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| UG & Parekhji |
Most confounding question in our day to day lives: "What is the right action in a given situation?"
UG was staying at Parekhji's Santacruz apartment
in Mumbai. Many of us, regulars, hung around him, including some Western
friends.
UG sat in his usual 'hot seat' in the spacious main hall.
There was a lull in the conversation that had
lasted the whole morning. Everyone sat idly in the silence that followed. Parekhji sat on his
single bed with both legs stretched out, his usual posture, given his arthritic
condition. UG insisted that he should feel free and stretch his legs out & not
bother about the constant influx of people.
Parekhji was then in his late 70s. As a young man
he had worked as an engineer in a famous British Civil Engineering firm. During early part of his career, he he had supervised the construction of Sharavati Dam as a site engineer in Karnataka. The dam
supports a Hydel plant near the famous Jog Falls.
Parekhji was a simple, unassuming person, a
kind-hearted soul who played host to UG
and friends for many years. His gracious wife Kaushalya Ben was a housewife and
managed the affairs of home efficiently and handled a retinue of servants. She
was a great support to their families and looked after education and welfare of
their children.
Silence reigned supreme in the living room, everybody
sat listlessly...and all of a sudden, the doorbell rang! There was a gentle attempt
to push open the door! I immediately sprang to my feet, quickly reached the
door, unlatched the bolt & let in the visitor and went back to my
place on the floor in front of UG.
UG wasted no time, immediately turned to Parekhji,
"Sir,
this is the meaning of Karma ! " and
pointing to me said: " He
heard the doorbell, got up, opened the
door, came back , is there any premeditation there? Or any trace of action? It
is all over, no carrying anything in the head. This action is total, complete,
a response to a stimulus, this is true Karma!"
On another occasion as I sat in front of UG, lost in reverie, under
the same roof, he had pushed his finger hard into my chest and said emphatically,
“The
only difference between the way you are functioning and I am functioning is
this - you are preoccupied but I am not!”
Here is UG explicating his state, “…. My way of functioning is that I am always occupied with what is
happening at that moment and there is no room for any preoccupation. You are
preoccupied with the things that are not happening there. You see, this seems
to be the only difference, if there is any difference…..”
(http://www.inner-quest.org/UG.htm)
Coming back to the episode on Karma, during the
afternoon lull that day Parekhji sent word for me from his private quarters where he would
retire for an afternoon siesta. Those were intimate moments when he would bare
his heart and share personal matters including his ‘sadhana’ with me.
Parekhji asked me, “Do you recollect what happened
this morning? I had long wished to know from UG, what is the true nature of
Karma! But I couldn’t ask him for some reason or other. You see today he gave
me the answer. I wrote it down in my notepad here (showed me). UG was really
spot on! He explained it so beautifully using your example of opening the door!
There cannot be a simpler explanation!"
The Parekh couple had practiced Vipasana Meditation
for decades. UG was introduced to them by a common friend and became a frequent visitor. But UG never once interfered with their practice! Once finally when the couple decided to
seek his advice on whether they were on the right track in their spiritual practice, he just told them
to continue whatever they were doing and do it with whole heart.
UG insisted that
they should see the whole thing through and discover for themselves whether
the meditation really helped them at all. His advice was clear - to see the whole thing through
for and by themselves and not seek others’ opinion or listen to what he or
anyone had to say about such matters!
Parekhji’s joy of discovering the meaning of true Karma
was quite palpable! He appeared thrilled at the discovery of the true essence
of action!
Having read treatises and commentaries on Karma, I
too felt relieved that after all Karma is really that simple!
UG maintained all along that all action is born of
conditioning including the so called responses to various stimuli. UG held that
there is no such thing as Pure Action, the traditional definition of Karma as doled
out by Vedantic scholars or pundits who read more into the simple conditioned response
to a stimulus and complicate matters for others and themselves!
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