired)

• Relationship between Action (karma) and Duty (dharma)?

 • Ans: Karma is dharma in ACTION. Through our thoughts, words,
and deeds it carves the path we are destined to follow.
Dharma is specific duty, karma is activity
As long as one is not liberated, one has to perform the duties of that
particular body in accordance with religious principles in order to achieve
liberation. When one is liberated, one's svadharma–specific duty–becomes
spiritual and is not in the material bodily concept. On the bodily plane
svadharma is called varṇāśramadharma, or man's steppingstone for spiritual
understanding, by a combination of modes of nature and under the control
and purview of eternal time there are activities which are called karma, in
every field of life we enjoy the results of our work, or we suffer the results.
This is called karma. Karma is not eternal.
Karma or activities in accordance with svadharma becomes spiritual or
varnashrma dharma becomes stepping stone for spiritual progress or else
other activities or karmas will lead us to either enjoy the results or suffer
based on our karma

• what does the word yoga mean in bhagavad gita?

• Ans:Yoga is a balanced state of the body and mind.

The process of linking oneself with the Supreme is called yoga, which
may be compared to a ladder for attaining the topmost spiritual
realization. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the easiest process of executing
yoga principles.

• Is sankhya-yoga and karma-yoga the same?

• Ans:Yes
• sāṅkhya means analytical description of the body and the soul. Lord
Kṛṣṇa made an analytical description of the soul just to bring Arjuna
to the point of buddhi-yoga, or bhakti-yoga. Therefore, Lord Kṛṣṇa's
 sāṅkhya and Lord Kapila's sāṅkhya, as described in the Bhāgavatam;
are one and the same. They are all bhakti-yoga. Only the less
intelligent class of men make a distinction between sāṅkhya-yoga and
bhakti-yoga.

• Why a Krishna conscious person is not affected by sinful action?

• Ans: He performs his duty without attachment and He surrenders
the results unto the Lord. He just carries the orders of krsna or his
representative just like arjuna, srilaprabhupada

• What is a subtle form of conditioning for the living entity?

• Ans:Desire.

• How many Limbs doesAshtanga-yogahave?

• Ans:Eightfold.

• What are the Eight Limbs of Ashtanga Yoga?

• Ans:Yama, niyama, āsana, prāṇ āyāma, pratyāhāra, dhāraṇ ā, dhyāna
and samādhi.

• What should a transcendentalist tolerate before quitting the material

body?
• Ans:Desire&Anger

• Why closing of the eyes not advised in the yogic process?

• Ans:There is every chance for the person to sleep

There is no benefit in closing the eyes altogether, because then there is

every chance of falling asleep. Nor is there benefit in opening the
 eyes completely, because then there is the hazard of being attracted
by sense objects.
• A person neither rejoices after achieving something nor laments after
losing something related to this body?
• Ans:A self-realized person
• One who is transcendentally situated and is equally disposed to
every living entity at once realizes the Supreme Brahman. He never
laments nor desires to have anything and in that state he attains pure
devotional service unto Me.

• How can one attain Supreme?

• Ans:In Krishna consciousness, Under proper guidance&Without
attachment.
Those who are free from anger and all material desires, who are self
realized, self-disciplined and constantly endeavoring for perfection,
are assured of liberation in the Supreme in the very near future.
A krsna conscious person or devotee of krsna

• What is the Nature of the soul?

• Ans: Nature of the Soul is always being Active.

• What is the Soul?

• Ans: The soul is not the body, because we can lose or replace any part
of this physical form without losing who we are.
• There are two kinds of souls—namely the minute particle soul
(aṇuātmā) and the Supersoul (the vibhu-ātmā).

This atomic soul is floating in the five kinds of air [prāṇa,

apāna, vyāna, samāna and udāna], is situated within the heart,
 and spreads its influence all over the body of the embodied
living entities.
only one who has become free from all material desires as well as
lamentations can, by the grace of the Supreme, understand the glories
of the soul

• What is Super soul?

• Ans: when we think of God, or Life, or Divinity, the concept we’re
thinking about can be called Paramatma. This is the Supreme Soul, or
the Supersoul. Paramatma is present in each and every living being
• Supersoul who is present in each and every individual body
and is known as the Paramātmā, who is different from the
individual living entity

• What is Jivatma?
• Ans: The Jivatma is the personal soul. It is a soul that maintains a
sense of individuality from one birth to the next, carrying with it the
karma of previous births.
• Atomic soul is jivatma and they are forgetful of their real nature
therefore he requires to be enlightened by Kṛṣṇa, or by bona fide
representative

• What is the difference between Paramatma and Jivatma?

• Ans: The difference between Jivatmaand Paramatma is the ability of

Jivatma to get distracted by maya, or the illusion that is this plane of
existence.
 Both the Supersoul [Paramātmā] and the atomic soul [jīvātmā] are
situated on the same tree of the body within the same heart of the
living being,
—although they are the same in quality—one is captivated by the
fruits of the material tree, while the other is simply witnessing the
activities of His friend. Although they are friends, one is still the
master and the other is the servant Forgetfulness of this relationship
by the atomic soul is the cause of one's
changing his position from one tree to another or from one body to
another

• What is Maya?

• Ans: Maya indicates anything which is not permanent. Maya means

Illusion.

A pure soul is the eternal servant of God as His fragmental part and
parcel. He comes into contact with māyā (illusion) due to the desire to
lord it over māyā, and that is the cause of his many sufferings.

• Duties must be carried out with?

• Ans: Dependence on Krishna
• we should always remember the supreme lover, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and at the
same time perform our material duties very nicely, If we have a
strong sense of love for the Supreme Lord, then we can discharge our
duty and at the same time remember Him.
 • What is the result of executing one’s duties according to the
injunction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna?
• Ans: One becomes free from the bondage of fruitive actions
• If one performs prescribed duties for the satisfaction of lord like
Arjuna, he will always remain unattached and free from bondage,
one's only business is to discharge one's duties in Kṛṣṇa consciousness

• What are the stumbling blocks on the path of self-realization?

• Ans: Sense& Sense objects.
• Attraction and repulsion for sense objects are felt by embodied
beings, but one should not fall under the control of senses and sense
objects because they are stumbling blocks on the path of self
realization.
action in the loving service of Kṛṣṇa detaches one from all kinds of
sensory activities.

• As the sun lights up everything in the daytime, what enlightens the

living entity?

• Ans: knowledge; by which nescience is destroyed

After passing through many, many births when one perfect in knowledge
surrenders unto Kṛṣṇa, or when one attains Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then
everything is revealed to him, as the sun reveals everything in the daytime.
The spiritual master can drive away all nescience, as the sun drives away
darkness,
.

• What is the Meaning of Nescience?

• Ans: Nescience means lack of Knowledge or Ignorance.
• ajñānam—nescience, This material world is sometimes regarded as an
ocean of nescience and sometimes as a blazing forest. The person in
false ego takes all credit for doing everything independently, and that
is the symptom of his nescience
s
• What is the effect of receiving the real knowledge?
• Ans: Nescience is Destroyed, nescience is destroyed by real
knowledge
Identity with individuality in spiritual life is real knowledge and it is
stressed herein that the mind must be so trained that it can deliver
the conditioned soul from the mire of nescience

• What are the similar characteristics of the soul and Super soul?

• Ans: Conscious, Eternal & Blissful, sat , cit and anand

• Who is a sannyasi?
• Ans: Not one who wears ochre robes, lives in an ashram, hermitage,
or has retired to the Himalayas. A sannyasi is one who has risen
above hatred and desire and is unaffected by the pairs of opposites in
the world.
• sannyāsī—renouncer; person in renounced order of life,
Anyone acting under the direction of the Supreme Lord is
actually a sannyāsī and a yogī, and not the man who has
simply taken the dress of the sannyāsī, or a pseudo-yogī.
• A sannyāsī or one in the renounced order of life must be
situated in fearlessness, sattva-saṁśuddhiḥ (purity) and jñāna-
yoga (knowledge
• Anyone who has no other interest but to dedicate his life to
the service of the Lord is actually a sannyāsī Such a person
always thinks of himself as an eternal servant, dependant on
the supreme will of the Lord.
• Lord Caitanya was an ideal sannyāsī

• How Sannyasi is free from Desire?

 • Ans: Bondage is a result of desire. The more the desires the greater is
the bondage. A sannyasi has very few desires – for Realisation, to
serve the guru, and to do good to the world. Hence, he is free from
bondage and relatively libera.

• One who neither hates nor desires the fruits of his activities is known
to be always renounced. Such a person, liberated from all dualities,
easily overcomes material bondage

• A sannyāsī is supposed to be free from the reactions of his past

activities, but a person who is in Kṛṣṇa consciousness automatically
attains this perfection without even accepting the so-called order of
renunciation. This state of mind is called yogārūḍha, or the
perfectional stage of yoga

• What are the stages of spiritual path?

• Ans:Sankhya, the path of knowledge, and Yoga, the path of action,

are stages in the spiritual path. The goal of both is Realisation which
is the eradication of all desires. Only then one really gains peace.

we are not these bodies, and realizing this is the first stage in spiritual
realization
When one's intelligence, mind, faith and refuge are all fixed in the
Supreme, then one becomes fully cleansed of misgivings through complete
knowledge and thus proceeds straight on the path of liberation.
•

• What is a true renunciation?

• Ans: One who is free of hatred and material desires is a true

renunciate (sannyasi). He is beyond duality and is easily liberated
from material bondage.
 • One who neither hates nor desires the fruits of his activities is known
to be always renounced. Such a person, liberated from all dualities,
easily overcomes material bondage and is completely liberated
•
• Who is realKarma- Sannyasin?

• Ans:One who is neither attached to or disgusted by the fruits of

action, who is steady and free from the dualities of this world is said
to be a true Karma-sannyasin.

• What is the meaning of Brahma-nirvana?

• Ans:He who finds his happiness, his joy, his light solely within, that
yogin attains brahma-nirvana and becomes himself Brahman.

• brahma-nirvāṇam—brahm means spiritual (kingdom of God) or

nirvanam means ending the process of materialistic life, hence it
means liberated in the Supreme

• if one fortunately becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious, he at once attains the

stage of Brahma-nirvāṇa.

There is no difference between the kingdom of God and the devotional

service of the Lord. Since both of them are on the absolute plane, to be
engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord is to have attained
the spiritual kingdom.

• How to perform Nishkam karma Yoga?

• Ans:By his detached actions, he is freed from the reactions of his

activities.
• to act on behalf of the Supreme is to act without attachment for the
result. That is perfect action of the highest degree, recommended by
the Supreme Personality of Godhead

• Performing your duty and abandoning all attachment to

success or failure.

• What destroys the urge for self-realization?

• Ans:Lust

• The Lord advised Arjuna to regulate the senses from the very
beginning so that he could curb the greatest sinful enemy, lust, which
destroys the urge for self-realization, and specifically, knowledge of
the self

• What is the Living Entity Covered with?

• Ans:The living entity is Coveredwith different degrees of lust.

• As fire is covered by smoke, as a mirror is covered by dust, or as the

embryo is covered by the womb, similarly, the living entity is covered
by different degrees of this lust.

• Which of the following is the sitting place for lust?

• Ans: Mind, Senses & Intelligence.

• The senses, the mind and the intelligence are the sitting places of this
lust, which veils the real knowledge of the living entity and bewilders
him.
• How can one control the material senses, the mind and the
intelligence?

• Ans:By Krishna consciousness

• knowing oneself to be transcendental to material senses, mind and

intelligence, one should control the lower self by the higher self and
thus— by spiritual strength—conquer this insatiable enemy known
as lust.

• One must be trained in Kṛṣṇa consciousness by higher intelligence.

• What is Pradhana?

• Ans:The material world is a sum total manifestation of the three

modes of material nature, technically called the pradhana.

• The material world is a sum total manifestation of the three modes of

material nature, technically called the pradhāna

• Who is the enjoyer and receiver of all sacrifice and austerities?

• Ans:

• Lord Shri Krishna is the enjoyer of all sacrifices because he is the

supreme master

• Explain the phrase – “Lotus leaf is untouched by water”?

• Ans:One who performs his duty without attachment, surrendering

the results unto the Supreme Lord. One who performs his duty
without attachment, surrendering the results unto the Supreme God,
 is not affected by sinful action, as the lotus leaf is untouched by
water.

• How should a Krishna conscious person approach an ignorant man

attached to fruitive action?

• Ans: By not discouraging an ignorant man in his activities and also

by engaging him in the service of Krishna.

• He should approach him by compassion just like srila prabhupada

and gradually engage them in krsna conscious activities as per their
involvement

• A liberated person is not attracted to material sense pleasure but is

always in trance, enjoying the pleasure within. How is that pleasure
relished?

• Ans:By concentrating on the Supreme Lord continuously.

• Who is termed as a "PANDIT" by Lord Krishna?

• Ans: One who sees with equal vision a learned and gentle brāhmaṇa,
a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater by virtue of true
knowledge

• One is understood to be in full knowledge whose every act is devoid

of desire for sense gratification. He is said by sages to be a worker
whose fruitive action is burned up by the fire of perfect knowledge.
• The humble sage, by virtue of true knowledge, sees with equal vision
a learned and gentle brāhmaṇa, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a
dogeater [outcaste]

• According to the Lord one who is always busy working for the
welfare of all living beings achieve liberation in the Supreme.What is
that welfare work?

• Ans:By giving them the knowledge that Krishna is the fountainhead

of everything and acting in that same spirit.

• How to attain Peace in this Material world?

• Ans:A person in full consciousness of Krishna attains liberation from

the pangs of material miseries.

• A person who has given up all desires for sense gratification, who
lives free from desires, who has given up all sense of proprietorship
and is devoid of false ego–he alone can attain real peace.

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