chapter7.Yoga of renunciation-adhyaya5

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Arjuna now wants to know which of the two disciplines, sannyasa ,

renunciation or karmayoga, performance of work without attachment is

more beneficial for him. Here Krishna, the supreme physician stars

prescribing the medicine suited to the patient and says that though both

sannyasa and karma yoga are equally effective Karmayoga is to be

preferred, implying that in his case Arjuna needs only karmayoga.

 

A karmayogi who works without attachments has neither desire nor

aversion. So he is to be considered as nityasannyasi., a perpetual

renouncer, ‘jneyassa nityasannyaasi yo na dveshti na

kaankshathi.’ Thus doing everything with detachment he does not

get bound by his works, sukham bandhaath pramuchyathe, his release from

bondage is effortless.

 

 

 

But saankhya and yoga which here denote, jnana yoga and

Karmayoga, are not mutually exclusive and it is thought so only by the

ignorant. The wise know that they are not different but both produce

the same result ,’ekamapyaasthithassamyag ubhayorvindhathe

phalam.’ A karma yogi acts with detachment acquired with the

knowledge that everything is transitory and in the process gains

wisdom. The karma yoga is termed as yoga because it leads to real yoga,

the union with the Reality. So figuratively it is also renunciation.

One who renounces the result of karma gradually reaches a stage when he

will renounce the karma also.

 

 

 

Krishna here explains why he extolled Karmayoga as being

the better of the two, ’Sannyaasasthu mahaabahoduhkam aapthum

ayogathah,’ renunciation is very difficult to win without

Karmayoga, which consists in dedicating the works to God without craving

for the result. This in turn brings detachment. The natural doubt that

may arise is that we see some who renounce the world relinquishing all

their karma like Ramakrishna or Ramana and they become realized masters

without pursuing karmamarga. But we see only their present embodiment

which is but a continuation of several lives, this being the last.

This point is elucidated by Krishna Himself in the next chapter of the

Gita.

 

 

 

How does the Karmayoga becomes the means of attaining self

knowledge? Krishna answers this in the next sloka. ‘ Yogayuktho

visudhdhaathmaa vijithaathmaa jithendhriyah

sarvabhoothaathmaboothaathmaa kurvannapi na lipyathe.’

Established in yoga, his mind purified and self controlled he sees

himself in all beings and therefore he is not tainted by his work. That

is, he is not doing anything for his benefit alone but works for the

welfare of all, which attitude has been described in the previous

chapter as acting in the spirit of yajna. The knower of Truth who sees

only non-work in all work is alone fit to renounce the world. He knows

that it is only his senses which operate in whatever he does ‘

indhriyaaneendhriyaartheshu varthantha ithi dhaarayan,’ and

Krishna lists the common activities he engages in through his senses as

‘pasyansrnvan sprsan jighran,’ seeing, hearing touching

smelling and so on.

 

 

 

Even a non-knower of truth, that is, brahmajnana, if he acts

with an attitude of surrender, without attachment, ‘

brahmanyaadhaaya karmaani sangam thyamkkthvaa karothi yaha,’ is

not stained by karma like a lotus leaf by water because such yogis,

with detachment, work for self purification, ‘yoginah karma

kurvanthi sangam thyakthvaathmasudhdhay,’ and attain liberation

whereas the others who are attached to the results of action get bound

by them, ayukthah kaamakaarena phalesakthah nibhadhyathe.

 

 

 

But the man of wisdom , having renounced all actions by

discriminative intelligence, perceiving action as inaction sits in the

body as a monarch inside a citadel with nine gates, the nine openings of

the body through which all experience is gained. The self is the Lord

of the castle with which the sage identifies himself and hence he does

no work nor he causes any work to be done, ‘navadhvaare pure

dhehii naiva kurvannakaarayan.’ Meaning there is no direct nor

causative agency as the Self is immutable.

 

 

 

The possible doubt that if the embodied self does nothing

or causes nothing to be done, who then operates both as a direct and

causative agent is answered that ‘na karmaphalsamyogam

svabhaavasthu pravarthath..’ It is the prakrthi constituted of

the three gunas which operates as mentioned earlier ‘guna

guneshu varthantha.’ Neither the merit nor the sin accrues to

the Atman, the Self and the notion of working or enjoying or causing

other to do so is due to ajnana, ignorance, ‘ajnaanenaavrtham

jnaanam thena muhyanthi janthavah.’ When the ignorance is

destroyed by jnana the same jnana illumines the Reality which shines of

its own accord like the Sun, theshaam aadhithyavath jnanam

prakaasayathi thathparam.’ When the Sun rises the darkness

ceases to exist. Similarly on the rise of jnana the ignorance cannot

remain.

 

 

 

‘Thadbhudhdhayasthadhaathmaanah thannishtaasthath

parayanaah gachchanthyapunaraavrththim jnaana

nirdhoothakalmashaah.’ With the intellect established in

Brahman, identifying the Self with Brahman, surrendering all actions

to Brahman and with the sole aim to realize their true Self as Brahman

they do not enter into embodiment again.

 

 

 

What would be the perception of the sage who has realized

the Self? What has been described in the next few slokas is

reminiscent of what has been said in the second chapter about

Sthithaprajna. ‘Vidhyaavinayasampanne braahmane gavi hasthini

suni chaiva svapaakecha pandithaah samadharsinah.’ The sages

perceive the same Reality in

 

a brahmin, learned but modest, in a cow and in an elephant and also in

a dog and the one who eats dog’s flesh. The listing here of the

highest form of intellect to the lowest is to show that the sage has the

same love towards all creatures and should not be taken literally as

grading the creation in anyway.

 

 

 

Krishna says that the birth has been vanquished even here

in this life by those who have acquired Samathva or even mindedness,

‘ihaiva thairjithassargah yeshaam saamye sthitham manah.’

There is no plurality in Brahman as it is one only without a second,

‘ekameva adhvitheeyam.’ The sage resides in Brahman alone

and therefore he sees no plurality but but Brahman everywhere. ‘

Sarvam khalu idham brahma.’ A brahmavid, knower of Brahman

abides in Brahman, brahmani sthithah and hence they neither feel

elated on getting something pleasant nor feel depressed on meeting with

the unpleasant. He is termed as sthirabudhdhih, one whose intellect is

steady in other words, sthithaprajnah, who is described in the second

chapter of the Gita as ‘dhuhkheshvanudhvignamanaah sukheshu

vigathasprhah.’ Such a man of wisdom abides in Self and for him

there is no work to be done anymore. As Krishna declared in the third

chapter of the Gita he has nothing to gain from action or non-action,

‘Naiva thasya krthaarththena naakrtheneha kaschana.’

 

 

 

The sage whose inner equipment, anthahkarana , is unattached

to the external objects is united with Brahman and enjoys inexhaustible

bliss, ‘sa brahmayogayukthaathma sukham akshayamasnuthe.’

The man of discrimination having known the supreme Reality does not

delight in objective enjoyment. The enjoyment born of sense contact is

short lived and brings sorrow in its wake, ‘ ye hi samsparsajaa

bhogaah duhkhayonaya eva the aadhyanthavanthah kountheya na theshu

ramthe budhah.’ Sankara says in Bajagovindam ‘viddhi

vyaadhyabhimaanagrastham lokam soka hatham cha samastham, Life is

extremely fickle and short but even the short duration is not peaceful

but wrought with disease and other afflictions due to ego-centric

desires. A yogi who abides in Brahman experiences the peace of Brahman

while living in this world, experiences the infinite joy within

himself, revelling in himself illuminated by the inner light.

‘Yo antharsukho antharaaraamah thathaa antharjyothireva yah sa

yogi brahmanivaanam brahmabhootho adhi gachchathi.. Such yogis with

their sins washed off ,kheenakalmashaah, their doubts cut through,

chchinna dvaidhaah and self controlled, yathaathmanah, are intent on

promoting the welfare of all beings.

 

 

 

While stressing the need for practising Karmayoga with

total mental dedication to the Lord, Krishna goes on to elucidate the

yoga of meditation, the direct means of right perception which he

explains fully in the next chapter of the Gita. Keeping out the external

contacts, fixing the eyes between the eyebrows and equalizing the

inhalation and exhalation, controlling the senses, mind and intellect,

free from desire, fear and anger, the yogi is eternally liberated. He

attains peace knowing the Lord the indweller of all beings, the

supervisor of the fruits of all actions, Himself remaining the silent

witness.