gIta sArodhdhAra - English - 3

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Dear hari bhaktas

 

Here is shrI Bannur Ramachandra Rao's English notes on the fourth and fifth

verses of the gIta sArodhdhAra.

 

rAma nAma pAyasakke kriShNa nAma sakkare viThThala nAma tuppava serisi

 

madhusudhana bhimasena rao

hunsur sriprasad

 

 

Shloka 4-18

==========

karmNyakarmayah pashyEdakarmaNi cha karma yah

sa buddhimAn manushyeshu sa yuktah kritsnakarmakrit

 

Word-by-word meaning:

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

karmani = in performing one's designated duties

ya:h pashyet = who sees

akarma = inaction, which means,understands that he is not the

independent

doer (it is the Lord who is independent and prompts

his actions)

cha = and

akarmani = when he is not doing anything like in deep sleep,

karma ya:h = who sees the action of the Lord (i.e., understands that all

creation,

pashyeEt sustainance, destruction etc. of this world is the action

of the Lord)

sa:h = he (is)

buddhiman = wise among men, i.e, he knows the right path of knowledge.

kritsnakarmakrit = such a person will be the one who performs all his actions

(properly)

Summary:

========

This sloka is interpreted in one book as: 'He who sees inaction in

action and action in inaction is wise among men. He is a yogi.' This

looks like a puzzle. To understand this puzzle, we should take shelter

under Srimadananda tirtha and his follower Sri Satyadhyanatirtha.

 

A person, who, while executing his designated work (according to

Varnashrama) is aware that he is not independent that he is not

independent in performing such actions (and that all his actions are

as per the will of the Lord and prompted by him), and who sees the

action of the Lord while he is himself inactive as in deep slumber,

is a Jnani. He is the one who, having the right knowledge, should

be considered as performing all his actions in the proper way.

 

Explanatory notes:

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

From the summary it should be clear that in this shloka also the

Lord is stressing on the principle of nishkAmatva with the knowledge

of the Lord's control over all the actions of the Jivas. This is clear

further from the sloka next sloka of the BG(4-19): 'yasya sarve

svadamarambha:h ....' which states that the wise call such a man a

pandit()jnani)whose karma (or its effects) is burnt by the fire of

knowledge, whose actions are all performed without the desire for fruit.

 

Shloka 5-10

==========

bramanyAdhAyakarmAni sangam tyaktvA manIshina:h

lipyatE na sa pApEna padmapatramivAmbhasA

 

Word-by-word meaning:

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

ya:h = who

karmAni = actions

brahmani = having deposited them in brahma(the Lord), i.e., having the

concept

AdAya that the Lord gives him the mind to perform good actions

such as

His worship and gets them done through him

sangamtyaktvA = having no attachment to the fruit of his actions

karOti = executes them

sa:h = such a person

pApEna na lipyatE = is not affected by any evil effects of his actions

padmapatramivAmbhasA = like a lotus leaf by the water

 

Summary:

========

A person who, having no desire for the fruit of his actions executes

them duly depositing them with the Lord (i.e, having the concept that

it is the Lord who prompts him to perform good actions like His Puja

and gets them done by him) shall not be touched by the effects of his

actions like the water on a lotus leaf.

 

Special note:

==========

Again we have the same philosophy of 'nishkama karma' being stressed.

Srimadacharya, in his Bhashya says that to lay stress on the importance

of 'sadhana', the idea is being repetitively stated.