Bhagavatgita a detailed study-chapter3-karmayoga

December 18, 2008

26. na buddhibhedham janayeth ajnaanaam karmasanginaam

joshayeth sarva karmaNi vidvaan yukthaH samaacharan

The wise should not bewilder the mind of the ignorant who are attached to action. He should only guide them by doing the work himself with detachment.

No one can be told to be detached. When the mind is filled with desire for the result of actions just by telling the person to give up desire and get detached will not fetch any result. If the . person who advises is respected, the people who are ignorant may follow the advice by giving up action altogether.

There is a story told by Mukkur Lakshminarasimhachariar swami which is relevant here. A man who did not know the meaning or proper splitting up of words heard the nama padhmanaabhomaraprabhuH, (the akaara in amaraprabhuh being subdued in pronounciation) and thought that the Lord who is in the tree is Padmanabha. He used to chant the nama and go round the tree in front of his house. One wise and pious man saw him doing that and told him that the word actually means padhmanaabho amaraprabhuH, Padmanabha, the Lord of the devas. Then the poor man did not know how and where to worship Padhmanabha who is the lord of the devas and left of his worship of the tree and became depressed. Then the Lord appeared in the dream of the wise devotee and asked him "Why did you confuse the man? Am I not in the tree as well?" This story has different versions in different regions. But the moral of the story is that those who do anything with faith even out of ignorance should not be disturbed till the ignorance is removed.

Here in the context, those who follow the varnasramadharma and the vedic rituals even if with the desire for the fruit, should not be disturbed as it will only confuse them because they do not have the wisdom to see that the fruits of the desire motivated actions are transitory. It is better for them to continue to act in the same manner as it will eventually lead them to the truth than by giving up action by which they will be destroyed. This point is more clearly brought out in a later chapter where Krishna describes the four kinds of devotees.

Then how should the wise guide the ignorant? Only by doing the same actions without attachment and by seeing them the others will follow them eventually.