Bhagawad Gita Ch.3 Ver.30-36 [Sri Adi Shankara]

[Guest guest]

30.0 How should work be done by the ignorant who seeks liberation and who

is

called upon to work? Answer:

 

30. Surrendering all works to Me is a spiritual frame of mind that craves

 

naught, and free from all sense of possessions, fight with unconcern.

 

30.1 Surrendering or offering all works to Me, Vasudeva, the supreme and

omniscient Self of all, "in a spiritual frame of mind" i.e., with the

discriminating perception, 'I, the agent, work for the Lord as His servant';

and

also, 'craving naught' i.e. giving up all his desires, being free from all

sense

of possessions, or ownership-you should fight, 'with unconcern', or free

from

worry or sorrow.

 

31.0 This doctrine of Mine, based on scriptural authority, that work must

be done, remains valid:

 

31. Those men who invriably conform to this doctrine of Mine-men

faithful, unenvious-are also liberated from works.

 

31.1 Those men who invariably conform to this doctrine of Mine-men

'faithful' or confiding, and 'unenvious' or not envying 'Me' the supreme

teacher, Vasudeva-are also liberated from the sway of works righteous and

unrighteous.

 

On the contrary,

 

32. Know them to be an inert and ruined lot, who, deluded in respect of

all knowledge, carp at this dcotrine of Mine, and refuse to conform to it.

 

32.1 But, in contrast, those who carp at or scorn this doctrine of Mine

and fail to conform to it are variously deluded in respect of all forms of

knowledge. Know them to be a ruined lot lacking in discrimination.

 

33.0 Why do they fail to conform to Your doctrine and follow alien laws

of conduct, rejecting those proper to their nature? Why don't these

opponents of Yours shrink from the sin of transgressing Your commandments?

 

33. Even a man of knowledge behaves according to his nature. All living

beings conform to nature. What can repression avail?

 

33.1 'Behaves accordingly'-according to what? One's own nature. Nature

means impressions of work, righteous and unrighteous, done already, which

manifest themselves in the present life and later. According to that

nature, every living being-even one who has knowledge-behaves; let alone the

foolish. Therefore, all living beings conform to nature. What will

repression or prohibition, either by Me or by someone else, avail? It

follows that nature is hard to repress.

 

34.0 The following objection may be raised: If all living beings behave

according to nature-and there is none devoid of his own spiritual

nature-there remains no scope for individual initiative, and the sastra is

thus reduced to futility.

 

Answer:

 

34. Senses have attachment and averstion to their respective objects;

none should be swayed by them. they indeed are obstacles in man's path.

 

34.1 The senses have attachment and aversion in respect of their objects

such as sound-attachment to what pleases and aversion to what repels. Thus

attachment and aversion are inevitable for each sense. In this context, the

scope of individual initiative and that of the mandate of the sastra at the

very outset, one should refuse to be swayed by attachment and aversion.

Human nature indeed forces man to work under the urges of his attachment and

aversion. Thus result the abandonment of the laws of one's conduct and

conformity with those of alien conduct. On the other hand when attachment

and aversion are restrained by controlling forces, man's vision becomes that

of the sastra; he ceases to be Nature's thrall. Therefore none should

submit to attachment and aversion; for those are stumbling blocks on the

path to betterment, like robbers infesting the public road.

 

35.0 Moved by attachment and aversion, man may misconstrue the contents

of the sastras and maintain that even an alien law of conduct, being a law,

after all, has to be observed. That is wrong. How?

 

35. Superior is the law of one's own nature, though lacing in merits, to

that of another even though well-observed. Death in working out the law of

one's nature is superior; but an alien law is fraught with risk.

 

35.1 Superior-more admirable-is the law of one's own nature, though

wanting in merits, if it is worked out aright, to the law of another's

nature, however meritoriouly worked out. Death while adhering to the laws

of one's own nature is superior to a life devoted to the law of another's

nature. Why? An alien law brings fear in its train-the fear of hell, etc.

 

36.0 Though the root of all evil has been pin-pointed in Bhagavad Gita

2.62

and 3.34, there have been both diffusion and lack of emphasis there.

Seeking to

know it concisley and with certitude, Arjuna asked as follows, in order to

expiate it whooly:

 

Arjuna said:

 

36. Now impelled by what does man commit sin? O Krsna!, though loath to

sin,

he is driven to it forcibly, as it were.

 

36.1 Impelled by what cause, O Krsna, does a man sin, compelled as a

servant

is by his master the king, though, left to himself, he is loath to do so?

It is

as if he were bidden, as by a king, to do it. This is a simile.