Bhagavatgita a detailed study-chapter-3-karmayoga

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31.ye me matham idham nihyam anuthishtanthi maanavaaH

SraddhaavanthaH anasooyanthaH muchyanthe thepi

karmabhiH

Those who follow this teaching of Mine , always with full faith and without cavil, even they get freed from action.

Krishna gives three qualifications to attain freedom from action and bondage. It is to be noted that freedom from action is not inaction which is confirmed in the sloka 33. First , one should follow the teaching about karmayoga by Krishna and act upon it, secondly he should have absolute faith that this is he right path and thirdly he should not cavil at it.

Me matham- the word matham is normally understood as religion or sect of religion but it literally means the view or thought. The word is derived from the root `man,' to think. Here it means merely "what has been said by Me"

Ye Nithyam anuthishtanthi- those who follow this always.

maanavaah- refers to men in general without distinction of varna asrama etc.

SraddhaavanthaH- who have faith. We see that even in worldly affairs as when one wants to find his way to a destination, one must have faith in following the directions given or he gets lost. It is much more so if one aspires for spiritual progress.

anasooyanthaH- who do not cavil that is, find fault or pick holes in the theory. This type of persons were referred to in the second chapter as `vedha vaadharathaaH , naanyath asthi ithi vaadhinaH. These people argue that their view alone is right and will not accept anything else.

When one has Sraddha naturally he would not cavil. The atheists and materialists for instance, put forth arguments very convincingly to refute the views of the upanishats, the essence of which is the Gita. These existed even from ancient times and were called chaarvakas, or chaaruvakas, because their speech is charu, beautiful to the worldly as it justifies the sensual indulgence. Their maxim is `yaavajjeeveth sukham jeeveth rNamkrthvaa ghratham pibeth; basemen bhoothee thu dhehe asmin ounaraagamanam kuthaH.' This means, one should enjoy all the pleasures as long as he lives even if it requires to get into debt in order to eat ghee (denotes luxurious life) because once this body is consumed in flames where is the return?

The api muchyanthe sarva karmabhiH- even they are freed from karma. Here the word `the api, even they,' means those who are not jnanis but have faith in the Lord and His teachings and follow His instructions on karmayoga. Freedom from works means that they will not be affected by the actions because in due course they will cultivate detachment and give up the sense of agency. This has been explained in sloka 17 as 'thasya kaaryam na vidhyathe.'

Ramanuja classifies the persons who will be freed from karma into three categories.

1. ayam eva sSaasthraarThaH ithi ethath me matham nisChithya anuthishTanthi

Those who believe that what has been said by Krishna in the Gita is the essence of sasthra, (upanishat) as the means of liberation and follows the teaching.

2.ananuthishTanthaH api asmin SasthraarThe SraddhaDhaana bhavanthi

Even if they do not follow they have faith that this is what has been said in the sasthras. Such persons will soon take up the path of karmayoga because they believe in it.

3. aSraddhaDhaanaa api evam SaasthraarTham na sambhavathi ithi na abhyasooyanthi

Even if they do not have faith that this is the right path to follow, may be due to their inadequacy to do so, at least they do not cavil at it saying this is not what has been said in the sasthras. They may sooner or later feel that this is the right path, by trial and error and follow it.

Hence all these will be freed from karma eventually as opposed to those who are faithless and cavil at the teaching of the Gita, and who are lost as described in the next sloka.