Pratyavaya Dosha - Acts of Omission

In this episode I summarize a conversation with my Guru who clarifies the concept of 'selfish interest' driven 'karma'. When we do any karma (action), if there is a selfish interest behind it then we have to do it completely for it to give its benefit. The karma can be any work in our daily life, including professional work, or even spiritual work like puja or japa. People do puja (propitiate) Gods because they want something (I need to get a job/ get married /have a kid/ buy a home/ get rid of my illness.....). And when our puja /japa does NOT involve selfish interest, we can drop these anytime. Otherwise, we must do it as prescribed by the Vedas for them to provide us the desired result. If there are any acts of omission, known as pratyavaya dosha in Sanskrit, then the results won't accrue. BUT this is not applicable for unselfish desires and moksha is unselfish. The person on whose behalf I spoke to my Guru, wanted to drop several japa /puja as her health was not permitting her and also she wanted to know what to do to progress further spiritually. My Guru just asked her to drop them right away and do Nidhidhyasanam....but the underlying explanation was superb. Selfish Interest as the motive: Do the Work properly as per injunctions Unselfish interest as the motive: Do your best with Karma yoga attitude