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PRACTICE OF KARMA YOGA
straitened circumstances. There are encouragenemts for the struggling soul that come from within. He is in a dying condition. Doctors have pronounced the case as absolutely hopeless. Yet there is a shrill inner voice from within that says: 'I am immortal, I am free.' He cherishes an inherent feeling: 'I am free though I appear to be apparently bound. This bondage is illusory.'
Let me repeat here the words of Lord Krishna in the Gita, that bespeak of the freedom of man in doing Karma:
Uddhared Armana Atmanam Natmanam
Avasadayet
Atmaiva Hyatmano Bandhuratmaiva
Ripuratmanah.
"Let a man raise himself by himself, let him not lower himself; for he alone is the friend of himself, he alone is the enemy of himself." Ch. VI-5.
Bandhuratmatmanastasya Yenatmaivaatmana Jitah Anatmanastu Satrurvai Vartetmatva Satruvat.
"To him who has conquered himself by himself, his own self is the friend of himself, but to him who has not (conquered) himself, his own self stands in the place of an enemy like the (external) foe." Ch. VI-6.
The Upanishads also echo the same idea: Uttishthata Jagrata Prapya Varan Nibodhata.
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