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Karma as the Source of Diversity

The Vedas recognize divine karma (the action of God) as the source of all creation, preservation and destruction. However, since God performs them without desires, unlike human beings he is not bound by them. From the first chapter of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (1.6.1) we learn that karma is one of the triple causes of diversity, the other two being name and form. The diversity in names arises from speech, and the diversity in forms comes from the eye, whereas the (mind and) body is the sources for the diversity in actions. For all actions, the body is the source, the controller, or the lord. Within the body, the mind, the speech, breath, the organs of action, and the organs of perception are considered the main deities who receive their share of food from the body and perform their actions. However, we cannot fully rely upon them to fight the impurities and the evil that can infest our body, since they are all vulnerable to evil and demonic actions, thoughts, desires, temptations, a...
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Karma as the Source of Diversity


The Vedas recognize divine karma (the action of God) as the source of all creation, preservation and destruction. However, since God performs them without desires, unlike human beings he is not bound by them. From the first chapter of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (1.6.1) we learn that karma is one of the triple causes of diversity, the other two being name and form. The diversity in names arises from speech, and the diversity in forms comes from the eye, whereas the (mind and) body is the sources for the diversity in actions. For all actions, the body is the source, the controller, or the lord.

Within the body, the mind, the speech, breath, the organs of action, and the organs of perception are considered the main deities who receive their share of food from the body and perform their actions. However, we cannot fully rely upon them to fight the impurities and the evil that can infest our body, since they are all vulnerable to evil and demonic actions, thoughts, desires, temptations, and intentions.

Of them, only the breath is reliable because breath is autonomous and is not guided by our desires or thoughts. In other words, symbolically the verse suggests that rituals and sacrifices in which you make offerings to gods and invoke them cannot guarantee us protection from evil or from the consequences of sinful karma as the gods themselves are vulnerable to hunger, temptations, and desire. We can achieve that only by recoursing to breathing and taking refuge in the Self, neither of which can be penetrated by evil.

Surely, rudimentary ideas such as these must have led to the belief that the mind and the body must be restrained and purified through the practice of breath control (pranayama), withdrawal of senses (pratyahara), and righteous conduct (yamas and niyamas) to stabilize the mind in the contemplation of the Self. Subsequently, they might have led to the development of classical Yoga as detailed in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali as a system of spiritual discipline and school of philosophy.

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