sarva DharmAn parithyajya vs. karmaNya vAdhikArasthE ... Part 2

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These acts are the means of purification of self during the various

stages in one's life, for these acts cause a person to contemplate.

Contemplation leads to worship. Such upAsana throughout a person's life

lead to the erasure of one's karmAs which are an object of hindrance to

this release.

 

18.6 EthAnyapi thu karmANi sangam vyakthva phalAni cha |

karthvyAnIthi mE pArtha nishchitham mathamuththamam ||

 

With relinquishment and the fruits there of as part of one's daily

worship, certain acts must be done, renounced of attachment ! Such acts

when so performed are far superior to those performed with a specific

motive. The only motivation for you performing any tasks must be to

offer those deeds and the fruits therof unto me.

 

18.7 niyathasya thu sanyAsa karmaNO nOpapaDhyathE |

mOhAththasya parithyAgasthAmasaha paikIrthithaha ||

 

He in fact goes to the extent of telling us that renunciation of

obligatory acts is actually improper, for without those actions, even

the basic sustenance of the body would not be possible. The basic

sustenance of the body through the consumption of sacrificial remnants

leads to assimilation and perfection of knowledge. However, the sinful

one is unable to make the distinction between the obligatory acts and

the sinful acts, and ends up consuming sin. The consumption of such

food that is not the remnants of sacrifice forms sin, and is therefore

counter productive for one's knowledge and development of mind.

 

When the food one consumes is pure, so is his mind, and when this

occurs, remembrance becomes firmly fixed. When remembrance is fixed one

is released from all knots of the heart. Therefore knowledge is the

perception of Brahman and is dependent upon the purity of one's food.

Hence obligatory acts and other acts worthy of adoption must be

performed till one's demise. The renunciation of these acts is

improper. Such renunciation would then be considered as being through

delusions which bind the self and is rooted in tAmasikam. From tamas

arise ignorance and hence erroneous knowledge which is counter

productive to the realization of Bhrahman. In verse 14.17, the Lord

tells us that from sAttvA arise knowledge and the superior, from rAjas

arise greed and the mediocre, and from tamas arise the ignorant and the

decadent.

 

3-48 yOgasThaha kuru karmAi sangam thyakthvA Dhananjaya |

siDhdhayasiDHdhayOH samO mUthvA samathvam yOga uchyathE ||

 

He tells us here that abandoning one's attachment and establishing

oneself in yOga, one performs his deeds viewing success and failure with

an even mind. Such evenness of the mind is called yOgA. Only by

understanding the qualities of yOgA can one realize the importance of

good qualities, and their difference from bad qualities.

 

Finally:

 

3-47 karmaNya vAdhikArasthE mA phalEshu kadAchana |

mA karmaphalahethurBhUrmA the sangO sthvakarmaNi ||

 

The Lord tells us here that "To work alone do we have a right! Not to

expect fruits thereof. Action with attachment is very inferior opposed

to action performed with an evenness in mind. Miserable are they who

act with a motive! For such people do not attain the release from

samsArA - the ultimate goal of human existence.

 

It is indeed amazing the various directions that Lord shrI KrishNa takes

in trying to drive the point home, and he goes over the matter of

release through renunciation in several chapters at the various stages

of his upadEsham with superior clarity in thought!

 

A lot of the material I have presented here comes from Sri Ramanuja's

commentary on the shrI math bhAgavadgIthA - also called as shrI

rAmAnujA's githa BhAshyam

 

 

adiyEn

 

rAjA krishNasAmy

raja