Karma Yoga In The Bhagavad Gita

Athelstane King, conversing with a sannyassin, chants:

"'Action rightly renounced brings freedom:
"'Action rightly performed brings freedom:
"'Both are better
"'Than mere shunning of action.'"
-SM Stirling, The Peshawar Lancers (New York, 2003), Chapter Ten, p. 166.

He continues:

"'We are men who act, holy one; better to act as our karman in this turn of the Wheel demands, than to try a path beyond our merit, and fail. Bless us!'" (ibid.)

The omniscient narrator comments:

"...King's theology was exceedingly weak, if you knew the next section of that gita..." (ibid.)

I could try to find out which section of the Bhagavad Gita King chants, then read the next section. But is his theology weak? Surely he quotes the essence of the Gita? See here. One way to avoid suffering is to avoid acting but some actions, preformed rightly, might be lesser evils.

Poul Anderson always shows respect for religious philosophies but maybe does not often discuss them with the depth of insight that Stirling displays here? The religious synthesis of the Angrezi Raj is both profound and plausible.

The God And The Ancestors

"Day of Burning."

Part of my point here is to appreciate the sheer amount of detail in Poul Anderson's Technic History and, the more details we summarize, the more we find to summarize. For example, the first Grand Survey turns out to be a miniature future history within the Technic History. "The Trouble Twisters," recounting the first mission of the Falkayn-led trade pioneer crew, cameos that team's employer, van Rijn, whereas "Day of Burning," at last moving away from van Rijn, focuses on Merseia where Morruchan tells Falkayn:

"'You shall not take the rule of this world. If we surrendered the right and freehold they won, the God would cast back the souls of our ancestors to shriek at us.'" (p. 320)

This passage, perhaps the only reference to a Merseian hereafter, recalls the Bhagavad Gita where Arjuna lists the consequences of family conflicts, including:

"The ancestors also

"Must fall dishonoured

"From home in heaven."

-Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood (trans.), The Song of God: Bhagavad-Gita (New York, 1964), I., p. 33.

 

We have previously appreciated the Gita for its teaching of karma yoga.

Valenderay And Duty

The People Of The Wind, VII.

"Cajal sat alone in the middle of the superdreadnaught Valenderay." (p. 514)

That is an excellent future historical detail because this superdreadnaught flag vessel is named after the supernova that had been the ultimate cause of Merseian resentment of Terrans in the trader team story, "Supernova"/"Day of Burning."

Admiral Cajal is safe going into battle because Valenderay stretches for kilometres around him! Also, most of the Terran fleet precedes the flag vessel toward the enemy.

"Man's duty in this life, [Cajal] thought, is to choose the lesser evil." (ibid.)

This is almost word for word the teaching of Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita. Recently, the British Prime Minister, giving evidence to a public enquiry, swore on the Gita. I was not sure whether this was a Hindu practice but googling confirms that, at least for a while in India, Muslims swore on the Koran and Hindus on the Gita. Cajal, of course, would be a Bible man. He prays before a crucifix. Poul Anderson, like some other future historians, imagines the major Terrestrial religions exported to colonies on extra-solar planets. If human beings go there, then so will their beliefs.

Andrea, whom I visited today, is an expert amateur military historian and very pessimistic about the immediate future of this planet.

Souls Cast Back; Spirits Falling

"Day of Burning."

Morruchan to Falkayn:

"'If we surrendered the right and freehold they won, the God would cast back the souls of our ancestors to shriek at us.'" (p. 214)

Arjuna to Krishna:

"For the spirits of their ancestors fall, deprived of their offerings of rice and water."

-Bhagavad Gita, 1. 42.

Similar concepts. We are told almost nothing about the monotheism of the Merseian Roidhunate. Morruchan expresses the idea that souls that have gone to the God can be cast back.

The Gita is a compendium of Indian ideas. Arjuna expresses the primitive idea that the ancestors will fall if deprived of offerings. The predominant idea, of course, is that everyone is reincarnating.

Krishna

"King sent a brief prayer of thankfulness to Krishna - it seemed appropriate, since the merciful God had appeared to Arjuna and counseled him on a warrior's duty. Of course, he'd also told the noble bowman that he must fight and kill only from duty, without personal attachment."
-SM Stirling, The Peshawar Lancers (New York, 2003).

Krishna taught Arjuna karma yoga, non-attached action in the secular world, as against ascetic withdrawal from action. To engage even in military conflict may be the lesser evil but a karma yogi performs any necessary task mindfully, thus more efficiently, free from, undistracted by, mental attachments like desire for success or fear of failure. In the battle, he is untouched by it.

The Bhagavad Gita presents bhakti (devotional) yoga, mantra yoga, a cosmic vision and Krishna as a personal deity but I think that karma yoga is its most important and distinctive message. A former Krishna devotee told me that he visited the battlefield of Kurukshetra where there is a life size sculpture of Krishna and Arjuna on their chariot which is inscribed with shlokas (Gita verses) and a temple has been built at the site of the death of each of the epic heroes.

My religious philosophy is built on meditation (the Buddha) and karma yoga (Krishna).

Addendum: Theistic karma yogis offer their actions to God. Laborare est orare. For Buddhists, non-attached action is working meditation.

Triad

Orion Shall Rise, CHAPTER TWO.

The main prow of a civilian Maurai trimaran usually bears a figurehead of:

"...the carven Triad, Tanaroa the Creator, Lesu Haristi the Savior on His right, shark-toothed Nan the Destroyer on His left." (2, p. 30) 

This Triad corresponds to the Hindu Trimurti ("triple form"): Brahma, creator; Vishnu, preserver; Shiva, destroyer. Back in the Maurai short trilogy, which I cannot consult right now because I am sitting with my feet in water, Lesu Haristi is described as the Son of Tanaroa.

I noticed a curious parallel between the Christian Trinity and Trimurti. In the former, Christ is the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Trinity whereas, in the latter, Krishna is an incarnation of the second member of Trimurti. Because of the activities of Christian missionaries, some Indians felt faced with a choice: Christ or Krishna, Gospel or Gita. I value the Bhagavad Gita for its teaching of karma yoga.

Two Other Trinities 

The Three of Ys: male, female, inhuman.

The Triple Goddess: Maiden, Mother, Crone.

The Fallacy Of Passivity

The Devil's Game, INTERVAL FIVE, pp. 134-144.

Orestes:

"'It is the fallacy in Buddhism that one can escape responsibility by staying passive. The question is, do we influence for good or evil?'" (p. 137)

Buddhism is about accepting responsibility. It is the Middle Way between asceticism, involving withdrawal from action in the world, and hedonism, action motivated by pleasure.

On Saturday, when I was with Buddhists who were discussing the relationship between nonattachment and action, I suggested the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita, as the perfect synthesis between nonattachment and action. Krishna affirms that we always act either for good or for evil and teaches karma yoga. The visiting monk replied that Buddhism already has scriptures addressing this issue. In one, a householder teaches Shakyamuni's disciples.

All Gods

The Bhagavad Gita
The Yoga Sutras Of Patanjali
The Middle Earth History by JRR Tolkien
The Chronicles Of Narnia by CS Lewis
The Ransom Trilogy by CS Lewis
The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson
Operation Luna by Poul Anderson

Seven works:

two Hindu scriptures
five modern fantasies
three written by Christians
two by Lewis
two by the agnostic Anderson
all incorporating the gods and God into a single framework

"...he did not know the future. Nor, he believed, did the gods. (Well, the branching universes are so many, and each so strange, that probably none but the One God can keep track of them.)"
-Operation Luna (New York, 2000), p. 283.

Even if these two levels of divinity were to be acknowledged in reality, I would also affirm a third level: the One Reality, everything that exists, is manifested through all things, including you, me and "...whatever gods may be..."

From too much love of living,

         From hope and fear set free,

We thank with brief thanksgiving

         Whatever gods may be

That no life lives for ever;

That dead men rise up never;

That even the weariest river

         Winds somewhere safe to sea.
-copied from here.

Two Biblical Books On One Page

A Midsummer Tempest, xvi.

"'Theology will scare the savage off who'd gladly hear Christ's simple words of love, while Joshua's more fitting for a soldier...'" (p. 142)

"Jennifer breathed something which caused him to straighten, fiery-visaged, dry-mouthed, and resolute as a Maccabee." (ibid.)

I have read some Christian propaganda giving advice on how to evangelize members of other religions. Thus, the Sikh scripture, the Granth, is a collection of hymns so give them the Psalms etc. Poul Anderson's Sword-of-the-Lord Gerson thinks that Joshua is appropriate for soldiers. I suggest the Bhagavad Gita but my reading of scriptures is not confined to the Bible.

Joshua is about conquest whereas the Apocryphal Maccabees, to whose title characters Sword-of-the-Lord is compared, are about national defense and self-determination.

The New Quest

In the Mermaid Tavern, a Catholic Prince and a Jewish merchant plan an expedition to help the magic-sword-wielding Wiccan Crown Princess of Montival and her ally, the Empress of Japan, to retrieve the Shinto magic sword, Kusanagi. I can only comment, "Ye gods!"

Since the Hebrew and Catholic deities are Biblical and since the Bible is monotheist, these two deities are notionally identical - unless they have bifurcated? That has happened at least conceptually if not also ontologically. The adverb, "theologically," would be ambiguous, referring either to God (indivisible) or to ideas about God (perpetually divisible). Prince John locates the Hebrew/Catholic God at the apex of a feudal hierarchy:

"'Same ultimate overlord, different chain of vassalage...'"
-SM Stirling, The Golden Princess (New York, 2015), Chapter Fifteen, p. 374.

(One principle of feudalism is: "My lord's lord is not my lord.")

Since Wicca is neo-pagan, it recognizes Shinto gods as aspects of divinity. It is the fitting of Judaism, Christianity, Wicca, Shinto etc into a common conceptual framework that is the tougher theological assignment. Stirling manages this task with a multi-faceted, emergent deity that is ultimately incompatible with Christianity although it seems that the Catholics will continue to be granted experiences apparently validating their beliefs and, further, that there is something about all this that human beings cannot understand.

If there is a hereafter, then maybe it is not such a serious matter to end a human life? (Krishna says this in the Bhagavad Gita.) I am thinking about what God/the gods did at the Change. Also, maybe gods may morally end lives when we cannot?

Parallel Blogs

These blogs are like parallel universes. Right now:

Personal and Literary Reflections compares the Stieg Larsson novels and films;

Comics Appreciation compares the Smallville and Arrow TV series;

Poul Anderson's Cosmic Environments compares Anderson's Daedalus with Rudyard Kipling's India;

James Blish Appreciation compares Blish's The Seedling Stars with Anderson's "Starfog";

Science Fiction compares the Planet Of The Apes continuities;

The Logic of Time Travel discusses a story in a recent anthology;

Religion and Philosophy, in a post copied from Poul Anderson Appreciation, discusses the Bhagavad Gita;

Zen Marxism Synthesis is my, unavoidably controversial, attempt to relate Eastern psychology to social development;

Poul Anderson Appreciation compares fictitious histories by Wells, Stapledon, Anderson and Stirling.

It is a privilege to be able to comment on such major and diverse works of fiction and philosophical issues.

Alliteration And Humanity

"How grossly ungrateful, no glory goes ever
"To us who do also face anger-swung edges,
"That tales of the deeds may be talked of in towns,
"We careful recorders, we war correspondents..."
- Poul Anderson and Gordon R Dickson, Star Prince Charlie (New York, 1976), p. 154.

Awesome, amazing and astonishing alliteration, even involving internal letters and sounds.

Line 1: 4 g's and 4 r's, including 2 gr's, and 2 s sounds.
Line 2: 5 s sounds and 1 rhyme.
Line 3: 4 t's and 3 s's.
Line 4: 3 w's, including 2 we's, 3 c's, 6 r sounds and 2 s's.

Again, the text transcends humor when Charlie realizes that, "...regardless of biology..." (p. 150),  the comical New Lemurians are intelligent, sensitive, brave and basically decent, therefore are men and women with human rights. As it happens, his interstellar civilization, the Interbeing League, already recognizes this, which is precisely why there is a rule of non-interference that Charlie has been drawn into transgressing - although, as someone asked about Star Trek, if they do not interfere, then how can there be a story?

"In spite of his growing distrust of Dzenko, Charlie had to admire the noble. Calm and self-possessed, he went about his work as if it were routine, not a clash which would decide the fate of the kingdom and his own life or death." (p. 149)

We know that Dzenko's motives are far from disinterested. Thus, some of what I am about to write is not applicable. Nevertheless, in his conduct of the battle, Dzenko sounds like a karma yogi (one who controls thought though action) as described to Arjuna by Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita:

do your duty;

attend fully to each task, undistracted either by desire for success and praise or by fear of failure and blame;

if you are a theist, then offer each act to God (laborare est orare, to work is to pray), although Buddhists may also practice "working meditation."

One hero of the Roman Republic, summoned by the Senate to lead an army, left his farm, led the army to victory, reported back to the Senate, then returned to his farm. He did not make the mistake of Marius who went disastrously into politics on the strength of having been successful as a general. That Republican hero, whose name I forget, sounds like a Pagan karma yogi.

Meanwhile, back to Star Prince Charlie's predicament, we expect some treachery from Dzenko before the end of the novel. When he has become king, he will no longer need the Prince of the Prophecy.

Into Battle

How do men and indeed beings prepare to go to war? In The People Of The Wind, Chapter VII, Poul Anderson presents a Terran Admiral and the two Marchwardens of the Lauran System.

Admiral Cajal

The Admiral thinks:

"Man's duty in this life...is to choose the lesser evil." (Rise Of The Terran Empire, p. 514)

That is Krishna's teaching to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita. To summarize my understanding of Krishna's teaching:

Arjuna must carry out his duty as a kshatriya, a member of the warrior/ruler caste;
inaction is impossible;
there is inaction in action and action in inaction;
I (Krishna speaking as the supreme deity) act and My action sustains the universe;
at the Battle of Kurukshetra, the destruction of the enemy is a lesser evil than their continued existence;
act without attachment.

While I accept the teaching of nonattached action, I think that there are times when we can go beyond "the lesser evil." Sometimes canvassers solicit my vote with the argument that their political party is a lesser evil than its main opponent! I say offer me a higher good - or let's campaign for one.

Cajal, safe at the center of a superdreadnaught behind his fleet but all too conscious of sending others to their deaths, glances at a picture of his dead wife, listens to Bach's Passacaglia, which they had both liked, takes off his bonnet, kneels, signs himself and prays before a crucifix.

Second Marchwarden Holm

Daniel Holm, coordinating Avalonian defense, embraces his wife.

First Marchwarden Ferune

Although Ferune, in his superdreadnaught Hell Rock, is Ythrian, he remembers:

"The fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion..." (Proverbs 20:2)

Some human beings would empathize with Ferune more than with Cajal!

Giving Thanks

Vault Of The Ages, Chapter 8.

In battle:

"The Dalesmen were holding - the Dalesmen stood firm - oh, thank all gods!" (p. 84)

There are times when I feel grateful but to whom or to what? Expressing thanks for the course of events is part of animizing nature. We have been selected to interact with other persons, therefore sometimes to thank them, so we interact in the same way with impersonal forces and thus the gods are born. But I still want to feel, if not grateful, then at least appropriately appreciative of aspects of actuality. 

But is it appropriate to thank "all gods" during a battle? Surely some of the gods will be on the other side, whether literally or metaphorically? If I were asked to pray in public, then the only honest prayer that I would be able to offer would be as follows:

"All gods, we ask your help. But, if not, we'll do it ourselves."

That might sound disrespectful but, in fact, it is as respectful as I can make it: 

first, by acknowledging that it is possible that I am mistaken to believe that no superhuman beings exist;

secondly, by affirming that we should not just pray (if we believe in praying) but should both pray and act. 

The gods expect action. Krishna speaks the Bhagavad Gita on the Battlefield of Kurukshetra and urges his friend, Arjuna, to act in the world, not to withdraw from it. Theists and non-theists can agree on the necessity of action.

Coping With Crisis And Conflict

Ensign Flandry, CHAPTER SIX.

When the Merseian submarine attacks Ujanka with large caliber guns throwing only chemical high explosives, Flandry reflects:

"So the enemy wasn't introducing atomics into this war. (Yet. When somebody did, all hell would let out for noon.)" (p. 56)

We already know from CHAPTER THREE, p. 23, that the Merseians plan a few more years of conflict on Starkad so they will not introduce atomic weapons any time soon. And, if we have read the novel before, then we also know that they hope eventually to destroy the Terran Fleet without deploying a single weapon. The universe can be more destructive.

He responds to the current attack:

"Flandry raced through an assessment. Detested hours and years of psych drill at the Academy paid off. He knew rage and fear, his mouth was dry and his heart slammed, but emotion didn't get in the way of logic." (p. 56)

We all need that "psych drill" which sounds like the psychophysical training of both the Psychotechnic Institute and the Time Patrol and also the karma yoga of the Bhagavad Gita. Zazen is not a set of techniques but it is practice in letting go of spontaneous or preprogrammed reactions.

Side Chapels And Poul Anderson

I mentioned here and here that, when I meditate in a side chapel (in fact the Parr Chapel) of Kendal Parish Church, I sit beside the tomb (see image) of the grandfather of the sixth wife of Henry VIII. She was Catherine Parr. In Poul Anderson's The Corridors Of Time, time travelers fly above England during the Queenship of Henry's second wife, Anne Boleyn.

When I meditate in a side chapel of the Jesuit Catholic Church of St Wilfrid in Preston, I sit before a statue of St Francis Xavier, "the Apostle to the East," who converted many Indians and Japanese and died before he would have entered China. Poul Anderson's extra-terrestrial character Axor has converted to Jerusalem Catholicism, has been ordained in the (fictional and ironic) Galilean Order, has taken the name "Francis Xavier" and travels through the known galaxy not in order to convert other aliens directly but in order to find evidence for a non-human Incarnation in the belief that this would vindicate Christianity. Historical Jesuits and fictional Galileans include scientists. (There is a Jesuit biologist in James Blish's A Case Of Conscience.)

In the Hindu Temple in Preston, I sit beneath images of gods including Krishna who is revered by Athelstane King in SM Stirling's The Peshawar Lancers. I also respect the Krishna of the Bhagavad Gita as the teacher of karma yoga, the way of non-attached action. Thus, even day trips to Kendal or Preston generate subject matter for blogging.

Cultural Resistance

"The values of the New Enlightenment fostered by the Psychotechnic Institute met increasing cultural and emotional resistance. No amount of psychodynamic manipulation could make pure rationality congenial to the average person."

-Sandra Miesel IN Poul Anderson, The Complete Psychotechnic League, Volume 2 (Riverdale, NY, February 2018), p. 51.

The average person needs education and self-realization, not manipulation or pure rationality. Many educated Indians would continue to seek truth and meaning through Yoga, Vedanta etc but these traditions can be interpreted and developed. The Bhagavad Gita teaches karma yoga, the way of action. I once read an argument to the effect that God manifest is higher than God unmanifest! This means: find transcendence through action in the world, not through withdrawal from it.

Psychotechnicians should be able to do a better job of integrating Oriental cultures instead of alienating them.

Light And A Man

In Buddhism, a man is enlightened.
In John's Gospel, the light becomes a man.
Are these the same process, differently described?

The Cosmic Buddha of the Mahayana Sutras,
the Incarnate Word of the Fourth Gospel and
the cosmic form of Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita -

- each transcend an original human being. 

Addendum: The above post is copied from the Religion and Philosophy blog. Its relevance here is that, in Poul Anderson's History of Technic Civilization, Adzel is a Wodenite Mahayana Buddhist, Axor is a Wodenite Jerusalem Catholic priest and Chunderban Desai is a human Ramanujan of Hindu descent. Thus, Anderson imagines that human and other beings will perpetuate these traditions into the future.

The Discovery Of The Past III

In "The Discovery of the Past" (Past Times, New York, 1984), Poul Anderson commends Alex Haley's Roots as doing "...a wonderful thing for black Americans." (p. 190), then asks:

"Who will do the same service for white Americans?" (p. 191)

- and immediately goes on to ask:

"How much of our culture do we still possess?" (ibid.)

It is necessary to note that "...we..." does not refer (only) to "...white Americans..." I will demonstrate this shortly because Anderson does go on to ask, and answer, "Who are we?" (ibid.)

But first let us consider the ambiguity of the word "we." Remarks that might be made include:

(i) "We are descended from apes." This "We..." means all human beings.
(ii) "We know more about the universe than our ancestors did." This one means all (informed) human beings alive now.
(iii) "We have the problem of what to do with the unemployed." This one means the minority that manages society or, sometimes, the electorate although, even in the latter case, it does not really include the unemployed. They are the problem and "we" are usually the tax payers.
(iv) "We must respond to Japanese competition." This one means our country (UK, US etc) considered as an economic unit. It excludes the Japanese, who are nowadays regarded neither as heathens to be converted nor as infidels to be fought but as competitors to be outsold.
(v) Within our country, "We must respond to competition" means our company as against others.
(vi) "We believe..." defines the creed of one religious group as against others. And so on.

Anderson clarifies who he means:

"Who are we? And now I mean every citizen of every Western country, regardless of race, sex, faith, or condition." (p. 191)

I would want to speak of "we" as including every citizen of every country. However, Anderson explains why he focuses on "Western":

"How many today have any familiarity with the Bible, European and American history, or the rules of English grammar? Precious few!" (p. 192)

I agree that we need familiarity with all of these - and I hope that I get English grammar right! Some knowledge of the Bible is necessary to enable anyone to make an informed judgment as to the truth or falsity of the historical claims of both Judaism and Christianity. I argue further that some knowledge of all religious traditions is necessary so that we can ascertain which spiritual practice, if any, might be beneficial. A young man from Liverpool had become a Buddhist monk but told me that he did not know anything about Hinduism. I think that the teaching of karma yoga in the Bhagavad Gita is highly relevant to anyone who wants to be both spiritually aware and active in the world. The nearest Christian teaching might be: laborare est orare.

So I agree with Anderson on the importance of knowledge but would want to broaden it a bit.