A Gyani, the man of ‘knowledge’, was crossing a river… It was rainy season… The river was in spate but
the Gyani was a good swimmer… (“Gyan”, the knowledge of the “truth”, is comparable with “swimming” in
many ways!). As he neared the mid-stream, he spotted one little scorpion, going up & down in the rushing
waters. He picked up the insect to save it from drowning, placed it in one of his palms & kept swimming
with the other hand. The scorpion stung. The Gyani shrugged his hand & the insect fell out in the waters.
He picked it up again & keeping it in the other palm, continued crossing the river. In no time the scorpion
stung again... Again it fell out in water… Again it was picked up… Again it stung… And so on.
By the time he reached ashore, both the Gyani’s hands were swollen & painful. But he was pleased on
placing the insect safely on shore. One person who was watching all this drama, couldn’t help asking :
“Sir, You were trying to save that wicked little creature & yet it kept on stinging you. Why did you not leave
it there itself to die?”
Gyani’s reply is beautiful. He said : “The Dharma of the scorpion is ‘to sting’… It was simply ‘acting’ out of
its Dharma. Even in the face of death, it did not leave its Dharma! So, how could I leave MY Dharma, as
human being… i.e. ‘love & compassion for one & all’…”

This is the real Gyani, to the Vedic Seers… A true “religious” man! For, what he did, was ‘following’ his
Dharma… Without worrying about the consequences…
And that is the ‘key’ point… Doing Karma, as per Dharma, but without ‘worrying-about’ the ‘fruits’,
their-of! To my understanding, this is Geeta’s “message” of foremost importance in life… Prince Arjuna
gets disillusioned in the battlefield when he realizes that the warriors on the enemy side are none other
than his own close relatives & friends. “How can I fight my own kith & kin”, he asks, “Besides, would
‘killing’ them, not amount to ‘Paap’, ‘(sin)’?”
Lord Krishna makes him realize his ignorance of the Truth of the matter. “That, (the ‘ignorance’), is the
only sin”, He declares. He tells Arjuna that as a warrior, his Dharma in the battlefield, is ‘to-fight’, and
that; he must do only that, without worrying about the consequences. “Do your Karma in accordance with
your Dharma, without any ‘attachment’ with the result there-of”, He commands. “Leave that (the ‘result’),
to me”, He adds.

All actions, (Karma) beget results, (Karma-Phala)… And, the ‘right way’ of living, recommended by the
God is : Doing Karma, in accordance with one’s Dharma, while remaining un-attached with the results
there-of… In fact, surrendering them… to Him!
And this is known as the path of Action, or, “Karma Yoga”… the ‘subject’ of our story!
There is another ‘way’, that of ‘Total Surrender’...
Perhaps, out of compassion… because it is not easy to ‘know’ your true Dharma, in all the various “roles”
that you ‘play’ in life, at different places & at different times…which He has enumerated in His long
sermon; that the Lord ‘summarizes’ at the end, “ Abandoning all your Dharma-s, surrender to Me, and
Me alone… and I shall save you from all the sins”...

And that is the path of Devotion, or, “Bhakti Yoga”! Easier? In a way yes; because the Lord is taking
your total responsibility… But more difficult in actual fact; because here you are required to ‘give up’ your
“doing” too!
There is one more ‘path’ that the Vedic Seers acknowledge; the path of ‘Pure Knowledge’, or, “Gyan
Yoga”, which says : Once you “understand” the “Reality”, ‘right living’ follows… In fact, there are many
more paths… Though J. Krishnamurty says : “There is no path”; what I think, he means is that there is no
“one”, or, a “universal” path… one has to carve-out one’s own path”… which is what Buddha has said in
his famous sermon : “Be your own light”!
You can find a lot of literature on these ‘Paths’… They are ‘complimentary’ to each other. But, whichever
‘path’ you follow, depending upon what suits your basic nature, or, Swa-Dharma; to ‘reach’ the ‘goal’…
which Incidently, is ‘common’ to all paths… You cannot get away from Karma… For, whatever you do;
gathering knowledge, which you ‘do’ in Gyan-Yoga; or singing devotional songs, which you ‘do’ in Bhakti-
Yoga; you ARE performing Karma! Only thing is that you need to do THAT, “skillfully”… “Yogah Karmasu
Kaushalam”, says Lord Krishna in Geeta; meaning, “Yoga is dexterity in action”! We will look into that, as
we go along.