Loyalty goes beyond commitment, which is a promise to do something. When the promise is fulfilled, the commitment ends. You commit to a cause and still have reservations about it, but you cannot be loyal without your full heart and mind united behind it.
Commitment is a choice between THIS OR THAT; loyalty is THIS AND THAT AND THE OTHER, because it is based on a core principle that underlies all of them. This does not mean self-abnegation, which so many religions teach. It actually means that one's own needs are
ly satisfied only when others' needs are satisfied, because the greater part of ourselves lies in others. To reduce of our karmic burden we must be loyal to everyone and everything with which we have karma.
Loyalty is a means of resolving fear and developing trust, leading to unshakeable faith. Loyalty requires implicit trust, which is deeper and more permanent than belief. I think that the difference between belief and trust is that belief is conscious, and trust is deeper and more instinctive. Loyalty is a steadfast guide to thought and action.
In material exchange we give in expectation of receiving. The two should balance. In spiritual exchange, there must be no expectation of reward. Likewise in emotional exchange, we respect those who give selflessly, and disrespect those who try to use others. It is also why spiritual teachings are no longer spiritual as soon as they have a price tag.
Loyalty to others means putting their needs above our own, and trusting that our needs will be supported in due time with less effort.
Loyalty to karma means dedicating your life to fulfillment of karma, making fulfillment of karma the purpose of your life. It also means being loyal to the earthly vehicle -- your home, mentor, or even a birds in your garden -- that teaches you about karma and how to fulfill it.
Loyalty also means cherishing the heritage which has nurtured and guided you, never forgetting that all that you have came from others' efforts to help you, and returning the favor by helping others benefit as you have. Complete loyalty to this heritage is the key to making everything you do a joyous act of devotion.
P.N. Sukumar, who introduced me to a totally new way of approaching karma, recently said, "The universe is always loyal to us, even when we're not loyal to it. That's why when we're loyal to everything in the universe, ... " He left the sentence incomplete, perhaps to stimulate me to fill in the blanks in my own terms. My guess is that when we're loyal to the universe and everything in it, then we're rewarded with tremendous support in fulfilling our karma.
Sukumar gave two more examples of loyalty from one's day's events in our house. First, after I requested a pair of small sinks in the garage, he spent many hours looking for them. Second, I failed to note that the painter I was supervising had missed a big spot in the garage ceiling. Lack of attention shows lack of loyalty.
In summary:
Most of us are loyal to our egos first, our bio families second, and our spiritual heritage last. Genuine loyalty reverses that order. Our spiritual family and heritage are first; our bio family, second; and our egos last - they have only betrayed us. This does not mean that following a spiritual path (i.e., completing your karma) will reduce your loyalty to your bio family. On the contrary, it will increase that loyalty, too, and heal long-festering wounds in your relationships. That is certainly what we see in the bio families of all who live in our house.
Loyalty leads to unflinching faith because loyalty implies trust. We are only loyal to a person or cause when we trust it. I have had a problem with loyalty because of lack of trust. Loyalty heals distrust because it builds trust. Trust implies tolerance and forgiveness, which are also developed by the practice of loyalty.
Sukumar frequently says, "Life is for giving, and life is forgiving." Here he adds, "FORGIVENESS IS AT THE CORE OF A LIFE DEDICATED/LOYAL TO 'FOR GIVING'".
Loyalty is based on trust, and doubt is the opposite of trust. Reasonable skepticism is valuable in the material world. Discretion is also valuable in the spiritual world, but doubt based on fear and distrust is spiritual poison. That's why all great spiritual teachers say that faith and prayer can move mountains. Loyalty requires trust - trust in God to answer our prayers, trust that there is nothing to fear from putting others' needs above our own, trust that all works out when we do our best and let God do the rest. That trust is not blind. In fact, it enhances discrimination because it objective and unattached. It relieves mental agitation and allows mental clouds to clear.
Two principles are very different in the spiritual and material realms. The first is motivation: In the material world, we act in expectation of reward. We look for the best values in work and play and the best match for our needs in relationships. In spiritual matters, the slightest taint of selfishness backfires and sucks us into negativity.
The second principle is trust. In the material world, trust must be tempered with skepticism. In spiritual matters, trust must be absolute. Vigilance is necessary to avoid negativity, but the trust must be total, leading to unflinching faith.
Trust and selflessness are two sides of the same coin. We cannot be unselfish without trust, and we cannot trust without selflessness. Trust builds unselfishness, and selflessness builds trust.
Trust in others allows them the freedom to find their own solutions, often better than our own. Trust in the universe allows the infinite intelligence of nature to deliver greater abundance than we can imagine.
Commitment builds two elements of loyalty -- discipline and constancy. Commitment can be selfish or unselfish. For example, a student may be committed to becoming a doctor, and will develop discipline and constancy in the years of training for that goal. However, if motivated solely for personal gain, his medical practice will only exploit the sufferings of others, and he will find no lasting respect, contentment, or peace of mind. Such doctors have high rates of substance abuse and suicide. However, if a doctor is committed to using his medical skills to serving others, he may become an Albert Schweitzer or Patch Adams, and reap much greater satisfaction than his less inspired colleagues.
Commitment to others starts to soften the ego and open the heart. However, it does not necessarily yield peace of mind or respect from others. Trust is necessary. Trust in others requires respecting them. It inspires respect from them, and fosters mutual empathy. Trust in the universe allows the infinite intelligence of nature to deliver greater abundance than we can imagine. Without out trust in providence, we worry about the future, and the flow of abundance is choked off.
Non-attachment is the key to trust --non-attachment to action and its fruits. Workaholism and ADD (attention deficit disorder) are two forms of attachment to action. Another is classifying oneself in terms of job, hobby, etc. - "You are what you do." Attachment to fruits is basing our happiness on what we get instead of self-awareness: "I'll be happy if I ___" (Fill in the blank - "become a doctor," "marry Terry," "win the Superbowl," "make a billion", etc.) As the Bhagavad Gita says, we have control over action alone, not its fruits. What we get depends on providence, not our efforts. Even our own efforts, our own skills and energies, are gifts of providence. So what we get depends totally on providence. We have nothing and do nothing by ourselves.
Distrust is the ego's ploy for self-aggrandizement. It poisons relationships and spiritual life. It separates us from other people and the whole of nature. Trust unites and builds loyalty.
An egotistical intellect tells us nothing about any of the great questions of creation, like our purpose in life and how to complete our karma. Intellect can be a great tool, when freed from the ego and inspired from a deeper source.
It's fine to wax poetic about love and God. However, unless we put words into action, we're just like Jimmy Swaggart, Jimmy Baker, and other tall-talking tele-evangelists.
Sukumar says that only a poor craftsman resents his tools, and only a poor woodworker quarrels with his wood. We receive according to our karma, and whatever we receive is the best possible situation for us at that time to work out our karma. Resentment of our situation is resentment of the ideal tools for working out our karma at that time. Quarreling with whatever material we have at hand is insulting God for giving us what we asked for. We chose our wood; we are given what we have due to our own free choice. Whether we remember it or not, we yearned and begged for the life we have been given.
As we complete each phase of our karma, we receive more of the appropriate tools and resources to take care of the next phase. Whether we perceive what we receive as good or bad, it is all exactly what we need to work out karma. There could be no greater blessing, no matter how bad it may seem on the surface,
The greater our loyalty, the greater our appreciation of the life we have, and the greater our support from the universe. Resentment ("cribbing") and quarreling are disloyalty to the universe. They interfere with fulfillment of karma.
The flip side of loyalty is contentment. Lack of contentment indicates lack of loyalty. Loyalty is the path to contentment.
Note: Most of our other web pages we written primarily by P.N. Sukumar, or adapted from discussions he led. This page was also inspired by him, but reflects more of my own ideas than our other pages. -- Douglas Grimes
Copyright 2001 by Ponani Narayanan Sukumar
These concepts are based on personal experience of over forty years. They are presented for public dissemination and review for the first time on April 10, 2001. Revisions are planned and older versions will be archived. Any similarities to any writings or teachings except as specifically mentioned herein is not intentional. We have not found the key concepts presented here in any other writings or teachings anywhere.