Bhagawad Gita Ch.3 Ver. 30-36 [Swamy Chinmayananda]

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[NOTE from Madhava: PLEASE DO READ AND CONTEMPLATE ON THE 36th Sloka, which

is at the end of this message. A must read for everyone who ever is engaged

in Action...]

 

"HOW THEN SHOULD ACTIONS BE PERFORMED BY THE 'IGNORANT' MAN WHO SEEKS

LIBERATION FROM HIS OWN SENSE OF FINITUDE, WHEN HE IS QUALIFIED ONLY FOR

ACTION?" THE ANSWER FOLLOWS:

 

mayi sarvaaNi karmaaNi sa.nnyasyaadhyaatmachetasaa .

niraashiirnirmamo bhuutvaa yudhyasva vigatajvaraH .. 3\.30..

 

30. 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 selfish-desires. 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."

 

IN ORDER TO HAMMER THIS NEW INTERPRETATION OF THE VEDIC TRUTH INTO THE

ACCEPTANCE OF HIS GENERATION, THE LORD SAYS:

 

ye me matamidaM nityamanutishhThanti maanavaaH .

shraddhaavanto.anasuuyanto muchyante te.api karmabhiH .. 3\.31..

 

31. Those men who constantly practise this teaching of Mine, full of faith

and without cavilling, they too are freed from actions.

 

It is clearly brought out here that the above technique can bless us not by

a mere study of it, but only when it has been properly practised in life.

The term religion (matam) in Sanskrit, means 'opinion.' This is "Krishna's

opinion" --- Sri Krishna's Matam. The philosophy of spirituality is

universal and, therefore, the same everywhere. But religions differ from

prophet to prophet, because there are many different OPINIONS entertained by

these different Masters, regarding the best manner by which their particular

generations could be guided towards the final experience of the

Eternal-Factor.

 

One ought not to live through life as a mere beast of burden doing its daily

routine and sweating under the driver's whip. Work only hardens the muscles;

it can smoothen out the ugly wrinkles in our character and add a glow of

health and vitality to our inner personality only when we bring the inner

equipments of our heart and head into the work which our hands and legs

perform in the outer world. This is accomplished by pursuing the Karma Yoga

advised earlier, with full faith (Shraddha) and without cavilling

(Anasuyantah).

 

FAITH (Shraddha) --- is a very pregnant word in Sanskrit which refuses to be

defined fully by any single word in English.

 

But Shankara's explanation of Shraddha has a purely intellectual import and

it has no direct emotional appeal for the seeker. "Faith" in Vedanta means

the ability to digest mentally, and comprehend intellectually, the full

import of the advice of the Saints and the declarations of the Scriptures.

In fact without "faith" no activity is ever possible; and "faith" cannot

grow where intellectual convictions have not come to play in their full

blaze.

 

WITHOUT CAVILLING (Anasuyantah) --- A mere intellectual theory cannot be

understood and appreciated without our adverse criticisms of it. We

criticise to know and understand more exhaustively a piece of knowledge. But

here, Krishna is advising a technique of living which cannot fulfil itself

in our life through mere criticism and questioning. Krishna is warning

Arjuna that he will neither understand fully, not come to gain the blessings

of that Way-of-Life, by deep study and noisy discussions. It can be

understood and experienced ONLY by living it.

 

THEY TOO ARE FREED FROM WORK --- Immature students of the Geeta have been

seen to cool down in their enthusiasm when they meet with the use of such

terms. All through the chapter Krishna was insisting that man should act ---

act diligently and rightly. All of a sudden He points to a strange-looking

goal, WORKLESSNESS. Naturally, an intelligent reader immediately comes to

feel a disgust at this ugly paradox. This is mainly because of our lack of

appreciation of the term in its native Scriptural import.

 

Earlier we have explained how the IGNORANCE of our Spiritual Nature gives

rise to DESIRES, which in their turn cause THOUGHT-AGITATIONS, and also how

WORK is nothing other than thoughts fulfilled among the sense-objects. Thus,

the "State of Workless-ness," is itself the "State of Thoughtless-ness,"

which indicates the "Condition of Desireless-ness." Absence of all desires

can come only when we rediscover the All-full Nature of the Self. In short,

with the Knowledge of the Self, when spiritual "ignorance" is terminated,

desires can no more arise. Thus, the term "FREED FROM WORK" indicates the

state beyond "ignorance," or the State of Self-hood.

 

This Supreme State, no doubt, can never be reached purely through work.

Parliament Street is not the Parliament; but having reached Parliament

Street, the Parliament cannot be very far away; one cannot miss reaching the

Parliament there. Similarly, Karma Yoga is extolled here as the "Path" that

takes one ultimately to the Supreme, because through desireless activity one

achieves Vasana-purgation, thus making the mind purer and subtler for

meditative purposes.

 

AS CONTRASTED WITH THE ABOVE, SHRI KRISHNA EXPLAINS WHAT HAPPENS TO THOSE

WHO CARP AT THIS THEORY OF RIGHT ACTION:

 

ye tvetadabhyasuuyanto naanutishhThanti me matam.h .

sarvaGYaanavimuuDhaa.nstaanviddhi nashhTaanachetasaH .. 3\.32..

 

32. But those who carp at My teaching and do not practice it, deluded in all

knowledge, and devoid of discrimination, know them to be doomed to

destruction.

 

"Those who decry this great teaching of Mine and do not practise it,"

Krishna warns His students, "will become more and more deluded and will lose

their discrimination."

 

Man is encouraged to follow a life-of-action, only when he comes to

appreciate that Way-of-Life completely in his understanding. When the very

theory is decried, it is no longer conducive to the intellect to accept it.

Thus, decrying a philosophy is a sign of one's intellectual rejection of it.

Having once rejected intellectually, there is no chance of an individual

ever striving to live that philosophy. Karma Yoga is a way-of-life, and we

have to live it if we want to come under its grace.

 

The Path-of-Work lies through a process of elimination of the desires in us.

When the ego and ego-centric desires are eliminated, the work accomplished

through such an individual is the true divine action, which is destined to

having enduring achievements. To the extent man is NOT practising this

efficient Way-of-Work, he would grow necessarily unintelligent, and to that

extent, his discriminative capacity will deteriorate and ultimately get

destroyed.

 

The blessing, because of which man is considered superior to animals, is his

divine faculty of discrimination. An intellect, strengthened by its own

intrinsic capacity to distinguish between the Real and the unreal, the right

and the wrong, is the mighty instrument of self-development in man. When

this instrument is destroyed, man comes to behave in no better way than a

biped animal; panting on the path of existence, bullied by its own lower

instincts of miserable passions and low appetites. Naturally, he fails to

make any true gain out of his life's chances, and finally destroys himself.

 

THEN WHY DO NOT MEN FOLLOW THIS DOCTRINE AND PERFORM THEIR DUTIES FULLY? WHY

SHOULD THEY FOLLOW OTHERS, OR ACT ON THEIR OWN? IN DISOBEYING KRISHNA, WHY

ARE THEY NOT AFRAID OF TRANSGRESSING THE LORD'S COMMANDS? THE LORD SAYS:

 

sadR^isha.n cheshhTate svasyaaH prakR^iterGYaanavaanapi .

prakR^iti.n yaanti bhuutaani nigrahaH kiM karishhyati .. 3\.33..

 

33. Even a wise man acts in accordance with his own nature; beings will

follow their own nature; what can restraint do?

 

Even the man-of-knowledge acts in conformity with his own nature, which is

determined by the pattern of thoughts that arise in him. At any given

instant of time, each one of us is determined by the thoughts that are in us

at that moment; and the thoughts in us always get patternised by the

channels of thinking, designed by the thoughts which we had entertained in

the past. The nature of each individual is decided by the style of thinking

which each is capable of.

 

The man-of-knowledge mentioned here indicates one who has read and

understood thoroughly the "technique of action" as explained in this

chapter. Even when he knows the technique, the Lord says that it is not easy

for him to follow it, because his mind is designed to carry his thoughts

through ego-centric and selfish channels, ever panting to gain some desires.

Because of these past impressions (vasanas), even an honest student finds it

hard to practise this simple-looking technique in his life. The reason is

quite universal: "BEINGS FOLLOW THEIR OWN NATURE." Naturally "WHAT CAN

RESTRAINT DO" when nature is too powerful?

 

This last statement in the stanza "WHAT CAN RESTRAINT DO?" is not a cry of

despair in Krishna's philosophy, but it is the honest all-seeing vision of

the philosopher in Krishna, who recognises that the higher ways of living

are not meant for all. Men crowding on the lowest rung of the evolutionary

ladder, overwhelmed by their own animal passions, find themselves incapable

of renouncing them, and are, therefore, incapacitated to walk the

Path-of-Action. It is only a slightly evolved entity, full of enthusiasm,

activity and a passion for progress (Rajo-guna), who can follow this sacred

"path" and benefit himself. This honest confession shows the

broad-mindedness and tolerance of Krishna, the Universal Teacher.

 

IF EVERY BEING ACTS ONLY ACCORDING TO HIS OWN NATURE --- AND THERE IS NONE

THAT HAS NOT A NATURE OF HIS OWN --- THEN, THERE IS NO SCOPE FOR PERSONAL

EXERTION AND THE TEACHING BECOMES PURPOSELESS. THE LORD EXPLAINS AS FOLLOWS:

 

 

indriyasyendriyasyaarthe raagadveshhau vyavasthitau .

tayorna vashamaagach{}chhettau hyasya paripanthinau .. 3\.34..

 

34. Attachment and aversion for the objects of the senses abide in the

senses; let none come under their sway; for they are his foes.

 

In the last stanza, it is said that, even a man, well-read in the Shastras,

cannot easily follow the highly ethical life which is demanded of a

spiritual seeker, because his lower nature proves too strong for him.

Prescribing a medicine which is not available, is not the art of healing. It

is the philosopher's duty, not only to indicate the weaknesses in our

present life and the State-of-Perfection, but he must also show us ways and

means by which we can transport ourselves from our weaknesses into this

ideal State-of-Perfection. Then, and then alone, can the philosopher bless

his generation.

 

Krishna indicates here the great robber in the 'within' of man, which loots

away the true joys and thrills of 'right living.' Attachments and aversions

of the sense-organs for their respective sense-objects are instictive, and

natural, in every one. The sense-objects by themselves are incapable of

bringing any wave of sorrow or agitation into the 'within.' We get agitated

and disturbed not at our sense-organs, but in our mind. The mind gets

disturbed because, when the stimuli reach the mind, it accepts, in its

inherent mischief, certain types of stimuli as GOOD, and their opposites as

BAD. Thereafter, it gets attached to the stimuli it experiences as good and

develops an aversion for the opposite type of stimuli. Now the mind is

prepared to suffer the agonies of existence in the sorrowful plurality.

Whenever it comes in contact with the infinite number of objects outside, it

pants to court the things of its own attachment and labours to run away from

the things of its own aversion. This excitement of the mind is truly 'its

tragedy.'

Having stated this Truth, Krishna advises all seekers:

 

"LET NONE COME UNDER THEIR SWAY."

 

The philosophy of Geeta does not suggest, even in its implications, any kind

of running away from the world-of-sense-objects. Krishna's creed is to live

HERE and NOW, in the midst of situations in life, in this very world, and to

experience them through our sacred vehicles of the body, mind, and

intellect. The only insistence is that on all occasions, a wise man should

be a master of the vehicles and not a helpless victim of these

matter-envelopments. And the secret of this mastery in life is to live free

from the tyrannies of attachments and aversions.

 

In order to detach ourselves from both our likes and dislikes, we have to

get rid of our false ego-centric vanities. Likes and dislikes belong to the

ego. Therefore, all ego-less acts, as we have explained earlier, accomplish

a purgation of Vasanas. Vasanas create the mind; where the mind is, there

revels the ego. To the extent the Vasanas have been reduced, to that extent

the mind has become non-existent. Where the mind has ended, there the

reflection of the Consciousness called the "ego" has also ended.

 

THE METHODS BY WHICH WE CAN BRING ABOUT THE VASANA-PURGATION ARE EXPLAINED

IN THE FOLLOWING:

 

shreyaansvadharmo viguNaH paradharmaatsvanushhThitaat.h .

svadharme nidhana.n shreyaH paradharmo bhayaavahaH .. 3\.35..

 

35. Better is one's own 'duty' , though devoid of merit, than the 'duty' of

another well discharged. Better is death in one's own 'duty' ; the 'duty' of

another is fraught with fear (is productive of positive danger) .

 

The word Dharma in Sanskrit is the most elusive word for translation into

English. It is used generally in more than one definite meaning. Terms like

righteousness, good conduct, duty, noble quality, etc., are some of them. We

have explained it earlier and found how Dharma essentially means "the Law of

being" of anything in the world.

 

That which determines one man's personality as distinctly different from

another's, it is very well known, is the texture of the thoughts entertained

by him. This texture of his thoughts is, again, in its turn, determined by

the pattern of thinking (vasanas), which his mind has gained from its own

past. These pre-determined 'channels-of-thinking' created by one's own

earlier ways of thinking are called the Vasanas. Thus Dharma should be

conceived here as the Vasanas in our mind, for no other explanation will be

correct since the very discussion now is upon mental control. The word

"duty," used by us in our translation, is, in this special sense, to be

understood as Vasanas."

 

Swadharma AND Para dharma --- Swadharma is not the duty which accrues to an

individual because of his "caste," which is ever a sheer accident of birth.

In its right import Swadharma means the type of Vasanas that one discovers

in one's own mind. To act according to one's own taste, inborn and natural,

is the only known method of living in peaceand joy, in success and

satisfaction. To act against thegrain of one's own Vasanas would be acting

in terms of Para dharma --- and that this is fraught with danger is very

well known.

 

In the context of the Geeta, there is a direct message for Arjuna. Arjuna is

born a prince, trained in the art of war and has exhibited in his life his

insatiable thirst for heroism and adventure. Naturally, his Swadharma is

that of a prince and that can find fulfilment only in dangerous actions and

endless exertions. Perhaps, as it was evident in the first chapter, Prince

Arjuna had gathered during his early education, that the life of

renunciation and meditation --- the life of a Brahmin --- was nobler than

his own life. And therefore, he wanted to run away from the battle-field

into the silent caves-of-meditation. In this stanza, Krishna reminds him

that to act according to his own Vasanas, even imperfectly, is the right

path for his development. It is dangerous to suppress his own

personality-expression and copy the activities of someone else, even if he

be living a nobler and diviner life.

 

THOUGH THE SOURCE OF EVIL HAS BEEN POINTED OUT EARLIER (II-62 AND III-34),

YET WITH A VIEW TO ELICITING A CONCISE AND CLEAR STATEMENT OF WHAT WAS BUT

DESULTORILY AND VAGUELY EXPRESSED ARJUNA ASKS:

 

arjuna uvaacha .

 

atha kena prayuk{}to.ayaM paapa.n charati puurushhaH .

anich{}chhannapi vaarshhNeya balaadiva niyojitaH .. 3\.36..

 

Arjuna said: 36. But, by what impelled does man commit sin, though against

his wishes, O Varshneya, constrained, as it were, by force?

 

Following the tradition of the scriptures, the disciple now asks a definite

question upon the very theme of the discussion. The very question shows that

Arjuna has, to a large extent, got out of the hasty conclusions which he

exhibited until the beginning of the second chapter. He has become

introspective, and therefore, conscious of certain forces working within

himself that were ruining and obstructing the play of his own higher

impulses. The doubt is couched in such familiar words that it appears as

though it is a doubt raised by some student of our own times.

There is no living man who has not in himself a sufficiently clear

conception of the good and the meritorious. Every one understands

intellectually what is RIGHT, but it is only when it comes to action that

one invariably gets tempted to do the WRONG. This paradoxical confusion,

between one's ideology and one's own actions, becomes quite a big problem to

all those who try to introspect and review themselves.

 

The Divine in us, with Its nobler aspirations, wants to fulfil Itself with

Its higher impulses and subtler achievements, but the animal instinct in us

tempts us away, and we walk the path of the baser joys of the flesh. This

invariably happens even against our own wishes. Arjuna is enquiring of the

Lord: "What is the exact nature of this SATAN-in-our-bosom which thus

systematically loots away the good in us?"

 

Varshneya is the name of Lord Krishna, meaning: "One born in the family of

the Vrishnis."

THE LORD SAYS: "LISTEN. I SHALL TELL YOU WHO THAT ENEMY IS OF WHOM YOU ASK

--- WHO IS THE SOURCE OF ALL EVIL":