I. Renunciation
Those deluded by the energies of Nature are attached to the functions of energies. He who knows the All should not unsettle the unwise who know not the All
Right attitude results only after trail of spiritual practises. It is of instrumentality rather than doership, the sense that the Overself is doing all works in you, is acting, speaking, and working through you. When you contact Divine intelligence and permit it to operate freely through you, it will guide you, and guide rightly; it will help wisely. It may even lead you to desert some relative good for solid good. And you do arrive at the highest state of Karma-Yoga. You realize that when you are acting, it is simple Nature acting and finding focus through you.
Renouncing all actions in Me, with thy thought resting on the Self, being free from hope, free from selfishness, devoid of fear, do thou fight.
When you come to the realization that it is really Nature expressing itself through you, then you renounce your actions inwardly. You turn to the witness self, letting nature take care of the results. You reach a final stage where you can watch yourself playing it’s part in the world, without anticipation, without expectation. No more are you concerned with the burdens of the future. That is Nature’s concern. You set the example and others will imitate you and be benefited by this. By practising this with faith, you can be liberated from actions and destiny. It will free you from the cycle of births and deaths.
If you devotedly fulfil the earlier stages of this practise there will come a time when the power of spirit will bring you face to face with the hidden eternal witness. Then you will be liberated from the power of destiny. But even as soon as a partial degree of spiritual illumination has been gained, there need be no conflict with this and worldly activities.
It may seem unspiritual, unjust or materialistic in the critical eye of others, yet it cannot be judged by appearances alone. A man may take part in a war, fight, and slay, and yet be living by a diviner light than that of mankind. The main difference between him and the other soldiers of the same army will be one of motive. He fights impersonally, feeling neither hatred nor ill will of any kind against the enemy, understanding that life no less demands good sense than it demands good will, and knowing that he is performing a duty ordained by destiny and the social structure of which he forms part in defending his country.
Another man on the contrary, who may have attained an equally substantial degree of illumination, may refuse to fight and will then be prepared to bear the penalties of the state. Here again the varying destiny of man and the symbolic relationship in which he stands to his own society may neccessate such a defection from social duty. Everything depends upon the particular circumstances of the case.
The truth is that what really matters is to surrender one’s ego to the bidding and will of the Overself, and then to carry out that bidding. If the Overself sends one into the haunts of social outcasts, one must be prepared unhesitatingly to go. And if the Overself sends one into the ranks of idlers and delinquents, one must be prepared to go, and if the Overself places on in the harsh atmosphere of a soul less business or noisy factory, one must follow it’s bidding. There will always be some lesson to be learned, or some service to be rendered, or some working out of destiny, wherever one is sent.
Finally, if the Overself declares all these activities to be a waste of time, then one must move unhesitatingly out of one’s environment, sacrifice the world, and retire into spiritual retreat whether it be in some secluded rural spot or a monastery.
