SRIMAD BHAGAWAD GITA CHAPTER 18 (gita.18)
SRIMAD BHAGAWAD GITA CHAPTER 18
अथ अष्टादशोஉध्यायः ।
अर्जुन उवाच ।
संन्यासस्य महाबाहो तत्त्वमिच्छामि वेदितुम् ।
त्यागस्य च हृषीकेश पृथक्केशिनिषूदन ॥ 1 ॥
संन्यासस्य महाबाहो तत्त्वमिच्छामि वेदितुम् ।
त्यागस्य च हृषीकेश पृथक्केशिनिषूदन ॥ 1 ॥
श्रीभगवानुवाच ।
काम्यानां कर्मणां न्यासं संन्यासं कवयो विदुः ।
सर्वकर्मफलत्यागं प्राहुस्त्यागं विचक्षणाः ॥ 2 ॥
काम्यानां कर्मणां न्यासं संन्यासं कवयो विदुः ।
सर्वकर्मफलत्यागं प्राहुस्त्यागं विचक्षणाः ॥ 2 ॥
त्याज्यं दोषवदित्येके कर्म प्राहुर्मनीषिणः ।
यज्ञदानतपःकर्म न त्याज्यमिति चापरे ॥ 3 ॥
यज्ञदानतपःकर्म न त्याज्यमिति चापरे ॥ 3 ॥
निश्चयं शृणु मे तत्र त्यागे भरतसत्तम ।
त्यागो हि पुरुषव्याघ्र त्रिविधः सम्प्रकीर्तितः ॥ 4 ॥
त्यागो हि पुरुषव्याघ्र त्रिविधः सम्प्रकीर्तितः ॥ 4 ॥
यज्ञदानतपःकर्म न त्याज्यं कार्यमेव तत् ।
यज्ञो दानं तपश्चैव पावनानि मनीषिणाम् ॥ 5 ॥
यज्ञो दानं तपश्चैव पावनानि मनीषिणाम् ॥ 5 ॥
एतान्यपि तु कर्माणि सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा फलानि च ।
कर्तव्यानीति मे पार्थ निश्चितं मतमुत्तमम् ॥ 6 ॥
कर्तव्यानीति मे पार्थ निश्चितं मतमुत्तमम् ॥ 6 ॥
नियतस्य तु संन्यासः कर्मणो नोपपद्यते ।
मोहात्तस्य परित्यागस्तामसः परिकीर्तितः ॥ 7 ॥
मोहात्तस्य परित्यागस्तामसः परिकीर्तितः ॥ 7 ॥
दुःखमित्येव यत्कर्म कायक्लेशभयात्त्यजेत् ।
स कृत्वा राजसं त्यागं नैव त्यागफलं लभेत् ॥ 8 ॥
स कृत्वा राजसं त्यागं नैव त्यागफलं लभेत् ॥ 8 ॥
कार्यमित्येव यत्कर्म नियतं क्रियतेஉर्जुन ।
सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा फलं चैव स त्यागः सात्त्विको मतः ॥ 9 ॥
सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा फलं चैव स त्यागः सात्त्विको मतः ॥ 9 ॥
न द्वेष्ट्यकुशलं कर्म कुशले नानुषज्जते ।
त्यागी सत्त्वसमाविष्टो मेधावी छिन्नसंशयः ॥ 10 ॥
त्यागी सत्त्वसमाविष्टो मेधावी छिन्नसंशयः ॥ 10 ॥
न हि देहभृता शक्यं त्यक्तुं कर्माण्यशेषतः ।
यस्तु कर्मफलत्यागी स त्यागीत्यभिधीयते ॥ 11 ॥
यस्तु कर्मफलत्यागी स त्यागीत्यभिधीयते ॥ 11 ॥
अनिष्टमिष्टं मिश्रं च त्रिविधं कर्मणः फलम् ।
भवत्यत्यागिनां प्रेत्य न तु संन्यासिनां क्वचित् ॥ 12 ॥
भवत्यत्यागिनां प्रेत्य न तु संन्यासिनां क्वचित् ॥ 12 ॥
पञ्चैतानि महाबाहो कारणानि निबोध मे ।
साङ्ख्ये कृतान्ते प्रोक्तानि सिद्धये सर्वकर्मणाम् ॥ 13 ॥
साङ्ख्ये कृतान्ते प्रोक्तानि सिद्धये सर्वकर्मणाम् ॥ 13 ॥
अधिष्ठानं तथा कर्ता करणं च पृथग्विधम् ।
विविधाश्च पृथक्चेष्टा दैवं चैवात्र पञ्चमम् ॥ 14 ॥
विविधाश्च पृथक्चेष्टा दैवं चैवात्र पञ्चमम् ॥ 14 ॥
शरीरवाङ्मनोभिर्यत्कर्म प्रारभते नरः ।
न्याय्यं वा विपरीतं वा पञ्चैते तस्य हेतवः ॥ 15 ॥
न्याय्यं वा विपरीतं वा पञ्चैते तस्य हेतवः ॥ 15 ॥
तत्रैवं सति कर्तारमात्मानं केवलं तु यः ।
पश्यत्यकृतबुद्धित्वान्न स पश्यति दुर्मतिः ॥ 16 ॥
पश्यत्यकृतबुद्धित्वान्न स पश्यति दुर्मतिः ॥ 16 ॥
यस्य नाहङ्कृतो भावो बुद्धिर्यस्य न लिप्यते ।
हत्वाஉपि स इमांल्लोकान्न हन्ति न निबध्यते ॥ 17 ॥
हत्वाஉपि स इमांल्लोकान्न हन्ति न निबध्यते ॥ 17 ॥
ज्ञानं ज्ञेयं परिज्ञाता त्रिविधा कर्मचोदना ।
करणं कर्म कर्तेति त्रिविधः कर्मसङ्ग्रहः ॥ 18 ॥
करणं कर्म कर्तेति त्रिविधः कर्मसङ्ग्रहः ॥ 18 ॥
ज्ञानं कर्म च कर्ता च त्रिधैव गुणभेदतः ।
प्रोच्यते गुणसङ्ख्याने यथावच्छृणु तान्यपि ॥ 19 ॥
प्रोच्यते गुणसङ्ख्याने यथावच्छृणु तान्यपि ॥ 19 ॥
सर्वभूतेषु येनैकं भावमव्ययमीक्षते ।
अविभक्तं विभक्तेषु तज्ज्ञानं विद्धि सात्त्विकम् ॥ 20 ॥
अविभक्तं विभक्तेषु तज्ज्ञानं विद्धि सात्त्विकम् ॥ 20 ॥
पृथक्त्वेन तु यज्ज्ञानं नानाभावान्पृथग्विधान् ।
वेत्ति सर्वेषु भूतेषु तज्ज्ञानं विद्धि राजसम् ॥ 21 ॥
वेत्ति सर्वेषु भूतेषु तज्ज्ञानं विद्धि राजसम् ॥ 21 ॥
यत्तु कृत्स्नवदेकस्मिन्कार्ये सक्तमहैतुकम् ।
अतत्त्वार्थवदल्पं च तत्तामसमुदाहृतम् ॥ 22 ॥
अतत्त्वार्थवदल्पं च तत्तामसमुदाहृतम् ॥ 22 ॥
नियतं सङ्गरहितमरागद्वेषतः कृतम् ।
अफलप्रेप्सुना कर्म यत्तत्सात्त्विकमुच्यते ॥ 23 ॥
अफलप्रेप्सुना कर्म यत्तत्सात्त्विकमुच्यते ॥ 23 ॥
यत्तु कामेप्सुना कर्म साहङ्कारेण वा पुनः ।
क्रियते बहुलायासं तद्राजसमुदाहृतम् ॥ 24 ॥
क्रियते बहुलायासं तद्राजसमुदाहृतम् ॥ 24 ॥
अनुबन्धं क्षयं हिंसामनपेक्ष्य च पौरुषम् ।
मोहादारभ्यते कर्म यत्तत्तामसमुच्यते ॥ 25 ॥
मोहादारभ्यते कर्म यत्तत्तामसमुच्यते ॥ 25 ॥
मुक्तसङ्गोஉनहंवादी धृत्युत्साहसमन्वितः ।
सिद्ध्यसिद्ध्योर्निर्विकारः कर्ता सात्त्विक उच्यते ॥ 26 ॥
सिद्ध्यसिद्ध्योर्निर्विकारः कर्ता सात्त्विक उच्यते ॥ 26 ॥
रागी कर्मफलप्रेप्सुर्लुब्धो हिंसात्मकोஉशुचिः ।
हर्षशोकान्वितः कर्ता राजसः परिकीर्तितः ॥ 27 ॥
हर्षशोकान्वितः कर्ता राजसः परिकीर्तितः ॥ 27 ॥
अयुक्तः प्राकृतः स्तब्धः शठो नैष्कृतिकोஉलसः ।
विषादी दीर्घसूत्री च कर्ता तामस उच्यते ॥ 28 ॥
विषादी दीर्घसूत्री च कर्ता तामस उच्यते ॥ 28 ॥
बुद्धेर्भेदं धृतेश्चैव गुणतस्त्रिविधं शृणु ।
प्रोच्यमानमशेषेण पृथक्त्वेन धनञ्जय ॥ 29 ॥
प्रोच्यमानमशेषेण पृथक्त्वेन धनञ्जय ॥ 29 ॥
प्रवृत्तिं च निवृत्तिं च कार्याकार्ये भयाभये ।
बन्धं मोक्षं च या वेत्ति बुद्धिः सा पार्थ सात्त्विकी ॥ 30 ॥
बन्धं मोक्षं च या वेत्ति बुद्धिः सा पार्थ सात्त्विकी ॥ 30 ॥
यया धर्ममधर्मं च कार्यं चाकार्यमेव च ।
अयथावत्प्रजानाति बुद्धिः सा पार्थ राजसी ॥ 31 ॥
अयथावत्प्रजानाति बुद्धिः सा पार्थ राजसी ॥ 31 ॥
अधर्मं धर्ममिति या मन्यते तमसावृता ।
सर्वार्थान्विपरीतांश्च बुद्धिः सा पार्थ तामसी ॥ 32 ॥
सर्वार्थान्विपरीतांश्च बुद्धिः सा पार्थ तामसी ॥ 32 ॥
धृत्या यया धारयते मनःप्राणेन्द्रियक्रियाः ।
योगेनाव्यभिचारिण्या धृतिः सा पार्थ सात्त्विकी ॥ 33 ॥
योगेनाव्यभिचारिण्या धृतिः सा पार्थ सात्त्विकी ॥ 33 ॥
यया तु धर्मकामार्थान्धृत्या धारयतेஉर्जुन ।
प्रसङ्गेन फलाकाङ्क्षी धृतिः सा पार्थ राजसी ॥ 34 ॥
प्रसङ्गेन फलाकाङ्क्षी धृतिः सा पार्थ राजसी ॥ 34 ॥
यया स्वप्नं भयं शोकं विषादं मदमेव च ।
न विमुञ्चति दुर्मेधा धृतिः सा पार्थ तामसी ॥ 35 ॥
न विमुञ्चति दुर्मेधा धृतिः सा पार्थ तामसी ॥ 35 ॥
सुखं त्विदानीं त्रिविधं शृणु मे भरतर्षभ ।
अभ्यासाद्रमते यत्र दुःखान्तं च निगच्छति ॥ 36 ॥
अभ्यासाद्रमते यत्र दुःखान्तं च निगच्छति ॥ 36 ॥
यत्तदग्रे विषमिव परिणामेஉमृतोपमम् ।
तत्सुखं सात्त्विकं प्रोक्तमात्मबुद्धिप्रसादजम् ॥ 37 ॥
तत्सुखं सात्त्विकं प्रोक्तमात्मबुद्धिप्रसादजम् ॥ 37 ॥
विषयेन्द्रियसंयोगाद्यत्तदग्रेஉमृतोपमम् ।
परिणामे विषमिव तत्सुखं राजसं स्मृतम् ॥ 38 ॥
परिणामे विषमिव तत्सुखं राजसं स्मृतम् ॥ 38 ॥
यदग्रे चानुबन्धे च सुखं मोहनमात्मनः ।
निद्रालस्यप्रमादोत्थं तत्तामसमुदाहृतम् ॥ 39 ॥
निद्रालस्यप्रमादोत्थं तत्तामसमुदाहृतम् ॥ 39 ॥
न तदस्ति पृथिव्यां वा दिवि देवेषु वा पुनः ।
सत्त्वं प्रकृतिजैर्मुक्तं यदेभिः स्यात्त्रिभिर्गुणैः ॥ 40 ॥
सत्त्वं प्रकृतिजैर्मुक्तं यदेभिः स्यात्त्रिभिर्गुणैः ॥ 40 ॥
ब्राह्मणक्षत्रियविशां शूद्राणां च परन्तप ।
कर्माणि प्रविभक्तानि स्वभावप्रभवैर्गुणैः ॥ 41 ॥
कर्माणि प्रविभक्तानि स्वभावप्रभवैर्गुणैः ॥ 41 ॥
शमो दमस्तपः शौचं क्षान्तिरार्जवमेव च ।
ज्ञानं विज्ञानमास्तिक्यं ब्रह्मकर्म स्वभावजम् ॥ 42 ॥
ज्ञानं विज्ञानमास्तिक्यं ब्रह्मकर्म स्वभावजम् ॥ 42 ॥
शौर्यं तेजो धृतिर्दाक्ष्यं युद्धे चाप्यपलायनम् ।
दानमीश्वरभावश्च क्षात्रं कर्म स्वभावजम् ॥ 43 ॥
दानमीश्वरभावश्च क्षात्रं कर्म स्वभावजम् ॥ 43 ॥
कृषिगौरक्ष्यवाणिज्यं वैश्यकर्म स्वभावजम् ।
परिचर्यात्मकं कर्म शूद्रस्यापि स्वभावजम् ॥ 44 ॥
परिचर्यात्मकं कर्म शूद्रस्यापि स्वभावजम् ॥ 44 ॥
स्वे स्वे कर्मण्यभिरतः संसिद्धिं लभते नरः ।
स्वकर्मनिरतः सिद्धिं यथा विन्दति तच्छृणु ॥ 45 ॥
स्वकर्मनिरतः सिद्धिं यथा विन्दति तच्छृणु ॥ 45 ॥
यतः प्रवृत्तिर्भूतानां येन सर्वमिदं ततम् ।
स्वकर्मणा तमभ्यर्च्य सिद्धिं विन्दति मानवः ॥ 46 ॥
स्वकर्मणा तमभ्यर्च्य सिद्धिं विन्दति मानवः ॥ 46 ॥
श्रेयान्स्वधर्मो विगुणः परधर्मोत्स्वनुष्ठितात् ।
स्वभावनियतं कर्म कुर्वन्नाप्नोति किल्बिषम् ॥ 47 ॥
स्वभावनियतं कर्म कुर्वन्नाप्नोति किल्बिषम् ॥ 47 ॥
सहजं कर्म कौन्तेय सदोषमपि न त्यजेत् ।
सर्वारम्भा हि दोषेण धूमेनाग्निरिवावृताः ॥ 48 ॥
सर्वारम्भा हि दोषेण धूमेनाग्निरिवावृताः ॥ 48 ॥
असक्तबुद्धिः सर्वत्र जितात्मा विगतस्पृहः ।
नैष्कर्म्यसिद्धिं परमां संन्यासेनाधिगच्छति ॥ 49 ॥
नैष्कर्म्यसिद्धिं परमां संन्यासेनाधिगच्छति ॥ 49 ॥
सिद्धिं प्राप्तो यथा ब्रह्म तथाप्नोति निबोध मे ।
समासेनैव कौन्तेय निष्ठा ज्ञानस्य या परा ॥ 50 ॥
समासेनैव कौन्तेय निष्ठा ज्ञानस्य या परा ॥ 50 ॥
बुद्ध्या विशुद्धया युक्तो धृत्यात्मानं नियम्य च ।
शब्दादीन्विषयांस्त्यक्त्वा रागद्वेषौ व्युदस्य च ॥ 51 ॥
शब्दादीन्विषयांस्त्यक्त्वा रागद्वेषौ व्युदस्य च ॥ 51 ॥
विविक्तसेवी लघ्वाशी यतवाक्कायमानसः ।
ध्यानयोगपरो नित्यं वैराग्यं समुपाश्रितः ॥ 52 ॥
ध्यानयोगपरो नित्यं वैराग्यं समुपाश्रितः ॥ 52 ॥
अहङ्कारं बलं दर्पं कामं क्रोधं परिग्रहम् ।
विमुच्य निर्ममः शान्तो ब्रह्मभूयाय कल्पते ॥ 53 ॥
विमुच्य निर्ममः शान्तो ब्रह्मभूयाय कल्पते ॥ 53 ॥
ब्रह्मभूतः प्रसन्नात्मा न शोचति न काङ्क्षति ।
समः सर्वेषु भूतेषु मद्भक्तिं लभते पराम् ॥ 54 ॥
समः सर्वेषु भूतेषु मद्भक्तिं लभते पराम् ॥ 54 ॥
भक्त्या मामभिजानाति यावान्यश्चास्मि तत्त्वतः ।
ततो मां तत्त्वतो ज्ञात्वा विशते तदनन्तरम् ॥ 55 ॥
ततो मां तत्त्वतो ज्ञात्वा विशते तदनन्तरम् ॥ 55 ॥
सर्वकर्माण्यपि सदा कुर्वाणो मद्व्यपाश्रयः ।
मत्प्रसादादवाप्नोति शाश्वतं पदमव्ययम् ॥ 56 ॥
मत्प्रसादादवाप्नोति शाश्वतं पदमव्ययम् ॥ 56 ॥
चेतसा सर्वकर्माणि मयि संन्यस्य मत्परः ।
बुद्धियोगमुपाश्रित्य मच्चित्तः सततं भव ॥ 57 ॥
बुद्धियोगमुपाश्रित्य मच्चित्तः सततं भव ॥ 57 ॥
मच्चित्तः सर्वदुर्गाणि मत्प्रसादात्तरिष्यसि ।
अथ चेत्त्वमहङ्कारान्न श्रोष्यसि विनङ्क्ष्यसि ॥ 58 ॥
अथ चेत्त्वमहङ्कारान्न श्रोष्यसि विनङ्क्ष्यसि ॥ 58 ॥
यदहङ्कारमाश्रित्य न योत्स्य इति मन्यसे ।
मिथ्यैष व्यवसायस्ते प्रकृतिस्त्वां नियोक्ष्यति ॥ 59 ॥
मिथ्यैष व्यवसायस्ते प्रकृतिस्त्वां नियोक्ष्यति ॥ 59 ॥
स्वभावजेन कौन्तेय निबद्धः स्वेन कर्मणा ।
कर्तुं नेच्छसि यन्मोहात्करिष्यस्यवशोஉपि तत् ॥ 60 ॥
कर्तुं नेच्छसि यन्मोहात्करिष्यस्यवशोஉपि तत् ॥ 60 ॥
ईश्वरः सर्वभूतानां हृद्देशेஉर्जुन तिष्ठति ।
भ्रामयन्सर्वभूतानि यन्त्रारूढानि मायया ॥ 61 ॥
भ्रामयन्सर्वभूतानि यन्त्रारूढानि मायया ॥ 61 ॥
तमेव शरणं गच्छ सर्वभावेन भारत ।
तत्प्रसादात्परां शान्तिं स्थानं प्राप्स्यसि शाश्वतम् ॥ 62 ॥
तत्प्रसादात्परां शान्तिं स्थानं प्राप्स्यसि शाश्वतम् ॥ 62 ॥
इति ते ज्ञानमाख्यातं गुह्याद्गुह्यतरं मया ।
विमृश्यैतदशेषेण यथेच्छसि तथा कुरु ॥ 63 ॥
विमृश्यैतदशेषेण यथेच्छसि तथा कुरु ॥ 63 ॥
सर्वगुह्यतमं भूयः शृणु मे परमं वचः ।
इष्टोஉसि मे दृढमिति ततो वक्ष्यामि ते हितम् ॥ 64 ॥
इष्टोஉसि मे दृढमिति ततो वक्ष्यामि ते हितम् ॥ 64 ॥
मन्मना भव मद्भक्तो मद्याजी मां नमस्कुरु ।
मामेवैष्यसि सत्यं ते प्रतिजाने प्रियोஉसि मे ॥ 65 ॥
मामेवैष्यसि सत्यं ते प्रतिजाने प्रियोஉसि मे ॥ 65 ॥
सर्वधर्मान्परित्यज्य मामेकं शरणं व्रज ।
अहं त्वा सर्वपापेभ्यो मोक्षयिष्यामि मा शुचः ॥ 66 ॥
अहं त्वा सर्वपापेभ्यो मोक्षयिष्यामि मा शुचः ॥ 66 ॥
इदं ते नातपस्काय नाभक्ताय कदाचन ।
न चाशुश्रूषवे वाच्यं न च मां योஉभ्यसूयति ॥ 67 ॥
न चाशुश्रूषवे वाच्यं न च मां योஉभ्यसूयति ॥ 67 ॥
य इमं परमं गुह्यं मद्भक्तेष्वभिधास्यति ।
भक्तिं मयि परां कृत्वा मामेवैष्यत्यसंशयः ॥ 68 ॥
भक्तिं मयि परां कृत्वा मामेवैष्यत्यसंशयः ॥ 68 ॥
न च तस्मान्मनुष्येषु कश्चिन्मे प्रियकृत्तमः ।
भविता न च मे तस्मादन्यः प्रियतरो भुवि ॥ 69 ॥
भविता न च मे तस्मादन्यः प्रियतरो भुवि ॥ 69 ॥
अध्येष्यते च य इमं धर्म्यं संवादमावयोः ।
ज्ञानयज्ञेन तेनाहमिष्टः स्यामिति मे मतिः ॥ 70 ॥
ज्ञानयज्ञेन तेनाहमिष्टः स्यामिति मे मतिः ॥ 70 ॥
श्रद्धावाननसूयश्च शृणुयादपि यो नरः ।
सोஉपि मुक्तः शुभांल्लोकान्प्राप्नुयात्पुण्यकर्मणाम् ॥ 71 ॥
सोஉपि मुक्तः शुभांल्लोकान्प्राप्नुयात्पुण्यकर्मणाम् ॥ 71 ॥
कच्चिदेतच्छ्रुतं पार्थ त्वयैकाग्रेण चेतसा ।
कच्चिदज्ञानसंमोहः प्रनष्टस्ते धनञ्जय ॥ 72 ॥
कच्चिदज्ञानसंमोहः प्रनष्टस्ते धनञ्जय ॥ 72 ॥
अर्जुन उवाच ।
नष्टो मोहः स्मृतिर्लब्धा त्वत्प्रसादान्मयाच्युत ।
स्थितोஉस्मि गतसन्देहः करिष्ये वचनं तव ॥ 73 ॥
नष्टो मोहः स्मृतिर्लब्धा त्वत्प्रसादान्मयाच्युत ।
स्थितोஉस्मि गतसन्देहः करिष्ये वचनं तव ॥ 73 ॥
सञ्जय उवाच ।
इत्यहं वासुदेवस्य पार्थस्य च महात्मनः ।
संवादमिममश्रौषमद्भुतं रोमहर्षणम् ॥ 74 ॥
इत्यहं वासुदेवस्य पार्थस्य च महात्मनः ।
संवादमिममश्रौषमद्भुतं रोमहर्षणम् ॥ 74 ॥
व्यासप्रसादाच्छ्रुतवानेतद्गुह्यमहं परम् ।
योगं योगेश्वरात्कृष्णात्साक्षात्कथयतः स्वयम् ॥ 75 ॥
योगं योगेश्वरात्कृष्णात्साक्षात्कथयतः स्वयम् ॥ 75 ॥
राजन्संस्मृत्य संस्मृत्य संवादमिममद्भुतम् ।
केशवार्जुनयोः पुण्यं हृष्यामि च मुहुर्मुहुः ॥ 76 ॥
केशवार्जुनयोः पुण्यं हृष्यामि च मुहुर्मुहुः ॥ 76 ॥
तच्च संस्मृत्य संस्मृत्य रूपमत्यद्भुतं हरेः ।
विस्मयो मे महान्राजन्हृष्यामि च पुनः पुनः ॥ 77 ॥
विस्मयो मे महान्राजन्हृष्यामि च पुनः पुनः ॥ 77 ॥
यत्र योगेश्वरः कृष्णो यत्र पार्थो धनुर्धरः ।
तत्र श्रीर्विजयो भूतिर्ध्रुवा नीतिर्मतिर्मम ॥ 78 ॥
तत्र श्रीर्विजयो भूतिर्ध्रुवा नीतिर्मतिर्मम ॥ 78 ॥
ॐ तत्सदिति श्रीमद्भगवद्गीतासूपनिषत्सु ब्रह्मविद्यायां योगशास्त्रे श्रीकृष्णार्जुनसंवादे
मोक्षसंन्यासयोगो नामाष्टादशोஉध्यायः ॥ 18 ॥
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https://youtu.be/hUKl5bxmMPk
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The eighteenth discourse, which is the conclusion of the divine discourse of Lord Krishna, is in many ways a summary of the foregoing portions of the Gita. It covers in brief numerous important points dealt with in the previous discourses. Here you behold the ultimate result or effect of the Lord’s discourse to Arjuna. The drama of Arjuna’s utter despondency and breakdown is finally resolved in triumphant self-mastery, strength and bold resoluteness. Its central message emerges as an assurance that in and through the performance of one’s respective duties in life one can qualify for the highest liberation, if one performs actions by renouncing egoism and attachment and surrendering all desire for selfish, personal gain. By regarding the performance of your duties as worship offered to God, you obtain the Grace of the Lord and attain the eternal One.
Significantly, this discourse opens with a question by Arjuna asking what is true Sannyasa and true Tyaga (renunciation). In reply to this important and crucial query, the blessed Lord makes it clear to us that real Sannyasa or renunciation lies in renunciation of selfish actions, and even more in the renunciation of the desire or greed for the fruits of any action. Very clearly we are told that selfless and virtuous actions, and actions conducive to the welfare of others should not be abandoned. You must engage yourself in performing such action but renouncing attachment and greed. The true and proper renunciation is giving up of selfishness and attachment while performing one’s legitimate duties. This is called Sattwic Tyaga. We neither hate unpleasant action nor are we attached to pleasurable action. As it is not possible for you to renounce all action, the renunciation of egoism, selfishness and attachment in your activity is declared as true renunciation. Karma does not accumulate and bind one who is thus established in such inner renunciation.
The divine injunction is that God must be made the sole object of one’s life. This is the heart of the Gita gospel. This is the central message in its teaching. This is the one way to your welfare here.
Now Sanjaya concludes his narrative by declaring that where there is such obedience as that of Arjuna, and such willing readiness to carry out the divine teachings, there surely prosperity, victory, glory and all blessedness will prevail.
Tyaagasya cha hrisheekesha prithak keshinishoodana.
Sarvakarmaphalatyaagam praahustyaagam vichakshanaah.
Tyaajyam doshavadityeke karma praahurmaneeshinah;
Yajnadaanatapah karma na tyaajyamiti chaapare.
3. Some philosophers declare that all actions should be abandoned as an evil, while others declare that acts of gift, sacrifice and austerity should not be relinquished.
Nishchayam shrinu me tatra tyaage bharatasattama;
Tyaago hi purushavyaaghra trividhah samprakeertitah.
4. Hear from Me the conclusion or the final truth about this abandonment, O best of the Bharatas; abandonment, verily, O best of men, has been declared to be of three kinds!
Yajnadaanatapah karma na tyaajyam kaaryameva tat;
Yajno daanam tapashchaiva paavanaani maneeshinaam.
5. Acts of sacrifice, gift and austerity should not be abandoned, but should be performed; sacrifice, gift and also austerity are the purifiers of the wise.
Etaanyapi tu karmaani sangam tyaktwaa phalaani cha;
Kartavyaaneeti me paartha nishchitam matamuttamam.
6. But even these actions should be performed leaving aside attachment and the desire for rewards, O Arjuna! This is My certain and best conviction.
COMMENTARY: This is a summary of the doctrine of Karma Yoga already enunciated before. The defect in Karma is not in the action itself but in attachment and expectation of a reward.
Niyatasya tu sannyaasah karmano nopapadyate;
Mohaattasya parityaagas taamasah parikeertitah.
7. Verily, the renunciation of obligatory action is improper; the abandonment of the same from delusion is declared to be Tamasic.
Duhkhamityeva yat karma kaayakleshabhayaat tyajet;
Sa kritwaa raajasam tyaagam naiva tyaagaphalam labhet.
8. He who abandons action on account of the fear of bodily trouble (because it is painful), he does not obtain the merit of renunciation by doing such Rajasic renunciation.
Kaaryamityeva yatkarma niyatam kriyate’rjuna;
Sangam tyaktwaa phalam chaiva sa tyaagah saattwiko matah.
9. Whatever obligatory action is done, O Arjuna, merely because it ought to be done, abandoning attachment and also the desire for reward, that renunciation is regarded as Sattwic!
Na dweshtyakushalam karma kushale naanushajjate;
Tyaagee sattwasamaavishto medhaavee cchinnasamshayah.
10. The man of renunciation, pervaded by purity, intelligent and with his doubts cut asunder, does not hate a disagreeable work nor is he attached to an agreeable one.
Na hi dehabhritaa shakyam tyaktum karmaanyasheshatah;
Yastu karmaphalatyaagi sa tyaageetyabhidheeyate.
11. Verily, it is not possible for an embodied being to abandon actions entirely; but he who relinquishes the rewards of actions is verily called a man of renunciation.
COMMENTARY: Nature, and your own nature, too, will urge you to do actions. You will have to abandon the idea of agency and the fruits of actions. Then no action will bind you.
Anishtamishtam mishram cha trividham karmanah phalam;
Bhavatyatyaaginaam pretya na tu sannyaasinaam kwachit.
12. The threefold fruit of action—evil, good and mixed—accrues after death to the non-abandoners, but never to the abandoners.
Panchaitaani mahaabaaho kaaranaani nibodha me;
Saankhye kritaante proktaani siddhaye sarvakarmanaam.
13. Learn from Me, O mighty-armed Arjuna, these five causes, as declared in the Sankhya system for the accomplishment of all actions!
Adhishthaanam tathaa kartaa karanam cha prithagvidham;
Vividhaashcha prithakcheshtaa daivam chaivaatra panchamam.
14. The body, the doer, the various senses, the different functions of various sorts, and the presiding Deity, also, the fifth,
Shareeravaangmanobhiryat karma praarabhate narah;
Nyaayyam vaa vipareetam vaa panchaite tasya hetavah.
15. Whatever action a man performs by his body, speech and mind, whether right or the reverse, these five are its causes.
Tatraivam sati kartaaram aatmaanam kevalam tu yah;
Pashyatyakritabuddhitwaan na sa pashyati durmatih.
16. Now, such being the case, he who, owing to untrained understanding, looks upon his Self, which is isolated, as the agent, he of perverted intelligence, sees not.
Yasya naahankrito bhaavo buddhiryasya na lipyate;
Hatwaapi sa imaam llokaan na hanti na nibadhyate.
17. He who is ever free from the egoistic notion, whose intelligence is not tainted by (good or evil), though he slays these people, he slayeth not, nor is he bound (by the action).
Jnaanam jneyam parijnaataa trividhaa karmachodanaa;
Karanam karma karteti trividhah karmasangrahah.
18. Knowledge, the knowable and the knower form the threefold impulse to action; the organ, the action and the agent form the threefold basis of action.
Jnaanam karma cha kartaa cha tridhaiva gunabhedatah;
Prochyate gunasankhyaane yathaavacchrinu taanyapi.
19. Knowledge, action and the actor are declared in the science of the Gunas (the Sankhya philosophy) to be of three kinds only, according to the distinction of the Gunas. Hear them also duly.
Sarvabhooteshu yenaikam bhaavamavyayameekshate;
Avibhaktam vibhakteshu tajjnaanam viddhi saattwikam.
20. That by which one sees the one indestructible Reality in all beings, not separate in all the separate beings—know thou that knowledge to be Sattwic (pure).
Prithaktwena tu yajjnaanam naanaabhaavaan prithagvidhaan;
Vetti sarveshu bhooteshu tajjnaanam viddhi raajasam.
21. But that knowledge which sees in all beings various entities of distinct kinds as different from one another—know thou that knowledge to be Rajasic (passionate).
Yattu kritsnavadekasmin kaarye saktamahaitukam;
Atattwaarthavadalpam cha tattaamasamudaahritam.
22. But that which clings to one single effect as if it were the whole, without reason, without foundation in Truth, and trivial—that is declared to be Tamasic (dark).
Niyatam sangarahitam araagadweshatah kritam;
Aphalaprepsunaa karma yattat saattwikamuchyate.
23. An action which is ordained, which is free from attachment, which is done without love or hatred by one who is not desirous of any reward—that action is declared to be Sattwic.
Yattu kaamepsunaa karma saahankaarena vaa punah;
Kriyate bahulaayaasam tadraajasamudaahritam.
24. But that action which is done by one longing for the fulfilment of desires or gain, with egoism or with much effort—that is declared to be Rajasic.
Anubandham kshayam himsaam anavekshya cha paurusham;
Mohaadaarabhyate karma yattat taamasamuchyate.
25. That action which is undertaken from delusion, without regard to the consequences of loss, injury and (one’s own) ability—that is declared to be Tamasic.
Muktasango’nahamvaadi dhrityutsaahasamanvitah;
Siddhyasiddhyor nirvikaarah kartaa saattwika uchyate.
26. He who is free from attachment, non-egoistic, endowed with firmness and enthusiasm and unaffected by success or failure, is called Sattwic.
Raagee karmaphalaprepsur lubdho himsaatmako’shuchih;
Harshashokaanvitah kartaa raajasah parikeertitah.
27. Passionate, desiring to obtain the rewards of actions, cruel, greedy, impure, moved by joy and sorrow, such an agent is said to be Rajasic.
Ayuktah praakritah stabdhah shatho naishkritiko’lasah;
Vishaadee deerghasootree cha kartaa taamasa uchyate.
28. Unsteady, dejected, unbending, cheating, malicious, vulgar, lazy and proscrastinating—such an agent is called Tamasic.
Buddherbhedam dhriteshchaiva gunatastrividham shrinu;
Prochyamaanamasheshena prithaktwena dhananjaya.
29. Hear thou the threefold division of the intellect and firmness according to the Gunas, as I declare them fully and distinctly, O Arjuna!
Pravrittim cha nivrittim cha karyaakaarye bhayaabhaye;
Bandhammoksham cha yaa vetti buddhih saa paartha saattwikee.
30. That which knows the path of work and renunciation, what ought to be done and what ought not to be done, fear and fearlessness, bondage and liberation—that intellect is Sattwic, O Arjuna!
Yayaa dharmamadharmam cha kaaryam chaakaaryameva cha;
Ayathaavat prajaanaati buddhih saa paartha raajasee.
31. That by which one incorrectly understands Dharma and Adharma, and also what ought to be done and what ought not to be done—that intellect, O Arjuna, is Rajasic!
COMMENTARY: That which is ordained in the scriptures is Dharma. That which hurls you into the abyss of ignorance is Adharma. The Rajasic intellect is not able to distinguish between righteous and unrighteous actions.
Adharmam dharmamiti yaa manyate tamasaavritaa;
Sarvaarthaan vipareetaamshcha buddhih saa paartha taamasee.
32. That which, enveloped in darkness, views Adharma as Dharma and all things perverted—that intellect, O Arjuna, is called Tamasic!
Dhrityaa yayaa dhaarayate manah praanendriyakriyaah;
Yogenaavyabhichaarinyaa dhritih saa paartha saattwikee.
33. The unwavering firmness by which, through Yoga, the functions of the mind, the life-force and the senses are restrained—that firmness, O Arjuna, is Sattwic!
Yayaa tu dharmakaamaarthaan dhrityaa dhaarayate’rjuna;
Prasangena phalaakaangkshee dhritih saa paartha raajasee.
34. But that firmness, O Arjuna, by which, on account of attachment and desire for reward, one holds fast to Dharma, enjoyment of pleasures and earning of wealth—that firmness, O Arjuna, is Rajasic!
Yayaa swapnam bhayam shokam vishaadam madameva cha;
Na vimunchati durmedhaa dhritih saa paartha taamasee.
35. That by which a stupid man does not abandon sleep, fear, grief, despair and also conceit—that firmness, O Arjuna, is Tamasic!
Sukham twidaaneem trividham shrinu me bharatarshabha;
Abhyaasaadramate yatra duhkhaantam cha nigacchati.
36. Now hear from Me, O Arjuna, of the threefold pleasure, in which one rejoices by practice and surely comes to the end of pain!
Yattadagre vishamiva parinaame’mritopamam;
Tatsukham saattwikam proktam aatmabuddhiprasaadajam.
37. That which is like poison at first but in the end like nectar—that pleasure is declared to be Sattwic, born of the purity of one’s own mind due to Self-realisation.
Vishayendriya samyogaad yattadagre’mritopamam;
Parinaame vishamiva tatsukham raajasam smritam.
38. That pleasure which arises from the contact of the sense-organs with the objects, which is at first like nectar and in the end like poison—that is declared to be Rajasic.
Yadagre chaanubandhe cha sukham mohanamaatmanah;
Nidraalasyapramaadottham tattaamasamudaahritam.
39. That pleasure which at first and in the sequel is delusive of the self, arising from sleep, indolence and heedlessness—such a pleasure is declared to be Tamasic.
Na tadasti prithivyaam vaa divi deveshu vaa punah;
Sattwam prakritijairmuktam yadebhih syaat tribhirgunaih.
40. There is no being on earth or again in heaven among the gods that is liberated from the three qualities born of Nature.
Braahmanakshatriyavishaam shoodraanaam cha parantapa;
Karmaani pravibhaktaani swabhaavaprabhavairgunaih.
41. Of Brahmanas, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas, as also the Sudras, O Arjuna, the duties are distributed according to the qualities born of their own nature!
Shamo damastapah shaucham kshaantiraarjavameva cha;
Jnaanam vijnaanam aastikyam brahmakarma swabhaavajam.
42. Serenity, self-restraint, austerity, purity, forgiveness and also uprightness, knowledge, realisation and belief in God are the duties of the Brahmanas, born of (their own) nature.
Shauryam tejo dhritirdaakshyam yuddhe chaapyapalaayanam;
Daanameeshwarabhaavashcha kshaatram karmaswabhaavajam.
43. Prowess, splendour, firmness, dexterity and also not fleeing from battle, generosity and lordliness are the duties of Kshatriyas, born of (their own) nature.
Krishigaurakshyavaanijyam vaishyakarma swabhaavajam;
Paricharyaatmakam karma shoodrasyaapi swabhaavajam.
44. Agriculture, cattle-rearing and trade are the duties of the Vaishya (merchant class), born of (their own) nature; and action consisting of service is the duty of the Sudra (servant class), born of (their own) nature.
COMMENTARY: When a man does his duties rightly according to his order of life, his heart gets purified and he goes to heaven.
Swe swe karmanyabhiratah samsiddhim labhate narah;
Swakarmaniratah siddhim yathaa vindati tacchrinu.
45. Each man, devoted to his own duty, attains perfection. How he attains perfection while being engaged in his own duty, hear now.
Yatah pravrittirbhootaanaam yena sarvamidam tatam;
Swakarmanaa tamabhyarchya siddhim vindati maanavah.
46. He from whom all the beings have evolved and by whom all this is pervaded, worshipping Him with his own duty, man attains perfection.
COMMENTARY: Man attains perfection by worshipping the Lord through the performance of his own duty, that is, he becomes qualified for the dawn of Self-knowledge.
Shreyaanswadharmo vigunah paradharmaat swanushthitaat;
Swabhaavaniyatam karma kurvannaapnoti kilbisham.
47. Better is one’s own duty (though) destitute of merits, than the duty of another well performed. He who does the duty ordained by his own nature incurs no sin.
Sahajam karma kaunteya sadoshamapi na tyajet;
Sarvaarambhaa hi doshena dhoomenaagnirivaavritaah.
48. One should not abandon, O Arjuna, the duty to which one is born, though faulty; for, all undertakings are enveloped by evil, as fire by smoke!
Asaktabuddhih sarvatra jitaatmaa vigatasprihah;
Naishkarmyasiddhim paramaam sannyaasenaadhigacchati.
49. He whose intellect is unattached everywhere, who has subdued his self, from whom desire has fled,—he by renunciation attains the supreme state of freedom from action.
Siddhim praapto yathaa brahma tathaapnoti nibodha me;
Samaasenaiva kaunteya nishthaa jnaanasya yaa paraa.
50. Learn from Me in brief, O Arjuna, how he who has attained perfection reaches Brahman, that supreme state of knowledge.
Buddhyaa vishuddhayaa yukto dhrityaatmaanam niyamya cha;
Shabdaadeen vishayaanstyaktwaa raagadweshau vyudasya cha.
51. Endowed with a pure intellect, controlling the self by firmness, relinquishing sound and other objects and abandoning both hatred and attraction,
Viviktasevee laghwaashee yatavaakkaayamaanasah;
Dhyaanayogaparo nityam vairaagyam samupaashritah.
52. Dwelling in solitude, eating but little, with speech, body and mind subdued, always engaged in concentration and meditation, taking refuge in dispassion,
Ahankaaram balam darpam kaamam krodham parigraham;
Vimuchya nirmamah shaanto brahmabhooyaaya kalpate.
53. Having abandoned egoism, strength, arrogance, anger, desire, and covetousness, free from the notion of “mine” and peaceful,—he is fit for becoming Brahman.
Brahmabhootah prasannaatmaa na shochati na kaangkshati;
Samah sarveshu bhooteshu madbhaktim labhate paraam.
54. Becoming Brahman, serene in the Self, he neither grieves nor desires; the same to all beings, he attains supreme devotion unto Me.
Bhaktyaa maamabhijaanaati yaavaanyashchaasmi tattwatah;
Tato maam tattwato jnaatwaa vishate tadanantaram.
55. By devotion he knows Me in truth, what and who I am; and knowing Me in truth, he forthwith enters into the Supreme.
Sarvakarmaanyapi sadaa kurvaano madvyapaashrayah;
Matprasaadaadavaapnoti shaashwatam padamavyayam.
56. Doing all actions always, taking refuge in Me, by My Grace he obtains the eternal, indestructible state or abode.
Chetasaa sarvakarmaani mayi sannyasya matparah;
Buddhiyogam upaashritya macchittah satatam bhava.
57. Mentally renouncing all actions in Me, having Me as the highest goal, resorting to the Yoga of discrimination do thou ever fix thy mind on Me.
Macchittah sarvadurgaani matprasaadaat tarishyasi;
Atha chet twam ahankaaraan na shroshyasi vinangkshyasi.
58. Fixing thy mind on Me, thou shalt by My Grace overcome all obstacles; but if from egoism thou wilt not hear Me, thou shalt perish.
Yadahankaaram aashritya na yotsya iti manyase;
Mithyaisha vyavasaayaste prakritistwaam niyokshyati.
59. If, filled with egoism, thou thinkest: “I will not fight”, vain is this, thy resolve; Nature will compel thee.
Swabhaavajena kaunteya nibaddhah swena karmanaa;
Kartum necchasi yanmohaat karishyasyavasho’pi tat.
60. O Arjuna, bound by thy own Karma (action) born of thy own nature, that which from delusion thou wishest not to do, even that thou shalt do helplessly!
COMMENTARY: Thou wilt be forced to fight because of thy nature. It will compel thee to fight, much against thy will.
Eeshwarah sarvabhootaanaam hriddeshe’rjuna tishthati;
Bhraamayan sarvabhootaani yantraaroodhaani maayayaa.
61. The Lord dwells in the hearts of all beings, O Arjuna, causing all beings, by His illusive power, to revolve as if mounted on a machine!
Tameva sharanam gaccha sarvabhaavena bhaarata;
Tatprasaadaatparaam shaantim sthaanam praapsyasi shaashwatam.
62. Fly unto Him for refuge with all thy being, O Arjuna! By His Grace thou shalt obtain supreme peace and the eternal abode.
Iti te jnaanamaakhyaatam guhyaad guhyataram mayaa;
Vimrishyaitadasheshena yathecchasi tathaa kuru.
63. Thus has wisdom more secret than secrecy itself been declared unto thee by Me; having reflected over it fully, then act thou as thou wishest.
Sarvaguhyatamam bhooyah shrinu me paramam vachah;
Ishto’si me dridhamiti tato vakshyaami te hitam.
64. Hear thou again My supreme word, most secret of all; because thou art dearly beloved of Me, I will tell thee what is good.
Manmanaa bhava madbhakto madyaajee maam namaskuru;
Maamevaishyasi satyam te pratijaane priyo’si me.
65. Fix thy mind on Me, be devoted to Me, sacrifice to Me, bow down to Me. Thou shalt come even to Me; truly do I promise unto thee, (for) thou art dear to Me.
Sarvadharmaan parityajya maamekam sharanam vraja;
Aham twaa sarvapaapebhyo mokshayishyaami maa shuchah.
66. Abandoning all duties, take refuge in Me alone; I will liberate thee from all sins; grieve not.
Idam te naatapaskaaya naabhaktaaya kadaachana;
Na chaashushrooshave vaachyam na cha maam yo’bhyasooyati.
67. This is never to be spoken by thee to one who is devoid of austerities, to one who is not devoted, nor to one who does not render service, nor who does not desire to listen, nor to one who cavils at Me.
Ya imam paramam guhyam madbhakteshvabhidhaasyati;
Bhaktim mayi paraam kritwaa maamevaishyatyasamshayah.
68. He who with supreme devotion to Me will teach this supreme secret to My devotees, shall doubtless come to Me.
Na cha tasmaanmanushyeshu kashchinme priyakrittamah;
Bhavitaa na cha me tasmaadanyah priyataro bhuvi.
69. Nor is there any among men who does dearer service to Me, nor shall there be another on earth dearer to Me than he.
COMMENTARY: He who hands down this Gita to My devotees does immense service to Me. He is extremely dear to Me. In the present generation, there will be none dearer to Me in the world, nor shall there be in the future also.
Adhyeshyate cha ya imam dharmyam samvaadamaavayoh;
Jnaanayajnena tenaaham ishtah syaamiti me matih.
70. And he who will study this sacred dialogue of ours, by him I shall have been worshipped by the sacrifice of wisdom; such is My conviction.
Shraddhaavaan anasooyashcha shrinuyaadapi yo narah;
So’pi muktah shubhaamllokaan praapnuyaat punyakarmanaam.
71. The man also who hears this, full of faith and free from malice, he, too, liberated, shall attain to the happy worlds of those of righteous deeds.
Kacchid etacchrutam paartha twayaikaagrena chetasaa;
Kacchid ajnaanasammohah pranashtaste dhananjaya.
72. Has this been heard, O Arjuna, with one-pointed mind? Has the delusion of thy ignorance been fully destroyed, O Dhananjaya?
Sthito’smi gata sandehah karishye vachanam tava.
Samvaadam imam ashrausham adbhutam romaharshanam.
Vyaasaprasaadaacchrutavaan etadguhyamaham param;
Yogam yogeshwaraat krishnaat saakshaat kathayatah swayam.
75. Through the Grace of Vyasa I have heard this supreme and most secret Yoga direct from Krishna, the Lord of Yoga Himself declaring it.
Raajan samsmritya samsmritya samvaadam imam adbhutam;
Keshavaarjunayoh punyam hrishyaami cha muhurmuhuh.
76. O King, remembering this wonderful and holy dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna, I rejoice again and again!
Taccha samsmritya samsmritya roopamatyadbhutam hareh;
Vismayo me mahaan raajan hrishyaami cha punah punah.
77. And remembering again and again also that most wonderful form of Hari, great is my wonder, O King! And I rejoice again and again!
Yatra yogeshwarah krishno yatra paartho dhanurdharah;
Tatra shreervijayo bhootirdhruvaa neetirmatirmama.
78. Wherever there is Krishna, the Lord of Yoga, wherever there is Arjuna, the archer, there are prosperity, happiness, victory and firm policy; such is my conviction.
Commentary on the Bhagavadgita
XVIII
The Yoga of Liberation by Renunciation
Summary of Eighteenth Discourse
Significantly, this discourse opens with a question by Arjuna asking what is true Sannyasa and true Tyaga (renunciation). In reply to this important and crucial query, the blessed Lord makes it clear to us that real Sannyasa or renunciation lies in renunciation of selfish actions, and even more in the renunciation of the desire or greed for the fruits of any action. Very clearly we are told that selfless and virtuous actions, and actions conducive to the welfare of others should not be abandoned. You must engage yourself in performing such action but renouncing attachment and greed. The true and proper renunciation is giving up of selfishness and attachment while performing one’s legitimate duties. This is called Sattwic Tyaga. We neither hate unpleasant action nor are we attached to pleasurable action. As it is not possible for you to renounce all action, the renunciation of egoism, selfishness and attachment in your activity is declared as true renunciation. Karma does not accumulate and bind one who is thus established in such inner renunciation.
The divine injunction is that God must be made the sole object of one’s life. This is the heart of the Gita gospel. This is the central message in its teaching. This is the one way to your welfare here.
Now Sanjaya concludes his narrative by declaring that where there is such obedience as that of Arjuna, and such willing readiness to carry out the divine teachings, there surely prosperity, victory, glory and all blessedness will prevail.
Arjuna Uvaacha:
Sannyaasasya mahaabaaho tattwamicchaami veditum; Tyaagasya cha hrisheekesha prithak keshinishoodana.
Arjuna said:
1. I desire to know severally, O mighty-armed, the essence or truth of renunciation, O Hrishikesa, as also of abandonment, O slayer of Kesi!
Sri Bhagavaan Uvaacha:
Kaamyaanaam karmanaam nyaasam sannyaasam kavayoviduh; Sarvakarmaphalatyaagam praahustyaagam vichakshanaah.
The Blessed Lord said:
2. The sages understand Sannyas to be the renunciation of action with desire; the wise declare the abandonment of the fruits of all actions as Tyaga.Tyaajyam doshavadityeke karma praahurmaneeshinah;
Yajnadaanatapah karma na tyaajyamiti chaapare.
3. Some philosophers declare that all actions should be abandoned as an evil, while others declare that acts of gift, sacrifice and austerity should not be relinquished.
Nishchayam shrinu me tatra tyaage bharatasattama;
Tyaago hi purushavyaaghra trividhah samprakeertitah.
4. Hear from Me the conclusion or the final truth about this abandonment, O best of the Bharatas; abandonment, verily, O best of men, has been declared to be of three kinds!
Yajnadaanatapah karma na tyaajyam kaaryameva tat;
Yajno daanam tapashchaiva paavanaani maneeshinaam.
5. Acts of sacrifice, gift and austerity should not be abandoned, but should be performed; sacrifice, gift and also austerity are the purifiers of the wise.
Etaanyapi tu karmaani sangam tyaktwaa phalaani cha;
Kartavyaaneeti me paartha nishchitam matamuttamam.
6. But even these actions should be performed leaving aside attachment and the desire for rewards, O Arjuna! This is My certain and best conviction.
COMMENTARY: This is a summary of the doctrine of Karma Yoga already enunciated before. The defect in Karma is not in the action itself but in attachment and expectation of a reward.
Niyatasya tu sannyaasah karmano nopapadyate;
Mohaattasya parityaagas taamasah parikeertitah.
7. Verily, the renunciation of obligatory action is improper; the abandonment of the same from delusion is declared to be Tamasic.
Duhkhamityeva yat karma kaayakleshabhayaat tyajet;
Sa kritwaa raajasam tyaagam naiva tyaagaphalam labhet.
8. He who abandons action on account of the fear of bodily trouble (because it is painful), he does not obtain the merit of renunciation by doing such Rajasic renunciation.
Kaaryamityeva yatkarma niyatam kriyate’rjuna;
Sangam tyaktwaa phalam chaiva sa tyaagah saattwiko matah.
9. Whatever obligatory action is done, O Arjuna, merely because it ought to be done, abandoning attachment and also the desire for reward, that renunciation is regarded as Sattwic!
Na dweshtyakushalam karma kushale naanushajjate;
Tyaagee sattwasamaavishto medhaavee cchinnasamshayah.
10. The man of renunciation, pervaded by purity, intelligent and with his doubts cut asunder, does not hate a disagreeable work nor is he attached to an agreeable one.
Na hi dehabhritaa shakyam tyaktum karmaanyasheshatah;
Yastu karmaphalatyaagi sa tyaageetyabhidheeyate.
11. Verily, it is not possible for an embodied being to abandon actions entirely; but he who relinquishes the rewards of actions is verily called a man of renunciation.
COMMENTARY: Nature, and your own nature, too, will urge you to do actions. You will have to abandon the idea of agency and the fruits of actions. Then no action will bind you.
Anishtamishtam mishram cha trividham karmanah phalam;
Bhavatyatyaaginaam pretya na tu sannyaasinaam kwachit.
12. The threefold fruit of action—evil, good and mixed—accrues after death to the non-abandoners, but never to the abandoners.
Panchaitaani mahaabaaho kaaranaani nibodha me;
Saankhye kritaante proktaani siddhaye sarvakarmanaam.
13. Learn from Me, O mighty-armed Arjuna, these five causes, as declared in the Sankhya system for the accomplishment of all actions!
Adhishthaanam tathaa kartaa karanam cha prithagvidham;
Vividhaashcha prithakcheshtaa daivam chaivaatra panchamam.
14. The body, the doer, the various senses, the different functions of various sorts, and the presiding Deity, also, the fifth,
Shareeravaangmanobhiryat karma praarabhate narah;
Nyaayyam vaa vipareetam vaa panchaite tasya hetavah.
15. Whatever action a man performs by his body, speech and mind, whether right or the reverse, these five are its causes.
Tatraivam sati kartaaram aatmaanam kevalam tu yah;
Pashyatyakritabuddhitwaan na sa pashyati durmatih.
16. Now, such being the case, he who, owing to untrained understanding, looks upon his Self, which is isolated, as the agent, he of perverted intelligence, sees not.
Yasya naahankrito bhaavo buddhiryasya na lipyate;
Hatwaapi sa imaam llokaan na hanti na nibadhyate.
17. He who is ever free from the egoistic notion, whose intelligence is not tainted by (good or evil), though he slays these people, he slayeth not, nor is he bound (by the action).
Jnaanam jneyam parijnaataa trividhaa karmachodanaa;
Karanam karma karteti trividhah karmasangrahah.
18. Knowledge, the knowable and the knower form the threefold impulse to action; the organ, the action and the agent form the threefold basis of action.
Jnaanam karma cha kartaa cha tridhaiva gunabhedatah;
Prochyate gunasankhyaane yathaavacchrinu taanyapi.
19. Knowledge, action and the actor are declared in the science of the Gunas (the Sankhya philosophy) to be of three kinds only, according to the distinction of the Gunas. Hear them also duly.
Sarvabhooteshu yenaikam bhaavamavyayameekshate;
Avibhaktam vibhakteshu tajjnaanam viddhi saattwikam.
20. That by which one sees the one indestructible Reality in all beings, not separate in all the separate beings—know thou that knowledge to be Sattwic (pure).
Prithaktwena tu yajjnaanam naanaabhaavaan prithagvidhaan;
Vetti sarveshu bhooteshu tajjnaanam viddhi raajasam.
21. But that knowledge which sees in all beings various entities of distinct kinds as different from one another—know thou that knowledge to be Rajasic (passionate).
Yattu kritsnavadekasmin kaarye saktamahaitukam;
Atattwaarthavadalpam cha tattaamasamudaahritam.
22. But that which clings to one single effect as if it were the whole, without reason, without foundation in Truth, and trivial—that is declared to be Tamasic (dark).
Niyatam sangarahitam araagadweshatah kritam;
Aphalaprepsunaa karma yattat saattwikamuchyate.
23. An action which is ordained, which is free from attachment, which is done without love or hatred by one who is not desirous of any reward—that action is declared to be Sattwic.
Yattu kaamepsunaa karma saahankaarena vaa punah;
Kriyate bahulaayaasam tadraajasamudaahritam.
24. But that action which is done by one longing for the fulfilment of desires or gain, with egoism or with much effort—that is declared to be Rajasic.
Anubandham kshayam himsaam anavekshya cha paurusham;
Mohaadaarabhyate karma yattat taamasamuchyate.
25. That action which is undertaken from delusion, without regard to the consequences of loss, injury and (one’s own) ability—that is declared to be Tamasic.
Muktasango’nahamvaadi dhrityutsaahasamanvitah;
Siddhyasiddhyor nirvikaarah kartaa saattwika uchyate.
26. He who is free from attachment, non-egoistic, endowed with firmness and enthusiasm and unaffected by success or failure, is called Sattwic.
Raagee karmaphalaprepsur lubdho himsaatmako’shuchih;
Harshashokaanvitah kartaa raajasah parikeertitah.
27. Passionate, desiring to obtain the rewards of actions, cruel, greedy, impure, moved by joy and sorrow, such an agent is said to be Rajasic.
Ayuktah praakritah stabdhah shatho naishkritiko’lasah;
Vishaadee deerghasootree cha kartaa taamasa uchyate.
28. Unsteady, dejected, unbending, cheating, malicious, vulgar, lazy and proscrastinating—such an agent is called Tamasic.
Buddherbhedam dhriteshchaiva gunatastrividham shrinu;
Prochyamaanamasheshena prithaktwena dhananjaya.
29. Hear thou the threefold division of the intellect and firmness according to the Gunas, as I declare them fully and distinctly, O Arjuna!
Pravrittim cha nivrittim cha karyaakaarye bhayaabhaye;
Bandhammoksham cha yaa vetti buddhih saa paartha saattwikee.
30. That which knows the path of work and renunciation, what ought to be done and what ought not to be done, fear and fearlessness, bondage and liberation—that intellect is Sattwic, O Arjuna!
Yayaa dharmamadharmam cha kaaryam chaakaaryameva cha;
Ayathaavat prajaanaati buddhih saa paartha raajasee.
31. That by which one incorrectly understands Dharma and Adharma, and also what ought to be done and what ought not to be done—that intellect, O Arjuna, is Rajasic!
COMMENTARY: That which is ordained in the scriptures is Dharma. That which hurls you into the abyss of ignorance is Adharma. The Rajasic intellect is not able to distinguish between righteous and unrighteous actions.
Adharmam dharmamiti yaa manyate tamasaavritaa;
Sarvaarthaan vipareetaamshcha buddhih saa paartha taamasee.
32. That which, enveloped in darkness, views Adharma as Dharma and all things perverted—that intellect, O Arjuna, is called Tamasic!
Dhrityaa yayaa dhaarayate manah praanendriyakriyaah;
Yogenaavyabhichaarinyaa dhritih saa paartha saattwikee.
33. The unwavering firmness by which, through Yoga, the functions of the mind, the life-force and the senses are restrained—that firmness, O Arjuna, is Sattwic!
Yayaa tu dharmakaamaarthaan dhrityaa dhaarayate’rjuna;
Prasangena phalaakaangkshee dhritih saa paartha raajasee.
34. But that firmness, O Arjuna, by which, on account of attachment and desire for reward, one holds fast to Dharma, enjoyment of pleasures and earning of wealth—that firmness, O Arjuna, is Rajasic!
Yayaa swapnam bhayam shokam vishaadam madameva cha;
Na vimunchati durmedhaa dhritih saa paartha taamasee.
35. That by which a stupid man does not abandon sleep, fear, grief, despair and also conceit—that firmness, O Arjuna, is Tamasic!
Sukham twidaaneem trividham shrinu me bharatarshabha;
Abhyaasaadramate yatra duhkhaantam cha nigacchati.
36. Now hear from Me, O Arjuna, of the threefold pleasure, in which one rejoices by practice and surely comes to the end of pain!
Yattadagre vishamiva parinaame’mritopamam;
Tatsukham saattwikam proktam aatmabuddhiprasaadajam.
37. That which is like poison at first but in the end like nectar—that pleasure is declared to be Sattwic, born of the purity of one’s own mind due to Self-realisation.
Vishayendriya samyogaad yattadagre’mritopamam;
Parinaame vishamiva tatsukham raajasam smritam.
38. That pleasure which arises from the contact of the sense-organs with the objects, which is at first like nectar and in the end like poison—that is declared to be Rajasic.
Yadagre chaanubandhe cha sukham mohanamaatmanah;
Nidraalasyapramaadottham tattaamasamudaahritam.
39. That pleasure which at first and in the sequel is delusive of the self, arising from sleep, indolence and heedlessness—such a pleasure is declared to be Tamasic.
Na tadasti prithivyaam vaa divi deveshu vaa punah;
Sattwam prakritijairmuktam yadebhih syaat tribhirgunaih.
40. There is no being on earth or again in heaven among the gods that is liberated from the three qualities born of Nature.
Braahmanakshatriyavishaam shoodraanaam cha parantapa;
Karmaani pravibhaktaani swabhaavaprabhavairgunaih.
41. Of Brahmanas, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas, as also the Sudras, O Arjuna, the duties are distributed according to the qualities born of their own nature!
Shamo damastapah shaucham kshaantiraarjavameva cha;
Jnaanam vijnaanam aastikyam brahmakarma swabhaavajam.
42. Serenity, self-restraint, austerity, purity, forgiveness and also uprightness, knowledge, realisation and belief in God are the duties of the Brahmanas, born of (their own) nature.
Shauryam tejo dhritirdaakshyam yuddhe chaapyapalaayanam;
Daanameeshwarabhaavashcha kshaatram karmaswabhaavajam.
43. Prowess, splendour, firmness, dexterity and also not fleeing from battle, generosity and lordliness are the duties of Kshatriyas, born of (their own) nature.
Krishigaurakshyavaanijyam vaishyakarma swabhaavajam;
Paricharyaatmakam karma shoodrasyaapi swabhaavajam.
44. Agriculture, cattle-rearing and trade are the duties of the Vaishya (merchant class), born of (their own) nature; and action consisting of service is the duty of the Sudra (servant class), born of (their own) nature.
COMMENTARY: When a man does his duties rightly according to his order of life, his heart gets purified and he goes to heaven.
Swe swe karmanyabhiratah samsiddhim labhate narah;
Swakarmaniratah siddhim yathaa vindati tacchrinu.
45. Each man, devoted to his own duty, attains perfection. How he attains perfection while being engaged in his own duty, hear now.
Yatah pravrittirbhootaanaam yena sarvamidam tatam;
Swakarmanaa tamabhyarchya siddhim vindati maanavah.
46. He from whom all the beings have evolved and by whom all this is pervaded, worshipping Him with his own duty, man attains perfection.
COMMENTARY: Man attains perfection by worshipping the Lord through the performance of his own duty, that is, he becomes qualified for the dawn of Self-knowledge.
Shreyaanswadharmo vigunah paradharmaat swanushthitaat;
Swabhaavaniyatam karma kurvannaapnoti kilbisham.
47. Better is one’s own duty (though) destitute of merits, than the duty of another well performed. He who does the duty ordained by his own nature incurs no sin.
Sahajam karma kaunteya sadoshamapi na tyajet;
Sarvaarambhaa hi doshena dhoomenaagnirivaavritaah.
48. One should not abandon, O Arjuna, the duty to which one is born, though faulty; for, all undertakings are enveloped by evil, as fire by smoke!
Asaktabuddhih sarvatra jitaatmaa vigatasprihah;
Naishkarmyasiddhim paramaam sannyaasenaadhigacchati.
49. He whose intellect is unattached everywhere, who has subdued his self, from whom desire has fled,—he by renunciation attains the supreme state of freedom from action.
Siddhim praapto yathaa brahma tathaapnoti nibodha me;
Samaasenaiva kaunteya nishthaa jnaanasya yaa paraa.
50. Learn from Me in brief, O Arjuna, how he who has attained perfection reaches Brahman, that supreme state of knowledge.
Buddhyaa vishuddhayaa yukto dhrityaatmaanam niyamya cha;
Shabdaadeen vishayaanstyaktwaa raagadweshau vyudasya cha.
51. Endowed with a pure intellect, controlling the self by firmness, relinquishing sound and other objects and abandoning both hatred and attraction,
Viviktasevee laghwaashee yatavaakkaayamaanasah;
Dhyaanayogaparo nityam vairaagyam samupaashritah.
52. Dwelling in solitude, eating but little, with speech, body and mind subdued, always engaged in concentration and meditation, taking refuge in dispassion,
Ahankaaram balam darpam kaamam krodham parigraham;
Vimuchya nirmamah shaanto brahmabhooyaaya kalpate.
53. Having abandoned egoism, strength, arrogance, anger, desire, and covetousness, free from the notion of “mine” and peaceful,—he is fit for becoming Brahman.
Brahmabhootah prasannaatmaa na shochati na kaangkshati;
Samah sarveshu bhooteshu madbhaktim labhate paraam.
54. Becoming Brahman, serene in the Self, he neither grieves nor desires; the same to all beings, he attains supreme devotion unto Me.
Bhaktyaa maamabhijaanaati yaavaanyashchaasmi tattwatah;
Tato maam tattwato jnaatwaa vishate tadanantaram.
55. By devotion he knows Me in truth, what and who I am; and knowing Me in truth, he forthwith enters into the Supreme.
Sarvakarmaanyapi sadaa kurvaano madvyapaashrayah;
Matprasaadaadavaapnoti shaashwatam padamavyayam.
56. Doing all actions always, taking refuge in Me, by My Grace he obtains the eternal, indestructible state or abode.
Chetasaa sarvakarmaani mayi sannyasya matparah;
Buddhiyogam upaashritya macchittah satatam bhava.
57. Mentally renouncing all actions in Me, having Me as the highest goal, resorting to the Yoga of discrimination do thou ever fix thy mind on Me.
Macchittah sarvadurgaani matprasaadaat tarishyasi;
Atha chet twam ahankaaraan na shroshyasi vinangkshyasi.
58. Fixing thy mind on Me, thou shalt by My Grace overcome all obstacles; but if from egoism thou wilt not hear Me, thou shalt perish.
Yadahankaaram aashritya na yotsya iti manyase;
Mithyaisha vyavasaayaste prakritistwaam niyokshyati.
59. If, filled with egoism, thou thinkest: “I will not fight”, vain is this, thy resolve; Nature will compel thee.
Swabhaavajena kaunteya nibaddhah swena karmanaa;
Kartum necchasi yanmohaat karishyasyavasho’pi tat.
60. O Arjuna, bound by thy own Karma (action) born of thy own nature, that which from delusion thou wishest not to do, even that thou shalt do helplessly!
COMMENTARY: Thou wilt be forced to fight because of thy nature. It will compel thee to fight, much against thy will.
Eeshwarah sarvabhootaanaam hriddeshe’rjuna tishthati;
Bhraamayan sarvabhootaani yantraaroodhaani maayayaa.
61. The Lord dwells in the hearts of all beings, O Arjuna, causing all beings, by His illusive power, to revolve as if mounted on a machine!
Tameva sharanam gaccha sarvabhaavena bhaarata;
Tatprasaadaatparaam shaantim sthaanam praapsyasi shaashwatam.
62. Fly unto Him for refuge with all thy being, O Arjuna! By His Grace thou shalt obtain supreme peace and the eternal abode.
Iti te jnaanamaakhyaatam guhyaad guhyataram mayaa;
Vimrishyaitadasheshena yathecchasi tathaa kuru.
63. Thus has wisdom more secret than secrecy itself been declared unto thee by Me; having reflected over it fully, then act thou as thou wishest.
Sarvaguhyatamam bhooyah shrinu me paramam vachah;
Ishto’si me dridhamiti tato vakshyaami te hitam.
64. Hear thou again My supreme word, most secret of all; because thou art dearly beloved of Me, I will tell thee what is good.
Manmanaa bhava madbhakto madyaajee maam namaskuru;
Maamevaishyasi satyam te pratijaane priyo’si me.
65. Fix thy mind on Me, be devoted to Me, sacrifice to Me, bow down to Me. Thou shalt come even to Me; truly do I promise unto thee, (for) thou art dear to Me.
Sarvadharmaan parityajya maamekam sharanam vraja;
Aham twaa sarvapaapebhyo mokshayishyaami maa shuchah.
66. Abandoning all duties, take refuge in Me alone; I will liberate thee from all sins; grieve not.
Idam te naatapaskaaya naabhaktaaya kadaachana;
Na chaashushrooshave vaachyam na cha maam yo’bhyasooyati.
67. This is never to be spoken by thee to one who is devoid of austerities, to one who is not devoted, nor to one who does not render service, nor who does not desire to listen, nor to one who cavils at Me.
Ya imam paramam guhyam madbhakteshvabhidhaasyati;
Bhaktim mayi paraam kritwaa maamevaishyatyasamshayah.
68. He who with supreme devotion to Me will teach this supreme secret to My devotees, shall doubtless come to Me.
Na cha tasmaanmanushyeshu kashchinme priyakrittamah;
Bhavitaa na cha me tasmaadanyah priyataro bhuvi.
69. Nor is there any among men who does dearer service to Me, nor shall there be another on earth dearer to Me than he.
COMMENTARY: He who hands down this Gita to My devotees does immense service to Me. He is extremely dear to Me. In the present generation, there will be none dearer to Me in the world, nor shall there be in the future also.
Adhyeshyate cha ya imam dharmyam samvaadamaavayoh;
Jnaanayajnena tenaaham ishtah syaamiti me matih.
70. And he who will study this sacred dialogue of ours, by him I shall have been worshipped by the sacrifice of wisdom; such is My conviction.
Shraddhaavaan anasooyashcha shrinuyaadapi yo narah;
So’pi muktah shubhaamllokaan praapnuyaat punyakarmanaam.
71. The man also who hears this, full of faith and free from malice, he, too, liberated, shall attain to the happy worlds of those of righteous deeds.
Kacchid etacchrutam paartha twayaikaagrena chetasaa;
Kacchid ajnaanasammohah pranashtaste dhananjaya.
72. Has this been heard, O Arjuna, with one-pointed mind? Has the delusion of thy ignorance been fully destroyed, O Dhananjaya?
Arjuna Uvaacha:
Nashto mohah smritirlabdhaa twatprasaadaanmayaachyuta; Sthito’smi gata sandehah karishye vachanam tava.
Arjuna said:
73. Destroyed is my delusion as I have gained my memory (knowledge) through Thy Grace, O Krishna! I am firm; my doubts are gone. I will act according to Thy word.
Sanjaya Uvaacha:
Ityaham vaasudevasya paarthasya cha mahaatmanah; Samvaadam imam ashrausham adbhutam romaharshanam.
Sanjaya said:
74. Thus have I heard this wonderful dialogue between Krishna and the high-souled Arjuna, which causes the hair to stand on end.Vyaasaprasaadaacchrutavaan etadguhyamaham param;
Yogam yogeshwaraat krishnaat saakshaat kathayatah swayam.
75. Through the Grace of Vyasa I have heard this supreme and most secret Yoga direct from Krishna, the Lord of Yoga Himself declaring it.
Raajan samsmritya samsmritya samvaadam imam adbhutam;
Keshavaarjunayoh punyam hrishyaami cha muhurmuhuh.
76. O King, remembering this wonderful and holy dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna, I rejoice again and again!
Taccha samsmritya samsmritya roopamatyadbhutam hareh;
Vismayo me mahaan raajan hrishyaami cha punah punah.
77. And remembering again and again also that most wonderful form of Hari, great is my wonder, O King! And I rejoice again and again!
Yatra yogeshwarah krishno yatra paartho dhanurdharah;
Tatra shreervijayo bhootirdhruvaa neetirmatirmama.
78. Wherever there is Krishna, the Lord of Yoga, wherever there is Arjuna, the archer, there are prosperity, happiness, victory and firm policy; such is my conviction.
Hari Om Tat Sat
Iti Srimad Bhagavadgeetaasoopanishatsu Brahmavidyaayaam
Yogashaastre Sri Krishnaarjunasamvaade
Mokshasannyaasayogo Naama Ashtaadasho’dhyaayah
Thus in the Upanishads of the glorious Bhagavad Gita, the science of the Eternal, the scripture of Yoga, the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna, ends the eighteenth discourse entitled:Iti Srimad Bhagavadgeetaasoopanishatsu Brahmavidyaayaam
Yogashaastre Sri Krishnaarjunasamvaade
Mokshasannyaasayogo Naama Ashtaadasho’dhyaayah
“The Yoga of Liberation by Renunciation”
Om Shanti! Shanti! Shanti!
Swami Sivananda.
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Commentary on the Bhagavadgita
by Swami Krishnananda
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Discourse 48: The Eighteenth Chapter Begins – Renunciation, and Types of Action
We now come to the final chapter of the Bhagavadgita, the Eighteenth Chapter. It is the longest chapter in the Gita, in which we have practically a summing up of all the principles that were discussed in the earlier chapters. All things—whatever has been touched upon in the earlier chapters, from the First onwards to the Seventeenth—are brought together by the Teacher into a brief focusing of attention. Very interesting and very comprehensive is this teaching in the Eighteenth Chapter.
Here, Arjuna raises a question. The whole of the Bhagavadgita seems to be somehow or other centred round the principle of renunciation, abandonment of the fruit of action, for the purpose of attaining perfection. The terms ‘sannyasa’ and ‘tyaga’, meaning thereby abandonment or relinquishing, are used frequently in the Gita. Tyaga is abandoning; sannyasa is relinquishing.
Now, what is it that we abandon, and what is it that we relinquish? The word ‘sannyasa’ suggests renunciation, but it does not suggest what should be renounced. Here is the difficulty before all Sannyasins. They know very well that when they take to Sannyasa, something has to be renounced, because the very word ‘sannyasa’ means renunciation; but what are they to renounce? Generally they renounce their old clothes and put on new clothes, or they renounce their land and property, their family, etc., if that could be possible.
Actually, according to the Bhagavadgita at least, such a kind of relinquishment cannot be regarded as Sannyasa. This is because a person may be physically away from the object of attraction and attachment, but physical distance from the object of attachment does not necessarily mean absence of attachment. Sannyasins may, even after entering into the holy order, keep in their minds the memory of large estates of land that they had, etc. Renunciation is a difficult thing to understand; and so is the case with tyaga, or abandonment.
Because of this difficulty, Arjuna puts a question. Sannyāsasya mahābāho tattvam icchāmi veditum, tyāgasya ca hṛṣīkeśa pṛthak keśiniṣūdana (18.1): “O Lord! I want to know the real meaning of sannyasa, and I also want to know the real meaning of tyaga. Clearly explain to me what is sannyasa, what is tyaga.”
Na hyasannyastasaṁkalpo yogī bhavati kaścana (6.2) is mentioned in the Sixth Chapter. Nobody can be a sannyasin who has not renounced thoughts, determinations, in respect of anything that is to take place in the future. The contemplation of the achievement of something that is to take place in the future is called volition, and anyone who has not renounced volition, or will, cannot be a sannyasin.
Śrībhagavānuvāca: kāmyānāṁ karmaṇāṁ nyāsaṁ sannyāsaṁ kavayo viduḥ, sarvakarmaphalatyāgaṁ prāhus tyāgaṁ vicakṣaṇāḥ (18.2). Here the Lord says sannyasa is that kind of behaviour by which the actions that are connected with desire of some kind or the other are abandoned. A person may be said to be in a state of sannyasa the moment that actions which are motivated by desire are abandoned. That is to say, sannyasa does not mean abandonment of action as such. It means kāmyānāṁ karmaṇāṁ nyāsaṁ: abandonment of actions which are connected with a desire of some kind. If we can think of an action without any desire attached to it, that is a different matter. It is up to us to imagine if such an action is possible at all: an action with which no desire is associated, and from which we expect nothing.
Here, the reference is to another kind of action. Action which is charged with a motive, any kind of motivated action, is kamya karma; and the abandoning of kamya karma, or motivated action, is sannyasa. This is the definition of sannyasa given by great ancient learned ones, called kavis—saṁnyāsaṁ kavayo viduḥ.
Sarvakarmaphalatyāgaṁ prāhus tyāgaṁ vicakṣaṇāḥ. Definitions are very shrewdly given, which confuse the mind of the reader because we do not know exactly what is the distinction drawn between tyaga and sannyasa. Their definitions seem to be practically the same, only worded differently. It is now clear to us that sannyasa is defined as the renunciation of desire-filled action. Tyaga is defined here as sarvakarmaphalatyāga: the abandoning of the fruit of every kind of action. Abandoning the fruit of every kind of action is tyaga.
What is the difference between sannyasa and tyaga? Abandoning actions which are filled with desire is sannyasa. Abandoning the fruit of any action is tyaga. A peculiar mathematical distinction is drawn here, which will make us think deeply as to what this actually means. Now comes more detail as a light thrown on this intricate verse.
Tyājyaṁ doṣavad ityeke karma prāhur manīṣiṇaḥ (18.3): Some wise ones say that every action is defective—karma doṣavat. Sarvārambhā hi doṣeṇa dhūmenāgnir ivāvṛtāḥ (18.48): Sri Krishna himself says that any undertaking is defective because we will come a cropper one day or the other, whatever be the project that we undertake or the work that we do. Because of the fact that there is a defect in every kind of undertaking, in any kind of action, action should be abandoned. This is the opinion of certain ancient Masters. Yajñadānatapaḥkarma na tyājyam iti cāpare: But other great ones tell us that not all actions should be abandoned under the impression that they are all defective, because there are certain actions which are purifying in their nature, and they are obligatory on the part of every person. These actions—namely, yajna, dana and tapas—are very necessary for all people.
“What is My opinion?” Niścayaṁ śṛṇu me tatra (18.4): “What is My conviction about these matters? Please listen.” Tyāgo hi puruṣavyāghra trividhaḥ samprakīrtitaḥ: “Renunciation is of three kinds.” Yajñadānatapaḥkarma na tyājyaṁ kāryam eva tat (18.5): “I shall clinch the matter by firmly telling you that yajna, dana and tapas should not be abandoned under the impression that they are actions that have some defect.”
What is yajna, what is dana, what is tapas? Tapas pertains to us, dana pertains to others, and sacrifice, or yajna, pertains to the gods. We have a duty towards ourselves, a duty towards others, and a duty towards the Supreme Divinity manifesting itself as the controlling power of the cosmos. Therefore, we cannot say that we shall not do anything. We have to do something for our welfare, for others’ welfare, and for the satisfaction of God Himself. The sacrifice that we perform for the satisfaction of the Supreme Divinity, which is the ultimate sacrifice, is called yajna. The charity that we do for the pleasure of people and the welfare of people is called dana, or philanthropic deeds. Tapas—inward austerity, self-control, self-discipline, restraint of the mind and the sense organs—is a duty of every person seeking God.
Therefore, we cannot say, “It is an action; therefore, I will not do it.” We have to do it because tapasis conducive to our welfare, charity or dana is conducive to the welfare of others, and yajna or sacrifice is conducive to the satisfaction of God Himself. Yajñadānatapaḥkarma na tyājyaṁ kāryam eva tat: “Therefore, I tell you, yajna, dana and tapas should not be abandoned. They must be done; they are imperative duties.
Yajño dānaṃ tapaś caiva pāvanāni manīṣiṇām: All these three mentioned actions—yajna, dana and tapas—are highly purifying to everybody and, therefore, every day it is necessary for us to engage ourselves in yajna, dana and tapas simultaneously, for our own welfare and for the great blessing of God Almighty Himself.
In this chapter, brief statements are made on a variety of subjects. A predominant subject is the principle of right action, which has been more elaborately touched upon in the Second and the Third Chapters. Niyatasya tu sannyāsaḥ karmaṇo nopapadyate, mohāt tasya parityāgas tāmasaḥ parikīrtitaḥ (18.7): An obligatory duty can never be abandoned. One cannot relinquish that which is imperative—that which is a must under the circumstance in which a person is placed in this universe. We observed more details in this regard when we studied the Third Chapter.
An obligatory duty is that kind of work or performance which is organically related to our very survival and existence in this world, and is interrelated to other beings in the world. Our existence is conditioned by certain obligations to the atmosphere or the environment of the society in which we are living, and if this point is missed due to any intense form of selfishness on one’s part—one works for one’s own welfare very ignorantly, not considering the internal relationship that one bears consciously or unconsciously with the outer atmosphere—if this ignorance is going to be the motive behind one’s action, deluded is that person. Mohāt tasya parityāgas tāmasaḥ parikīrtitaḥ: Such abandonment of work which is obligatory is called tamasic renunciation. That is, that which is imperative cannot be relinquished. More details can be found in the Third Chapter.
Duḥkham ityeva yat karma kāyakleśabhayāt tyajet, sa kṛtvā rājasaṁ tyāgaṁ naiva tyāgaphalaṁ labhet(18.8): Tamasic relinquishment is mentioned as that form of abandonment of action which is tantamount to abandonment of duty itself; that is called tamasic relinquishment. There is another relinquishment, called rajasic tyaga: “Because it is difficult—it is very painful, it involves a lot of hardship, I have to work day and night—therefore, I will not do that work.” This argument for not doing a work is not actually feasible or tenable. The reason for not doing a work should not be merely the fact that it is a strain upon oneself to do hard work. We have to sweat, and “I do not want to sweat; therefore, I will not do this work. Physically it is painful, torturous and, therefore, I am afraid of doing this kind of work or undertaking this project.” When a person abandons doing a work because it is painful and requires hard labour on their part, that kind of abandonment of work is called rajasic tyaga. It is not sattvic.
Kāryam ityeva yat karma niyataṁ kriyate’rjuna, saṅgaṁ tyaktvā phalaṁ caiva sa tyāgaḥ sāttviko mataḥ(18.9): Sattvic renunciation does not mean renunciation of action. Then, what does it mean? It is the doing of one’s work because it is something that must be done under the circumstances in which one is placed. Kāryam ityeva yat karma niyataṁ: “Definitely it has to be done, because it is binding upon me. Yet, I shall do that work but be free from attachment to the work.” It does not mean that we should be attached to duty. The performance of duty is an impersonal involvement of ourselves in a call that is super-individual, and it does not call for attachment. Attachment is an emotional clinging to a particular form, event or anything whatsoever; and duty, being a superior call from a law that is above human nature, cannot be an object of attachment. Therefore, when a person performs a work as a duty incumbent upon that person and yet never feels that it is ‘my’ work, and he knows that it is not anyone’s work but it is a work done for the work’s sake, and he does not expect any recompense or fruit thereof—such an impersonally construed unselfish action done for the sake of work alone can be regarded as sattvic action. All other kinds of work are rajasic or tamasic.
Na dveṣṭyakuśalaṁ karma kuśale nānuṣajjate, tyāgī sattvasamāviṣṭo medhāvī chinnasaṁśayaḥ (18.10): The person who renounces attachment due the preponderance of the sattva guna in him, who is very intelligent in perceiving the pros and cons of things, and has no doubt whatsoever about the way in which work is to be done, hating not painful work, clinging not to pleasurable work, such a person is really an example before us. It does not mean that we should cling to something because it is pleasant, nor does it mean that we should hate something because it is not pleasant. Na dveṣṭy akuśalaṁ karma kuśale nānuṣajjate: The pleasant form of work does not call for attraction, nor should it evoke hatred when it is painful work calling for hard labour on our part.
Na hi dehabhṛtā śakyaṁ tyaktuṁ karmāṇyaśeṣataḥ (18.11): No embodied person can totally be free from work. The very fact of our being in a body calls for some kind of engagement because this body is made up of physical matter and, therefore, it is a form of prakriti constituted of the three gunas—sattva, rajas and tamas. Inasmuch as prakriti is always in a state of disturbance—it is not in a state of equilibrium—and its properties of sattva, rajas and tamas are constantly moving in a cyclic fashion, they compel the body to also be subject to that kind of cyclic action because the physical body of a human being, or of anything whatsoever, is not free from the contingency arising from the operation of the three gunas. Therefore, anyone who has a body has to work. If one has no body, that is a different matter. Na hi dehabhṛtā śakyaṃ tyaktuṃ karmāṇyaśeṣataḥ: The very fact that we are embodied in a physical tabernacle means that we are part of physical nature, and the process of physical evolution will also have an impact upon our body; it will compel us to do something. Therefore, freedom from work for an individual with a body is unthinkable.
Yas tu karmaphalatyāgī sa tyāgī’tyabhidhīyate: Abandoning work is, therefore, not possible as long as we have a body. But we shall be free from the binding effect of karma, or action, provided we do not look to the effect, or the fruit, that accrues from the work. We should do our work because it is necessary to work for the welfare of everybody, not because we get some recompense out of it. If we have an eye only on the salary that we get, and not on the duty that is expected of us, then that duty, that work that we perform, will be tarnished with a little bit of selfishness because even while we are working, our mind is thinking of the salary or of ‘that something’ that comes out of the work. We are not interested in the work itself and, therefore, it is not sattvic.
Sattvic work is work done for work’s sake only, whether or not it brings any fruit. Actually, every duty performed well—in a most unselfish manner—will, of its own accord, bring a result which is most pleasant, and we need not ask for it. Every duty is connected with a privilege; and we should not cry for the privilege. If we ask for it, it will not come. If we do our duty well, the privilege automatically follows without asking for it.
Aniṣṭam iṣṭaṁ miśraṁ ca trividhaṁ karmaṇaḥ phalam, bhavaty atyāgināṁ pretya na tu saṁnyāsināṁ kvacit (18.12): People who are attached to work due to selfishness on their part reap fruits which are of three kinds—anishtam, ishtam, mishram. Sometimes an action that is done brings unpleasant results; sometimes an action brings pleasant results; sometimes an action brings mixed results: a little bit of joy, a little bit of pain. This is the case with those people who perform work with selfishness, who cannot renounce the fruit of action. But this threefold mixing up of karma’s fruits will not have an effect upon sannyasins who have renounced the fruit of action.
Pañcaitāni mahābāho kāraṇāni nibodha me, sāṁkhye kṛtānte proktāni siddhaye sarvakarmaṇām (18.13): All action is bound by a fivefold factor. Therefore, knowing that there are five facets to every action that one performs, let there be no wrong notion on the part of any person that they are doing it. There are five conditioning factors behind any kind of movement, action, work, or whatever it be. Sankhya, which is the highest knowledge, and which details the varieties of results that follow from different kinds of karmas, tells us that there are five phases of an action. Therefore, the doership of an action is only one phase. To lay excessive emphasis only on doership, and be totally oblivious of the other four factors, would be utter ignorance on the part of the doer of action. Maybe we are doing the work, but we are not the only one involved in that work.
What are the other four factors? Adhiṣṭhānaṁ tathā kartā karaṇaṁ ca pṛthagvidham, vividhāś ca pṛthakceṣṭā daivaṁ caivātra pañcamam (18.14): The physical body has something to say about the quantum of work that we can execute, and also the quality of work that can be expected from us. Whether our body is strong and healthy, or whether it is weak and sick, is a factor that also is to be taken into consideration when we do any work. Hence, according to the nature of the physical condition, there will also be the conditioning of the result that follows from the action. That is one aspect among the five.
Tathā kartā : The ego principle that is actually motivating the action is also one factor. Why are we doing an action? The ego has a motive behind it. The physical body is one aspect, no doubt, but the ego is another aspect, and it is more important. The ego decides the methodology of work. That is the second factor.
Karaṇaṁ ca pṛthagvidham: The instruments that we use in the performance of action also condition the work. Suppose we dig a pit. If we dig with our hands, we will get one type of result; but if we use a pickaxe or a shovel, or a bulldozer, then different kinds of results will follow. The kind of instrument that we use in the performance of action will also decide what kind of result will follow.
Vividhāś ca pṛthakceṣṭā refers to the varieties of distracting factors conditioning the mind during the performance of any work. Even when we are doing one work, twenty ideas may be in our mind at the same time, pulling us in different directions, and it does not mean that a person thinks only one thought at a time. Even when we are doing one work, if we are able to think only that and nothing else, we are really a great person. But, generally that is not possible. There is a memory of something that happened in the past, and an apprehension of something that could take place in the future, and a fear of something that is in the present. These will distract the mind. These operations of the mind which distract are also conditioning factors in the performance of the work.
Therefore, the strength or weakness of the physical body, the motive of the ego, the instrument that is used, and the distractions characteristic of the mind are the four factors that are mentioned as conditioning every work. There is a fifth factor, which we always forget: the will of God—daivam chaivatra panchamam. A thing that is not sanctioned by the Ultimate Will of the universe will not take place, however much we may sweat. That which is to happen will happen, whatever be our effort to prevent it; and that which is not to happen will not happen, even if we call for it. This is the inscrutable factor operating behind all things. Our very mind, our very body, our egoism, our mental faculty, our very existence, is conditioned by the central Cosmic Will; and if it does not permit any event to take place, that event will never take place even if millions of people work hard to make it happen. Empires will crash in one moment if it is the will of the universal historical principle; we may call it the time process or the time spirit. Whatever be our effort in the direction of guarding our person, our society, or our country, it has to be sanctioned by the Supreme Will. As Sri Krishna told Arjuna, “Go ahead. You will succeed.” But that sanction was not there for the Kauravas, and the opposite result followed.
Thus, the final operative factor is the central Universal Will, with which we have to always stand in a state of union and communion. We should not egoistically assert too much of our own individual agency in action. We are not the only agents. There are five agents in the performance of an action, and among those five there is one supreme principle which we cannot afford to forget: the existence of God in the world. The principle of divinity permeating all things—the immanence of God—ultimately decides all factors, though others also act as instruments.
Śarīravāṅmanobhir yat karma prārabhate naraḥ, nyāyyaṁ vā viparītaṁ vā pañcaite tasya hetavaḥ (18.15): Whatever be the work we do—whether good action or bad action, whether through the physical body or through the mind or through speech, whatever it be that we are doing, it is conditioned in this fivefold manner. Therefore, we should not be too egoistic. We should not be under the impression that we are the ruler of the world, because the other four factors will not permit it and, finally, the Central Will may not be in favour of it. Therefore, all that we do in any manner whatsoever—whether physically, psychologically, verbally, personally, socially, in any way whatsoever, whether it be a good action or a bad action—all these are decided by this fivefold factor involving itself in every action.
Tatraivaṁ sati kartāram ātmānaṁ kevalaṁ tu yaḥ, paśyaty akṛtabuddhitvān na sa paśyati durmatiḥ(18.16): In the light of the fact that five factors are involved in the performance of work, if anyone foolishly thinks that he or she alone is responsible for doing it, then very foolish, very idiotic, very wrong indeed is the motive of that person. In the light of the fivefold factor being there behind every action, no one should have the hardihood to imagine that “I do it”. No ‘I’ can succeed here. Because of the unintelligent approach to a particular context in the world by a person who considers himself as all-in-all in the matter of working, one does not succeed.
Yasya nāhaṁkṛto bhāvo buddhir yasya na lipyate, hatvāpi sa imāl lokān na hanti na nibadhyate (18.17): We may confront the whole world if we like, and yet if our ego is annihilated completely, that is, if we do not have even an inkling that we are doing the action and feel that the Universal Will is operating through us, if that is the case, then we may even work the destruction of things, yet no result will follow as a nemesis of painful experience, provided—this provision is very important—provided we have totally annihilated our egoism and we do not even know that we are existing, and we always feel that the Universal is operating through us. Otherwise, we will be bound by anything that we do.
jñānaṁ jñeyaṁ parijñātā trividhā karmacodanā karaṇaṁ karma karteti trividhaḥ karmasaṁgrahaḥ (18.18) jñānaṁ karma ca kartā ca tridhai’va guṇabhedataḥ procyate guṇasaṁkhyāne yathāvacchṛṇu tānyapi(18.19)
Now, the Lord shifts his attention to some other subject. Up to this time, all that we have heard is about karma, or action—right action, or proper action. Now we are led to another subject altogether: “The nature of knowledge, the nature of the object of knowledge, the nature of the one who knows or has the knowledge, the nature of all action whatsoever in the process of perception, and the nature of the doer in the context of perceiving or knowing, this I shall describe to you now.”
There are three kinds of knowledge: sattvic knowledge, rajasic knowledge and tamasic knowledge. What is sattvic knowledge? It is that knowledge or wisdom or insight by which we are able to see the unity in the midst of the diversity of things, and we can locate the one Absolute manifesting itself in all these varieties of forms. If the variety of objects in the world do not in any way preclude our vision of the Absolute being immanently present in all things, and if we can see it directly with our own eyes, as it were—the Universal Absolute hiddenly present in the midst of all these apparently divided things—this knowledge, if at all we have got it, is to be considered as the best of knowledge. The highest knowledge is this, the best knowledge is this; sattvic knowledge is this.
But, this knowledge is not given to everybody. We are not so superior in our evolution. There is rajas predominating in us. We always see things as distinct from one another. We cannot see any kind of connection of one thing with another in this world. Everything seems to be thrown pell-mell, here and there. Something here, something there—we do not know what is where. This is the kind of world in which we are living. That is rajasic knowledge, not the knowledge that sees oneness everywhere.
Pṛthaktvena tu yaj jñānaṁ nānābhāvān pṛthagvidhān (18.21): Everything is different. There are trees here, cattle there, water here; there is a solar system there, earth here, planets there, human beings here, animals there. There is no connection of one thing with another thing; everything stands independently by itself, as it were. This kind of idea that we entertain—namely, that everything is independent by itself and there can be no connection, no relation whatsoever between one thing and another thing—that knowledge is rajasic because it is the perception of a distracted mind that is divided inside and, therefore, it sees division outside also.
Then there is the worst kind of knowledge. Yat tu kṛtsnavad ekasmin kārye saktam ahaitukam, atattvārthavad alpaṁ ca tat tāmasam udāhṛtam (18.22): Whereas rajasic knowledge at least recognises the existence of many things, tamasic knowledge clings to one thing only. It has intense attachment to one person, one object, one occupation, one character, one event, one circumstance, whatever it is—intensely hugging it, and considering that one thing only as everything, as if other things do not exist at all. Let alone the consciousness of unity, that is too far—even the consciousness of other equally valid things being there is not taken into account. There is only clinging to one thing, like a mother clinging to one baby: “My baby is everything; other babies don’t exist in the world. And if my baby survives, very good; let the rest go to the dogs.” This kind of attachment is the worst kind of knowledge, where one clings only to one thing due to the feeling of mine-ness, possessiveness, attraction and attachment. This kind of knowledge is tamasic—the worst kind of knowledge.
Niyataṁ saṅgarahitam arāgadveṣataḥ kṛtam, aphalaprepsunā karma yat tat sāttvikam ucyate (18.23). Now we are again taken to the realm of sattvic, rajasic and tamasic action from another angle of vision altogether, which is a subject we shall look at another time.
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We now come to the final chapter of the Bhagavadgita, the Eighteenth Chapter. It is the longest chapter in the Gita, in which we have practically a summing up of all the principles that were discussed in the earlier chapters. All things—whatever has been touched upon in the earlier chapters, from the First onwards to the Seventeenth—are brought together by the Teacher into a brief focusing of attention. Very interesting and very comprehensive is this teaching in the Eighteenth Chapter.
Here, Arjuna raises a question. The whole of the Bhagavadgita seems to be somehow or other centred round the principle of renunciation, abandonment of the fruit of action, for the purpose of attaining perfection. The terms ‘sannyasa’ and ‘tyaga’, meaning thereby abandonment or relinquishing, are used frequently in the Gita. Tyaga is abandoning; sannyasa is relinquishing.
Now, what is it that we abandon, and what is it that we relinquish? The word ‘sannyasa’ suggests renunciation, but it does not suggest what should be renounced. Here is the difficulty before all Sannyasins. They know very well that when they take to Sannyasa, something has to be renounced, because the very word ‘sannyasa’ means renunciation; but what are they to renounce? Generally they renounce their old clothes and put on new clothes, or they renounce their land and property, their family, etc., if that could be possible.
Actually, according to the Bhagavadgita at least, such a kind of relinquishment cannot be regarded as Sannyasa. This is because a person may be physically away from the object of attraction and attachment, but physical distance from the object of attachment does not necessarily mean absence of attachment. Sannyasins may, even after entering into the holy order, keep in their minds the memory of large estates of land that they had, etc. Renunciation is a difficult thing to understand; and so is the case with tyaga, or abandonment.
Because of this difficulty, Arjuna puts a question. Sannyāsasya mahābāho tattvam icchāmi veditum, tyāgasya ca hṛṣīkeśa pṛthak keśiniṣūdana (18.1): “O Lord! I want to know the real meaning of sannyasa, and I also want to know the real meaning of tyaga. Clearly explain to me what is sannyasa, what is tyaga.”
Na hyasannyastasaṁkalpo yogī bhavati kaścana (6.2) is mentioned in the Sixth Chapter. Nobody can be a sannyasin who has not renounced thoughts, determinations, in respect of anything that is to take place in the future. The contemplation of the achievement of something that is to take place in the future is called volition, and anyone who has not renounced volition, or will, cannot be a sannyasin.
Śrībhagavānuvāca: kāmyānāṁ karmaṇāṁ nyāsaṁ sannyāsaṁ kavayo viduḥ, sarvakarmaphalatyāgaṁ prāhus tyāgaṁ vicakṣaṇāḥ (18.2). Here the Lord says sannyasa is that kind of behaviour by which the actions that are connected with desire of some kind or the other are abandoned. A person may be said to be in a state of sannyasa the moment that actions which are motivated by desire are abandoned. That is to say, sannyasa does not mean abandonment of action as such. It means kāmyānāṁ karmaṇāṁ nyāsaṁ: abandonment of actions which are connected with a desire of some kind. If we can think of an action without any desire attached to it, that is a different matter. It is up to us to imagine if such an action is possible at all: an action with which no desire is associated, and from which we expect nothing.
Here, the reference is to another kind of action. Action which is charged with a motive, any kind of motivated action, is kamya karma; and the abandoning of kamya karma, or motivated action, is sannyasa. This is the definition of sannyasa given by great ancient learned ones, called kavis—saṁnyāsaṁ kavayo viduḥ.
Sarvakarmaphalatyāgaṁ prāhus tyāgaṁ vicakṣaṇāḥ. Definitions are very shrewdly given, which confuse the mind of the reader because we do not know exactly what is the distinction drawn between tyaga and sannyasa. Their definitions seem to be practically the same, only worded differently. It is now clear to us that sannyasa is defined as the renunciation of desire-filled action. Tyaga is defined here as sarvakarmaphalatyāga: the abandoning of the fruit of every kind of action. Abandoning the fruit of every kind of action is tyaga.
What is the difference between sannyasa and tyaga? Abandoning actions which are filled with desire is sannyasa. Abandoning the fruit of any action is tyaga. A peculiar mathematical distinction is drawn here, which will make us think deeply as to what this actually means. Now comes more detail as a light thrown on this intricate verse.
Tyājyaṁ doṣavad ityeke karma prāhur manīṣiṇaḥ (18.3): Some wise ones say that every action is defective—karma doṣavat. Sarvārambhā hi doṣeṇa dhūmenāgnir ivāvṛtāḥ (18.48): Sri Krishna himself says that any undertaking is defective because we will come a cropper one day or the other, whatever be the project that we undertake or the work that we do. Because of the fact that there is a defect in every kind of undertaking, in any kind of action, action should be abandoned. This is the opinion of certain ancient Masters. Yajñadānatapaḥkarma na tyājyam iti cāpare: But other great ones tell us that not all actions should be abandoned under the impression that they are all defective, because there are certain actions which are purifying in their nature, and they are obligatory on the part of every person. These actions—namely, yajna, dana and tapas—are very necessary for all people.
“What is My opinion?” Niścayaṁ śṛṇu me tatra (18.4): “What is My conviction about these matters? Please listen.” Tyāgo hi puruṣavyāghra trividhaḥ samprakīrtitaḥ: “Renunciation is of three kinds.” Yajñadānatapaḥkarma na tyājyaṁ kāryam eva tat (18.5): “I shall clinch the matter by firmly telling you that yajna, dana and tapas should not be abandoned under the impression that they are actions that have some defect.”
What is yajna, what is dana, what is tapas? Tapas pertains to us, dana pertains to others, and sacrifice, or yajna, pertains to the gods. We have a duty towards ourselves, a duty towards others, and a duty towards the Supreme Divinity manifesting itself as the controlling power of the cosmos. Therefore, we cannot say that we shall not do anything. We have to do something for our welfare, for others’ welfare, and for the satisfaction of God Himself. The sacrifice that we perform for the satisfaction of the Supreme Divinity, which is the ultimate sacrifice, is called yajna. The charity that we do for the pleasure of people and the welfare of people is called dana, or philanthropic deeds. Tapas—inward austerity, self-control, self-discipline, restraint of the mind and the sense organs—is a duty of every person seeking God.
Therefore, we cannot say, “It is an action; therefore, I will not do it.” We have to do it because tapasis conducive to our welfare, charity or dana is conducive to the welfare of others, and yajna or sacrifice is conducive to the satisfaction of God Himself. Yajñadānatapaḥkarma na tyājyaṁ kāryam eva tat: “Therefore, I tell you, yajna, dana and tapas should not be abandoned. They must be done; they are imperative duties.
Yajño dānaṃ tapaś caiva pāvanāni manīṣiṇām: All these three mentioned actions—yajna, dana and tapas—are highly purifying to everybody and, therefore, every day it is necessary for us to engage ourselves in yajna, dana and tapas simultaneously, for our own welfare and for the great blessing of God Almighty Himself.
In this chapter, brief statements are made on a variety of subjects. A predominant subject is the principle of right action, which has been more elaborately touched upon in the Second and the Third Chapters. Niyatasya tu sannyāsaḥ karmaṇo nopapadyate, mohāt tasya parityāgas tāmasaḥ parikīrtitaḥ (18.7): An obligatory duty can never be abandoned. One cannot relinquish that which is imperative—that which is a must under the circumstance in which a person is placed in this universe. We observed more details in this regard when we studied the Third Chapter.
An obligatory duty is that kind of work or performance which is organically related to our very survival and existence in this world, and is interrelated to other beings in the world. Our existence is conditioned by certain obligations to the atmosphere or the environment of the society in which we are living, and if this point is missed due to any intense form of selfishness on one’s part—one works for one’s own welfare very ignorantly, not considering the internal relationship that one bears consciously or unconsciously with the outer atmosphere—if this ignorance is going to be the motive behind one’s action, deluded is that person. Mohāt tasya parityāgas tāmasaḥ parikīrtitaḥ: Such abandonment of work which is obligatory is called tamasic renunciation. That is, that which is imperative cannot be relinquished. More details can be found in the Third Chapter.
Duḥkham ityeva yat karma kāyakleśabhayāt tyajet, sa kṛtvā rājasaṁ tyāgaṁ naiva tyāgaphalaṁ labhet(18.8): Tamasic relinquishment is mentioned as that form of abandonment of action which is tantamount to abandonment of duty itself; that is called tamasic relinquishment. There is another relinquishment, called rajasic tyaga: “Because it is difficult—it is very painful, it involves a lot of hardship, I have to work day and night—therefore, I will not do that work.” This argument for not doing a work is not actually feasible or tenable. The reason for not doing a work should not be merely the fact that it is a strain upon oneself to do hard work. We have to sweat, and “I do not want to sweat; therefore, I will not do this work. Physically it is painful, torturous and, therefore, I am afraid of doing this kind of work or undertaking this project.” When a person abandons doing a work because it is painful and requires hard labour on their part, that kind of abandonment of work is called rajasic tyaga. It is not sattvic.
Kāryam ityeva yat karma niyataṁ kriyate’rjuna, saṅgaṁ tyaktvā phalaṁ caiva sa tyāgaḥ sāttviko mataḥ(18.9): Sattvic renunciation does not mean renunciation of action. Then, what does it mean? It is the doing of one’s work because it is something that must be done under the circumstances in which one is placed. Kāryam ityeva yat karma niyataṁ: “Definitely it has to be done, because it is binding upon me. Yet, I shall do that work but be free from attachment to the work.” It does not mean that we should be attached to duty. The performance of duty is an impersonal involvement of ourselves in a call that is super-individual, and it does not call for attachment. Attachment is an emotional clinging to a particular form, event or anything whatsoever; and duty, being a superior call from a law that is above human nature, cannot be an object of attachment. Therefore, when a person performs a work as a duty incumbent upon that person and yet never feels that it is ‘my’ work, and he knows that it is not anyone’s work but it is a work done for the work’s sake, and he does not expect any recompense or fruit thereof—such an impersonally construed unselfish action done for the sake of work alone can be regarded as sattvic action. All other kinds of work are rajasic or tamasic.
Na dveṣṭyakuśalaṁ karma kuśale nānuṣajjate, tyāgī sattvasamāviṣṭo medhāvī chinnasaṁśayaḥ (18.10): The person who renounces attachment due the preponderance of the sattva guna in him, who is very intelligent in perceiving the pros and cons of things, and has no doubt whatsoever about the way in which work is to be done, hating not painful work, clinging not to pleasurable work, such a person is really an example before us. It does not mean that we should cling to something because it is pleasant, nor does it mean that we should hate something because it is not pleasant. Na dveṣṭy akuśalaṁ karma kuśale nānuṣajjate: The pleasant form of work does not call for attraction, nor should it evoke hatred when it is painful work calling for hard labour on our part.
Na hi dehabhṛtā śakyaṁ tyaktuṁ karmāṇyaśeṣataḥ (18.11): No embodied person can totally be free from work. The very fact of our being in a body calls for some kind of engagement because this body is made up of physical matter and, therefore, it is a form of prakriti constituted of the three gunas—sattva, rajas and tamas. Inasmuch as prakriti is always in a state of disturbance—it is not in a state of equilibrium—and its properties of sattva, rajas and tamas are constantly moving in a cyclic fashion, they compel the body to also be subject to that kind of cyclic action because the physical body of a human being, or of anything whatsoever, is not free from the contingency arising from the operation of the three gunas. Therefore, anyone who has a body has to work. If one has no body, that is a different matter. Na hi dehabhṛtā śakyaṃ tyaktuṃ karmāṇyaśeṣataḥ: The very fact that we are embodied in a physical tabernacle means that we are part of physical nature, and the process of physical evolution will also have an impact upon our body; it will compel us to do something. Therefore, freedom from work for an individual with a body is unthinkable.
Yas tu karmaphalatyāgī sa tyāgī’tyabhidhīyate: Abandoning work is, therefore, not possible as long as we have a body. But we shall be free from the binding effect of karma, or action, provided we do not look to the effect, or the fruit, that accrues from the work. We should do our work because it is necessary to work for the welfare of everybody, not because we get some recompense out of it. If we have an eye only on the salary that we get, and not on the duty that is expected of us, then that duty, that work that we perform, will be tarnished with a little bit of selfishness because even while we are working, our mind is thinking of the salary or of ‘that something’ that comes out of the work. We are not interested in the work itself and, therefore, it is not sattvic.
Sattvic work is work done for work’s sake only, whether or not it brings any fruit. Actually, every duty performed well—in a most unselfish manner—will, of its own accord, bring a result which is most pleasant, and we need not ask for it. Every duty is connected with a privilege; and we should not cry for the privilege. If we ask for it, it will not come. If we do our duty well, the privilege automatically follows without asking for it.
Aniṣṭam iṣṭaṁ miśraṁ ca trividhaṁ karmaṇaḥ phalam, bhavaty atyāgināṁ pretya na tu saṁnyāsināṁ kvacit (18.12): People who are attached to work due to selfishness on their part reap fruits which are of three kinds—anishtam, ishtam, mishram. Sometimes an action that is done brings unpleasant results; sometimes an action brings pleasant results; sometimes an action brings mixed results: a little bit of joy, a little bit of pain. This is the case with those people who perform work with selfishness, who cannot renounce the fruit of action. But this threefold mixing up of karma’s fruits will not have an effect upon sannyasins who have renounced the fruit of action.
Pañcaitāni mahābāho kāraṇāni nibodha me, sāṁkhye kṛtānte proktāni siddhaye sarvakarmaṇām (18.13): All action is bound by a fivefold factor. Therefore, knowing that there are five facets to every action that one performs, let there be no wrong notion on the part of any person that they are doing it. There are five conditioning factors behind any kind of movement, action, work, or whatever it be. Sankhya, which is the highest knowledge, and which details the varieties of results that follow from different kinds of karmas, tells us that there are five phases of an action. Therefore, the doership of an action is only one phase. To lay excessive emphasis only on doership, and be totally oblivious of the other four factors, would be utter ignorance on the part of the doer of action. Maybe we are doing the work, but we are not the only one involved in that work.
What are the other four factors? Adhiṣṭhānaṁ tathā kartā karaṇaṁ ca pṛthagvidham, vividhāś ca pṛthakceṣṭā daivaṁ caivātra pañcamam (18.14): The physical body has something to say about the quantum of work that we can execute, and also the quality of work that can be expected from us. Whether our body is strong and healthy, or whether it is weak and sick, is a factor that also is to be taken into consideration when we do any work. Hence, according to the nature of the physical condition, there will also be the conditioning of the result that follows from the action. That is one aspect among the five.
Tathā kartā : The ego principle that is actually motivating the action is also one factor. Why are we doing an action? The ego has a motive behind it. The physical body is one aspect, no doubt, but the ego is another aspect, and it is more important. The ego decides the methodology of work. That is the second factor.
Karaṇaṁ ca pṛthagvidham: The instruments that we use in the performance of action also condition the work. Suppose we dig a pit. If we dig with our hands, we will get one type of result; but if we use a pickaxe or a shovel, or a bulldozer, then different kinds of results will follow. The kind of instrument that we use in the performance of action will also decide what kind of result will follow.
Vividhāś ca pṛthakceṣṭā refers to the varieties of distracting factors conditioning the mind during the performance of any work. Even when we are doing one work, twenty ideas may be in our mind at the same time, pulling us in different directions, and it does not mean that a person thinks only one thought at a time. Even when we are doing one work, if we are able to think only that and nothing else, we are really a great person. But, generally that is not possible. There is a memory of something that happened in the past, and an apprehension of something that could take place in the future, and a fear of something that is in the present. These will distract the mind. These operations of the mind which distract are also conditioning factors in the performance of the work.
Therefore, the strength or weakness of the physical body, the motive of the ego, the instrument that is used, and the distractions characteristic of the mind are the four factors that are mentioned as conditioning every work. There is a fifth factor, which we always forget: the will of God—daivam chaivatra panchamam. A thing that is not sanctioned by the Ultimate Will of the universe will not take place, however much we may sweat. That which is to happen will happen, whatever be our effort to prevent it; and that which is not to happen will not happen, even if we call for it. This is the inscrutable factor operating behind all things. Our very mind, our very body, our egoism, our mental faculty, our very existence, is conditioned by the central Cosmic Will; and if it does not permit any event to take place, that event will never take place even if millions of people work hard to make it happen. Empires will crash in one moment if it is the will of the universal historical principle; we may call it the time process or the time spirit. Whatever be our effort in the direction of guarding our person, our society, or our country, it has to be sanctioned by the Supreme Will. As Sri Krishna told Arjuna, “Go ahead. You will succeed.” But that sanction was not there for the Kauravas, and the opposite result followed.
Thus, the final operative factor is the central Universal Will, with which we have to always stand in a state of union and communion. We should not egoistically assert too much of our own individual agency in action. We are not the only agents. There are five agents in the performance of an action, and among those five there is one supreme principle which we cannot afford to forget: the existence of God in the world. The principle of divinity permeating all things—the immanence of God—ultimately decides all factors, though others also act as instruments.
Śarīravāṅmanobhir yat karma prārabhate naraḥ, nyāyyaṁ vā viparītaṁ vā pañcaite tasya hetavaḥ (18.15): Whatever be the work we do—whether good action or bad action, whether through the physical body or through the mind or through speech, whatever it be that we are doing, it is conditioned in this fivefold manner. Therefore, we should not be too egoistic. We should not be under the impression that we are the ruler of the world, because the other four factors will not permit it and, finally, the Central Will may not be in favour of it. Therefore, all that we do in any manner whatsoever—whether physically, psychologically, verbally, personally, socially, in any way whatsoever, whether it be a good action or a bad action—all these are decided by this fivefold factor involving itself in every action.
Tatraivaṁ sati kartāram ātmānaṁ kevalaṁ tu yaḥ, paśyaty akṛtabuddhitvān na sa paśyati durmatiḥ(18.16): In the light of the fact that five factors are involved in the performance of work, if anyone foolishly thinks that he or she alone is responsible for doing it, then very foolish, very idiotic, very wrong indeed is the motive of that person. In the light of the fivefold factor being there behind every action, no one should have the hardihood to imagine that “I do it”. No ‘I’ can succeed here. Because of the unintelligent approach to a particular context in the world by a person who considers himself as all-in-all in the matter of working, one does not succeed.
Yasya nāhaṁkṛto bhāvo buddhir yasya na lipyate, hatvāpi sa imāl lokān na hanti na nibadhyate (18.17): We may confront the whole world if we like, and yet if our ego is annihilated completely, that is, if we do not have even an inkling that we are doing the action and feel that the Universal Will is operating through us, if that is the case, then we may even work the destruction of things, yet no result will follow as a nemesis of painful experience, provided—this provision is very important—provided we have totally annihilated our egoism and we do not even know that we are existing, and we always feel that the Universal is operating through us. Otherwise, we will be bound by anything that we do.
jñānaṁ jñeyaṁ parijñātā trividhā karmacodanā karaṇaṁ karma karteti trividhaḥ karmasaṁgrahaḥ (18.18) jñānaṁ karma ca kartā ca tridhai’va guṇabhedataḥ procyate guṇasaṁkhyāne yathāvacchṛṇu tānyapi(18.19)
Now, the Lord shifts his attention to some other subject. Up to this time, all that we have heard is about karma, or action—right action, or proper action. Now we are led to another subject altogether: “The nature of knowledge, the nature of the object of knowledge, the nature of the one who knows or has the knowledge, the nature of all action whatsoever in the process of perception, and the nature of the doer in the context of perceiving or knowing, this I shall describe to you now.”
There are three kinds of knowledge: sattvic knowledge, rajasic knowledge and tamasic knowledge. What is sattvic knowledge? It is that knowledge or wisdom or insight by which we are able to see the unity in the midst of the diversity of things, and we can locate the one Absolute manifesting itself in all these varieties of forms. If the variety of objects in the world do not in any way preclude our vision of the Absolute being immanently present in all things, and if we can see it directly with our own eyes, as it were—the Universal Absolute hiddenly present in the midst of all these apparently divided things—this knowledge, if at all we have got it, is to be considered as the best of knowledge. The highest knowledge is this, the best knowledge is this; sattvic knowledge is this.
But, this knowledge is not given to everybody. We are not so superior in our evolution. There is rajas predominating in us. We always see things as distinct from one another. We cannot see any kind of connection of one thing with another in this world. Everything seems to be thrown pell-mell, here and there. Something here, something there—we do not know what is where. This is the kind of world in which we are living. That is rajasic knowledge, not the knowledge that sees oneness everywhere.
Pṛthaktvena tu yaj jñānaṁ nānābhāvān pṛthagvidhān (18.21): Everything is different. There are trees here, cattle there, water here; there is a solar system there, earth here, planets there, human beings here, animals there. There is no connection of one thing with another thing; everything stands independently by itself, as it were. This kind of idea that we entertain—namely, that everything is independent by itself and there can be no connection, no relation whatsoever between one thing and another thing—that knowledge is rajasic because it is the perception of a distracted mind that is divided inside and, therefore, it sees division outside also.
Then there is the worst kind of knowledge. Yat tu kṛtsnavad ekasmin kārye saktam ahaitukam, atattvārthavad alpaṁ ca tat tāmasam udāhṛtam (18.22): Whereas rajasic knowledge at least recognises the existence of many things, tamasic knowledge clings to one thing only. It has intense attachment to one person, one object, one occupation, one character, one event, one circumstance, whatever it is—intensely hugging it, and considering that one thing only as everything, as if other things do not exist at all. Let alone the consciousness of unity, that is too far—even the consciousness of other equally valid things being there is not taken into account. There is only clinging to one thing, like a mother clinging to one baby: “My baby is everything; other babies don’t exist in the world. And if my baby survives, very good; let the rest go to the dogs.” This kind of attachment is the worst kind of knowledge, where one clings only to one thing due to the feeling of mine-ness, possessiveness, attraction and attachment. This kind of knowledge is tamasic—the worst kind of knowledge.
Niyataṁ saṅgarahitam arāgadveṣataḥ kṛtam, aphalaprepsunā karma yat tat sāttvikam ucyate (18.23). Now we are again taken to the realm of sattvic, rajasic and tamasic action from another angle of vision altogether, which is a subject we shall look at another time.
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Discourse 49: The Eighteenth Chapter Continues – Types of Understanding, Determination and Happiness
aLord Krishna is not tired of repeating again and again that we should do work. Wherever there is an opportunity, he brings in that point that we should do work, lest we become lost in God-consciousness. He is afraid that we will be thinking too much of God, so he again and again brings us down to earth by saying, “Do work! Do work!” Having said so many things about jnana, now he says what good action is.
Niyataṁ saṅgarahitam arāgadveṣataḥ kṛtam, aphalaprepsunā karma yat tat sāttvikam ucyate (18.23): Sattvic karma is that which is performed by one who considers that performance as an obligatory duty and not an imposition from outside, and does the duty without any kind of attachment or feeling of mine-ness in regard to the work. He will not say it is his work. It is just work, and it does not belong to anybody as their property, and it is free from like and dislike. Action can be performed for the fulfilment of a desire, or it can be done for harming people; there can be negative action or positive action. But the duty that is referred to here is free from likes and dislikes. It is not intended to please oneself, nor is it intended to harm somebody else. Niyataṁ saṅgarahitam arāgadveṣataḥ kṛtam: It is duty, free from mine-ness and attachment in regard to it. Aphalaprepsunā karma: With no eye to the fruit thereof.
There are so many conditions. Firstly, it should be considered as a duty and not as an imposition. Secondly, it should be done without any kind of attachment. Thirdly, it should not be motivated by like and dislike. Fourthly, there should be no eye on the fruit that accrues from the action. That kind of action, with so many conditions attached to it, difficult indeed to perform by ordinary persons, is called sattvic karma.
Yat tu kāmepsunā karma sāhaṁkāreṇa vā punaḥ, kriyate bahulāyāsaṁ tad rājasam udāhṛtam (18.24): Sattvic action is spontaneous, and does not fatigue the person. This is one characteristic of good action. We will not be tired of doing sattvic action. Sattvic action cannot fatigue us, because we are doing it of our own accord as something that has to be done. But if we are doing it for somebody else’s sake and not due to our own personal choice, then it will fatigue us. So, the Lord says that if anyone does action with intense longing attached to it, whatever be the nature of that longing, and it is also filled with egoism—“See what I do! I am capable of doing this. What do people think? What do they know about me?”—if this kind of egoistic boasting is at the back of any kind of performance, together with desire of some nature, yet it is attended with fatigue because one gets tired at the end of the day by doing that work, if the nature of the work causes fatigue engendered by egoism and is filled with desire, it is called rajasa karma.
Anubandhaṁ kṣayaṁ hiṁsām anapekṣya ca pauruṣam, mohād ārabhyate karma yat tat tāmasam ucyate(18.25). When we undertake an action, we must know our capacity to do it. Are we fit for it? To imagine oneself to be competent to perform a work, while really one is not competent, is lack of wisdom. It is not necessary to underestimate oneself, but it is also not necessary to overestimate oneself. It is necessary to judge oneself impartially as to one’s capacity and fitness for a particular kind of work or action. When a person does not consider his fitness for undertaking a work, and does not consider the consequence that may follow from that action, the harm that it may do to others and the injury that may result, and the work is done with a confused state of mind, such an action is called tamasic karma, the worst kind of action.
Muktasaṅgo’nahaṁvādī dhṛtyutsāhasamanvitaḥ, siddhyasiddhyor nirvikāraḥ kartā sāttvika ucyate (18.26). Sattvic action is defined once again. It is an action performed by those people who are free from attachment—muktasaṅgaḥ; who do not have any kind of a trace of egoism on their part—ahaṁvādī; and are full of enthusiasm for the work. It is not fatigue but enthusiasm, zest, and an indefatigability that is felt before undertaking any work. Utsāha, which is enthusiasm, spiritedness, and a love for what is good, should be the motive behind performing action, whether one succeeds or not. This is because, as mentioned earlier, the fruit of an action is not in anyone’s hand. The fruit is the product of the cooperative activity of five factors.
Therefore, if we do something to the best of our ability but have not succeeded, it is because we have not taken into consideration the other four aspects. Finally, one cannot succeed in life unless one is practically omniscient in nature. An ordinary person cannot know what consequence will follow from what action, because we cannot know all aspects of the matter at the same time. Sattvickarma is free from the longing to achieve its fruit, free from egoism, filled with enthusiasm, work undertaken spontaneously by oneself for the welfare of all people.
Rāgī karmaphalaprepsur lubdho hiṁsātmako’śuciḥ, harṣaśokānvitaḥ kartā rājasaḥ parikīrtitaḥ (18.27). Rajasic karma is a different kind. It is, right from the beginning until the end, filled with some kind of longing: “I expect some fruit from this kind of undertaking. It must come.” The focus is not on the means, but on the end. It does not matter what means we adopt, provided the end is achieved. But the correct process of action is that the end cannot be justifiable if the means is not justifiable. The end is nothing but the evolutionary completion of the means. When evolution takes place, the means evolves into the fruit of itself; that is called the end. The end is the consummation of the means. Inasmuch as the end is the consummation of the means, there cannot be any qualitative difference between the means and the end. Hence, it is foolishness and a kind of idiocy to think that the end justifies the means.
Attachment, desire, longing, and passionate clinging are the characteristics of rajasic action, not of sattvic action. Karmaphalaprepsuḥ: Always thinking of what comes out of the action performed. Lubdhaḥ: Full of greed for the fruit. Hiṁsaātmakaḥ: Causing injury to people, and not caring what negative effect the action may have on other people, as long as one is satisfied. Aśuciḥ: Impure motive is at the back of it. Sometimes one is elated, sometimes one is depressed. When there is a little indication that perhaps success is on the horizon, one is elated; but when the conditions change, there is immediately depression. A person floats on the surface of the sea of happiness and sorrow, and does not know what will actually be in store for him tomorrow, whether it will be happiness or grief. That kind of undecided state of affairs in the future is veritably grief itself. Harṣaśokānvitaḥ kartā rājasaḥ parikīrtitaḥ: Such a person is rajasic in nature.
Ayuktaḥ prākṛtaḥ stabdhaḥ śaṭho’naiṣkṛtiko’lasaḥ, viṣādī dīrghasūtrī ca kartā tāmasa ucyate (18.28). “Oh, what a difficult work it is! Why should I undertake that work?” That is a tamasic attitude. Always grieving—complaining in the beginning, complaining in the middle, and complaining in the end. There are some people who always complain when they do some work. They complain before starting it, while doing it, and also at the verge of completion. Dīrghasūtrī: Taking a long time to do a thing. If something can be done today, they will take three days to do it. They go on thinking about it for three days, and on the fourth day they think how to do it, and on the fifth day someone has to push them to do it. This kind of procrastination is the thief of time, as they say, and such people are called dīrghasūtrīs. Ayuktaḥ: Always in a state of grief and diffidence, and not inwardly united to the spiritual goal. Stabdhaḥ: Highly crude in behaviour, thinking only of the material end, always in a state of mental torpidity. The mind is not active, not clear, not at all moving for days together; and when it starts moving, it will move in the wrong direction. Śaṭhaḥ: A person who is totally unreliable, shrewd and cunning in the performance of affairs, a bad character, and basically lethargic in his nature. All these qualities go to form what is called tamas.
This is briefly some recapitulation of the characteristics of three types of actions done by three kinds of people—sattvic, rajasic and tamasic. This subject has been dealt with in more detail in the Third and the Fourth Chapters, and here it is only a summing up, a simhavalokanam. Simhavalokanammeans going on, going on, and then looking back—like a lion. A lion goes on walking, and then after some time it turns to see what is behind. That kind of looking back is called summing up, recapitulation, simhavalokanam.
Now the buddhi, or the intellect, is discussed. Three qualities of the intellect are mentioned here—three types of intellect, understanding. Buddher bhedaṁ dhṛteś caiva guṇatas trividhaṁ śṛṇu, procyamānam aśeṣeṇa pṛthaktvena dhanañjaya (18.29): “Hey Arjuna, listen to the characteristics of understanding, the characteristics of determination, which I shall now touch upon briefly.”
Pravṛttiṁ ca nivṛttiṁ ca kāryākārye bhayābhaye, bandhaṁ mokṣaṁ ca yā vetti buddhiḥ sā pārtha sāttvikī(18.30): Sattvic understanding, or intellection, is that which knows what is to be done and what is not to be done under a given condition, what is proper and what is not proper. Place, time and circumstance condition the undertaking of any work to determine which work may be suitable at a particular moment and which work may not be suitable at that moment. That which may be fitting in this particular spot may not be suitable at another place, and that which is fitting under conditions prevailing now may not be fitting under conditions prevailing in a different manner altogether or in some other place.
Therefore, everyone should understand this peculiar tantalising character of the method of choosing what is proper and what is improper. One cannot easily know what is good and bad. The goodness and the badness of an undertaking is not merely an ethical or a moral question. It is a philosophical and metaphysical issue based finally on the very purpose of existence itself. Only a well-baked philosopher can have some insight into what is finally good and what is not. By reading a book or a code of law, or a Smriti such as the Manu or the Yajnavalkya Smritis, one may know something of the nature of goodness and badness under specific conditions, but under what condition which kind of actions are to be performed cannot be catalogued in a book. We have to decide for ourselves what criteria we will hold in judging what is proper and improper. This is a crucial question before us, and the judgment in this regard should be based, finally, on the ultimate purpose of life. That is why one has to be very intelligent in choosing any course of action. Such a person is sattvic who knows what is proper and what is improper, what is good and what is bad, what is to be done and what is not to be done, what is a cause of bondage and what is going to be liberating. Only such a person can be really intelligent, and that understanding can be regarded as sattvic in its nature: sa buddhih partha sattviki.
Yayā dharmam adharmaṁ ca kāryaṁ cākāryam eva ca, ayathāvat prajānāti buddhiḥ sā pārtha rājasī(18.31): A rajasic person considers a wrong place as a proper place, a wrong time as a proper time, a wrong circumstance as a proper circumstance, and mixes up the concepts of dharma and adharma. Many people do wrong actions under the impression that they are doing some dharmic activity, because the idea of dharma is not clear in their mind; it is localised, politicised. Geographical, historical, communal, religious and political circumstances may vitiate the very concept of what is good and bad. We cannot decide what is ultimately good and what is ultimately bad as we are involved in these conditioning factors of human society. Such an involved kind of thinking is called rajasic buddhi, because it does not know what is dharma and adharma, what is to be done and what is not to be done, and misconstrues everything. A thing which is injurious is regarded as very good, and that which is harming others is regarded as something contributory to the welfare of people. Such a person is rajasic in nature.
Adharmaṁ dharmam iti yā manyate tamasāvṛtā, sarvārthān viparītāṁś ca buddhiḥ sā pārtha tāmasī(18.32): The worst kind of understanding is tamasic buddhi, which totally misconstrues all things in a topsy-turvy manner. Totally wrong things are regarded as very good things—adharmaṁ dharmam iti yā manyate—on account of a clouding of the intellect. Every kind of objective in life is viewed from a selfish point of view. There is no ability to link the undertaking to the final purpose of life, because that consciousness of the final purpose is completely obliterated from a tamasic buddhi.
The ‘determination’ that will be taken up for discussion in the coming verses has a connection with understanding. Intellect and will go together. The capacity of our deciding factor—decision, determination, volition—depends much, or perhaps wholly, on understanding. To the extent of our understanding, to that extent also we have the power of will. If the understanding is weak, the will also is weak. In these verses we have been told something about the three types of understanding—sattvic, rajasic or tamasic. Now, three types of determination or volition are mentioned here.
Dhṛtyā yayā dhārayate manaḥprāṇendriyakriyāḥ, yogenāvyabhicāriṇyā dhṛtiḥ sā pārtha sāttvikī (18.33). What is sattvic determination? That exercise of will by which we are able to restrain the mind, the prana and the sense organs with great force of the logical capacity within, being united in a state of yoga inwardly with no distraction in the mind and wholly concentrated on the final aim of life—that kind of decision, determination, or dhṛtiḥ, is sattvic in its nature.
Yayā tu dharmakāmārthān dhṛtyā dhārayate’rjuna, prasaṅgena phalākāṅkṣī dhṛtiḥ sā pārtha rājasī (18.34): Rajasic determination is that which keeps in view the product of one’s action, whether it is good or otherwise. Dharma, artha and kama are considered as the primary motives behind any kind of work, and moksha is completely ignored. Where moksha is not at all in the mind of a person, and it is not taken into account in the judgment of values, dharma may look like adharma, and adharma may look like dharma. Kama will ruin a person; and artha, or desire for material goods, will be harmful for the security and welfare of life. Hence, rajasic determination takes into consideration only the secular values. Here dharma is to be understood only in the sense of that kind of behaviour or conduct which will be conducive to the fulfilment of desire and material welfare, and not necessarily of moksha. We have emotional desires and material greed. If these two desires can be fulfilled somehow or the other, and we regard that way of fulfilment as righteousness, and we are always thinking of what will accrue through the undertaking in which we are engaged, that is rajasicunderstanding.
Yayā svapnaṁ bhayaṁ śokaṁ viṣādaṁ madam eva ca, na vimuñcati durmedhā dhṛtiḥ sā pārtha tāmasī(18.35): Tamasic determination or will is filled with sleepiness, fear, grief, despondency, pride, and a deluded state of thinking. These are qualities of a tamasic individual. Durmedhā dhṛtiḥ: A determination that is motivated by a bad or a wrong type of understanding. Mada is a kind of vanity that one feels in oneself. Vishada is despondency. Soka is grief. Bhaya is fear. Svapna is lethargic sleeping or a torpid condition of the mind, which is not inclined to any kind of activity. If this is the characteristic of a person, such a person is tamasic and is unfit for doing anything at all.
Three kinds of understanding and three kinds of decision or determination have been mentioned. Many kinds of themes constituting three categories are taken up in this fashion. As understanding is threefold and determination is threefold, happiness also is threefold. There are three kinds of happiness.
Sukhaṁ tvidānīṁ trividhaṁ śṛṇu me bharatarṣabha, abhyāsād ramate yatra duḥkhāntaṁ ca nigacchhati(18.36): “Now I shall tell you what is real happiness. That which leads you finally to sorrow and that which will lead you to real happiness, I shall tell you what it is.”
Yat tadagre viṣam iva: True happiness, or real happiness, lasting happiness, genuine happiness, looks like poison in the beginning. Very painful is any kind of effort in the direction of real happiness, but in the end it is like nectar. There is a proverb that says, “You have to soil your hands in order to get sweet milk from the cow.” Anything that is intended for our final welfare looks like a bitter potion in the beginning, and we will be very unhappy even to undertake it. Whether it is yoga exercise, japa, meditation, study, sadhana or whatever it is, it will look very boring and painful, but is going to lead to final bliss. That which is really good looks undesirable and repulsive. Yat tadagre viṣam iva pariṇāme’mṛtopamam, tat sukhaṁ sāttvikaṁ proktam ātmabuddhiprasādajam (18.37): That kind of happiness which will finally delight the self inside, make our understanding blossom and bring us inner peace, which ends in the nectarine experience of bliss though in the beginning it may look like a poisonous bitter stuff, should be considered as real sattvic happiness.
Viṣayendriyasaṁyogād yat tad agre’mṛtopamam, pariṇāme viṣam iva tat sukhaṁ rājasaṁ smṛtam (18.38). Sense indulgence appears to bring immediate pleasure, unlike sattvic happiness which looks very bitter in the beginning. Here, nectar is felt in the beginning itself. When the sense organs indulge in the objects which they long for, they seem to be drowned in nectar, so they long for the objects again and again, and one can spend one’s entire life indulging in these sense objects. But in the end, terrible, painful consequences will follow. Mental grief, physical debility and rebirth will follow as a consequence of sense indulgence. Viṣayendriyasaṁyogād yat tad agre’mṛtopamam: That which looks like nectar in the beginning because of the contact of the sense organs with their objects, but which will lead one to sorrow in the end, is called rajasic happiness.
Yad agre cānubandhe ca sukhaṁ mohanam ātmanaḥ, nidrālasyapramādotthaṁ tat tāmasam udāhṛtam(18.39). For instance, the happiness that one gets by drinking alcohol is tamasic happiness. It will completely delude our brain and put us into a state of stupor, giving us the false impression that we are in a state of joy. Intense smoking and drinking may come under this category because they appear to bring some kind of satisfaction to a person, but it is a deluded mind that thinks in this fashion. The person is happy in the beginning, in the middle and in the end—because he is drunk. In a person who is drunk, the nerves are stimulated and appear to be always in a state of happiness, but they are going to collapse completely after some time. Such happiness which is totally undesirable is tamasic happiness. Nidrālasyapramādotthaṁ tat tāmasam udāhṛtam: It will lead to sorrow and sleep. A drunken man sleeps, and when he wakes up he again drinks, and after drinking again sleeps, and after sleeping again drinks on waking up. What kind of happiness is this? This is the kind of life that some people live in the world—tamasic.
Na tad asti pṛthivyāṁ vā divi deveṣu vā punaḥ, sattvaṁ prakṛtijair muktaṁ yad ebhiḥ syāt tribhir guṇaiḥ(18.40): Some specific instances of the working of the three gunas—sattvic, rajasic and tamasic—have been mentioned here. There are infinite instances that can be used to illustrate this, and they are classified as being either sattvic, rajasic or tamasic. Actually, neither on earth nor in heaven is there anything which is not controlled and conditioned by the three gunas. Everything in the entire creation, in all the realms of being, is a modification of the three qualities of prakriti—sattva, rajasand tamas. Therefore, we always have to try to bring the sattvic quality to the surface of consciousness because it is perspicacious and it will give us some inkling of the higher purpose of life. The rajasic and tamasic vrittis will make us completely oblivious of the higher values of life, make us sunk in secular affairs, make us think in terms of sense objects, and cause us to take rebirth. We should develop sattvic attitudes in understanding, in determination, in will, and in happiness.
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aLord Krishna is not tired of repeating again and again that we should do work. Wherever there is an opportunity, he brings in that point that we should do work, lest we become lost in God-consciousness. He is afraid that we will be thinking too much of God, so he again and again brings us down to earth by saying, “Do work! Do work!” Having said so many things about jnana, now he says what good action is.
Niyataṁ saṅgarahitam arāgadveṣataḥ kṛtam, aphalaprepsunā karma yat tat sāttvikam ucyate (18.23): Sattvic karma is that which is performed by one who considers that performance as an obligatory duty and not an imposition from outside, and does the duty without any kind of attachment or feeling of mine-ness in regard to the work. He will not say it is his work. It is just work, and it does not belong to anybody as their property, and it is free from like and dislike. Action can be performed for the fulfilment of a desire, or it can be done for harming people; there can be negative action or positive action. But the duty that is referred to here is free from likes and dislikes. It is not intended to please oneself, nor is it intended to harm somebody else. Niyataṁ saṅgarahitam arāgadveṣataḥ kṛtam: It is duty, free from mine-ness and attachment in regard to it. Aphalaprepsunā karma: With no eye to the fruit thereof.
There are so many conditions. Firstly, it should be considered as a duty and not as an imposition. Secondly, it should be done without any kind of attachment. Thirdly, it should not be motivated by like and dislike. Fourthly, there should be no eye on the fruit that accrues from the action. That kind of action, with so many conditions attached to it, difficult indeed to perform by ordinary persons, is called sattvic karma.
Yat tu kāmepsunā karma sāhaṁkāreṇa vā punaḥ, kriyate bahulāyāsaṁ tad rājasam udāhṛtam (18.24): Sattvic action is spontaneous, and does not fatigue the person. This is one characteristic of good action. We will not be tired of doing sattvic action. Sattvic action cannot fatigue us, because we are doing it of our own accord as something that has to be done. But if we are doing it for somebody else’s sake and not due to our own personal choice, then it will fatigue us. So, the Lord says that if anyone does action with intense longing attached to it, whatever be the nature of that longing, and it is also filled with egoism—“See what I do! I am capable of doing this. What do people think? What do they know about me?”—if this kind of egoistic boasting is at the back of any kind of performance, together with desire of some nature, yet it is attended with fatigue because one gets tired at the end of the day by doing that work, if the nature of the work causes fatigue engendered by egoism and is filled with desire, it is called rajasa karma.
Anubandhaṁ kṣayaṁ hiṁsām anapekṣya ca pauruṣam, mohād ārabhyate karma yat tat tāmasam ucyate(18.25). When we undertake an action, we must know our capacity to do it. Are we fit for it? To imagine oneself to be competent to perform a work, while really one is not competent, is lack of wisdom. It is not necessary to underestimate oneself, but it is also not necessary to overestimate oneself. It is necessary to judge oneself impartially as to one’s capacity and fitness for a particular kind of work or action. When a person does not consider his fitness for undertaking a work, and does not consider the consequence that may follow from that action, the harm that it may do to others and the injury that may result, and the work is done with a confused state of mind, such an action is called tamasic karma, the worst kind of action.
Muktasaṅgo’nahaṁvādī dhṛtyutsāhasamanvitaḥ, siddhyasiddhyor nirvikāraḥ kartā sāttvika ucyate (18.26). Sattvic action is defined once again. It is an action performed by those people who are free from attachment—muktasaṅgaḥ; who do not have any kind of a trace of egoism on their part—ahaṁvādī; and are full of enthusiasm for the work. It is not fatigue but enthusiasm, zest, and an indefatigability that is felt before undertaking any work. Utsāha, which is enthusiasm, spiritedness, and a love for what is good, should be the motive behind performing action, whether one succeeds or not. This is because, as mentioned earlier, the fruit of an action is not in anyone’s hand. The fruit is the product of the cooperative activity of five factors.
Therefore, if we do something to the best of our ability but have not succeeded, it is because we have not taken into consideration the other four aspects. Finally, one cannot succeed in life unless one is practically omniscient in nature. An ordinary person cannot know what consequence will follow from what action, because we cannot know all aspects of the matter at the same time. Sattvickarma is free from the longing to achieve its fruit, free from egoism, filled with enthusiasm, work undertaken spontaneously by oneself for the welfare of all people.
Rāgī karmaphalaprepsur lubdho hiṁsātmako’śuciḥ, harṣaśokānvitaḥ kartā rājasaḥ parikīrtitaḥ (18.27). Rajasic karma is a different kind. It is, right from the beginning until the end, filled with some kind of longing: “I expect some fruit from this kind of undertaking. It must come.” The focus is not on the means, but on the end. It does not matter what means we adopt, provided the end is achieved. But the correct process of action is that the end cannot be justifiable if the means is not justifiable. The end is nothing but the evolutionary completion of the means. When evolution takes place, the means evolves into the fruit of itself; that is called the end. The end is the consummation of the means. Inasmuch as the end is the consummation of the means, there cannot be any qualitative difference between the means and the end. Hence, it is foolishness and a kind of idiocy to think that the end justifies the means.
Attachment, desire, longing, and passionate clinging are the characteristics of rajasic action, not of sattvic action. Karmaphalaprepsuḥ: Always thinking of what comes out of the action performed. Lubdhaḥ: Full of greed for the fruit. Hiṁsaātmakaḥ: Causing injury to people, and not caring what negative effect the action may have on other people, as long as one is satisfied. Aśuciḥ: Impure motive is at the back of it. Sometimes one is elated, sometimes one is depressed. When there is a little indication that perhaps success is on the horizon, one is elated; but when the conditions change, there is immediately depression. A person floats on the surface of the sea of happiness and sorrow, and does not know what will actually be in store for him tomorrow, whether it will be happiness or grief. That kind of undecided state of affairs in the future is veritably grief itself. Harṣaśokānvitaḥ kartā rājasaḥ parikīrtitaḥ: Such a person is rajasic in nature.
Ayuktaḥ prākṛtaḥ stabdhaḥ śaṭho’naiṣkṛtiko’lasaḥ, viṣādī dīrghasūtrī ca kartā tāmasa ucyate (18.28). “Oh, what a difficult work it is! Why should I undertake that work?” That is a tamasic attitude. Always grieving—complaining in the beginning, complaining in the middle, and complaining in the end. There are some people who always complain when they do some work. They complain before starting it, while doing it, and also at the verge of completion. Dīrghasūtrī: Taking a long time to do a thing. If something can be done today, they will take three days to do it. They go on thinking about it for three days, and on the fourth day they think how to do it, and on the fifth day someone has to push them to do it. This kind of procrastination is the thief of time, as they say, and such people are called dīrghasūtrīs. Ayuktaḥ: Always in a state of grief and diffidence, and not inwardly united to the spiritual goal. Stabdhaḥ: Highly crude in behaviour, thinking only of the material end, always in a state of mental torpidity. The mind is not active, not clear, not at all moving for days together; and when it starts moving, it will move in the wrong direction. Śaṭhaḥ: A person who is totally unreliable, shrewd and cunning in the performance of affairs, a bad character, and basically lethargic in his nature. All these qualities go to form what is called tamas.
This is briefly some recapitulation of the characteristics of three types of actions done by three kinds of people—sattvic, rajasic and tamasic. This subject has been dealt with in more detail in the Third and the Fourth Chapters, and here it is only a summing up, a simhavalokanam. Simhavalokanammeans going on, going on, and then looking back—like a lion. A lion goes on walking, and then after some time it turns to see what is behind. That kind of looking back is called summing up, recapitulation, simhavalokanam.
Now the buddhi, or the intellect, is discussed. Three qualities of the intellect are mentioned here—three types of intellect, understanding. Buddher bhedaṁ dhṛteś caiva guṇatas trividhaṁ śṛṇu, procyamānam aśeṣeṇa pṛthaktvena dhanañjaya (18.29): “Hey Arjuna, listen to the characteristics of understanding, the characteristics of determination, which I shall now touch upon briefly.”
Pravṛttiṁ ca nivṛttiṁ ca kāryākārye bhayābhaye, bandhaṁ mokṣaṁ ca yā vetti buddhiḥ sā pārtha sāttvikī(18.30): Sattvic understanding, or intellection, is that which knows what is to be done and what is not to be done under a given condition, what is proper and what is not proper. Place, time and circumstance condition the undertaking of any work to determine which work may be suitable at a particular moment and which work may not be suitable at that moment. That which may be fitting in this particular spot may not be suitable at another place, and that which is fitting under conditions prevailing now may not be fitting under conditions prevailing in a different manner altogether or in some other place.
Therefore, everyone should understand this peculiar tantalising character of the method of choosing what is proper and what is improper. One cannot easily know what is good and bad. The goodness and the badness of an undertaking is not merely an ethical or a moral question. It is a philosophical and metaphysical issue based finally on the very purpose of existence itself. Only a well-baked philosopher can have some insight into what is finally good and what is not. By reading a book or a code of law, or a Smriti such as the Manu or the Yajnavalkya Smritis, one may know something of the nature of goodness and badness under specific conditions, but under what condition which kind of actions are to be performed cannot be catalogued in a book. We have to decide for ourselves what criteria we will hold in judging what is proper and improper. This is a crucial question before us, and the judgment in this regard should be based, finally, on the ultimate purpose of life. That is why one has to be very intelligent in choosing any course of action. Such a person is sattvic who knows what is proper and what is improper, what is good and what is bad, what is to be done and what is not to be done, what is a cause of bondage and what is going to be liberating. Only such a person can be really intelligent, and that understanding can be regarded as sattvic in its nature: sa buddhih partha sattviki.
Yayā dharmam adharmaṁ ca kāryaṁ cākāryam eva ca, ayathāvat prajānāti buddhiḥ sā pārtha rājasī(18.31): A rajasic person considers a wrong place as a proper place, a wrong time as a proper time, a wrong circumstance as a proper circumstance, and mixes up the concepts of dharma and adharma. Many people do wrong actions under the impression that they are doing some dharmic activity, because the idea of dharma is not clear in their mind; it is localised, politicised. Geographical, historical, communal, religious and political circumstances may vitiate the very concept of what is good and bad. We cannot decide what is ultimately good and what is ultimately bad as we are involved in these conditioning factors of human society. Such an involved kind of thinking is called rajasic buddhi, because it does not know what is dharma and adharma, what is to be done and what is not to be done, and misconstrues everything. A thing which is injurious is regarded as very good, and that which is harming others is regarded as something contributory to the welfare of people. Such a person is rajasic in nature.
Adharmaṁ dharmam iti yā manyate tamasāvṛtā, sarvārthān viparītāṁś ca buddhiḥ sā pārtha tāmasī(18.32): The worst kind of understanding is tamasic buddhi, which totally misconstrues all things in a topsy-turvy manner. Totally wrong things are regarded as very good things—adharmaṁ dharmam iti yā manyate—on account of a clouding of the intellect. Every kind of objective in life is viewed from a selfish point of view. There is no ability to link the undertaking to the final purpose of life, because that consciousness of the final purpose is completely obliterated from a tamasic buddhi.
The ‘determination’ that will be taken up for discussion in the coming verses has a connection with understanding. Intellect and will go together. The capacity of our deciding factor—decision, determination, volition—depends much, or perhaps wholly, on understanding. To the extent of our understanding, to that extent also we have the power of will. If the understanding is weak, the will also is weak. In these verses we have been told something about the three types of understanding—sattvic, rajasic or tamasic. Now, three types of determination or volition are mentioned here.
Dhṛtyā yayā dhārayate manaḥprāṇendriyakriyāḥ, yogenāvyabhicāriṇyā dhṛtiḥ sā pārtha sāttvikī (18.33). What is sattvic determination? That exercise of will by which we are able to restrain the mind, the prana and the sense organs with great force of the logical capacity within, being united in a state of yoga inwardly with no distraction in the mind and wholly concentrated on the final aim of life—that kind of decision, determination, or dhṛtiḥ, is sattvic in its nature.
Yayā tu dharmakāmārthān dhṛtyā dhārayate’rjuna, prasaṅgena phalākāṅkṣī dhṛtiḥ sā pārtha rājasī (18.34): Rajasic determination is that which keeps in view the product of one’s action, whether it is good or otherwise. Dharma, artha and kama are considered as the primary motives behind any kind of work, and moksha is completely ignored. Where moksha is not at all in the mind of a person, and it is not taken into account in the judgment of values, dharma may look like adharma, and adharma may look like dharma. Kama will ruin a person; and artha, or desire for material goods, will be harmful for the security and welfare of life. Hence, rajasic determination takes into consideration only the secular values. Here dharma is to be understood only in the sense of that kind of behaviour or conduct which will be conducive to the fulfilment of desire and material welfare, and not necessarily of moksha. We have emotional desires and material greed. If these two desires can be fulfilled somehow or the other, and we regard that way of fulfilment as righteousness, and we are always thinking of what will accrue through the undertaking in which we are engaged, that is rajasicunderstanding.
Yayā svapnaṁ bhayaṁ śokaṁ viṣādaṁ madam eva ca, na vimuñcati durmedhā dhṛtiḥ sā pārtha tāmasī(18.35): Tamasic determination or will is filled with sleepiness, fear, grief, despondency, pride, and a deluded state of thinking. These are qualities of a tamasic individual. Durmedhā dhṛtiḥ: A determination that is motivated by a bad or a wrong type of understanding. Mada is a kind of vanity that one feels in oneself. Vishada is despondency. Soka is grief. Bhaya is fear. Svapna is lethargic sleeping or a torpid condition of the mind, which is not inclined to any kind of activity. If this is the characteristic of a person, such a person is tamasic and is unfit for doing anything at all.
Three kinds of understanding and three kinds of decision or determination have been mentioned. Many kinds of themes constituting three categories are taken up in this fashion. As understanding is threefold and determination is threefold, happiness also is threefold. There are three kinds of happiness.
Sukhaṁ tvidānīṁ trividhaṁ śṛṇu me bharatarṣabha, abhyāsād ramate yatra duḥkhāntaṁ ca nigacchhati(18.36): “Now I shall tell you what is real happiness. That which leads you finally to sorrow and that which will lead you to real happiness, I shall tell you what it is.”
Yat tadagre viṣam iva: True happiness, or real happiness, lasting happiness, genuine happiness, looks like poison in the beginning. Very painful is any kind of effort in the direction of real happiness, but in the end it is like nectar. There is a proverb that says, “You have to soil your hands in order to get sweet milk from the cow.” Anything that is intended for our final welfare looks like a bitter potion in the beginning, and we will be very unhappy even to undertake it. Whether it is yoga exercise, japa, meditation, study, sadhana or whatever it is, it will look very boring and painful, but is going to lead to final bliss. That which is really good looks undesirable and repulsive. Yat tadagre viṣam iva pariṇāme’mṛtopamam, tat sukhaṁ sāttvikaṁ proktam ātmabuddhiprasādajam (18.37): That kind of happiness which will finally delight the self inside, make our understanding blossom and bring us inner peace, which ends in the nectarine experience of bliss though in the beginning it may look like a poisonous bitter stuff, should be considered as real sattvic happiness.
Viṣayendriyasaṁyogād yat tad agre’mṛtopamam, pariṇāme viṣam iva tat sukhaṁ rājasaṁ smṛtam (18.38). Sense indulgence appears to bring immediate pleasure, unlike sattvic happiness which looks very bitter in the beginning. Here, nectar is felt in the beginning itself. When the sense organs indulge in the objects which they long for, they seem to be drowned in nectar, so they long for the objects again and again, and one can spend one’s entire life indulging in these sense objects. But in the end, terrible, painful consequences will follow. Mental grief, physical debility and rebirth will follow as a consequence of sense indulgence. Viṣayendriyasaṁyogād yat tad agre’mṛtopamam: That which looks like nectar in the beginning because of the contact of the sense organs with their objects, but which will lead one to sorrow in the end, is called rajasic happiness.
Yad agre cānubandhe ca sukhaṁ mohanam ātmanaḥ, nidrālasyapramādotthaṁ tat tāmasam udāhṛtam(18.39). For instance, the happiness that one gets by drinking alcohol is tamasic happiness. It will completely delude our brain and put us into a state of stupor, giving us the false impression that we are in a state of joy. Intense smoking and drinking may come under this category because they appear to bring some kind of satisfaction to a person, but it is a deluded mind that thinks in this fashion. The person is happy in the beginning, in the middle and in the end—because he is drunk. In a person who is drunk, the nerves are stimulated and appear to be always in a state of happiness, but they are going to collapse completely after some time. Such happiness which is totally undesirable is tamasic happiness. Nidrālasyapramādotthaṁ tat tāmasam udāhṛtam: It will lead to sorrow and sleep. A drunken man sleeps, and when he wakes up he again drinks, and after drinking again sleeps, and after sleeping again drinks on waking up. What kind of happiness is this? This is the kind of life that some people live in the world—tamasic.
Na tad asti pṛthivyāṁ vā divi deveṣu vā punaḥ, sattvaṁ prakṛtijair muktaṁ yad ebhiḥ syāt tribhir guṇaiḥ(18.40): Some specific instances of the working of the three gunas—sattvic, rajasic and tamasic—have been mentioned here. There are infinite instances that can be used to illustrate this, and they are classified as being either sattvic, rajasic or tamasic. Actually, neither on earth nor in heaven is there anything which is not controlled and conditioned by the three gunas. Everything in the entire creation, in all the realms of being, is a modification of the three qualities of prakriti—sattva, rajasand tamas. Therefore, we always have to try to bring the sattvic quality to the surface of consciousness because it is perspicacious and it will give us some inkling of the higher purpose of life. The rajasic and tamasic vrittis will make us completely oblivious of the higher values of life, make us sunk in secular affairs, make us think in terms of sense objects, and cause us to take rebirth. We should develop sattvic attitudes in understanding, in determination, in will, and in happiness.
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Discourse 50: The Eighteenth Chapter Continues – Knowing One's Duty
The Bhagavadgita has been telling us varieties of things in terms of the three gunas—what is sattvic, what is rajasic and what is tamasic. Nothing on earth or in heaven can be said to be free from the operation of the three gunas. Not even the gods are free from the action of gunas on them.
brāhmaṇakṣatriyaviśāṁ śūdrāṇāṁ ca paraṁtapakarmāṇi pravibhaktāni svabhāvaprabhavair guṇaiḥ (18.41)
śamo damas tapaḥ śaucaṁ kṣāntir ārjavam eva ca
jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyaṁ brahmakarma svabhāvajam (18.42)
śauryaṁ tejo dhṛtir dākṣyaṁ yuddhe cāpyapalāyanam
dānam īśvarabhāvaś ca kṣātraṁ karma svabhāvajam (18.43)
kṛṣigaurakṣyavāṇijyaṁ vaiśyakarma svabhāvajam
paricaryātmakaṁ karma śūdrasyāpi svabhāvajam (18.44)
Here we have an indication of the manner in which society is to be organised, vertically as well as horizontally. The horizontal discipline and stabilising of life is called varna dharma. The vertical process of ascent of the individual is in the ashrama dharma. Actually, the whole of ethics, the entire code of conduct and behaviour, is summed up in three things: 1) the concept of dharma, artha, kama and moksha; 2) varna dharma; 3) ashrama dharma. Nothing in the world can tell us about ethics more than these three things. How we have to conduct ourselves in regard to the ultimate aim of life, how we have to conduct ourselves in relation to people outside, how we have to conduct ourselves in regard to our own self—these three enunciations sum up the whole of reality. That which we are, that which is outside, and that which is above are the threefold definitions of reality.
The ultimate goal, in its complete structure, is delineated in the principles of dharma, artha, kama, moksha. Perhaps you all know what it means, as we have touched upon this subject elsewhere in the course of earlier discourses. The concept of this fourfold aim known as the purusharthas is a highly compassionate, integrating and well thought-out discipline of life. Our requirements are classified into four principles: material needs, emotional needs, and ethical needs, all leading to spiritual needs. The ethical need is dharma, the material need is artha, the emotional need is kama, and the spiritual need is moksha. The concept of moksha, or the liberation of the soul, determines the other principles of dharma, artha and kama. This fourfold valuation of the whole of life is to be put into practice in our personal and social life, and is not there only to be philosophically contemplated as principles in textbooks. We have to live in this world in such a manner that we shall move upward gradually in the direction of the liberation of the inner spirit, and such a liberation is not possible unless we disentangle ourselves from our involvements which cause us bondage.
The bondage is also of three kinds. Total ignorance of the ultimate aim of life is the greatest bondage, the inability to get on with people outside is another bondage, and not knowing what is happening to one’s own self is a third bondage. One should not be ignorant in this matter. It has to be very clear to us as to what kind of person we are. We should not underestimate or overestimate ourselves. We must also know how we have to conduct ourselves in human society, where there are other people like us living with a common interest. Then, we have to be very clear about what it is that we are aiming at in the end, from the cosmic point of view. The cosmical aspiration is, therefore, summed up in this fourfold principle of dharma, artha, kama, moksha. But this concept of moksha has to be implemented in our daily life in society, and in our personality.
The terms used here—Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Sudra—refer to intelligence, power, wealth and labour. These are the footstools, as it were, of human society. No one can be entirely intelligent, no one can be entirely powerful, no one can be entirely wealthy, and no one can be entirely fit for hard labour. There is a classification of the ability and endowments of people according to a variety of reasons. A person is born into some condition and circumstance. Some people are intelligent right from the beginning, some are royally construed right from the beginning, some have trading and economic tendencies right from the beginning, and some are traders, workmen, industrialists, technologists, etc., by their predilection and inclination. It does not mean that people can be classified only into four sections. There can be hundreds of differences among people, but this is broadly the category corresponding to our inner psychic faculty. We have buddhior intellect inside us, there is will or volition in us, there is emotion or feeling in us, and there is also the impulse to action or work inside us. The fourfold classification of human society into Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Sudra, representing the ruling class, the guiding class, the wealthy class and the labour class, has relevance to the inner psychic preponderance of intellectual capacity, administrative capacity, economic capacity and working capacity. When these four are blended together in a proper form, society is supposed to be stable.
Though society is stable, somehow or the other, by an administrative system that is introduced in this manner by bringing about some harmonious adjustment of capacities and intelligences, there is also a need for working out a system of inner development. It is not enough if we are merely stable socially. We also have to be perfect inwardly in our own individuality. Varna dharma, which is actually what is meant by this social group mentioned, is concerned only with external society, and ashrama dharma is concerned with ourselves. Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Sudra are external, social, outward, whereas Brahmacharya, Grihastha, Vanaprastha and Sannyasa refer to the inward graduated ascent of the spirit to higher and higher dimensions of comprehension.
These two have to go together. Socially we are involved in a particular location, and we have to work and contribute our might for the welfare of society in accordance with our placement, location or situation in which we find ourselves or for which we are fitted in society. Together with that, we also have to work for our development. The four stages of inner development, known as ashrama dharma, are Brahmacharya, Grihastha, Vanaprastha and Sannyasa.
In the early stages, for about twenty-five years at least, a person lives a life of utter self-restraint and study, under a teacher. The parents do not, according to the ancient system at least, allow their sons to remain at home when they come of age for education and study. When a person comes of age for education, he is sent out to a teacher, and he is supposed to be there for at least twelve years, if not more, as the case may be. This Brahmacharya stage of self-restraint and service to the Guru, and study of the Vedas particularly, is supposed to be a foundation that is being laid for one’s personal life. What we have been in our early years will tell upon us in our later years. What were we doing for the first twenty or twenty-five years? What kind of life did we live? That will have a direct impact upon our life after fifty or sixty years of age. The energetic, disciplined, hard life that we lived early on will bear fruit which we can reap towards the end of our life. But if in our early years we have lived a dissipated, carefree life, without any kind of discipline whatsoever, it will have a very deleterious effect when we grow old. That is why it has been always prescribed that early years should be of complete control, complete discipline—biological, psychological and physical—apart from the social involvement already mentioned as varna dharma.
After this stage of Brahmacharya, one usually enters into household life, because that is supposed to be a stage where one learns the ways of life. The world is made up so many complicated involvements. The isolated life of a Brahmacharin is good for conserving energy and making one strong enough to face life, but one must know what life is. One gains knowledge of life by living a socially construed family life, into which one is generally introduced after the Brahmacharya stage is over. But when one comes to maturity of experience—where the hair turns grey, as it were—there is a necessity to withdraw oneself from too much concern over family affairs or even social affairs, and a desire should arise inwardly to look to the need for a higher kind of living, what may be called spiritual living. Then one lives a secluded life. This stage is called Vanaprastha life. It is not actually total renunciation like a Sannyasin, but it is isolated, secluded living, away from the family atmosphere. One may live in a temple or in an ashrama for some time, and then go back to the family, and then again go for retreat, thus habituating oneself to a life of non-involvement in family life. That continues for some time.
Usually, the expectation is that one should live a life of Brahmacharya for twenty-five years, a life of Grihastha for another twenty-five years, Vanaprastha for the third twenty-five years, and Sannyasa for the last twenty-five years. But considering the age limit of people these days and there being no standard hope of everybody living one hundred years, we have to limit the duration of the stages mentioned according to the circumstances. Nevertheless, the stages are valid even today, and in connection with this kind of internal and external discipline, the Bhagavadgita goes into these brief statements of Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Sudra.
The duties of a Brahmana, a Kshatriya, a Vaishya or a Sudra are determined by the gunas of prakriti—svabhāvaprabhavair guṇaiḥ. One is not born a genius, one is not born wealthy, one is not born an administrator, nor is one a labourer right from birth. The conditions of living accrue or grow around oneself due to various circumstances occasioned by past karmas as well as one’s present abilities.
Internal restraint of the sense organs, external control over the active senses, purity of motive inwardly and outwardly, forgiveness, straightforwardness, knowledge and wisdom, spiritual experience, and belief in God are considered to be the main characteristics of a Brahmana. The characteristics of a Kshatriya are valour, heroism, spiritedness, determination to achieve a goal, power which does not diminish, never retreating in war, charitableness, and a feeling of responsibility, as the ruler, for the welfare of other people. These are considered as the Kshatriya’s dharmas, the warrior’s, the ruler’s, the administrator’s dharma: śauryaṁ tejo dhṛtir dākṣyaṁ yuddhe cāpyapalāyanam, dānam īśvarabhāvaś ca kṣātraṁ karma svabhāvajam.
The economic group is called Vaisya: kṛṣigaurakṣyavāṇijyaṁ vaiśyakarma svabhāvajam. Tilling and taking care of land, producing grains, trading, wealth, protecting cattle, carrying on business—all these come under the Vaisya’s duty. Actual hard work, whether industrially, technologically or in any way whatsoever—that which requires hard labour—is the prerogative of the fourth class, known as Sudra.
Sve sve karmaṇyabhirataḥ saṁsiddhiṁ labhate naraḥ (18.45): Each one is to perform one’s duty according to the station in society in which one is placed. Then it is possible for one to progress further. Svakarmanirataḥ siddhiṃ yathā vindati tac chṛṇu: “I shall now tell you how, by performing one’s own duty, one reaches the highest.”
Yataḥ pravṛttir bhūtānāṁ yena sarvam idaṁ tatam, svakarmaṇā tam abhyarcya siddhiṁ vindati mānavaḥ(18.46): One attains perfection by adoring the Almighty Being by one’s own knowledge and capacity, and performing one’s duty in accordance with that knowledge and capacity. God does not expect us to do anything beyond ourselves, beyond our capacity, and no one can expect from us what we cannot do. Our svadharma is that which we can do and, therefore, we must do. With that, the Supreme Being Himself will be satisfied. Our worship of God should be through the work that we do according to our ability and our concept of duty, performed in a totally unselfish manner: svakarmaṇā tam abhyarcya siddhiṁ vindati mānavaḥ.
Śreyān svadharmo viguṇaḥ (18.47): We should not try to intrude into a field of work for which we are not fitted. In that case, we will find that our knowledge and capacity are not adequate for the purpose. Either we would bungle on account of our not being suitable for that kind of work, or we would not be utilising our genius adequately by choosing some lesser kind of work while we are actually expected to be involved in a higher kind of work. So, one should be able to judge for oneself the knowledge and capacity that one has in respect of any kind of duty to be performed in society; and that capacity of choice of duty is actually the worship of God through svakarma. Svadharma and svakarma—one’s own duty is best because we cannot expect to do more than what our duty can permit us to do. Another’s duty—that is, work that is not intended for us and for which we are not fitted—is not recommended. Svabhāvaniyataṁ karma kurvan nāpnoti kilbiṣam: According to our nature, according to the predilection of our psyche, the inborn characteristic of our own personality will decide what kind of work we have to do and what duty is expected of us. Then we shall not have any kind of fear of sin because we are doing the best that we can—kurvan nāpnoti kilbiṣam.
Sahajaṁ karma kaunteya sadoṣam api na tyajet (18.48): It is incumbent on oneself to do one’s own duty, though it becomes difficult to carry on that work due to some defect involved there. We may be ill, or we may not have the appurtenances required for performing our duty. Nevertheless, we should not transgress the boundaries of what we are expected to do in this world. That is our rule; that is our law: sahajaṁ karma kaunteya sadoṣam api na tyajet.
Sarvārambhā hi doṣeṇa dhūmenāgnir ivāvṛtāḥ: There is what is called dignity of labour. Every work is equally good. We should not say, “Why should I do this kind of menial work? That person is doing better work.” There is no such thing as menial work and better work in this world. It is all a contribution from one’s own point of view for the total welfare of humanity. Every work is equally divine; every work is equally contributory to the welfare of one’s own benefit as well as others’. Work should not be compared. We should not say, “That person is doing a superior work, and I am doing an inferior work.” There is no such thing as inferior work, and no such thing as superior work, just as in a huge mechanism we cannot say which part is superior and which part is inferior. All parts are equally necessary because even if one little part is not working properly, the entire mechanism will be dislocated. So, the concept of dignity of work, and the divinity that one can see in the performance of duty, is to be the guiding factor in one’s daily life; and there should be no complaint either in regard to placing oneself in a so-called inferior position or imagining that somebody else is in a higher position. There is no higher position or inferior position. Each one is fitted for something, and that must be done; and what we are not fitted for, that of course we cannot do. So, we should not complain.
Sarvārambhā hi doṣeṇa dhūmenāgnir ivāvṛtāḥ: Actually, every work has a defect in it, whether it is higher work, lower work, that man’s work, this man’s work. Nobody can be omniscient. Everybody is human. Inasmuch as we lack complete knowledge of every kind of involvement in a particular undertaking or work, there is likely to be some difficulty to be encountered on the way. We will not get everything that we want even if we work to the best of our ability and expectation. This is because, as mentioned earlier, there are five factors determining the result of an action, and inasmuch as no one can know all the five factors working in an action—one knows only one or two—those factors of which we are ignorant will react upon us in a deleterious manner. So it is not that everybody will work perfectly without any kind of pain involved in it. Every work involves some kind of pain, whether we regard it as higher work or lower work. Every undertaking has a defect behind it, because rajoguna and tamoguna pravritti are also together with the sattvaguna pravritti. We cannot always be in sattvaguna, under the impression that everything will be well. Everything looks well for some time, but then rajoguna comes and distracts our mind, and tamoguna comes and puts a stop to our work. Hence, there is a defect in every kind of undertaking. Knowing this, one should not compare one’s work with another kind of work. All work is equally good or equally bad.
Asaktabuddhiḥ sarvatra jitātmā vigataspṛhaḥ (18.49): The final yoga is summed up here. How do we practise final yoga when we are about to depart from this world? It is by being totally detached in understanding, and freeing the intellect from involvement with anything whatsoever in the world. Asaktabuddhiḥ sarvatra: In everything, be detached and have no attachment. Jitātmā: Restrained in one’s own self. Vigataspṛhaḥ: Having no liking for any particular thing in the world. Naiṣkarmyasiddhiṁ paramāṁ sannyāsenādhigacchatii: This kind of attitude of self-restraint is called sannyasa, the abandonment of every kind of involvement. Thus practising, one attains to a state where one need not do anything. Naiṣkarmya siddhi is a state where karmas automatically find their fulfilment, and we need not have to engage ourselves in any work later on. Just as rivers move, but they need not move after they reach the ocean, so too one has to work hard until the Universal Being is reached. There, all actions find their consummation. Therefore, it is called naiṣkarmya. That is the ultimate perfection which is reached by sannyasa dharma, which is constituted of freedom from attachment, self-restraint, and absence of desire for all things.
Siddhiṁ prāpto yathā brahma tathāpnoti nibodha me, samāsenaiva kaunteya niṣṭhā jñānasya yā parā(18.50): “How does one attain to this perfection, and attain to Brahman in the end? Please listen to Me. I shall tell you in brief.”
Buddhyā viśuddhayā yukto dhṛtyātmānaṁ niyamya ca (18.51): Purifying one’s intellect from the dross of rajasic and tamasic desires. Dhṛtyātmānaṁ niyamya ca: By restraining the lower self with the power of the higher self—that is, by restraining oneself in the light of the aspiration for a higher reality. Śabdādīn viṣayāṁs tyaktvā: Cutting off connection of all five senses with the objects by withdrawing the five senses from their corresponding objects. Śabdādīn viṣayāṁs tyaktvā rāgadveṣau vyudasya ca: Freeing oneself from raga and dvesha, attachment and aversion, like and dislike for anything, and having an equilibrated attitude towards all things.
Viviktasevī laghvāśī (18.52): Always wanting to be alone to oneself, and not feeling happy in the midst of people. The more we are alone, the more we feel free and happy. That is the characteristic of a spiritual seeker in an advanced stage. Laghvāśī: Eating only as much as is necessary, and not eating like a glutton. Yatavākkāyamānasaḥ: Working only to the extent it is necessary to work. He does not work beyond his limit and become fatigued. He speaks only when it is necessary to speak, and does not speak unnecessarily. He also restrains the mind, and thinks only when it is necessary to think in a particular line. Otherwise, he does not think anything at all because of his inward spiritual approach. Dhyānayogaparo nityaṁ: Always intent on the supreme meditative mood on the ultimate goal of life. Vairāgyaṁ samupāśritaḥ: Totally renouncing all attachment to worldly involvements, all perishable objects—anything that is external, spatial and temporal—renouncing all these things by vairagya dharma.
Ahaṁkāraṁ balaṁ darpaṁ kāmaṁ krodhaṁ parigraham vimucya (18.53): Abandoning self-consciousness, not patting oneself on the back that “I have achieved something. I am a spiritual seeker. God is very kind to me, I have advanced so much”. Do not say this, and do not even feel in your mind that you are a superior person, because nobody can be regarded as so very high in the eye of God. Do not be proud of your energy, strength and capacity; do not be vainglorious in your approach; do not desire things which are unnecessary; do not be subject to anger and irritation; do not accept anything which is not actually necessary for a reasonably comfortable life; never have a feeling of ‘I’-ness and ‘mine’-ness in regard to things; do not go on asserting yourself by saying, “I, I, I” and “mine, mine, mine”. None of these things are permitted, finally. Therefore, one must be calm and quiet inwardly, established in Brahman, free from these turmoils of the psyche which come in the form of ego, etc. Then one becomes fit for the realisation of Brahman, brahma sakshatkar—brahmabhūyāya kalpate.
Brahmabhūtaḥ prasannātmā (18.54): One who is established in Brahman is calm and quiet, and composed in oneself, and neither grieves nor wants anything—na śocati na kāṅkṣati. Samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu madbhaktiṁ labhate parām: Devoted to God ultimately, and wanting nothing else. Having an equilibrated attitude towards all living beings, high and low, one is centred in God, and loves God and nothing else—madbhaktim labhate param.
Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ (18.55): The Lord says, “A true devotee knows what kind of person I am, what kind of Reality I am.” This means knowing what God is, what God does, what is the characteristic of God, and what one actually attains after reaching God. All these things will become clear when the devotion intensifies. Then, one enters into the Absolute. Tato māṁ tattvato jñātvā viśate tadanantaram: Knowing God as He is in Himself is a precondition necessary to enter into God. A conceptual appreciation of God’s existence is different from an appreciation of His Existence as He is in Himself. This is possible only if you totally annihilate your egoistic individuality, do not conceive God as if He is something outside you, and do not go on insisting on your own individual existence also. Let God be, and you should not be. When God takes possession of all things, your existence ceases to be and you are no more there, and then it is that you have entered into the Absolute. When you are there looking at God, or thinking that you are there contemplating on God as an independent person, you have not entered. You are only outside beholding, conceptualising, thinking and intellectualising. That is not enough. The entering into the very substance of God is the final aim of life, which is possible only when you cease to be, by a total abolition of your encrustations of physical and psychical personality. Then your soul merges in God.
Sarvakarmāṇyapi sadā kurvāṇo madvyapāśrayaḥ, matprasādād avāpnoti śāśvataṁ padam avyayam(18.56): If you work as a worship of God, whatever be the work that you do—let it be anything, even the littlest of activities of yours—may these activities be dedicated to God as a humble offering. By the grace of God, Who knows your goodness and your devotion, you shall attain to that Eternal Abode—śāśvataṁ padam avyayam.
Cetasā sarvakarmāṇi mayi sannyasya matparaḥ, buddhiyogam upāśritya maccittaḥ satataṁ bhava(18.57): “O Arjuna! I am telling you that with all your mind, with all your heart and with all your soul, be devoted to Me. Abandoning all other concerns in this world, and resorting to the yoga of contemplation through understanding, which is called jnana yoga, be rooted in Me, and let there be no other concern in your mind—maccittaḥ satataṁ bhava.”
Maccittaḥ sarvadurgāṇi matprasādat tariṣyasi (18.58): “Because of your intense devotion to Me and your rootedness in Me, you shall cross over all the turmoil of life by My grace. But if you insist on your own ahamkara and say, ‘I shall do this, and I shall not do that’—then you will be responsible for what follows.” You shall actually perish if you insist on your egoism and say “I shall do this, and I shall not do that” as Arjuna said in the beginning of the First Chapter. Atha cet tvam ahaṁkārān na śroṣyasi vinaṅkṣyasi: “If you do not listen to this good advice and insist on your egoism again and again—well, you will reach nothing finally.”
Yad ahaṅkāram āśritya na yotsya iti manyase (18.59): “Because of egoism, you are saying, ‘I shall not take up arms, I shall throw down everything, and I shall not do any work.’” This was the attitude of Arjuna in the beginning. “If you are so egoistic and you decide everything for yourself—okay, do it. This attitude of yours is not going to succeed finally, because prakriti will compel you to act. Even if people inwardly decide not to do anything, not to work at all, and maintain silence, it is not possible. As long as the body and mind—which are the properties of prakriti—are there, and because prakriti is always in a state of motion, it is not possible for any person to be inactive. Prakriti’s gunas will compel you to act. So, don’t say, ‘I shall not do.’”
Svabhāvajena kaunteya nibaddhaḥ svena karmaṇā, kartuṁ necchasi yan mohāt kariṣyasyavaśo’pi tat(18.60): Even without your wanting to do a thing, you shall be forced to do it on account of the operation of the gunas. It is not that you deliberately want to do something. Even your so-called deliberate undertaking is a compulsion from a higher source, which you cannot avoid. Therefore, do not decide individually, egoistically that “I shall do, I shall not do”. Let there be no such individual decision on your part. Surrender yourself to the Almighty, and all shall be well with you.
The Bhagavadgita has been telling us varieties of things in terms of the three gunas—what is sattvic, what is rajasic and what is tamasic. Nothing on earth or in heaven can be said to be free from the operation of the three gunas. Not even the gods are free from the action of gunas on them.
brāhmaṇakṣatriyaviśāṁ śūdrāṇāṁ ca paraṁtapakarmāṇi pravibhaktāni svabhāvaprabhavair guṇaiḥ (18.41)
śamo damas tapaḥ śaucaṁ kṣāntir ārjavam eva ca
jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyaṁ brahmakarma svabhāvajam (18.42)
śauryaṁ tejo dhṛtir dākṣyaṁ yuddhe cāpyapalāyanam
dānam īśvarabhāvaś ca kṣātraṁ karma svabhāvajam (18.43)
kṛṣigaurakṣyavāṇijyaṁ vaiśyakarma svabhāvajam
paricaryātmakaṁ karma śūdrasyāpi svabhāvajam (18.44)
śamo damas tapaḥ śaucaṁ kṣāntir ārjavam eva ca
jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyaṁ brahmakarma svabhāvajam (18.42)
śauryaṁ tejo dhṛtir dākṣyaṁ yuddhe cāpyapalāyanam
dānam īśvarabhāvaś ca kṣātraṁ karma svabhāvajam (18.43)
kṛṣigaurakṣyavāṇijyaṁ vaiśyakarma svabhāvajam
paricaryātmakaṁ karma śūdrasyāpi svabhāvajam (18.44)
Here we have an indication of the manner in which society is to be organised, vertically as well as horizontally. The horizontal discipline and stabilising of life is called varna dharma. The vertical process of ascent of the individual is in the ashrama dharma. Actually, the whole of ethics, the entire code of conduct and behaviour, is summed up in three things: 1) the concept of dharma, artha, kama and moksha; 2) varna dharma; 3) ashrama dharma. Nothing in the world can tell us about ethics more than these three things. How we have to conduct ourselves in regard to the ultimate aim of life, how we have to conduct ourselves in relation to people outside, how we have to conduct ourselves in regard to our own self—these three enunciations sum up the whole of reality. That which we are, that which is outside, and that which is above are the threefold definitions of reality.
The ultimate goal, in its complete structure, is delineated in the principles of dharma, artha, kama, moksha. Perhaps you all know what it means, as we have touched upon this subject elsewhere in the course of earlier discourses. The concept of this fourfold aim known as the purusharthas is a highly compassionate, integrating and well thought-out discipline of life. Our requirements are classified into four principles: material needs, emotional needs, and ethical needs, all leading to spiritual needs. The ethical need is dharma, the material need is artha, the emotional need is kama, and the spiritual need is moksha. The concept of moksha, or the liberation of the soul, determines the other principles of dharma, artha and kama. This fourfold valuation of the whole of life is to be put into practice in our personal and social life, and is not there only to be philosophically contemplated as principles in textbooks. We have to live in this world in such a manner that we shall move upward gradually in the direction of the liberation of the inner spirit, and such a liberation is not possible unless we disentangle ourselves from our involvements which cause us bondage.
The bondage is also of three kinds. Total ignorance of the ultimate aim of life is the greatest bondage, the inability to get on with people outside is another bondage, and not knowing what is happening to one’s own self is a third bondage. One should not be ignorant in this matter. It has to be very clear to us as to what kind of person we are. We should not underestimate or overestimate ourselves. We must also know how we have to conduct ourselves in human society, where there are other people like us living with a common interest. Then, we have to be very clear about what it is that we are aiming at in the end, from the cosmic point of view. The cosmical aspiration is, therefore, summed up in this fourfold principle of dharma, artha, kama, moksha. But this concept of moksha has to be implemented in our daily life in society, and in our personality.
The terms used here—Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Sudra—refer to intelligence, power, wealth and labour. These are the footstools, as it were, of human society. No one can be entirely intelligent, no one can be entirely powerful, no one can be entirely wealthy, and no one can be entirely fit for hard labour. There is a classification of the ability and endowments of people according to a variety of reasons. A person is born into some condition and circumstance. Some people are intelligent right from the beginning, some are royally construed right from the beginning, some have trading and economic tendencies right from the beginning, and some are traders, workmen, industrialists, technologists, etc., by their predilection and inclination. It does not mean that people can be classified only into four sections. There can be hundreds of differences among people, but this is broadly the category corresponding to our inner psychic faculty. We have buddhior intellect inside us, there is will or volition in us, there is emotion or feeling in us, and there is also the impulse to action or work inside us. The fourfold classification of human society into Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Sudra, representing the ruling class, the guiding class, the wealthy class and the labour class, has relevance to the inner psychic preponderance of intellectual capacity, administrative capacity, economic capacity and working capacity. When these four are blended together in a proper form, society is supposed to be stable.
Though society is stable, somehow or the other, by an administrative system that is introduced in this manner by bringing about some harmonious adjustment of capacities and intelligences, there is also a need for working out a system of inner development. It is not enough if we are merely stable socially. We also have to be perfect inwardly in our own individuality. Varna dharma, which is actually what is meant by this social group mentioned, is concerned only with external society, and ashrama dharma is concerned with ourselves. Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Sudra are external, social, outward, whereas Brahmacharya, Grihastha, Vanaprastha and Sannyasa refer to the inward graduated ascent of the spirit to higher and higher dimensions of comprehension.
These two have to go together. Socially we are involved in a particular location, and we have to work and contribute our might for the welfare of society in accordance with our placement, location or situation in which we find ourselves or for which we are fitted in society. Together with that, we also have to work for our development. The four stages of inner development, known as ashrama dharma, are Brahmacharya, Grihastha, Vanaprastha and Sannyasa.
In the early stages, for about twenty-five years at least, a person lives a life of utter self-restraint and study, under a teacher. The parents do not, according to the ancient system at least, allow their sons to remain at home when they come of age for education and study. When a person comes of age for education, he is sent out to a teacher, and he is supposed to be there for at least twelve years, if not more, as the case may be. This Brahmacharya stage of self-restraint and service to the Guru, and study of the Vedas particularly, is supposed to be a foundation that is being laid for one’s personal life. What we have been in our early years will tell upon us in our later years. What were we doing for the first twenty or twenty-five years? What kind of life did we live? That will have a direct impact upon our life after fifty or sixty years of age. The energetic, disciplined, hard life that we lived early on will bear fruit which we can reap towards the end of our life. But if in our early years we have lived a dissipated, carefree life, without any kind of discipline whatsoever, it will have a very deleterious effect when we grow old. That is why it has been always prescribed that early years should be of complete control, complete discipline—biological, psychological and physical—apart from the social involvement already mentioned as varna dharma.
After this stage of Brahmacharya, one usually enters into household life, because that is supposed to be a stage where one learns the ways of life. The world is made up so many complicated involvements. The isolated life of a Brahmacharin is good for conserving energy and making one strong enough to face life, but one must know what life is. One gains knowledge of life by living a socially construed family life, into which one is generally introduced after the Brahmacharya stage is over. But when one comes to maturity of experience—where the hair turns grey, as it were—there is a necessity to withdraw oneself from too much concern over family affairs or even social affairs, and a desire should arise inwardly to look to the need for a higher kind of living, what may be called spiritual living. Then one lives a secluded life. This stage is called Vanaprastha life. It is not actually total renunciation like a Sannyasin, but it is isolated, secluded living, away from the family atmosphere. One may live in a temple or in an ashrama for some time, and then go back to the family, and then again go for retreat, thus habituating oneself to a life of non-involvement in family life. That continues for some time.
Usually, the expectation is that one should live a life of Brahmacharya for twenty-five years, a life of Grihastha for another twenty-five years, Vanaprastha for the third twenty-five years, and Sannyasa for the last twenty-five years. But considering the age limit of people these days and there being no standard hope of everybody living one hundred years, we have to limit the duration of the stages mentioned according to the circumstances. Nevertheless, the stages are valid even today, and in connection with this kind of internal and external discipline, the Bhagavadgita goes into these brief statements of Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Sudra.
The duties of a Brahmana, a Kshatriya, a Vaishya or a Sudra are determined by the gunas of prakriti—svabhāvaprabhavair guṇaiḥ. One is not born a genius, one is not born wealthy, one is not born an administrator, nor is one a labourer right from birth. The conditions of living accrue or grow around oneself due to various circumstances occasioned by past karmas as well as one’s present abilities.
Internal restraint of the sense organs, external control over the active senses, purity of motive inwardly and outwardly, forgiveness, straightforwardness, knowledge and wisdom, spiritual experience, and belief in God are considered to be the main characteristics of a Brahmana. The characteristics of a Kshatriya are valour, heroism, spiritedness, determination to achieve a goal, power which does not diminish, never retreating in war, charitableness, and a feeling of responsibility, as the ruler, for the welfare of other people. These are considered as the Kshatriya’s dharmas, the warrior’s, the ruler’s, the administrator’s dharma: śauryaṁ tejo dhṛtir dākṣyaṁ yuddhe cāpyapalāyanam, dānam īśvarabhāvaś ca kṣātraṁ karma svabhāvajam.
The economic group is called Vaisya: kṛṣigaurakṣyavāṇijyaṁ vaiśyakarma svabhāvajam. Tilling and taking care of land, producing grains, trading, wealth, protecting cattle, carrying on business—all these come under the Vaisya’s duty. Actual hard work, whether industrially, technologically or in any way whatsoever—that which requires hard labour—is the prerogative of the fourth class, known as Sudra.
Sve sve karmaṇyabhirataḥ saṁsiddhiṁ labhate naraḥ (18.45): Each one is to perform one’s duty according to the station in society in which one is placed. Then it is possible for one to progress further. Svakarmanirataḥ siddhiṃ yathā vindati tac chṛṇu: “I shall now tell you how, by performing one’s own duty, one reaches the highest.”
Yataḥ pravṛttir bhūtānāṁ yena sarvam idaṁ tatam, svakarmaṇā tam abhyarcya siddhiṁ vindati mānavaḥ(18.46): One attains perfection by adoring the Almighty Being by one’s own knowledge and capacity, and performing one’s duty in accordance with that knowledge and capacity. God does not expect us to do anything beyond ourselves, beyond our capacity, and no one can expect from us what we cannot do. Our svadharma is that which we can do and, therefore, we must do. With that, the Supreme Being Himself will be satisfied. Our worship of God should be through the work that we do according to our ability and our concept of duty, performed in a totally unselfish manner: svakarmaṇā tam abhyarcya siddhiṁ vindati mānavaḥ.
Śreyān svadharmo viguṇaḥ (18.47): We should not try to intrude into a field of work for which we are not fitted. In that case, we will find that our knowledge and capacity are not adequate for the purpose. Either we would bungle on account of our not being suitable for that kind of work, or we would not be utilising our genius adequately by choosing some lesser kind of work while we are actually expected to be involved in a higher kind of work. So, one should be able to judge for oneself the knowledge and capacity that one has in respect of any kind of duty to be performed in society; and that capacity of choice of duty is actually the worship of God through svakarma. Svadharma and svakarma—one’s own duty is best because we cannot expect to do more than what our duty can permit us to do. Another’s duty—that is, work that is not intended for us and for which we are not fitted—is not recommended. Svabhāvaniyataṁ karma kurvan nāpnoti kilbiṣam: According to our nature, according to the predilection of our psyche, the inborn characteristic of our own personality will decide what kind of work we have to do and what duty is expected of us. Then we shall not have any kind of fear of sin because we are doing the best that we can—kurvan nāpnoti kilbiṣam.
Sahajaṁ karma kaunteya sadoṣam api na tyajet (18.48): It is incumbent on oneself to do one’s own duty, though it becomes difficult to carry on that work due to some defect involved there. We may be ill, or we may not have the appurtenances required for performing our duty. Nevertheless, we should not transgress the boundaries of what we are expected to do in this world. That is our rule; that is our law: sahajaṁ karma kaunteya sadoṣam api na tyajet.
Sarvārambhā hi doṣeṇa dhūmenāgnir ivāvṛtāḥ: There is what is called dignity of labour. Every work is equally good. We should not say, “Why should I do this kind of menial work? That person is doing better work.” There is no such thing as menial work and better work in this world. It is all a contribution from one’s own point of view for the total welfare of humanity. Every work is equally divine; every work is equally contributory to the welfare of one’s own benefit as well as others’. Work should not be compared. We should not say, “That person is doing a superior work, and I am doing an inferior work.” There is no such thing as inferior work, and no such thing as superior work, just as in a huge mechanism we cannot say which part is superior and which part is inferior. All parts are equally necessary because even if one little part is not working properly, the entire mechanism will be dislocated. So, the concept of dignity of work, and the divinity that one can see in the performance of duty, is to be the guiding factor in one’s daily life; and there should be no complaint either in regard to placing oneself in a so-called inferior position or imagining that somebody else is in a higher position. There is no higher position or inferior position. Each one is fitted for something, and that must be done; and what we are not fitted for, that of course we cannot do. So, we should not complain.
Sarvārambhā hi doṣeṇa dhūmenāgnir ivāvṛtāḥ: Actually, every work has a defect in it, whether it is higher work, lower work, that man’s work, this man’s work. Nobody can be omniscient. Everybody is human. Inasmuch as we lack complete knowledge of every kind of involvement in a particular undertaking or work, there is likely to be some difficulty to be encountered on the way. We will not get everything that we want even if we work to the best of our ability and expectation. This is because, as mentioned earlier, there are five factors determining the result of an action, and inasmuch as no one can know all the five factors working in an action—one knows only one or two—those factors of which we are ignorant will react upon us in a deleterious manner. So it is not that everybody will work perfectly without any kind of pain involved in it. Every work involves some kind of pain, whether we regard it as higher work or lower work. Every undertaking has a defect behind it, because rajoguna and tamoguna pravritti are also together with the sattvaguna pravritti. We cannot always be in sattvaguna, under the impression that everything will be well. Everything looks well for some time, but then rajoguna comes and distracts our mind, and tamoguna comes and puts a stop to our work. Hence, there is a defect in every kind of undertaking. Knowing this, one should not compare one’s work with another kind of work. All work is equally good or equally bad.
Asaktabuddhiḥ sarvatra jitātmā vigataspṛhaḥ (18.49): The final yoga is summed up here. How do we practise final yoga when we are about to depart from this world? It is by being totally detached in understanding, and freeing the intellect from involvement with anything whatsoever in the world. Asaktabuddhiḥ sarvatra: In everything, be detached and have no attachment. Jitātmā: Restrained in one’s own self. Vigataspṛhaḥ: Having no liking for any particular thing in the world. Naiṣkarmyasiddhiṁ paramāṁ sannyāsenādhigacchatii: This kind of attitude of self-restraint is called sannyasa, the abandonment of every kind of involvement. Thus practising, one attains to a state where one need not do anything. Naiṣkarmya siddhi is a state where karmas automatically find their fulfilment, and we need not have to engage ourselves in any work later on. Just as rivers move, but they need not move after they reach the ocean, so too one has to work hard until the Universal Being is reached. There, all actions find their consummation. Therefore, it is called naiṣkarmya. That is the ultimate perfection which is reached by sannyasa dharma, which is constituted of freedom from attachment, self-restraint, and absence of desire for all things.
Siddhiṁ prāpto yathā brahma tathāpnoti nibodha me, samāsenaiva kaunteya niṣṭhā jñānasya yā parā(18.50): “How does one attain to this perfection, and attain to Brahman in the end? Please listen to Me. I shall tell you in brief.”
Buddhyā viśuddhayā yukto dhṛtyātmānaṁ niyamya ca (18.51): Purifying one’s intellect from the dross of rajasic and tamasic desires. Dhṛtyātmānaṁ niyamya ca: By restraining the lower self with the power of the higher self—that is, by restraining oneself in the light of the aspiration for a higher reality. Śabdādīn viṣayāṁs tyaktvā: Cutting off connection of all five senses with the objects by withdrawing the five senses from their corresponding objects. Śabdādīn viṣayāṁs tyaktvā rāgadveṣau vyudasya ca: Freeing oneself from raga and dvesha, attachment and aversion, like and dislike for anything, and having an equilibrated attitude towards all things.
Viviktasevī laghvāśī (18.52): Always wanting to be alone to oneself, and not feeling happy in the midst of people. The more we are alone, the more we feel free and happy. That is the characteristic of a spiritual seeker in an advanced stage. Laghvāśī: Eating only as much as is necessary, and not eating like a glutton. Yatavākkāyamānasaḥ: Working only to the extent it is necessary to work. He does not work beyond his limit and become fatigued. He speaks only when it is necessary to speak, and does not speak unnecessarily. He also restrains the mind, and thinks only when it is necessary to think in a particular line. Otherwise, he does not think anything at all because of his inward spiritual approach. Dhyānayogaparo nityaṁ: Always intent on the supreme meditative mood on the ultimate goal of life. Vairāgyaṁ samupāśritaḥ: Totally renouncing all attachment to worldly involvements, all perishable objects—anything that is external, spatial and temporal—renouncing all these things by vairagya dharma.
Ahaṁkāraṁ balaṁ darpaṁ kāmaṁ krodhaṁ parigraham vimucya (18.53): Abandoning self-consciousness, not patting oneself on the back that “I have achieved something. I am a spiritual seeker. God is very kind to me, I have advanced so much”. Do not say this, and do not even feel in your mind that you are a superior person, because nobody can be regarded as so very high in the eye of God. Do not be proud of your energy, strength and capacity; do not be vainglorious in your approach; do not desire things which are unnecessary; do not be subject to anger and irritation; do not accept anything which is not actually necessary for a reasonably comfortable life; never have a feeling of ‘I’-ness and ‘mine’-ness in regard to things; do not go on asserting yourself by saying, “I, I, I” and “mine, mine, mine”. None of these things are permitted, finally. Therefore, one must be calm and quiet inwardly, established in Brahman, free from these turmoils of the psyche which come in the form of ego, etc. Then one becomes fit for the realisation of Brahman, brahma sakshatkar—brahmabhūyāya kalpate.
Brahmabhūtaḥ prasannātmā (18.54): One who is established in Brahman is calm and quiet, and composed in oneself, and neither grieves nor wants anything—na śocati na kāṅkṣati. Samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu madbhaktiṁ labhate parām: Devoted to God ultimately, and wanting nothing else. Having an equilibrated attitude towards all living beings, high and low, one is centred in God, and loves God and nothing else—madbhaktim labhate param.
Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ (18.55): The Lord says, “A true devotee knows what kind of person I am, what kind of Reality I am.” This means knowing what God is, what God does, what is the characteristic of God, and what one actually attains after reaching God. All these things will become clear when the devotion intensifies. Then, one enters into the Absolute. Tato māṁ tattvato jñātvā viśate tadanantaram: Knowing God as He is in Himself is a precondition necessary to enter into God. A conceptual appreciation of God’s existence is different from an appreciation of His Existence as He is in Himself. This is possible only if you totally annihilate your egoistic individuality, do not conceive God as if He is something outside you, and do not go on insisting on your own individual existence also. Let God be, and you should not be. When God takes possession of all things, your existence ceases to be and you are no more there, and then it is that you have entered into the Absolute. When you are there looking at God, or thinking that you are there contemplating on God as an independent person, you have not entered. You are only outside beholding, conceptualising, thinking and intellectualising. That is not enough. The entering into the very substance of God is the final aim of life, which is possible only when you cease to be, by a total abolition of your encrustations of physical and psychical personality. Then your soul merges in God.
Sarvakarmāṇyapi sadā kurvāṇo madvyapāśrayaḥ, matprasādād avāpnoti śāśvataṁ padam avyayam(18.56): If you work as a worship of God, whatever be the work that you do—let it be anything, even the littlest of activities of yours—may these activities be dedicated to God as a humble offering. By the grace of God, Who knows your goodness and your devotion, you shall attain to that Eternal Abode—śāśvataṁ padam avyayam.
Cetasā sarvakarmāṇi mayi sannyasya matparaḥ, buddhiyogam upāśritya maccittaḥ satataṁ bhava(18.57): “O Arjuna! I am telling you that with all your mind, with all your heart and with all your soul, be devoted to Me. Abandoning all other concerns in this world, and resorting to the yoga of contemplation through understanding, which is called jnana yoga, be rooted in Me, and let there be no other concern in your mind—maccittaḥ satataṁ bhava.”
Maccittaḥ sarvadurgāṇi matprasādat tariṣyasi (18.58): “Because of your intense devotion to Me and your rootedness in Me, you shall cross over all the turmoil of life by My grace. But if you insist on your own ahamkara and say, ‘I shall do this, and I shall not do that’—then you will be responsible for what follows.” You shall actually perish if you insist on your egoism and say “I shall do this, and I shall not do that” as Arjuna said in the beginning of the First Chapter. Atha cet tvam ahaṁkārān na śroṣyasi vinaṅkṣyasi: “If you do not listen to this good advice and insist on your egoism again and again—well, you will reach nothing finally.”
Yad ahaṅkāram āśritya na yotsya iti manyase (18.59): “Because of egoism, you are saying, ‘I shall not take up arms, I shall throw down everything, and I shall not do any work.’” This was the attitude of Arjuna in the beginning. “If you are so egoistic and you decide everything for yourself—okay, do it. This attitude of yours is not going to succeed finally, because prakriti will compel you to act. Even if people inwardly decide not to do anything, not to work at all, and maintain silence, it is not possible. As long as the body and mind—which are the properties of prakriti—are there, and because prakriti is always in a state of motion, it is not possible for any person to be inactive. Prakriti’s gunas will compel you to act. So, don’t say, ‘I shall not do.’”
Svabhāvajena kaunteya nibaddhaḥ svena karmaṇā, kartuṁ necchasi yan mohāt kariṣyasyavaśo’pi tat(18.60): Even without your wanting to do a thing, you shall be forced to do it on account of the operation of the gunas. It is not that you deliberately want to do something. Even your so-called deliberate undertaking is a compulsion from a higher source, which you cannot avoid. Therefore, do not decide individually, egoistically that “I shall do, I shall not do”. Let there be no such individual decision on your part. Surrender yourself to the Almighty, and all shall be well with you.
Discourse 51: The Eighteenth Chapter Concludes – The Bhagavadgita ConcludesThe Bhagavadgita is coming to its conclusion.
Īśvaraḥ sarvabhūtānāṁ hṛddeśe’rjuna tiṣṭhati, bhrāmayan sarvabhūtāni yantrārūḍhāni māyayā (18.61): Ishvara, the Supreme Creator of the universe, is residing in the heart of all. He is all-pervading, transcendent, above this creation that He has manifested from Himself, yet residing in all hearts as the ruler of all, and also the Self of all. From the objective point of view, He is the dispenser of justice—the Creator, Preserver, Destroyer. From the subjective side, He is the deepest consciousness—the Atman.
In the deepest recesses of the heart of all beings, Ishvara, the Supreme Lord, resides. He controls the destiny of everything that is created, and rotates, as it were, the fates of people and all things as if they are mounted on a machine which He is operating—yantrārūḍhāni. By a kind of power, which is called maya here—an inscrutable force, shakti, that He wields and exerts on everyone—He exercises a permanent control on all things. His rule of law does not require any emendation in the course of time. Once creation was willed, everything necessary for the maintenance of this creation was also simultaneously willed.
Yāthātathyato’rthān vyadadhāc chāśvatībhyas samābhyaḥ (Isa 8) is a passage from the Isavasya Upanishad. Ishvara, when He projected this universe, also made a law to maintain this universe in a stable form. This rule of law that He laid down at the beginning of creation for the purpose of the origin, the sustenance, as well as the end of all things does not require any change from moment to moment. Those changes that may be required under given conditions in the process of history have already been well thought out at the origin of things. If history is a process of turmoil, and everything seems to be out of control—anything can happen at any time, people seem to be exercising a kind of free will—all this has also been decided in the beginning of things. That there shall be a kind of turmoil, that there shall be an end of a certain epoch in history, and that there shall also be a remedy to it, was willed in the beginning of things. That is to say, omniscience being the quality of God, Ishvara, there is no necessity for His omniscience to get amended from time to time. His parliament is an eternally set organisation. It does not call for changes under any circumstance. The whole thing is controlled permanently, for ever and ever, right from the beginning, as a machine may be controlled by an operator of the machine.
Tam eva śaraṇaṁ gaccha (18.62). Such a Being exists; such a Lord is ruling the whole universe. Resort to Him. Surrender yourself to Him. Seek refuge in Him. Tam eva śaraṇaṁ gaccha sarvabhāvena bhārata: From the whole of your being, from all sides of your being, go and surrender yourself to that Almighty. Do not surrender only some part of your nature; do not reserve something to not be offered to God. Sarvabhāvena: Every aspect of your being has to be offered. Every aspect, every facet, and in every way is this surrender to be effected—total surrender is called for—and seek refuge in Him: tam eva śaraṇaṁ gaccha sarvabhāvena bhārata.
Tat prasādāt parāṁ śāntiṁ sthānaṁ prāpsyasi śāśvatam: By the grace of this compassionate Almighty Lord, Ishvara, you shall attain to the peace that surpasses understanding—that supreme peace which is eternal and untarnished by the process of spatial and temporal history. His grace, please seek it.
Iti te jñānam ākhyātaṁ guhyād guhyataraṁ mayā, vimṛśyaitad aśeṣeṇa yathecchasi tathā kuru (18.63): “I have told you everything that is necessary. Is there anything left now? I have concluded by the word that God is supreme. Surrender to Him is the final word. Devotion to the Supreme Being is the ultimate sadhana. I have told you the secret of all secrets. Consider deeply the pros and cons and the various aspects of this wisdom that I have imparted to you, and then do what you like.” After having said this much, Sri Krishna does not compel Arjuna by saying, “Therefore, do this.” After saying all these things, Sri Krishna says, “Do whatever is proper according to your opinion.” There is freedom even then.
Sarvaguhyatamaṁ bhūyaḥ (18.64): “A very great secret I have imparted hereby.” Śṛṇu me paramaṁ vacaḥ: “Again I shall tell you something, a very great secret indeed.” Iṣṭo’si me dṛḍham: “Because you are very dear to Me, you are devoted to Me, therefore I feel like telling you something more about this great secret of the love of God. Listen to Me.” Tato vakṣyāmi te hitam: “For your welfare I say this.”
Repeatedly, again and again, these instructions are given in different places of the Gita. Manmanā bhava (18.65): “Let your mind be absorbed in Me.” Madbhaktaḥ: “Totally be devoted to Me.” Madyājī: “Offer everything to Me; sacrifice everything to Me. Whatever is there, including your own self, let that be offered to Me.” Māṁ namaskuru: “Prostrate yourself before Me.” Mām evaiṣyasi: “You shall attain Me.” Satyaṁ te: “This is the truth.” Pratijāne priyo’si me: “I promise that you are dear to Me and you shall certainly reach Me, if only you follow this advice in the letter, as well as in the spirit.”
Sarvadharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja, ahaṁ tvā sarvapāpebhyo mokṣyayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ(18.66): “The power of God is greater than the power of all the people in the world, in all creation. Renounce all the rules and regulations of the temporal world, which are temporary because they require transformation, change, emendation from moment to moment; but stick to the supreme dharma which is devotion to Me. Leave other dharmas which are characteristic of performance of work, etc., in the world of diversity, because all that variety of dharma is subsumed under this greatest of dharmas, that is, love of God. There is no dharma equal to that.”
There are varieties of dharmas in this world: family dharma, individual dharma, social dharma, political dharma, Kshatriya dharma, Brahmana dharma, and so on. They are all good in their own way, in their own place, but they are all nothing before the utter surrender of the soul to God. And all these dharmas, these rules, these Smirtis, these law codes—these systems of operation of secular dharma—are all included in that highest of spiritual dharmas, namely, unity with God.
Mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja: “Surrender yourself to Me, and resort to Me only. I shall destroy all your sins.” This is a great statement indeed, because it is believed that sins cannot be destroyed. Avashyameva bhoktavyamkrtamkarma shubhā shubham, nābhuktamkśiiyate karma (B.V.): These verses tell us that unexperienced karma cannot leave us; we have to undergo the effect of what we have done. Wherever we go, the karmas will follow us.
The greatest sin is ignorance of God, and every other form of crime, offence and sin is an offshoot of this ignorance of the Ultimate Reality. Because the final sin is the separation from God Himself, unity with God will destroy all sins—just as all evil that we perform in the dream state will be destroyed automatically by waking up. In dream we have borrowed so much wealth from somebody, we have committed this offence, that offence, all our property has been taken away, we are in a state of great grief. We are on our deathbed, as it were. All these stories can be found in the Yoga Vasishtha. All the experiences, all the sorrows, all the agonies, all the obligations, all the duties, all kinds of relationships that we were involved in during the state of dream do not produce any effect whatsoever when we wake up into a consciousness higher in quality than the dreaming state. The mere transformation of consciousness is equal to the fulfilment of all duties. Otherwise, even after waking up from dream we have to pay the debts that we have incurred in dream. We have to take care of all the children that we produced in the dream state because deserting our own children is a great sin, so why should we not also think of them when we wake up? Nothing will affect us, because consciousness determines everything. God-consciousness being the highest of awakenings, the world stands in relation to it as a dream. So, all the values, all the goodness and the badness, evil and sin in this world, whatever we call it, is like mist before the sun. It is annihilated root and branch because we have fulfilled the highest law. The offences and the sins that we commit in this world are no doubt violations of certain laws, but the fulfilment of the highest law includes all expiation in regard to the violations of laws that we have performed. God takes care of us to see that we shall not be punished, because we have done the greatest duty, more than anything that the world can conceive; and we have performed the greatest sacrifice, not comparable with any sacrifice that we can think of in this world; and we have cut at the root of all sin by uniting ourselves with God. Therefore it is that the Lord says: “I shall free you from all sins.” Ahaṁ tvā sarvapāpebhyo mokṣyayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ.
But we should not be under the impression that we can go on committing some foolish acts and God will come to our aid. He comes to our aid only when we are oblivious of our own existence, we are totally unaware of even the existence of the world, and we are absorbed in the Universal God utterly. It is in that condition of total transcendence of oneself that it is possible to expect this kind of blessing from the Almighty whereby all our offences are pardoned. Otherwise, as long as we are world-conscious and body-conscious—we know that there is a world and we know that there are people and that we also exist—then this law does not apply. We will have to reap the fruits of our karmas. Therefore, this is not a blanket cover for every kind of state of consciousness. It is applicable only to one state of consciousness—which is unity with God, not otherwise.
Idaṁ te nātapaskāya nābhaktāya kadācana, na cāśuśrūṣave vācyaṁ na ca māṁ yo’bhyasūyati (18.67): “This great scripture should not unnecessarily be broadcast in the streets, and it should not be communicated to people who have not done some austerity in their life.” Atapaskāya: “One who is indulgent and grossly attached to objects in the world, totally far away from self-restraint, to such person communicate not this knowledge. One who has no devotion to Me, who carps at Me, denies Me, also to him let this not be communicated.” Kadācana: “Never. Do not communicate this to those who do not want to listen. They will say, ‘What are you boring into my ear?’” Na cāśuśrūṣave vācyaṁ: “To such people, do not say anything.” Na ca māṁ yo’bhyasūyati: “Those who are jealous, and who deny the very existence of God Himself, to them let this secret be not revealed.”
Ya idaṁ paramaṁ guhyaṁ madbhakteṣvabhidhāsyati, bhaktiṁ mayi parāṁ kṛtvā mām evaiṣyatyasaṁśayaḥ (18.68): “But those people who are devotedly concerned with communicating this knowledge to true devotees of God, their devotion increases by this act of communicating this knowledge spoken by Me to you.” Speaking of glorious things is also a glory for one’s own self. When we speak of lofty things, our minds are lifted to a lofty level. Therefore, our devotion to God is also enhanced simultaneously by our loving communication of this knowledge to true devotees of God. Mām evaiṣyati: “Then you attain to Me.” Asaṁśayaḥ: “No doubt.”
Na ca tasmān manuṣyeṣu kaścin me priyakṛttamaḥ (18.69): “I have no friend more dear than this person who is intently thinking of Me, and who glorifies Me wherever it is possible by teaching this wisdom to those who are really devoted. I consider that person as very dear to Me indeed. No one is equal to that person in devotion to Me.” Dearest to God is one who is always considering God as his dearest. If to us God is the dearest, then God also will consider us as the dearest. Na ca tasmān manuṣyeṣu kaścin me priyakṛttamaḥ, bhavitā na ca me tasmād anyaḥ priyataro bhuvi: “No one is equal to him. No one in the world can compare with this devotee whose soul is rooted in Me and who is spending his entire life in communicating this wisdom to others who are truly devoted to Me.”
Adhyeṣyate ca ya imaṁ dharmyaṁ saṁvādam āvayoḥ, jñānayajñena tenāham iṣṭaḥ syām iti me matiḥ(18.70): “If anyone studies this Gita with love and devotion, full of the feeling of the righteousness of God, if anybody studies this conversation between Me and you intently, daily, with concentration of mind, I shall consider that I am worshipped by jnana yajna.” The worship of God through knowledge is called jnana yajna. So, the highest knowledge, or jnana, is here embodied in the Bhagavadgita text. “Whoever studies this lovingly, devotedly, every day, is veritably performing jnana yajna, the wisdom sacrifice. This is My opinion,” says the Lord.
Śraddhāvān anasūyaś ca śṛṇuyād api yo naraḥ (18.71): Not only those people who study this every day, but even those who listen to this affectionately and with faith, with no prejudice, with no dubious mind, no doubts, and without the evil of faithlessness. Śraddhāvān is a person endowed with real faith. Anasūyaś ca: With no doubt in the mind. Śṛṇuyād api yo naraḥ sopi muktaḥ: One who hears in this manner, such a person also should be considered as really liberated. One who is united with God is liberated, one who studies the Gita is also liberated, and even one who listens to it is also said to be liberated. Very great compassion indeed! Sopi muktaḥ śubhāṁl lokān prāpnuyāt puṇyakarmaṇām: Even such a person who merely listens to this great wisdom and teaching shall attain to the higher regions of the blessed ones.
“Arjuna, have you understood what I said? Has something entered your head?” Kaccid etacchrutaṁ pārtha (18.72): “Have you listened to what I said with concentration of mind—ekagrena chetasa—or was your mind wandering and you were listening some of the things, and not to everything? Did you listen to everything that I said with concentration of mind? Has your delusion gone? Have I dispelled your delusion?” Kaccid ajñānasaṁmohaḥ pranaṣṭas te: “Please tell Me whether or not your delusion, with which you began speaking to Me in the beginning, has gone.”
Now Arjuna says, “My delusion has gone, O Lord!” Naṣṭo mohaḥ (18.73): “I have no more confusion about duty now. I understand what is proper and improper.” Smṛtir labdhā: “I have recollected, my memory is restored as to what is good for me and in what manner I should conduct myself in the fulfilment of this ultimate goodness. I had lost my highest memory earlier. I did not recollect my higher nature, and I considered myself as an ordinary individual, related to the Kuru family, fighting the battle of life. Now I remember. My memory has been raised to the status of my relationship with the higher realities, with Your own Self also, finally.” Tvatprasādān mayācyuta: “All this is by Your grace, O Lord! O Imperishable Being, with Your blessing and kindness I have regained my true consciousness. Now I am steadfast, without any kind of doubt.” Sthito’smi gatasaṁdehaḥ: “I have absolutely no doubt about anything now. I am steadfast in my duty, and I shall do what You say.” Kariṣye vacanaṁ tava: “Here am I as Your disciple and Your servant, ready to do whatever You ask me to do.”
Here is the final word of Bhagavan Sri Krishna, and also the final word of Arjuna, where the whole subject of the Bhagavadgita is clinched.
The Bhagavadgita was told by Sanjaya to Dhritarashtra, right from the beginning, because Dhritarashtra was the person who raised the question, “What is happening in the battlefield of Dharmakshetra Kurukshetra? What are my children doing? What are the Pandava children doing?”
In answer to that, Sanjaya started recounting the entire history of the war, and he ended by saying, “Bhishma fell.”
“O Bhishma fell? Tell me everything. I am very much disturbed by hearing it.” Dhritarashtra wanted to know all that was happening.
Krishna Dvaipayana Vyasa came and said, “If you want to see all things by yourself, I shall bless you with a vision with which, from this room in the palace, you will be able to see everything that is taking place in the yuddha-bhumi. Would you like to see that? I shall bless you with that vision.”
Dhritarashtra said, “I do not want to see this kind of horror. I shall be satisfied if someone tells me what is happening.”
So Krishna Dvaipayana Vyasa blessed Sanjaya with divine vision. He could see everything that was taking place. Not only that, he could also know what anybody was thinking in their mind. There were millions of people on the battlefield, and Sanjaya could know what each one was thinking at what time, apart from what they were doing.
Such a person, Sanjaya, now speaks. Ityahaṁ vāsudevasya pārthasya ca mahātmanaḥ, saṁvādam imam aśrauṣam adbhutaṁ romaharṣaṇam (18.74): “My hair stands on end when I speak this, when I recount this great story of the Mahabharata. This conversation between Krishna and Arjuna—this miraculous, hair-raising, marvellous, tremendous conversation between Sri Krishna and Arjuna—I have come to know fully by the grace of Vyasa.”
Vyāsaprasādād (18.75): “I came to know by the grace of Vyasa.” Chrutavān etad guhyam ahaṁ param: “This secret of secrets, which others could not know. Nobody knew what Sri Krishna was speaking. Nothing was known to other people, but I know everything because of the blessing I received from Krishna Dvaipayana Vyasa. I am elated. I am in a state of rapture because of the vision of the yoga of Bhagavan Sri Krishna.” Yogaṁ yogeśvarāt kṛṣṇāt sākṣāt kathayataḥ svayam: “The greatest Yogesvara Himself is teaching yoga. What can be a greater blessing than to listen to that conversation? The greatest Yogesvara is teaching yoga, and I have listened to that. I consider this as a great blessing from Krishna Dvaipayana Vyasa.”
Rājan saṁsmṛtya saṁsmṛtya saṁvādam imam adbhutam, keśavārjunayoḥ puṇyaṁ hṛṣyāmi ca muhur muhuḥ (18.76): “I smile within myself. I am in a state of horripilation again and again by remembering again and again this wondrous conversation of Sri Krishna and Arjuna. Marvellous, I should say. There is no other word to describe this.” Adbhutam: “Wondrous is that conversation.”
Tac ca saṁsmṛtya saṁsmṛtya rūpam atyadbhutaṁ hareḥ, vismayo me mahān rājan hṛṣyāmi ca punaḥ punaḥ (18.77): “Remembering again that Visvarupa, I could see it, which others could not see. I could behold that terror-striking Cosmic Form by the blessing of Sri Vyasa. Remembering it now, again and again, that miraculous Form of Sri Hari, I am really stunned. I am stupefied when even remembering it. I am highly elated that I had the blessing of having this vision of the Supreme Universal Virat, which nobody else could see.”
Yatra yogeśvaraḥ kṛṣṇo yatra pārtho dhanurdharaḥ, tatra śrīr vijayo bhūtir dhruvā nītir matir mama (18.78). Wherever is Sri Krishna, and wherever is Arjuna—Sri Krishna, the Master of yoga, and Arjuna, the wielder of the bow—wherever these are seated in one chariot, there is prosperity, victory, happiness, and firm qualities. Whenever Bhishma was accosted and asked who will win finally, he used to say yataḥ kṛṣṇas tato jayaḥ: “Wherever is Krishna, there is victory.” Yato dharmas tataḥ kṛṣṇo yataḥ kṛṣṇas tato jayaḥ, or in another way, yataḥ kṛṣṇas tato dharmo yato dharma tato jayaḥ: “Wherever is dharma, there is Krishna; and wherever is Krishna, there is dharma; and wherever is Krishna, and hence dharma, there is victory certainly.” Bhishma said this, to the chagrin of Duryodhana, who showed a wry face and went from there saying, “I don’t depend on you people. I have others, like Karna.”
Sri Krishna represents divine grace, cosmic power, eternity operating in all temporality; and Arjuna represents humanity, the essence of mankind, the essence of human effort, the essence of aspiration, the essence of movement towards God. Arjuna is the specimen of the human individual, and gandiva dhanush is the instrument of action. It can be a fountain pen in the case of a writer, it can be a pickaxe in the case of a labourer, it can be a needle in the case of a doctor—anything can be considered as an instrument of action. It is symbolic of the manner in which one engages himself or herself in action. That is symbolised in Arjuna with the gandiva dhanush in hand. And every one of us is an Arjuna holding a gandiva dhanush in the sense that we are individuals with a destiny ahead of us, which we have to achieve with hard effort and with rightly motivated action.
But merely human effort will not work. There is a necessity for its being backed by Universal Grace. The Pandavas, including Arjuna, were not lacking in effort. They had the highest, strongest and the most virulent weapons in their hands. But they could not have moved persons like Bhishma, Drona and Karna even an inch but for the miraculous, subtle, unknown operation of divinity in the form of Bhagavan Sri Krishna and all the gods.
Therefore, effort is very necessary. The Bhagavadgita tells us again and again: “Do work! Do not be idle! Do not resort to inaction! Always be active! But be motivated to do righteous action.” Even then, it was necessary to reveal the Cosmic Form of God. Where is the need for the glorification of God’s power in Chapters Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten and Eleven if mere action is sufficient, and karma yoga is all, and the consciousness of righteousness in the performance of duty can liberate us? If that is the case, there is no necessity for the other chapters of the Bhagavadgita, such as the Visvarupa Darshana.
God’s grace has to be there behind every effort. There is a joint action taking place between the individual and God. That is symbolised by Arjuna and Krishna seated in one chariot. That is Ishvara and jiva in this very body. They are working together like two birds perched on the same tree, as it is said.
“Wherever this unity of purpose between God and man is achieved fully, and they are working in harmony, one not conflicting with the other’s motive, there shall be victory, there shall be prosperity, there shall be glory, and perfect quality. This is my opinion,” says Sanjaya.
Om tatsaditi śrīmad bhagavadgītāsūpaniṣatsu brahmavidyāyāṁ yogaśāstre, śrīkṛṣṇārjunasaṁvāde mokṣasaṁnyāsayogo nāma aṣṭādaśo´dhyāyaḥ.
Hari Om Tat Sat
Sri Krishna Bhagavan ki jai!
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Īśvaraḥ sarvabhūtānāṁ hṛddeśe’rjuna tiṣṭhati, bhrāmayan sarvabhūtāni yantrārūḍhāni māyayā (18.61): Ishvara, the Supreme Creator of the universe, is residing in the heart of all. He is all-pervading, transcendent, above this creation that He has manifested from Himself, yet residing in all hearts as the ruler of all, and also the Self of all. From the objective point of view, He is the dispenser of justice—the Creator, Preserver, Destroyer. From the subjective side, He is the deepest consciousness—the Atman.
In the deepest recesses of the heart of all beings, Ishvara, the Supreme Lord, resides. He controls the destiny of everything that is created, and rotates, as it were, the fates of people and all things as if they are mounted on a machine which He is operating—yantrārūḍhāni. By a kind of power, which is called maya here—an inscrutable force, shakti, that He wields and exerts on everyone—He exercises a permanent control on all things. His rule of law does not require any emendation in the course of time. Once creation was willed, everything necessary for the maintenance of this creation was also simultaneously willed.
Yāthātathyato’rthān vyadadhāc chāśvatībhyas samābhyaḥ (Isa 8) is a passage from the Isavasya Upanishad. Ishvara, when He projected this universe, also made a law to maintain this universe in a stable form. This rule of law that He laid down at the beginning of creation for the purpose of the origin, the sustenance, as well as the end of all things does not require any change from moment to moment. Those changes that may be required under given conditions in the process of history have already been well thought out at the origin of things. If history is a process of turmoil, and everything seems to be out of control—anything can happen at any time, people seem to be exercising a kind of free will—all this has also been decided in the beginning of things. That there shall be a kind of turmoil, that there shall be an end of a certain epoch in history, and that there shall also be a remedy to it, was willed in the beginning of things. That is to say, omniscience being the quality of God, Ishvara, there is no necessity for His omniscience to get amended from time to time. His parliament is an eternally set organisation. It does not call for changes under any circumstance. The whole thing is controlled permanently, for ever and ever, right from the beginning, as a machine may be controlled by an operator of the machine.
Tam eva śaraṇaṁ gaccha (18.62). Such a Being exists; such a Lord is ruling the whole universe. Resort to Him. Surrender yourself to Him. Seek refuge in Him. Tam eva śaraṇaṁ gaccha sarvabhāvena bhārata: From the whole of your being, from all sides of your being, go and surrender yourself to that Almighty. Do not surrender only some part of your nature; do not reserve something to not be offered to God. Sarvabhāvena: Every aspect of your being has to be offered. Every aspect, every facet, and in every way is this surrender to be effected—total surrender is called for—and seek refuge in Him: tam eva śaraṇaṁ gaccha sarvabhāvena bhārata.
Tat prasādāt parāṁ śāntiṁ sthānaṁ prāpsyasi śāśvatam: By the grace of this compassionate Almighty Lord, Ishvara, you shall attain to the peace that surpasses understanding—that supreme peace which is eternal and untarnished by the process of spatial and temporal history. His grace, please seek it.
Iti te jñānam ākhyātaṁ guhyād guhyataraṁ mayā, vimṛśyaitad aśeṣeṇa yathecchasi tathā kuru (18.63): “I have told you everything that is necessary. Is there anything left now? I have concluded by the word that God is supreme. Surrender to Him is the final word. Devotion to the Supreme Being is the ultimate sadhana. I have told you the secret of all secrets. Consider deeply the pros and cons and the various aspects of this wisdom that I have imparted to you, and then do what you like.” After having said this much, Sri Krishna does not compel Arjuna by saying, “Therefore, do this.” After saying all these things, Sri Krishna says, “Do whatever is proper according to your opinion.” There is freedom even then.
Sarvaguhyatamaṁ bhūyaḥ (18.64): “A very great secret I have imparted hereby.” Śṛṇu me paramaṁ vacaḥ: “Again I shall tell you something, a very great secret indeed.” Iṣṭo’si me dṛḍham: “Because you are very dear to Me, you are devoted to Me, therefore I feel like telling you something more about this great secret of the love of God. Listen to Me.” Tato vakṣyāmi te hitam: “For your welfare I say this.”
Repeatedly, again and again, these instructions are given in different places of the Gita. Manmanā bhava (18.65): “Let your mind be absorbed in Me.” Madbhaktaḥ: “Totally be devoted to Me.” Madyājī: “Offer everything to Me; sacrifice everything to Me. Whatever is there, including your own self, let that be offered to Me.” Māṁ namaskuru: “Prostrate yourself before Me.” Mām evaiṣyasi: “You shall attain Me.” Satyaṁ te: “This is the truth.” Pratijāne priyo’si me: “I promise that you are dear to Me and you shall certainly reach Me, if only you follow this advice in the letter, as well as in the spirit.”
Sarvadharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja, ahaṁ tvā sarvapāpebhyo mokṣyayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ(18.66): “The power of God is greater than the power of all the people in the world, in all creation. Renounce all the rules and regulations of the temporal world, which are temporary because they require transformation, change, emendation from moment to moment; but stick to the supreme dharma which is devotion to Me. Leave other dharmas which are characteristic of performance of work, etc., in the world of diversity, because all that variety of dharma is subsumed under this greatest of dharmas, that is, love of God. There is no dharma equal to that.”
There are varieties of dharmas in this world: family dharma, individual dharma, social dharma, political dharma, Kshatriya dharma, Brahmana dharma, and so on. They are all good in their own way, in their own place, but they are all nothing before the utter surrender of the soul to God. And all these dharmas, these rules, these Smirtis, these law codes—these systems of operation of secular dharma—are all included in that highest of spiritual dharmas, namely, unity with God.
Mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja: “Surrender yourself to Me, and resort to Me only. I shall destroy all your sins.” This is a great statement indeed, because it is believed that sins cannot be destroyed. Avashyameva bhoktavyamkrtamkarma shubhā shubham, nābhuktamkśiiyate karma (B.V.): These verses tell us that unexperienced karma cannot leave us; we have to undergo the effect of what we have done. Wherever we go, the karmas will follow us.
The greatest sin is ignorance of God, and every other form of crime, offence and sin is an offshoot of this ignorance of the Ultimate Reality. Because the final sin is the separation from God Himself, unity with God will destroy all sins—just as all evil that we perform in the dream state will be destroyed automatically by waking up. In dream we have borrowed so much wealth from somebody, we have committed this offence, that offence, all our property has been taken away, we are in a state of great grief. We are on our deathbed, as it were. All these stories can be found in the Yoga Vasishtha. All the experiences, all the sorrows, all the agonies, all the obligations, all the duties, all kinds of relationships that we were involved in during the state of dream do not produce any effect whatsoever when we wake up into a consciousness higher in quality than the dreaming state. The mere transformation of consciousness is equal to the fulfilment of all duties. Otherwise, even after waking up from dream we have to pay the debts that we have incurred in dream. We have to take care of all the children that we produced in the dream state because deserting our own children is a great sin, so why should we not also think of them when we wake up? Nothing will affect us, because consciousness determines everything. God-consciousness being the highest of awakenings, the world stands in relation to it as a dream. So, all the values, all the goodness and the badness, evil and sin in this world, whatever we call it, is like mist before the sun. It is annihilated root and branch because we have fulfilled the highest law. The offences and the sins that we commit in this world are no doubt violations of certain laws, but the fulfilment of the highest law includes all expiation in regard to the violations of laws that we have performed. God takes care of us to see that we shall not be punished, because we have done the greatest duty, more than anything that the world can conceive; and we have performed the greatest sacrifice, not comparable with any sacrifice that we can think of in this world; and we have cut at the root of all sin by uniting ourselves with God. Therefore it is that the Lord says: “I shall free you from all sins.” Ahaṁ tvā sarvapāpebhyo mokṣyayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ.
But we should not be under the impression that we can go on committing some foolish acts and God will come to our aid. He comes to our aid only when we are oblivious of our own existence, we are totally unaware of even the existence of the world, and we are absorbed in the Universal God utterly. It is in that condition of total transcendence of oneself that it is possible to expect this kind of blessing from the Almighty whereby all our offences are pardoned. Otherwise, as long as we are world-conscious and body-conscious—we know that there is a world and we know that there are people and that we also exist—then this law does not apply. We will have to reap the fruits of our karmas. Therefore, this is not a blanket cover for every kind of state of consciousness. It is applicable only to one state of consciousness—which is unity with God, not otherwise.
Idaṁ te nātapaskāya nābhaktāya kadācana, na cāśuśrūṣave vācyaṁ na ca māṁ yo’bhyasūyati (18.67): “This great scripture should not unnecessarily be broadcast in the streets, and it should not be communicated to people who have not done some austerity in their life.” Atapaskāya: “One who is indulgent and grossly attached to objects in the world, totally far away from self-restraint, to such person communicate not this knowledge. One who has no devotion to Me, who carps at Me, denies Me, also to him let this not be communicated.” Kadācana: “Never. Do not communicate this to those who do not want to listen. They will say, ‘What are you boring into my ear?’” Na cāśuśrūṣave vācyaṁ: “To such people, do not say anything.” Na ca māṁ yo’bhyasūyati: “Those who are jealous, and who deny the very existence of God Himself, to them let this secret be not revealed.”
Ya idaṁ paramaṁ guhyaṁ madbhakteṣvabhidhāsyati, bhaktiṁ mayi parāṁ kṛtvā mām evaiṣyatyasaṁśayaḥ (18.68): “But those people who are devotedly concerned with communicating this knowledge to true devotees of God, their devotion increases by this act of communicating this knowledge spoken by Me to you.” Speaking of glorious things is also a glory for one’s own self. When we speak of lofty things, our minds are lifted to a lofty level. Therefore, our devotion to God is also enhanced simultaneously by our loving communication of this knowledge to true devotees of God. Mām evaiṣyati: “Then you attain to Me.” Asaṁśayaḥ: “No doubt.”
Na ca tasmān manuṣyeṣu kaścin me priyakṛttamaḥ (18.69): “I have no friend more dear than this person who is intently thinking of Me, and who glorifies Me wherever it is possible by teaching this wisdom to those who are really devoted. I consider that person as very dear to Me indeed. No one is equal to that person in devotion to Me.” Dearest to God is one who is always considering God as his dearest. If to us God is the dearest, then God also will consider us as the dearest. Na ca tasmān manuṣyeṣu kaścin me priyakṛttamaḥ, bhavitā na ca me tasmād anyaḥ priyataro bhuvi: “No one is equal to him. No one in the world can compare with this devotee whose soul is rooted in Me and who is spending his entire life in communicating this wisdom to others who are truly devoted to Me.”
Adhyeṣyate ca ya imaṁ dharmyaṁ saṁvādam āvayoḥ, jñānayajñena tenāham iṣṭaḥ syām iti me matiḥ(18.70): “If anyone studies this Gita with love and devotion, full of the feeling of the righteousness of God, if anybody studies this conversation between Me and you intently, daily, with concentration of mind, I shall consider that I am worshipped by jnana yajna.” The worship of God through knowledge is called jnana yajna. So, the highest knowledge, or jnana, is here embodied in the Bhagavadgita text. “Whoever studies this lovingly, devotedly, every day, is veritably performing jnana yajna, the wisdom sacrifice. This is My opinion,” says the Lord.
Śraddhāvān anasūyaś ca śṛṇuyād api yo naraḥ (18.71): Not only those people who study this every day, but even those who listen to this affectionately and with faith, with no prejudice, with no dubious mind, no doubts, and without the evil of faithlessness. Śraddhāvān is a person endowed with real faith. Anasūyaś ca: With no doubt in the mind. Śṛṇuyād api yo naraḥ sopi muktaḥ: One who hears in this manner, such a person also should be considered as really liberated. One who is united with God is liberated, one who studies the Gita is also liberated, and even one who listens to it is also said to be liberated. Very great compassion indeed! Sopi muktaḥ śubhāṁl lokān prāpnuyāt puṇyakarmaṇām: Even such a person who merely listens to this great wisdom and teaching shall attain to the higher regions of the blessed ones.
“Arjuna, have you understood what I said? Has something entered your head?” Kaccid etacchrutaṁ pārtha (18.72): “Have you listened to what I said with concentration of mind—ekagrena chetasa—or was your mind wandering and you were listening some of the things, and not to everything? Did you listen to everything that I said with concentration of mind? Has your delusion gone? Have I dispelled your delusion?” Kaccid ajñānasaṁmohaḥ pranaṣṭas te: “Please tell Me whether or not your delusion, with which you began speaking to Me in the beginning, has gone.”
Now Arjuna says, “My delusion has gone, O Lord!” Naṣṭo mohaḥ (18.73): “I have no more confusion about duty now. I understand what is proper and improper.” Smṛtir labdhā: “I have recollected, my memory is restored as to what is good for me and in what manner I should conduct myself in the fulfilment of this ultimate goodness. I had lost my highest memory earlier. I did not recollect my higher nature, and I considered myself as an ordinary individual, related to the Kuru family, fighting the battle of life. Now I remember. My memory has been raised to the status of my relationship with the higher realities, with Your own Self also, finally.” Tvatprasādān mayācyuta: “All this is by Your grace, O Lord! O Imperishable Being, with Your blessing and kindness I have regained my true consciousness. Now I am steadfast, without any kind of doubt.” Sthito’smi gatasaṁdehaḥ: “I have absolutely no doubt about anything now. I am steadfast in my duty, and I shall do what You say.” Kariṣye vacanaṁ tava: “Here am I as Your disciple and Your servant, ready to do whatever You ask me to do.”
Here is the final word of Bhagavan Sri Krishna, and also the final word of Arjuna, where the whole subject of the Bhagavadgita is clinched.
The Bhagavadgita was told by Sanjaya to Dhritarashtra, right from the beginning, because Dhritarashtra was the person who raised the question, “What is happening in the battlefield of Dharmakshetra Kurukshetra? What are my children doing? What are the Pandava children doing?”
In answer to that, Sanjaya started recounting the entire history of the war, and he ended by saying, “Bhishma fell.”
“O Bhishma fell? Tell me everything. I am very much disturbed by hearing it.” Dhritarashtra wanted to know all that was happening.
Krishna Dvaipayana Vyasa came and said, “If you want to see all things by yourself, I shall bless you with a vision with which, from this room in the palace, you will be able to see everything that is taking place in the yuddha-bhumi. Would you like to see that? I shall bless you with that vision.”
Dhritarashtra said, “I do not want to see this kind of horror. I shall be satisfied if someone tells me what is happening.”
So Krishna Dvaipayana Vyasa blessed Sanjaya with divine vision. He could see everything that was taking place. Not only that, he could also know what anybody was thinking in their mind. There were millions of people on the battlefield, and Sanjaya could know what each one was thinking at what time, apart from what they were doing.
Such a person, Sanjaya, now speaks. Ityahaṁ vāsudevasya pārthasya ca mahātmanaḥ, saṁvādam imam aśrauṣam adbhutaṁ romaharṣaṇam (18.74): “My hair stands on end when I speak this, when I recount this great story of the Mahabharata. This conversation between Krishna and Arjuna—this miraculous, hair-raising, marvellous, tremendous conversation between Sri Krishna and Arjuna—I have come to know fully by the grace of Vyasa.”
Vyāsaprasādād (18.75): “I came to know by the grace of Vyasa.” Chrutavān etad guhyam ahaṁ param: “This secret of secrets, which others could not know. Nobody knew what Sri Krishna was speaking. Nothing was known to other people, but I know everything because of the blessing I received from Krishna Dvaipayana Vyasa. I am elated. I am in a state of rapture because of the vision of the yoga of Bhagavan Sri Krishna.” Yogaṁ yogeśvarāt kṛṣṇāt sākṣāt kathayataḥ svayam: “The greatest Yogesvara Himself is teaching yoga. What can be a greater blessing than to listen to that conversation? The greatest Yogesvara is teaching yoga, and I have listened to that. I consider this as a great blessing from Krishna Dvaipayana Vyasa.”
Rājan saṁsmṛtya saṁsmṛtya saṁvādam imam adbhutam, keśavārjunayoḥ puṇyaṁ hṛṣyāmi ca muhur muhuḥ (18.76): “I smile within myself. I am in a state of horripilation again and again by remembering again and again this wondrous conversation of Sri Krishna and Arjuna. Marvellous, I should say. There is no other word to describe this.” Adbhutam: “Wondrous is that conversation.”
Tac ca saṁsmṛtya saṁsmṛtya rūpam atyadbhutaṁ hareḥ, vismayo me mahān rājan hṛṣyāmi ca punaḥ punaḥ (18.77): “Remembering again that Visvarupa, I could see it, which others could not see. I could behold that terror-striking Cosmic Form by the blessing of Sri Vyasa. Remembering it now, again and again, that miraculous Form of Sri Hari, I am really stunned. I am stupefied when even remembering it. I am highly elated that I had the blessing of having this vision of the Supreme Universal Virat, which nobody else could see.”
Yatra yogeśvaraḥ kṛṣṇo yatra pārtho dhanurdharaḥ, tatra śrīr vijayo bhūtir dhruvā nītir matir mama (18.78). Wherever is Sri Krishna, and wherever is Arjuna—Sri Krishna, the Master of yoga, and Arjuna, the wielder of the bow—wherever these are seated in one chariot, there is prosperity, victory, happiness, and firm qualities. Whenever Bhishma was accosted and asked who will win finally, he used to say yataḥ kṛṣṇas tato jayaḥ: “Wherever is Krishna, there is victory.” Yato dharmas tataḥ kṛṣṇo yataḥ kṛṣṇas tato jayaḥ, or in another way, yataḥ kṛṣṇas tato dharmo yato dharma tato jayaḥ: “Wherever is dharma, there is Krishna; and wherever is Krishna, there is dharma; and wherever is Krishna, and hence dharma, there is victory certainly.” Bhishma said this, to the chagrin of Duryodhana, who showed a wry face and went from there saying, “I don’t depend on you people. I have others, like Karna.”
Sri Krishna represents divine grace, cosmic power, eternity operating in all temporality; and Arjuna represents humanity, the essence of mankind, the essence of human effort, the essence of aspiration, the essence of movement towards God. Arjuna is the specimen of the human individual, and gandiva dhanush is the instrument of action. It can be a fountain pen in the case of a writer, it can be a pickaxe in the case of a labourer, it can be a needle in the case of a doctor—anything can be considered as an instrument of action. It is symbolic of the manner in which one engages himself or herself in action. That is symbolised in Arjuna with the gandiva dhanush in hand. And every one of us is an Arjuna holding a gandiva dhanush in the sense that we are individuals with a destiny ahead of us, which we have to achieve with hard effort and with rightly motivated action.
But merely human effort will not work. There is a necessity for its being backed by Universal Grace. The Pandavas, including Arjuna, were not lacking in effort. They had the highest, strongest and the most virulent weapons in their hands. But they could not have moved persons like Bhishma, Drona and Karna even an inch but for the miraculous, subtle, unknown operation of divinity in the form of Bhagavan Sri Krishna and all the gods.
Therefore, effort is very necessary. The Bhagavadgita tells us again and again: “Do work! Do not be idle! Do not resort to inaction! Always be active! But be motivated to do righteous action.” Even then, it was necessary to reveal the Cosmic Form of God. Where is the need for the glorification of God’s power in Chapters Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten and Eleven if mere action is sufficient, and karma yoga is all, and the consciousness of righteousness in the performance of duty can liberate us? If that is the case, there is no necessity for the other chapters of the Bhagavadgita, such as the Visvarupa Darshana.
God’s grace has to be there behind every effort. There is a joint action taking place between the individual and God. That is symbolised by Arjuna and Krishna seated in one chariot. That is Ishvara and jiva in this very body. They are working together like two birds perched on the same tree, as it is said.
“Wherever this unity of purpose between God and man is achieved fully, and they are working in harmony, one not conflicting with the other’s motive, there shall be victory, there shall be prosperity, there shall be glory, and perfect quality. This is my opinion,” says Sanjaya.
Om tatsaditi śrīmad bhagavadgītāsūpaniṣatsu brahmavidyāyāṁ yogaśāstre, śrīkṛṣṇārjunasaṁvāde mokṣasaṁnyāsayogo nāma aṣṭādaśo´dhyāyaḥ.
Hari Om Tat Sat
Sri Krishna Bhagavan ki jai!
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Sri Krishna Bhagavan ki jai!
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Appendix: Sri Krishna—The Guru of All Gurus
This day happens to be the most blessed and adorable day of the advent of Bhagavan Sri Krishna, which goes by the name of Sri Krishna Janmashtami. Sri Krishna is considered as Jagatguru; he is the teacher of all teachers, the Guru of all Gurus—Krishnam vande jagadguru. There is no Guru equal to him. We consider Bhagavan Sri Krishna as an incarnation of the Supreme Being. You may have heard through your studies that there have been many incarnations of Vishnu Narayana: Mastya, Kurma, Varaha, Narasimha, Vamana, Parasurama, Sri Ramachandra, and Bhagavan Sri Krishna.
One of the traits of the human being is to observe and evaluate everything from the viewpoint of the human being only. We judge even God from our point of view. “Where is the goodness of God,” we ask, “when He has created a world of evil—tempests, tornados, earthquakes, sufferings, drought and flood? What kind of God has created this world? God could have created milk and honey through the waters of the Ganga, instead of giving plain water. He could have created a round earth, without ups and downs, so that we may not fall down and break our legs. Why did God not do that, in all His capacity?” This is how we think.
So, the object that we think remains what it is, and it refuses to get into the yardstick of comprehension of the human being. People find fault with Rama and Krishna, also. “What kind of Rama is he? He killed Vali, and banished Sita, and so many things.” We do not understand that these Avataras are the indications and symbols of the development of divine consciousness. There is a gradational ascent through the evolutionary process of consciousness into greater and greater perfections. Rama was not supposed to have behaved in any other way than he did behave. It was one stage in the evolution of the incarnation. He was Maryada Purushottam, an ideal human being, with all the qualities that we can find in a human being. We cannot, and should not, expect qualities which are not in a human being, because he was Maryada Purushottam, a perfected human being—God manifested as a gentleman.
Here we have Sri Krishna Avatara, which is supposed to be a symbolic representation of the manner in which God Himself works. Nobody can know how God works, and whatever idea we may have of the manner in which God works, it is not appreciable to us because He devastates our ideas of propriety, ethicality, necessity, human-ness, and social values. Everything is put upside down.
We have systems of observation psychologically, humanly and socially. These are turned upside down by God. Actually, God is nothing but the total topsy-turvy operation of the human way of thinking. It is a shirshasana of the consciousness of man that is required to understand what God is. We should not stand on the footstool of our consciousness, but on the brain of our consciousness.
The universal comprehensiveness and adjustability in a perfected order is something incomprehensible to a human being. We cannot think the whole universe in our minds; and God is supposed to think only in that manner. God’s thought is universal thought, whereas our thought is social thought, family thought, community thought, national thought, political thought, army thought, police thought, court-case thought, and any other thoughts we have in our minds.
There is always something that we grab and something that we exclude in our perception, which is the opposite of God’s way of inclusiveness. There is nothing that God can exclude from His thought, whereas in a human being, it is impossible not to exclude something. We seem to be the opposite of God in our way of thinking. We cannot grab the whole world into our comprehension at any time. Our way of thinking is only of our family, our office, our salary, our community, our relations, our property, and whatever belongs to us. When we say we are concerned with whatever belongs to us, we are not concerned with that which does not belong to us. So, to whom does the other thing belong? It is not our concern.
Here is the difference between God thinking and a human being thinking. Inclusiveness is the nature of God’s operation; exclusiveness is the nature of the human way of thinking. Whenever we think something, we have to exclude something from the purview of our thought. That is to say, total thought is something unknown to a human being; and God is nothing but total thought.
I am referring particularly to the great incarnation of Bhagavan Sri Krishna today on the occasion of this spiritual advent. Whatever he said and whatever he did was totally beyond the comprehension of the human psyche. Whatever he did from childhood till the end of his life is a historical incomprehensiveness for us. There is nothing that we can comprehend meaningfully in his actions. Everything looks funny, strange, and out of the way.
Read the Bhagavadgita, which he spoke. Everything is difficult. One sloka seems to be contradicting another. One thing is said, then another thing is said. Everything is said in the seven hundred verses of the Bhagavadgita; but what is said, finally? We cannot make it out, due to the multifarious and multifaceted instruction that has been given to us through the multi-faced Universal Being, the Vishvarupa. The one brain, and two eyes, and one thought of the human being cannot comprehend it. We must have as many heads as the Vishvarupa has in order to understand what the Gita said – as many eyes, as many mouths, as many processes of thinking, and as wide a consciousness.
The necessity to portray the advent and actions of these incarnations is precisely to present before us a picture of the divine way of operation taking place in the world. We do not like floods overflowing, destroying villages and killing people. We do not like cyclones breaking everything, throwing off rooftops and cutting off trees. We do not like tornadoes or drought. What is it that we like? Sri Krishna’s comprehensiveness is itself an instruction. We do not require any commentary for the Bhagavadgita. The life of Krishna is a commentary on what he has said. As intricate as the multifaceted activity of Sri Krishna is, so intricate is also the multifaceted teaching of the Bhagavadgita. If we can understand who Krishna was, we can also understand what the Gita is.
Suffice it to say that Sri Krishna is considered as the ray of the Absolute, something like total comprehensiveness and infinite capacity, omnipotent in behaviour, with nothing impossible. He can set right anything in one minute, and if the necessity arises, he can dismantle the whole parliament of the cosmos and take up the reins in his own hands, which he did sometimes in his own career. Rules and regulations he did follow, but he could break any rule if the necessity arose, just as we can do anything to our own body for the sake of its sustenance.
We can have surgery performed on the limbs of our body. We can lose half the body by surgery. It is a very unfortunate thing, yet we may go to a doctor, pay lakhs of rupees as a fee, and remove half of the body so that we may be happy. Where is the happiness when we have lost half of the body? This losing of half the body is necessary in order that we may exist as a complete human being. A complete human being is not the whole body. Even a half body can be a whole human being. We can ask any person who has lost everything below his thighs, with only the other half remaining, “Are you a half man?” “No, no! I am a full man,” he will say. That means the person is not the body. In a like manner, impossible it is to understand this divinity operating; and it is futile on the part of anyone to understand either Krishna or Jesus.
Another example before us is Jesus Christ. He never behaved like a human being. He behaved like God Himself. All that he said is beyond the comprehension of the world. The way in which he behaved is not the behaviour of an ordinary human being. He toppled the existing laws, and broke the norms. The stereotyped procrustean bed of ethics was broken to pieces and he brought a divine law, which we have beautifully quoted in what is known as his Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount in the New Testament is something like a counterpart of the Bhagavadgita teachings.
Great men think alike, and they perform actions in a similar way. They belong to a different fraternity altogether. God-men are God-men everywhere, and there is no such thing as an Eastern God-man or a Western God-man. And we should not use the word ‘men’, also. They are not men, they are not women—they are persons. We have no language to use. A woman can be a God-man, but because of the linguistic limitations we do not want to use words like ‘woman’ and ‘man’. So, we have to coin some new word. These days we say it is a ‘person’, a God-intoxicated person. It can be what is called a man or a woman, but at that time they cease to be human beings, and are neither men nor women.
Sri Krishna and Jesus Christ were neither men nor women. They were androgynous perfections, standing for the word of the Almighty, who Himself is not a man or a woman. We may say “God, the Father in heaven”; it is a human, paternal way of addressing God. It is a psychological necessity. But God is impersonality—not human in nature. That was portrayed dramatically, as if in a theatrical performance, in the picturesque drama of the life of Bhagavan Sri Krishna. This wonderful day we are observing it, and it is up to us to invoke the great blessings of this Master so that he may enter into us. Mighty we may become. A mighty person was Jesus Christ; mighty was Bhagavan Sri Krishna. May you all be mighty people!
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This day happens to be the most blessed and adorable day of the advent of Bhagavan Sri Krishna, which goes by the name of Sri Krishna Janmashtami. Sri Krishna is considered as Jagatguru; he is the teacher of all teachers, the Guru of all Gurus—Krishnam vande jagadguru. There is no Guru equal to him. We consider Bhagavan Sri Krishna as an incarnation of the Supreme Being. You may have heard through your studies that there have been many incarnations of Vishnu Narayana: Mastya, Kurma, Varaha, Narasimha, Vamana, Parasurama, Sri Ramachandra, and Bhagavan Sri Krishna.
One of the traits of the human being is to observe and evaluate everything from the viewpoint of the human being only. We judge even God from our point of view. “Where is the goodness of God,” we ask, “when He has created a world of evil—tempests, tornados, earthquakes, sufferings, drought and flood? What kind of God has created this world? God could have created milk and honey through the waters of the Ganga, instead of giving plain water. He could have created a round earth, without ups and downs, so that we may not fall down and break our legs. Why did God not do that, in all His capacity?” This is how we think.
So, the object that we think remains what it is, and it refuses to get into the yardstick of comprehension of the human being. People find fault with Rama and Krishna, also. “What kind of Rama is he? He killed Vali, and banished Sita, and so many things.” We do not understand that these Avataras are the indications and symbols of the development of divine consciousness. There is a gradational ascent through the evolutionary process of consciousness into greater and greater perfections. Rama was not supposed to have behaved in any other way than he did behave. It was one stage in the evolution of the incarnation. He was Maryada Purushottam, an ideal human being, with all the qualities that we can find in a human being. We cannot, and should not, expect qualities which are not in a human being, because he was Maryada Purushottam, a perfected human being—God manifested as a gentleman.
Here we have Sri Krishna Avatara, which is supposed to be a symbolic representation of the manner in which God Himself works. Nobody can know how God works, and whatever idea we may have of the manner in which God works, it is not appreciable to us because He devastates our ideas of propriety, ethicality, necessity, human-ness, and social values. Everything is put upside down.
We have systems of observation psychologically, humanly and socially. These are turned upside down by God. Actually, God is nothing but the total topsy-turvy operation of the human way of thinking. It is a shirshasana of the consciousness of man that is required to understand what God is. We should not stand on the footstool of our consciousness, but on the brain of our consciousness.
The universal comprehensiveness and adjustability in a perfected order is something incomprehensible to a human being. We cannot think the whole universe in our minds; and God is supposed to think only in that manner. God’s thought is universal thought, whereas our thought is social thought, family thought, community thought, national thought, political thought, army thought, police thought, court-case thought, and any other thoughts we have in our minds.
There is always something that we grab and something that we exclude in our perception, which is the opposite of God’s way of inclusiveness. There is nothing that God can exclude from His thought, whereas in a human being, it is impossible not to exclude something. We seem to be the opposite of God in our way of thinking. We cannot grab the whole world into our comprehension at any time. Our way of thinking is only of our family, our office, our salary, our community, our relations, our property, and whatever belongs to us. When we say we are concerned with whatever belongs to us, we are not concerned with that which does not belong to us. So, to whom does the other thing belong? It is not our concern.
Here is the difference between God thinking and a human being thinking. Inclusiveness is the nature of God’s operation; exclusiveness is the nature of the human way of thinking. Whenever we think something, we have to exclude something from the purview of our thought. That is to say, total thought is something unknown to a human being; and God is nothing but total thought.
I am referring particularly to the great incarnation of Bhagavan Sri Krishna today on the occasion of this spiritual advent. Whatever he said and whatever he did was totally beyond the comprehension of the human psyche. Whatever he did from childhood till the end of his life is a historical incomprehensiveness for us. There is nothing that we can comprehend meaningfully in his actions. Everything looks funny, strange, and out of the way.
Read the Bhagavadgita, which he spoke. Everything is difficult. One sloka seems to be contradicting another. One thing is said, then another thing is said. Everything is said in the seven hundred verses of the Bhagavadgita; but what is said, finally? We cannot make it out, due to the multifarious and multifaceted instruction that has been given to us through the multi-faced Universal Being, the Vishvarupa. The one brain, and two eyes, and one thought of the human being cannot comprehend it. We must have as many heads as the Vishvarupa has in order to understand what the Gita said – as many eyes, as many mouths, as many processes of thinking, and as wide a consciousness.
The necessity to portray the advent and actions of these incarnations is precisely to present before us a picture of the divine way of operation taking place in the world. We do not like floods overflowing, destroying villages and killing people. We do not like cyclones breaking everything, throwing off rooftops and cutting off trees. We do not like tornadoes or drought. What is it that we like? Sri Krishna’s comprehensiveness is itself an instruction. We do not require any commentary for the Bhagavadgita. The life of Krishna is a commentary on what he has said. As intricate as the multifaceted activity of Sri Krishna is, so intricate is also the multifaceted teaching of the Bhagavadgita. If we can understand who Krishna was, we can also understand what the Gita is.
Suffice it to say that Sri Krishna is considered as the ray of the Absolute, something like total comprehensiveness and infinite capacity, omnipotent in behaviour, with nothing impossible. He can set right anything in one minute, and if the necessity arises, he can dismantle the whole parliament of the cosmos and take up the reins in his own hands, which he did sometimes in his own career. Rules and regulations he did follow, but he could break any rule if the necessity arose, just as we can do anything to our own body for the sake of its sustenance.
We can have surgery performed on the limbs of our body. We can lose half the body by surgery. It is a very unfortunate thing, yet we may go to a doctor, pay lakhs of rupees as a fee, and remove half of the body so that we may be happy. Where is the happiness when we have lost half of the body? This losing of half the body is necessary in order that we may exist as a complete human being. A complete human being is not the whole body. Even a half body can be a whole human being. We can ask any person who has lost everything below his thighs, with only the other half remaining, “Are you a half man?” “No, no! I am a full man,” he will say. That means the person is not the body. In a like manner, impossible it is to understand this divinity operating; and it is futile on the part of anyone to understand either Krishna or Jesus.
Another example before us is Jesus Christ. He never behaved like a human being. He behaved like God Himself. All that he said is beyond the comprehension of the world. The way in which he behaved is not the behaviour of an ordinary human being. He toppled the existing laws, and broke the norms. The stereotyped procrustean bed of ethics was broken to pieces and he brought a divine law, which we have beautifully quoted in what is known as his Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount in the New Testament is something like a counterpart of the Bhagavadgita teachings.
Great men think alike, and they perform actions in a similar way. They belong to a different fraternity altogether. God-men are God-men everywhere, and there is no such thing as an Eastern God-man or a Western God-man. And we should not use the word ‘men’, also. They are not men, they are not women—they are persons. We have no language to use. A woman can be a God-man, but because of the linguistic limitations we do not want to use words like ‘woman’ and ‘man’. So, we have to coin some new word. These days we say it is a ‘person’, a God-intoxicated person. It can be what is called a man or a woman, but at that time they cease to be human beings, and are neither men nor women.
Sri Krishna and Jesus Christ were neither men nor women. They were androgynous perfections, standing for the word of the Almighty, who Himself is not a man or a woman. We may say “God, the Father in heaven”; it is a human, paternal way of addressing God. It is a psychological necessity. But God is impersonality—not human in nature. That was portrayed dramatically, as if in a theatrical performance, in the picturesque drama of the life of Bhagavan Sri Krishna. This wonderful day we are observing it, and it is up to us to invoke the great blessings of this Master so that he may enter into us. Mighty we may become. A mighty person was Jesus Christ; mighty was Bhagavan Sri Krishna. May you all be mighty people!
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