Bhagavatgita a detailed study-chapter3-karmayoga

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8.niyatham kuru karmathvam karMajyaayo hi akarmaNaH

Sareerayaathraapicha the na prasidDhyeth akarmaNaH

 

You do your obligatory duties because action is better than inaction.. Eve the sustenance of life and body will not be possible for one who does not act.

Krishna rounds up the answer to the question of Arjuna in the first sloka here. He extols karma and says that karma is unavoidable and hence it should not be abandoned. It is not what you do that matters but how you do it. Even a jnani has to act as explained in the previous slokas. Hence Krishna advises Arjuna to go on doing the work which is his svadharma according to his varna and asrama but do it without attachment. How to do this is explained in the subsequent slokas.

 

Niyatham karma is what is ordained by one's nature and station in life. For Arjuna as a kshathriya, fighting for the right cause is the svadharma , the karma natural to his disposition. Hence he could not avoid it. This what was explained in the sloka 5 as kaaryathe hyavasaH karmasarvaH prakrthijaiH gunaih.

 

The word akarma here means merely abandoning action and not in the sense it is used in the next chapter. In Gits the words are to be understood according to the context because the terms such as yoga and h brahma are used in different sense in different contexts.

 

9. yajnaarThaah karmaNaH anyathra loko ayam karmabanDhanaH

thadharTham karma kountheya mukthasangaH samaachara

This world is bound by karma when not done as sacrifice. Hence Arjuna, you must do your work with this attitude giving up attachment.

 

Now what is Karmayoga?. One who controls his senses through his mind and does his allotted duty with detachment is a karmayogi .This is not as easy as it seems to be. Krishna gives a clue. Do everything with the spirit of sacrifice, because, man is bound by his action except when it is performed for the sake of sacrifice The word yajna is translated as sacrifice which normally taken to mean the ritual of yaaga as enjoined in the Vedas. But it is the spirit with which it is done is meant here and not the mere ritual.

 

The next question is what is yajna and how far does it apply to the present times? This will be explained in the subsequent slokas.

 

All the other works done not a yajna here means those which are done to satisfy selfish desires. The yajan is supposed to be done for the sake of the welfare of the world and if the yajna prescribed by the scriptures is performed out of selfish desires they will also be binding and cause the cycle of births and deaths. So the word yajns should not be taken in the literal sense of all vedic rituals. This will be made clear in the following slokas.