Gita in Daily Life: Ch.4 - Actionless Action

[Guest guest]

Namaste

 

The key shlokas in Chapter 4 for application in daily life

are:

14, 15, 20, 21, 22, 23.

 

Actions do not touch Me; nor do I crave for the fruits

thereof – says Krishna in #14.

 

“kuru karmaiva tasmAt tvaM ...” says the next shloka.

Therefore do Action, says the next, just as your

predecessors did. They did their works by having the same

attitude of “Actions do not touch me” (*na mAm karmANi

limpanti* ).

 

Having renounced the craving for the fruits of action,

ever-satisfied, not depending on anything, though doing

actions, he (the renouncer) is not doing anything. (#20).

(*karmaNyabhipravRRito’pi naiva kimcit karoti saH*).

 

Without harbouring any desires, fully self-controlled, and

renouncing all thoughts of possession, simply keep doing

work by the body and its accessories. Then such work will

not bring you any blemish. (#21) (*shArIraM kevalaM karma

kurvan-nApnoti kilbiShaM*).

 

Be satisfied with whatever comes your way. Transcend all

dualities. Have no hate. Treat success and failure the same

way. Then, even though you may be engaged in action,

nothing will touch you. (#22) (*kRRitvApi na nibadhyate*).

 

This is the yajna attitude to action. All actions done this

way vanish into the fire of wisdom . This is the

undercurrent of the teaching in Ch.4. Throughout the Gita

Krishna harps on the same thought of Actionless Action. So

in our daily life, slowly and gradually we have to develop

an attitude of detachment, both in the matter of doership

and in the matter of enjoyership -- *nAhaM karta, nAhaM

bhoktA*.

 

When we do something blameworthy, it is convenient to say

‘I am not the doer’. But that is not to be the starting

point here. What we should start with is the situation

when we do something which is creditworthy. We should not

take the credit ourselves. This is the rock bottom first

step. Even when others give us the credit, we should be

able to tune our mind to say (and also feel so!) that it is

due to somebody else; if we cannot find an acceptable

‘somebody else’ we should be able to say (and feel) that it

is the will and work of God. To follow Krishna according to

the path of His Gita-teaching, this is the step next to the

rock bottom first step. The entire concept of yajna

(dedicated selfless action) is for training us along this

path.

 

When pleasant things happen to us we would not like to say

‘I am not the enjoyer’. When unpleasant things happen to

us, we would very much like to say ‘I am not the enjoyer’,

but our body-mind-intellect does not allow us to say so. In

one case we like to say so and in the other case we do not

like to say so. Gita says in both cases we should be able

to say so and feel that way. This is the meaning of the

Gita’s insistence on discarding both likes and dislikes.

Here the first step is to start with the pleasant

happenings. With a little will power and effort, at least

in small things, we should be able to try it. That is the

starting point. And in due course of this practice, one

should be able to carry the attitude of

‘I-am-not-the-enjoyer’ to even unpleasant experiences. Of

course in both cases a sAdhanA of controlling our senses

and feelings becomes necessary. And this is the teaching

implied in the words *tyaktvA karma phalAsangaM* (#20), *na

mAM karmANi limpanti* (#14) and *evaM jnAtvA kRRitaM karma

* (#15).

 

 

PraNAms to all advaitins.

profvk

 

 

 

 

 

Prof. V. Krishnamurthy

 

New on my website, particularly for beginners in Hindu philosophy:

Empire of the Mind:

http://www.geocities.com/profvk/HNG/ManversusMind.html

 

Free will and Divine will - a dialogue:

http://www.geocities.com/profvk/HNG/FWDW.html

[Guest guest]

advaitin, "V. Krishnamurthy" <profvk>

wrote:

>

> This is the yajna attitude to action. All actions done this

> way vanish into the fire of wisdom . This is the

> undercurrent of the teaching in Ch.4. Throughout the Gita

> Krishna harps on the same thought of Actionless Action. So

> in our daily life, slowly and gradually we have to develop

> an attitude of detachment, both in the matter of doership

> and in the matter of enjoyership -- *nAhaM karta, nAhaM

> bhoktA*.

>

Namaste

 

Shri Bob Freedman has kindly pointed out to me that the use of the

word 'harps' in the above paragraph of mine with reference to Lord

Krishna is not justifiable since the word 'harps' has a negative

connotation of nagging.

 

I stand corrected.

 

Please replace the word 'harps on' in the above paragraph with the

words: 'does not hesitate to come back to'.

 

PraNAms to all advaitins.

profvk

[Guest guest]

Namaste ProfVKji:

 

I was hesitating to send a reply to your post on the comment with

respect to replacing 'harps" with 'does not hesitate to come back

to.' After reading the excellent materials that you have presented in

your homepage (reference and some excerpts are provided below), I

want to insist that replacing the word, "harps" with "insists" is

more appropriate. Though I am not an expert on English, I believe

that the word "insists" provides the importance of "actionless action

in Gita."

 

The message of Gita (as nicely stated in the homepage) is quite

clear on the importance of right-attitude of the person conducting

any: (1) Karma should never be abandoned (2) By abandoning the

doership the Kartha is able to discard the accrued baggage of karma

(3) Abandoning doership can be easily achieved by surrendering

the 'outcome' to the Lord (prasada buddhi).

 

As you have rightly pointed out, from chapter 2 to chapter 18, Lord

Krishna repeats this 'mantra' again and again to insist the

importance of this mantra. If we can practice what is being insisted

through this mantra, we can liberate ourself from all bondage! That

is why Lord Krishna seem to insist the importance of 'actionless

action."

 

warmest regards,

 

Ram Chandran

 

Here are the exact excerpts from your homepage:

http://www.geocities.com/profvk/livehappily_11.html

========================================================

" In the very beginning of the Lord's teaching, right in the second

chapter (shloka 19) Krishna enunciates the theory :

 

Ya enaM vetti hantAraM yashcainaM manyate hataM /

ubhau tau na vijAnIto nAyaM hanti na hanyate //

Whoever thinks of this (the Atman) as the slayer and whoever

considers this as slain, both of them do not know; Neither does this

slay nor is slain.

 

Of course one might say that this is a statement about the inactive

Atman and therefore is understandable. It is interesting to note

that the same thing is being said in XVIII-17, though in an

extremely forceful and aggressive way:

 

Yasya nAhamkRto bhAvo buddhir-yasya na lipyate /

hatvApi sa imAn lokAn na hanti na nibadhyate //

Whoever has the `I-am-not-the-doer' attitude, whoever has his

intellect unswayed (by anything that is transient), he, even after

slaying the entire world, is neither the slayer nor is bound (by the

action.)

 

The only change between II-19 and XVIII-17 is that the latter talks

of the person (who has the `I-am-not-the-doer' feeling) and not of

The Atman! But our human weakness is such that we are able to

intellectually understand II-19, whereas when it comes to XVIII-17,

we seem to have reservations. The whole purpose of the Gita is to

bring home the point that the person who has no `I-am-the-doer'

feeling is nothing but the akshara-purushha or the Atman.

 

The whole Gita is actually the passage from the Actionlessness of

theAtman (II-19) to the enlightened attitude of actionlessness of the

individual (XVIII-17). It is this change in attitude that restores to

the individual the Happiness within. Throughout his talk Krishna is

never tired of repeating this in so many different ways.

 

To begin with, actionlessness is not non-action. Krishna specifically

warns us against this. (III-4)

 

na karmaNAm-anArambhAt naishkarmyam purushho'shnute /

Actionlessness is not achieved by not entering into action…."

======================================================

 

advaitin, "V. Krishnamurthy" <profvk>

wrote:

>

> Shri Bob Freedman has kindly pointed out to me that the use of the

> word 'harps' in the above paragraph of mine with reference to Lord

> Krishna is not justifiable since the word 'harps' has a negative

> connotation of nagging.

>

> I stand corrected.

>

> Please replace the word 'harps on' in the above paragraph with the

> words: 'does not hesitate to come back to'.