Chapter III (VERSE 30) & CHAPTER XII (VERSE 6)
Karma Yoga – The Yoga of action
CHAPTER III
Verse 30
मयि सर्वाणि कर्माणि संन्यस्याध्यात्मचेतसा ।
निराशीर्निर्ममो भूत्वा युध्यस्व विगतज्वरः ॥ ३-३०॥
Renouncing all actions in Me, with the mind centered on the Self, free from hope and egoism (ownership) , free from (mental) fever, (you) do fight!
It has been clearly declared that the Divine opinion of the Lord is that Arjuna should fight. The Pandava prince is not, at present, fit for the higher contemplative life of pure meditation. Action has a tendency to create new impressions which again procreate impulses to act more vigorously. In order to avoid creation of new Vasanas even while acting for the purpose of Vasana-exhaustion, Krishna had already advised the method of acting without the spirit of ego, or ego-centric desires. The same theory is explained here while expounding a technique by which this consummation can actually be brought about.
RENOUNCE ALL ACTIONS IN ME — We have already noticed that by the first-person pronoun Krishna means the Supreme Self, the Divine, the Eternal. Renouncing all activities unto Him, with a mind soaked with devoted remembrances of the Self (Adhyatma Chetasa), the Lord advises Arjuna to act on. Renunciation of action does not mean an insipid life of inactivity. Actions performed through attachment and desires are renounced the moment we take away from action the ego-centric and the selfish stink.
A serpent is dangerous only as long as its fangs are not removed. The moment these are taken out, even the most poisonous reptile becomes a tame creature incapable of harming anyone. Similarly, action gives rise to bondage only when it is performed with a heart laden with selfishdesires. Actions performed without desires are not actions at all, inasmuch as they are incapable of producing any painful reactions. Here, the renunciation of action only means the giving up of the wrong motives behind the actions.
The purification of the motives is possible only when the mind is made to sing constantly the Divine Songs praising the glories of the Self. In the song of Truth the heart begins to throb with the highest Divine impulses. Actions performed in the outer world by such an individual are no more the ordinary actions but they become expressions of the Supreme Will through that individual. When the limited ego is replaced by the constant feeling of the Lord — as “I am the Supreme” — such an individual becomes the most efficient instrument for the expression of the Divine Will.
Not only is it sufficient that we renounce thus all wrong actions, but we have also to make a few adjustments in our inner instruments in order to bring out an unobstructed flow of the Creator’s Will through us. These are indicated here by the two terms “without hope” and “without ego.”
A superficial study of the stanza is sure to confuse the student and drive him to the dangerous conclusion that Hinduism preaches, not a dynamic conscious life, but an insentient existence through life in a spirit of cultivated hopeless-ness! But a closer study of the import of these two terms will make us understand clearly that, in this stanza, Krishna is hinting at a great psychological truth of life!
WITHOUT HOPE — Hope is “the expectation of a happening that is yet to manifest and mature in a FUTURE PERIOD OF TIME.” Whatever be the hope, it belongs not to the present; it refers to a period of time not yet born.
WITHOUT EGO — Our ego-centric concept of ourselves is nothing but “a bundle of happenings and achievements of ours which took place, or were gained, in the past moments.” Ego is therefore “the shadow of the past,” and it has an existent reality only with reference to THE DEAD MOMENTS OF THE PAST.
If hope is thus the child of the unborn future, ego is the lingering memory of a dead past. To revel in ego and hope is an attempt on our part to live, either with the dead moments of the past, or with the unborn moments of the future. All the while, the tragedy is that we miss the ‘present,’ the active dynamic ‘present,’ which is the only noble chance that is given to us to create, to advance, to achieve, and to enjoy. Krishna advises Arjuna, therefore, to act renouncing both hope and ego; and this is indeed a primary instruction on how to pour the best that is in us into the ‘present,’ blockading all unintelligent and thoughtless dissipation of our inner-personality-energies, in the ‘past’ and the ‘future.’
The instruction is so exhaustive in vision, and complete in its minutest details, that the stanza under review should be a surprise even to the best of our modern psychologists. Even though the technique so far advised can, and does, avoid all wastage of energy among the funeral pyres of the dead moments and in the wombs of unborn Time, yet, there is a chance for the man of action wasting his potentialities in the very ‘present.’ This generally comes through our inborn nature to get ourselves unnecessarily over-anxious during our present activities. This FEVERISH ANXIETY is indicated here by the term “fever” (Jwara). Krishna advises that Arjuna should renounce all actions unto the Lord and, getting rid of both hope and selfishness, must fight, free from all mental fever. How complete this technique is will be evident now to all students of the Geeta.
The term “fight” is to be understood here “as our individual fight with circumstances, in the silent battle of life.”
Thus, the advice is not for Arjuna alone, but to all men who would like to live life fully and intelligently! The advice contained in this stanza reads as though quite unorthodox for those who have read the Vedas, with a limited meaning for its term “Karma-Yoga.”
Bhakti Yoga – The Yoga of Devotion
CHAPTER XII
Verse 16
अनपेक्षः शुचिर्दक्ष उदासीनो गतव्यथः ।
सर्वारम्भपरित्यागी यो मद्भक्तः स मे प्रियः ॥ १२-१६॥
He who is free from wants, pure, alert, unconcerned, untroubled, renouncing all undertakings (or commencements) — – he who is (thus) devoted to Me, is dear to Me.
This stanza represents the THIRD SECTION, which throws more light upon the picture of the perfect-devotee as conceived by the Lord Himself. Already in the above two sections, fourteen indications were given and to that total picture are added in this section six subtler items.
” FREE FROM DEPENDENCE ” (Anapekshah) — A true devotee no more depends upon either the objects of the world outside, or their pattern, or their relationships with himself. An ordinary man discovers his peace and joy only in the world-of-objects available for him, their conditions, and their arrangements around him. When the right type of object is in the right pattern courting him favourably, a man of the world feels temporarily thrilled and joyous. But a real devotee is completely independent of the world outside and he draws his inspiration, equanimity and joyous ecstasy from a source, deep within himself.
“WHO IS PURE” (Shuchih) — Dirt has no place anywhere within or without a true devotee. One who is aspiring to reach perfection will necessarily be so well-disciplined physically that he will be clean not only in his relationship with others but even in the very condition and arrangement of his belongings around him. It is very well known that the condition of a man’s table or shelf, and the cleanliness of his apparel, can give a great insight into the mental nature, discipline and culture of that man. Great emphasis has been laid in India on this physical purity, not only in the person of the man but also of his contacts in the world. Without external purity, internal purification will be but a vague dream, an idle hope, a despairing vision.
“ALERT” (Dakshah) — To be alert always becomes the second nature of an integrated person. Enthusiasm is the key to success in any undertaking. A dynamic person is not one who slips in his behaviour or action. He is mentally agile and intellectually vigorous. Since there is no dissipation in him, he is ever on his toes to spring forward to activity, once he determines to shoulder any endeavour. If we observe the degree of idleness, carelessness, and ugliness in execution of any work, from which all religious persons are suffering, we can understand how far Hinduism has wandered away from its pristine glory!
UNCONCERNED (Udaseenah) — It is not difficult for one to observe many devotees in this land who have resigned themselves to a state of unexpressed sorrow, because they have been cheated by others, ill-treated by society, and persecuted by the community. The foolish devotees think that they will be unconcerned about these outrages practiced on them and then their own devotion for the Lord must prove to themselves a wretched liability, rather than a positive gain! Philosophy misunderstood can easily end in the suicide of the community.
The “unconcerned attitude” is only meant here to economise our mental energies. In human life, small difficulties, simple illnesses, discomforts, wants etc., are but natural. To exaggerate their importance and strive to escape from them all is to enter into a life-long struggle of adjustments. In all such instances, the student is warned not to squander away his mental energies but to conserve them by overlooking these little pin-pricks of life in an attitude of utter indifference towards them. FREE FROM TREMBLING — The inward tremors are experienced only when any burning desire has conquered us completely. Once victimised by a desire or fascination for an object, the individual personality becomes tremulous in fear that its desire may not be fulfilled. A true seeker is one, who never allows the inner person in him to enter into any such fears or agitations.
RENOUNCING EVERY UNDERTAKING — In Sanskrit “Aarambha” means “beginning.” “To end all beginnings,” does not mean “not to undertake anything.” This literal translation has made the majority of Hindus incompetent idlers and our religion has been criticized as glorifying idleness as a divine ideal! The deeper suggestions are overlooked. To perceive any definite beginning in an undertaking, the individual actor must have a solid and gross egoistic claim that he had begun it himself. He must have the strong feeling that he is beginning an activity, for the purpose of gaining a definite goal, whereby he will be fulfilling a specific desire of his, or will thereby be gaining a positive profit. One who is a seeker of the Divine, striving to reach the higher cultural perfections, must renounce this egoistic sense of self-importance and work on in the world.
No undertaking in our life, in fact, is a new act that has an independent beginning or end. All actions in the world are in an eternal pattern of the total world-movements. If correctly analysed, our undertakings are controlled, regulated, governed and ordered by the available worldof-things and situations. Apart from them all, no independent action is undertaken, or can be fulfilled by anyone. A devotee of Truth is ever conscious of this oneness of the Universe, and therefore, he will always work in the world only as AN INSTRUMENT OF THE LORD and not as an independent agent in the undertaking.
Such a devotee who possesses all the six qualifications enumerated above “IS DEAR TO ME.”