Posted on: 06 Jun 2021
Śrī Kishore Ram asked: In karma yoga, whether it is sacrifice of service or sacrifice of fruit of work, what is the significance of partial implementation and full implementation?
Swāmi replied:- Partial implementation represents the journey in the path, which is expected to reach the final goal, which is perfect or full implementation. The partial implementation denotes the effort and the perfect implementation denotes the goal that is achieved at the end of the effort. Without effort, none can reach the goal. Hence, without partial implementation full perfect implementation can never be reached. Effort is essential to achieve the goal. You shall not expect the goal in the starting point of the effort itself. The effort is always as per the strength of the aspirant. The strength of the aspirant is the force of the inspiration to implement the theoretical knowledge in practice. This force of inspiration is always theoretical just like the knowledge. Both these theoretical steps together can only lead to practice. If you have knowledge alone, you cannot transform this knowledge into practice without the middle force of inspiration. You may have only force of inspiration without the concept of knowledge and in such case, the force of inspiration is useless. If you have knowledge, you are wise and if you have inspiration, you are emotional. Knowledge is jñāna yoga, emotion is bhakti yoga and practice is karma yoga. If you have only knowledge without inspiration, you will always sit in your house only. Similarly, if you have devotion or emotion only without knowledge, you will be roaming here and there without a specific purpose. If you have the knowledge about the details of Mumbai city to be seen by you and if you simultaneously have inspiration to see the Mumbai city, your practice will be systematic confined to a specific purpose by which you will walk up to the railway station (karma saṃnyāsa) and purchase the ticket in railway station (karma phala tyāga). By this, your effort ends and you will reach the fruit in course of time. The effort exists in all these four steps. Implementation of the fourth steps (karma phala tyāga) is the final goal because it is the final stop of your effort. Hence, in the Gītā, God told that the sacrifice of fruit of work is the full stop for the effort of the wise devotee (tyagāt śāntir anantaram…).
The knowledge is of three components:- 1) Self, 2) the Goal and 3) the Path. You must have knowledge about (1) or self that you are not the goal, (2) the details of the goal and (3) The details of the correct path which lead to the right goal. If you have such knowledge called Tripuṭī, then only your force of inspiration becomes useful and fruitful. Without the knowledge, mere devotion or emotion is like the blind bull running with endless circular motion in the field itself without reaching its proper abode in the village. The schoolteacher, college lecturer and university professor will face you in the sequence of the three steps of academic progress, which are school education, college education and university education. Similarly, Śaṇkara, Rāmānuja and Madhva came in the same sequence of the three steps of the spiritual journey, which are jñāna yoga, bhakti yoga and karma yoga. Therefore, every devotee must take these three divine preachers as his single preacher acting in the three divine steps. Śaṇkara is the incarnation of God Śiva, Rāmānuja is incarnation of God Viṣṇnu, Madhva is incarnation of God Brahmā. The single preacher is God Datta, who appears as schoolteacher in the first step (Śaṇkara in jñāna yoga), college lecturer in the second step (Ramānuja in Bhakti Yoga) and university professor in the third step (Madhva in Karma Yoga) in the required sequence for any spiritual aspirant. The three divine forms of God Datta are called Trimūrti and three divine preachers are called as Guru Trayam.