Outward Karma – Inward Meditation
Jagadguru Shankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti peetham, Sri Sri ChandraShekharendra Saraswati Maha Swami Ji #KanchiParamacharya #MahaPeriyava- The God who walks

The quietude of Dakshinamurti is the bliss of knowingness. It is not the same as the stilling of mind during sleep. In sleep, there is no voluntary control of the mind; the mind becomes still because of exhaustion. Such stillness we are not capable of sustaining on our own.

What becomes even during sleep, without being subject to our control, returns on our awakening again without being subject to our control.
Death too is a kind of sleep. In it, also, the mind is stilled.

But with rebirth, when the individual self becomes incarnate, the brain starts to be active again. If we learn to control the mind voluntarily, it will be able to remain in that state. Though Dakshinamurti remains still without doing anything, he is full of awareness.

It is because he is inwardly a non-doer that he can do so much in an outward sense. The Dakshinamurti who remains still is the one who dances the dance of bliss, who destroys the demon Tripura and who keeps roaming as a mendicant.

After granting boons to his devotees, he goes from place to place. He is still inwardly but is in a frenzy outwardly. If we manage to still ourselves internally, we will be able to do so much outwardly.

We are the opposite of Dakshinamurti. We don the disguise of nondetachment to make others believe that we are at peace with ourselves, but inside we remain all the time agitated.

Outward calm is the first step towards inward stillness -- and this stillness is to be brought about in degrees and will not be gained at once. That is why the wise tell us: "Reduce all your sensual activities. Do not join the crowd.

Try to disengage yourself from all work, including that of doing good to d world. Keep away from money & dwell in d forest." But do we listen to that advice? We shall do so only when our mind is cleansed. That is why so many rituals r prescribed to purify d mind, d consciousness.

It means that, instead of asking us not to do this and that, we are asked to do (perform) this and that rite. It is natural for us to be involved in some work or other. So, without any regard for our likes and dislikes, we perform the rites laid down in the Sastras.

Even here our likes and dislikes will intrude but, unlike in the matter of meditation, we succeed to some extent at least in curbing them during the conduct of the rites.

In due course, with the grace of the Lord, we will be able to perform good works without minding the discomfort and ignoring our likes and dislikes. Desire and hatred will be reduced, and the mind will become pure.

With the mind cleansed, we will be able to perform one-pointed meditation. This is the time when we will be mature enough to forsake all works and become a forest recluse and practice meditation.

If we can meditate with utter one-pointedness, then everything will acquire the character of the Paramatman. There will be no need to leave everything and remain to hold the nose with the hand. The forest, the village, solitude and crowd -- they are all the Paramatman.

Both work and meditation are the Paramatman. Our inner peace will not be shaken by anything. Like Dakshinamurti we can remain still and tranquil and yet be all bustle outwardly.
In the Gita, the Lord urges Arjuna to practise svadharma-in the case of Arjun it means waging war.

The lord also propounds the yoga of meditation in which there is no"doing". He refers to the example of Janaka, who was all the time working for the welfare of the people but at the same time remained in the ultimate meditation called Brahma-nishtha.

He, says the Lord, is like Janaka. There is a contradiction in all this. But in reality no. One arises from the other. In the beginning, when it is not easy to control the mind and meditate on the Atman, performs rituals.

Then gaining mental purity through them, that is the rituals fore sake karma and practise meditation and yoga, nothing will affect us. In this, all is still inwardly, and yet outwardly there will be much activity.

Briefly put, this is the concept of Bhagavatpada: ultimately everything (the phenomenal world) will be seen to be Maya. The One Object, the Only Reality, is the Brahman. We must be one with It, nondualistically, without our having to do anything in the same way as the Brahman.

I who bear the name of Sri Shankara, keep speaking about many rites, about puja, Japa, service to fellow men, etc. It is because in our present predicament we have to make a start with rituals. In this way, step by- step, we will proceed to the liberation that is non-dualistic.

It is this method of final release that is taught us by Sri KrishnaParamatama and by our Bhagavatpada. At first, karma works, then Upasana or devotion and, finally, the enlightenment called jnana.

If we advance in this way, by degrees, with faith and devotion, we will obtain the wisdom and mellowness for Atmic meditation and intuitive control. Afterwards, we may keep doing any kind of work outwardly for the good of humankind.

What are the best means of Practising Atmic meditation? We must be imbued with the tranquillity that is Parasakti incarnate and remembers every day Daksinamurti in his calm. Let alone the idea of forsaking all work and becoming plunged in meditation.

Letusleave aside,for d timebeing, karma,which,itself is transformed into d highstate of meditation.Ths r conditions to whch v must arise at a laterstage in ourinwardjourney. Bt right now-at d beginning-let us trainourslvs amidour work 2 remain at peace & learn 2 meditate a little

To start with, let karma, devotion and meditation be practised together. These are not supposed to one another but are complementary. In the end, all will drop off one by one, and the samadhi of dhyana alone will remain.

When we start our inward journey, we must keep this goal of samadhi before us. So every day, having aside all other work, we must practise meditation for some time. But all the same, we must not dismiss rituals as meaningless or as a part of superstition.

We must keep performing them. It is only when our impurities are washed away; thus that we will realise the self-luminous Reality in us.

Source: Hindu Dharma (selected discourses by Sri Maha Periyava)