Bhagawad Gita Ch.4 Ver. 16-22 [Swamy Chinmayananda]

[Guest guest]

"IF 'KARMA YOGA' IS TO BE PERFORMED, I CAN DO IT BECAUSE OF YOUR ADVICE. BUT

WHY SHOULD YOU ADD THAT THE ANCIENTS DID THE SAME?" IN REPLY TO THIS THE

LORD SAYS: "LISTEN, THERE IS GREAT DIFFICULTY IN UNDERSTANDING WHAT

CONSTITUTES RIGHT ACTION"... HOW?

 

 

ki.n karma kimakarmeti kavayo.apyatra mohitaaH .

tatte karma pravakshyaami yajGYaatvaa mokshyase.ashubhaat.h .. 4\.16..

 

16. What is action? What is inaction? As to this even the "wise" are

deluded. Therefore, I shall teach you "action" (the nature of action and

inaction) , knowing which, you shall be liberated from the evil (of SAMSARA

--- the wheel of birth and death) .

 

All of us understand that 'ACTION' means movement of the limbs with relation

to things in the outer world, and 'INACTION' means a state of existence

wherein there is a total cessation of such vigorous and conscious movements.

This is the popular definition of 'action' and 'inaction' which, no doubt,

is quite acceptable as far as the every-day activities of life are

concerned. But from the philosophical stand-point, the concept and features

of both 'action' and 'inaction' change.

 

For purposes of self-development, when we consider 'action,' it is not to be

valued merely by observing its manifested qualities but we must also take

into consideration the un-manifested but subtly-working motives behind the

very same action. An action, in itself, cannot be considered either as good

or bad. It is the MOTIVE BEHIND IT which determines the quality of the

action. Just as the beauty of a fruit is not the last word for its

edibility, but it depends upon its contents, so too, a beautiful action in

itself could be a poisonous act of criminality, if the motive behind it is

low and vicious.

 

Therefore, it is said that, in discriminating between what is 'action' and

what is 'inaction,' "EVEN THE POET-SEERS OF OLD ARE CONFUSED." The word

'Kavi,' now-a-days mainly used for the poets, was the name for the Rishis,

the Seers of Upanishadic declarations. Any inspired man, recognising and

expressing a truth that was noble and immortal, was called a Kavi.

 

After stating this difficult problem of discriminating between 'action' and

'inaction,' Krishna promises here that He will teach Arjuna what exactly

constitutes right action, by knowing which, naturally, one can save one's

self from all evil.

 

IT IS FAMILIAR TO ALL, THAT ACTION MEANS MOVEMENT, AND INACTION MEANS

ABSENCE OF IT: TO SIT QUIET. WHAT IS THERE TO LEARN ABOUT THEM?

 

karmaNo hyapi boddhavyaM boddhavya.n cha vikarmaNaH .

akarmaNashcha boddhavya.n gahanaa karmaNo gatiH .. 4\.17..

 

17. For verily (the true nature) of "right action" should be known; also

(that) of "forbidden (or unlawful) action" and of "inaction" ; imponderable

is the nature (path) of action.

 

Life means activity. Where activity has ended, death has entered. In active

life alone can we progress or deteriorate. A stagnant pool of water decays

and soon gets putrefied; while the flowing water of a river ever keeps

itself fresh, pure and clean.

Life being dynamic, it cannot, even for a moment, cease to function.

Complete cessation from activities is impossible so long as life exists.

 

Activity, therefore, is the very corner-stone of life. Since man must always

actively exist all his lifetime, the entire possibilities of activities have

been taken into consideration by the great Seers of old in evaluating life.

The accompanying chart will vividly explain their classifications.

 

Life is constituted of moments of activity and moments of inactivity.

Through inactivity, neither progress nor deterioration is ever possible.

Deep-sleep or periods of complete cessation in existence are intervals of

total holidaying from life, and they can neither make nor marthe

individual's progress in his evolution.

 

Periods of activity create man. This creative-period depends upon what type

of activity we venture upon. According to the ancient Seers, activities can

be of two types, constructive or destructive. Constructive activities which

contribute towards the evolution of the individual are termed here as Karma.

 

 

Destructive activities are those that are totally condemned by the Shastras,

because they tend to devolve the individual, and those are termed in our

text books as Vi-karma. The constructive activities (Karma) can be of three

kinds: Nitya --- constant duties, Naimittika --- special duties on special

occasions, and Kamya --- work purposeful and self-determined for winning a

desirable result or reward.

 

Built upon the ancient Vedic doctrine, Krishna here expounds an elaborate

theory of self-development. He says that life is but a name for continuous

activities. These activities can fall within two distinct classifications as

Karma and Vi-karma. Lord Krishna's advice to Arjuna is to avoid the

forbidden actions (Vi-karma) and to pursue the constructive and creative

activities of self-development (Karma). In this scientific analysis, without

any formality, or mental reservation, Krishna totally rejects "inactivity"

(A-karma).

 

It is necessary, it is said here, that a true seeker who is trying to live a

diligent life, contributing to his material progress and to his spiritual

self-development, must necessarily know this triple classification of life,

considered as a bundle

of activities.

 

Even after so beautifully defining the three clear and distinct

classifications, Krishna admits that, for an ordinary man it is not easy to

distinguish the one from the other, and to readily and successfully classify

all his activities under these three headings, because, Krishna says, "THE

NATURE OF KARMA IS IMPONDERABLE. "

 

In this statement lies the secret suggestion that an action is to be

evaluated not merely on its face value but after a sincere consideration of

the motive working behind it. If the motive, or desire, or intention of one

is pure and constructive, then the action too is noble and meritorious for

that particular individual. Since in this evaluation of actions the

individual factor is so very predominant, one must agree with Krishna over

the imponderability of the nature of Karma.

 

WHAT IS THERE TO LEARN ABOUT ACTION AND INACTION? THE ANSWER FOLLOWS:

 

karmaNyakarma yaH pashyedakarmaNi cha karma yaH .

sa buddhimaanmanushhyeshhu sa yuk{}taH kR^its{}nakarmakR^it.h .. 4\.18..

 

18. He who recognises inaction in action and action in inaction is wise

among men; he is a YOGI and a true performer of all actions.

 

By thus following the rules of right-living (Karma), as indicated in

Vedanta, when an individual has lived a sufficiently long period of time,

the doubt arises as to when exactly we can say that he has completely

reached the State of Perfection. This question should necessarily throb in

the intellect of all sincere students, and Krishna is trying to indicate

this noble goal of fulfilment of all Karmas in this stanza.

 

Action, as we have already seen, is a gross expression in the outer world of

some known, or unknown, deep "desire" in the intellect. A complete "STATE OF

ACTIONLESS-NESS" would be necessarily the 'STATE OF DESIRELESS-NESS" or the

"STATE OF INFINITE GOD-HEAD." But the goal indicated here is not this "STATE

OF INFINITE PERFECTION," but only a wayside station on the pilgrimage. A

true and diligent man can discover and recognise in himself that even in

physical inaction there can be an intense mental and intellectual activity,

and he can also recognise that he, even in the most intense activities,

himself as an observer of it, is revelling in "unactivity" (A-Karma). This

is the maximum Sattwic state.

 

Such an individual has thereby reached a State of Great Equanimity, which is

almost unavoidable in living a successful life of meditation. It is not said

here, as it is usually believed, that right action itself will take us to

the Infinite. This is impossible. As action itself is a child of "desire,"

through action alone we can create things; and created 'results' are, in

their very nature, finite. Thus, a God-head reached through activity can

only be a Sunday-God-head which must depart from us the following Monday

morning!

 

Shankara and other great Acharyas have all been tirelessly repeating that,

right action, undertaken with a sense of devotion and dedication, creates in

the bosom of the student a sense of complete detachment, as though he

himself is a disinterested observer of all that is happening within and

without him. When thus an individual detaches himself and observes his own

activities as part and parcel of the world of activities around, he gains in

himself an indescribable poise which is essential for the practice of

meditation.

 

Merely because an individual is keeping quiet, we cannot ever conclude that

he is inactive. Physical inactivity is no criterion to call one an idler. On

the other hand, it is a fact well-known to all of us, that, when we are

intensely thinking --- whenever we are in a state of creative thinking ---

we are invariably quiet and inactive, physically. Therefore, in the physical

inactivity of one, which is labelled as idleness by the hectic

foot-path-walkers in life, we can detect intense activity in his deep

"within." A Buddha under the fig-tree, an artist at his easel, a musician at

his instrument, a writer at his desk --- all of them punctuate their

activities with 'still moments of intense inactivity'-called unactivity-and

they bend forward to pour out their artistic and literary creations. All

these physical moments of cessation are not mere inactivity but they are the

necessary quietude and silence when the mind and intellect function with the

highest velocity. Thus, he who has a capacity to introspect, can easily

detect perfect action in complete inaction.

 

As I am writing these words a certain part in me can stand apart and

visualise how my fingers, constituted of mere minerals, can hold the pen at

the right slant and carry it along the paper so that the words may be spelt

properly thereon. So, in all activities, this capacity to visualise

discriminatingly our own activity --- this capacity to observe ourselves

functioning in a given field with or without the other members of the

community --- is not very rare and those who can do it can realise how,

inspite of all our activities, the observer in us which OBSERVES the

activities is most INACTIVE.

 

The train runs, but not the steam. The fan moves, but not the electricity.

The fuel burns, but not the fire. The body, mind and intellect function and

act, but not the Self, the Life in them!

Such an individual who can thus stand constantly apart from himself and

observe "the activity in inactivity" and "complete inactivity even in the

highest activity... called UNACTIVITY"... is termed here, we must carefully

note, not a man of realisation (Jnani), but an intelligent, full-grown human

creature (Buddhiman). "He is the intelligent one among men," and he is

certainly one who is very near to the Self (Atma Yuktah).

 

In short, desireless activities, when undertaken and performed in a spirit

of dedication, purify us, and the intellect thereby gains a new keenness.

Out of such a purified head, a new faculty, as it were, arises. The capacity

to observe oneself as an actor on the stage of life, is a capacity divine

and noble, inasmuch as it immediately redeems us from our selfish

preoccupations with life's ever-changing incidents and accidents.

 

REALISATION OF 'INACTION IN ACTION' AND 'ACTION IN INACTION' IS EXTOLLED AS

FOLLOWS:

 

yasya sarve samaarambhaaH kaamasaN^kal{}pavarjitaaH .

GYaanaagnidagdhakarmaaNa.n tamaahuH paNDitaM budhaaH .. 4\.19..

 

19. Whose undertakings are all devoid of desires and purposes, and whose

actions have been burnt by the Fire-of-Knowledge, him the "wise" call a

Sage.

 

He is called a Saint, a man-of-Perfection, "whose undertakings are all

devoid of plan and desire-for-result." Planning is a shackle upon the

freedom of one's activities. In all planning, we are forcing the

circumstances into a desired mould, a wished-for pattern. In thus driving

the situations to mould themselves into a planned pattern, we are exhausting

ourselves and vainly fighting against terrible odds. This method of activity

drains away all inspiration and joy from the worker.

 

We have already discussed how the desire-for-results during any activity

dissipates our energies. The fruits-of-an-action can only mature in a future

period of time and therefore, to court the results is to escape from the

present and live in the unborn periods of time. It is a law that the effects

depend entirely upon the causes, and so to be sincere and complete in our

activities is the greatest guarantee for all successful achievements.

 

One who is a perfect Sage, says Krishna, is one who will undertake to act

"WITHOUT PLANNING" and "WITHOUT ANY DESIRE FOR FRUITS." In this context,

these two qualifications of a perfect act are to be understood with kindness

and sympathy. A literal meaning of these two terms should not be used here,

as in that case the statement would become absurd.

 

The instruction to act "WITHOUT PLANNING AND DESIRE" does not mean that a

man-of-Equilibrium, in his inspired activity, should not make use of his

better intelligence and plan his activities to gain a desired result. It

only means that, WHILE HE IS AT WORK, he should not allow his abilities and

capacities to run to waste, with his mental preoccupations and sentimental

fears regarding the results-of-his-work. Vedanta does not in any way ignore

man's intellect. The way of life as advised in the Geeta provides only a

more efficient means to act and achieve, to live and to enjoy, cultivating

and applying our own potentialities more intelligently.

 

An individual, who has thus come to live intelligently and act diligently,

becomes fully wedded to the piece of work in hand and gets so entirely drunk

with the joy of his own inspiration, that the action cannot leave upon him

even a trace of its reaction. Our mind and intellect will venture forth to

worry over the unknown possibilities and dangers, unless they can find a

more secure hold upon something nobler and diviner. A perfect Sage is one

whose mind is ever hitched on to the cognition of the Divine, so that, even

when he functions in the world outside, he is revelling in his own

Consciousness within.

 

By thus painting the psychology of a Sage-at-work, Lord Krishna is

indicating with what mental attitude and intellectual composure, Arjuna, a

seeker, should enter his fields of activity. These instructions, given by

Vyasa through the mouth of Krishna, are meant for all generations of seekers

and, therefore, words addressed to Arjuna are also words addressed to you

and to me.

When my son wants to become a doctor I would certainly explain to him the

story of the struggle of some known doctors, so that my son may understand

how best he himself can become a true doctor. So too here, by the

description of a perfect Sage-at-work, Arjuna is being initiated into the

"Path of Self-development," which he is to follow faithfully, if he is to

reach the goal of life.

 

DEVOID OF ALL DESIRE-PROMPTED ACTIONS, AND ATTACHMENTS TO THEIR RESULTS, AND

THEREFORE, HAVING NO SELFISH END IN VIEW, WHEN A SAGE PERFORMS KINDLY ACTS

IN THE COMMUNITY, HE REALLY DOES NO ACTION; HIS ACTION IS EQUIVALENT TO

"INACTION," SINCE

ALL HIS ACTIONS ARE CONSUMED IN THE FIRE OF KNOWLEDGE. TO TEACH THIS

"UNACTIVITY," THE LORD SAYS:

 

tyak{}tvaa karmaphalaasaN^ga.n nityatR^ip{}to niraashrayaH .

karmaNyabhipravR^itto.api naiva ki.nchitkaroti saH .. 4\.20..

 

20. Having abandoned attachment to the fruits-of-action, ever-content,

depending on nothing, he does not do anything, though engaged in actions.

 

We are not asked here to renounce the fruits-of-actions as such nor to

ignore them, but we are only warned to renounce our MENTAL SLAVERY and

INTELLECTUAL CLINGING to the "expected-fruits." Only when we get preoccupied

with the expected fruits of our actions do we come to exhaust ourselves, and

thus become inefficient in our activities. Forsaking (tyaktwa) our clinging

(Sanga) to the fruits-of-action (Karma-phala), we are advised to strive for

and to achieve the welfare of the society.

 

A true painter never willingly sells his masterpiece! To him, that piece of

canvas upon which he has lavished long periods of effort, is now by itself a

complete reward, even if he be starving!! As compared to the satisfaction

and joy that it gives to the painter, he feels that even all the wealth in

the world would but be too little a payment for it. If a mere finite piece

of art could thus give to an ignorant man of agitations and desires, such an

invaluable joy, how much more intense must be the diviner joys of a perfect

saint working in the world of names and forms? Indeed, the Self-realised

Ones, after their experience of the Infinite Reality as their own Self,

become perfectly independent of everything else.

 

Again, the anxiety for the fruits-of-action, the sense of discontentment and

the feeling of dependency upon the things and beings of the world --- all

belong to the misconceived notion of the ego-centre. The ego in us is the

sufferer of all the above-mentioned incapacities and inabilities. When the

seeker-after-Truth rediscovers his ego to be the Infinite Truth, the limited

ego ends its career of sorrow, and naturally, the agony and the incapacities

of the imperfect ego also end. The reflection of the sun in a cup of water

can be broken up when the water in the cup is shaken. But when the water is

poured out, the reflection also ends, and no more can the sun in the sky be

shaken by any known method.

 

Such an individual, who has rediscovered the Self, "THOUGH SEEMINGLY ENGAGED

IN ACTIVITY," does not do anything.

 

The body, mind, and intellect act in the world-of-objects, but not the

All-pervading Self --- the Life --- in us. Without 'Life' the body cannot

function; but when the body functions, 'Life' as such cannot be said to

function. Therefore, one who is established in the Self, though he engaged

himself in action, cannot be said to do any action. The train may move but

it would be incorrect to say that the steam is moving.

 

It is generally a doubt in the students that, even if all the reactions of

the past actions have ended at the time of Self-re-discovery, when such a

prophetic Master undertakes activity in the world, he would, perhaps, be

initiating new actions of sins and merits for the enjoyment of which he may

again have to take up births. This false idea has been completely eradicated

in this stanza. After the God-experience, when the saint functions in the

world outside, "THOUGH ENGAGED IN ACTION HE DOES NOT DO ANYTHING."

EVERY ACTION HAS A REACTION. NATURALLY, EVEN THE BODILY ACTIONS OF A SAINT

SHOULD HAVE SOME REACTION. THIS IS THE ORDINARY ARGUMENT. TO NEGATE THIS

ASSUMPTION THE

LORD SAYS:

 

niraashiiryatachittaatmaa tyak{}tasarvaparigrahaH .

shaariiraM kevalaM karma kurvannaap{}noti kilbishham.h .. 4\.21..

 

21. Without hope, with the mind and Self controlled, having abandoned all

possessions, doing mere bodily action, he incurs no sin.

 

Mere bodily activity is not action that will merit a reaction. It has

already been seen that the reactions of actions take place in the mental and

in the intellectual zones. An action can leave a mark on our subtle-body

only when we act with an ego-centric consciousness that we are the actors,

and these marks can be effective only when our actions are motivated by

powerful and strong ego-centric "desires."

 

Ego is created only when the Self, in its assumed delusion, identifies

itself with the body, mind, and intellect and their respective fields of

objects. This ego draws its sustenance from the "hopes of the future," and

also from the "satisfaction of the present" possessions.

 

Therefore, the stanza declares that an individual, (a) when he has

completely renounced hope, (b) when he has brought his body and mind under

perfect control, and © when he has relinquished all possessions, can no

longer sustain the illusory concept of the ego in him. When the ego has

ended, the actions performed by that individual's body become incapable of

leaving any permanent mark upon his mental constitution, or on his

intellectual character.

In sleep if I become naked I am not charged of any indecent behaviour; if,

in my sleep, my body kicks my own son, I am not accused of cruelty to my

child. For, in both the above cases we know that "for the actions of my body

I am not responsible, since I was absent in that body during those

activities." This clearly shows that the ego-centric identity with the body

is the actor and the sufferer, and where the ego is not, there the mere

bodily actions cannot bring about any consequences.

 

A Self-realised Saint's activities do not touch him at all since he is not

the actor; the actions only flow through him. Such a truly Great One becomes

not a doer of actions, but serves as a glorious instrument for the Lord's

Will to express itself.

If the music coming from a violin is not good, the audience does not attack

the violin, although the violinist cannot be very safe! The violin, of its

own accord, does not make music but it allows music to emanate from it at

the touch of the flying bow and the tickling fingers of the performer. Its

duties end when its supple chords have bent under the touch of the

musician's dancing fingers. An ego-less man-of-Perfection is the "wonder

instrument" through which the Divine orchestra plays, singing the song of

the Lord's own Will, faithfully. Any activity undertaken by a Perfect Master

does not and cannot bring about any consequences, good orevil, upon him; he

is only a "Divine-instrument."

 

THOUGH A SELF-REALISED MAN RENOUNCES ALL ACTIONS, HE HAS, OF NECESSITY, TO

BARELY MAINTAIN HIS BODY; SUCH A MAN STEADY ON

THE 'PATH-OF-KNOWLEDGE' IS EVER LIBERATED. TO TEACH THIS THE LORD SAYS:

 

yadR^ich{}chhaalaabhasa.ntushhTo dvandvaatiito vimatsaraH .

samaH siddhaavasiddhau cha kR^itvaapi na nibadhyate .. 4\.22..

 

22. Content with what comes to him without effort, free from the

pairs-of-opposites and envy, even-minded in success and failure, though

acting he is not bound.

 

Such an individual, who has gone beyond his own ego, can thereafter commence

no desire-prompted activity with any definite fruit-motive. Naturally he

will feel quite contented and happy in whatever gain spontaneously rises out

of his actions. The state-of-egolessness indicates a condition of perfect

conquest over the mind and intellect. Naturally therefore, the

pairs-of-opposites --- heat and cold, success and failure, good and bad, joy

and sorrow, etc. --- cannot affect him, they being always the

interpretations of the world-of-objects by the mind.

 

Where the mind has ended, the intellect too can no more bring its own

affections and prejudices, or its spirit of competitions and jealousies. We

generally get agitated due to the pulls of success and failure. On the

rising tide of success our ego dances in a vain joy, while in the hollows of

failures it feels miserable and crushed. But when the ego is completely

divinised, the individual will, thereafter, automatically remain equanimous

in both success and failure. Such an individual who has thus conquered his

ego-centric misconceptions about himself, "THOUGH ACTING, IS NOT FETTERED"

by the natural consequences of the actions performed (Karma-phala).

 

When such a Perfect-Master-of-Realisation lives amidst us he is generally

seen to act in no way different from an ordinary sensible man, and yet, all

the same, his activities show an extra dynamic capacity to carve out a more

complete and enduring success. According to the Lord's words, the activities

of a man-of-Knowledge do not, in any sense of the term, affect him.

Naturally, it becomes a little difficult for an ordinary man to know readily

how this is accomplished by the sage.

 

[To be continued on next Monday...]