Bhagavatgita a detailed study-chapter3-karmayoga

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19. thamaath asakthah sathatham kaaryam karma samaachara

asalthaH hi aacharan karma param aapnothi poorushaH

Therefore do what has to be done always without attachment. The man attains the supreme by doing his work with detachment.

thasmaath- therefore- that is, there is no karma only when one reaches the state of sThithaprajna. Therefore till you reach that stage you have to do karma.

askathaH sathatham- But the karma should be done without attachment, meaning , with no desire for the fruit.

Kaaryam karma- one should continue the work that has to be done. This includes the activities according to varna and asrama and nature and situation.

Samaachara – aachara means `do.' Samaachara means to do well. As it is declared in the last chapter, yogaH karmasu kousalam. To perform the work well with sincerity and involvement is part of karmayoga.

The reason for this is given as follows. Only one who does his work with detachment reaches the supreme. Krishna gives illustration to substantiate this statement in the next sloka.

20. karmanaiva hi samsidDhim aasThithaah janakaadhayaH

lokasangraham eva api sampaSyan karthum arhasi

Janaka and others achieved the highest state of perfection through karmayoga only. You must perform action at least by having the welfare of the world in mind.

Here Krishna cites he example of Janaka, the father of Sita , who was an example of karmayogi. It is said that Janaka was not at all perturbed when someone told him, just to test his detachment, that his palace was in flames. He seemed to have said that he owned nothing in this world as everything belongs to God. And that God's will be done. Janaka and others like him, (such as Prahlada and Ambarisha,) says Krishna, attained perfection without renouncing their works.

The reason they were performing their karma even though they had no purpose to be achieved for themselves by it, was that, they had to do so for the guidance of the world. They did their work well, though not attached to the result, to set an example to the people Why should they do so is explained in the next sloka.

21.yath yath aacharthi SrEshtaH thath thath eva itharah janah

saH yath pramaanam kuruthe lokaH thath anuvarthathe

Whatever a great soul does the others do likewise.. Which ever value is held up by them the world also follows him.

The reason for which Janaka and others went on doing their duty for the welfare of the world was that the world follows the doings of the foremost man and conforms to the standards set by him.

It is human nature to look up to the one who is supposed to be an ideal, in any walk of life, more so, in spiritualty. People tend to follow such ideal personalities in thought and deed. If the evolved persons like Janaka and others cease to do any karma, people will think that that is the right path and will follow them without the necessary mental attitude to do so. Hence it will result in chaos giving rise to pseudo sannyasins, as we are very well aware of, at present!

We have an example of such a mahapurusha even in our times. Ramakrishna, Vivekananda, Ramana and kanchi Paramacharya of recent times were all doing the worship and other ritualistic acts for the welfare of the society and to set an example to others, even though they needed no such auxiliaries to their spiritual attainment.