Karma Vs कर्म : The Classic Indian Rituals - Sanatan Goyal

 The idea of this article conjured up, after discreetly observing the cultural practices around me. I found it strange to observe so many people engrossed in myriads of rituals in their daily lives, but in the process, instead of focusing on what was the agenda of it, they got involved in the materialistic approaches of it. Something that is popularly referred to as "Karma - Kanda", all under the name of "Dharm".

I am a strong votary for Indian culture and history, and therefore, always observe critically, any sort of rituals that are practiced under it, ranging from daily compulsive habits to extremely specific rituals under our culture, for I believe each of them must have had some reasons for being developed. However the matter of fact being that many people clearly overlook the reason of the activity, and merely involve themselves in only the materialistic practice of it, thinking they are the advocates of "Dharm" by performing only the rituals and activities. 

This in itself, obliterates the soul of these rituals. Take for example, Mantra - meditation. In itself, mantra meditation is an extremely effective as well as a relatively easy form of mindfulness. It helps one to direct his/her mind towards one specific thing and therefore, channel all of their energy and mindset towards it.
                            However, I have observed it several times that when people practice this, they often get so specific about the way it is practiced, about how it is to be performed. Now, I am not saying that the practices or the specific rules that are established to carry out these rituals, are absolutely unnecessary, no, not at all, they had been developed for a specific purpose, and, the purpose was to create mindfulness. But what is happening, due to lack of knowledge or lack of information, people start to get specific about how they are doing the ritual, instead of what the ritual is fetching to them.
 While doing mantra meditation, are they being mindful about their mindset?, about their thought process?, about their spiritual development and serenity?, overlooking these imperative aspects, they start to obsess over their physical state, about sitting in different forms, facing different directions etc. Although these things may matter to some extent, which I completely agree to, but the perceptible agenda is mindfulness, presence of mind, which at the end of the day, is not being achieved, if one is engrossed in only the physical aspect of the ritual.

In such a situation, I believe in drawing a line, between "Karma" and "कर्म (Karm)". Though etymologically, both almost mean the same thing, however, in my opinion, they are actually quite different in the essence of it. "Karma" is the modern obsession of only materialistic approach, the Karma - Kanda, the practice, the ritual, where one starts to discreetly care and bother about the physical process of performing a ritual, and therefore, doesn't achieve the agenda of the practice.
Whereas on the contrary, "कर्म" is the soul of the practice, the agenda of the practice, the reason why we are doing it, the thing we are running after, that we want as an outcome of what we are doing. 

It is this distinguishing factor, that is a line between what the activity is, and what the activity should fetch to your mind. I have specifically chosen those terms, because "कर्म" means your action, it is a word of the Devnagri script, derived from Sanskrit language. Whereas "Karma" is the inaccurate enunciation, put forward by the modern way of language; Therefore, making "कर्म" the original accurate enunciation with the correct meaning, being fit for representing the accurate purpose of the practice, and "Karma" being the inaccurate enunciation with the inaccurate meaning, being fit for covering only what is the material aspect of the practice.

While carrying the legacy of our Indian ancestors and continuing such practices, to pass on to future generations, it is imperative for all of us to be aware of what the essence of each ritual is. Instead of merely engaging in it, we should think, we should ask, we should question, what the activity is meant to fetch to us, what should be the correct desired outcome, so that we don't get engrossed in "Karma", which doesn't achieve the agenda for us, but actually enjoy the fruits bored by the practice of "कर्म", which makes the activity both useful as well as effective, rather than just being another material practice.

My agenda of delivering this message is that we should be embracing our culture and the rituals under it, but not obsess only over the material approach, instead, attain the essence, the reason of the practice, which makes the कर्म of the practice meaningful.

- Sanatan Goyal