Bhagavatgita a detailed study-chapter3-karmayoga

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17.yaH thu aathmagathiH eva syath

aathma thrthrpthaH cha maanavaH

aathmani eva cha santhushtaH

thasya kaaryam na vidhyathe

But to him who delights only in the self, and satisfied with the experience of the self, and who rejoices in the self there is no need for action.

Karmayoga is to be followed by one who has not attained jnana. To a sthithaprajna, however, there is no duty because he has no desire for anything as he does not depend upon any thing or anyone for his happiness, being delighted in the Self alone.

aathmarathiH- The enlightened one is not interested in anything else except in the experience of the Athman. All other desires have left him. This refers to the past desires.

aatmathrpthaH- he has attained all that he wanted and hence he is perfectly contented not desiring anything else. This pertains to future desires.

Aathmani eva santhushtaH- he is perfectly happy and rejoices in his experience of the self so that no other sensual attractions have any influence over him. This has reference to the present.

Hence the sThithprajna has no desires fulfilled or to be fulfilled except the enjoyment of the self. Therefore he has nothing to gain by action which is denoted by thasya kaaryam na vidhyathe, he has no more work to do as he has become krthakrthya, one who has done everything that is to be done.

So does it mean that a jnani is actionless? No. Normally one acts motivated by desire or without attachment as a karmayoga in order to become free from the bondage of karma. Desire motivated activity binds one by creating more and more karma. So one starts doing the works without attachment which makes him cast off the effects of karma that has not started to yield result and also he does not accumulate fresh karma. But the karma which has already d started to yield results, prarabdhakarma, has to be exhausted by experiencing the result. Hence even an enlightened one has to exhaust his karma as long as he is in the embodiment and once he leaves this embodiment he is free from karma and is not born again but attains mukthi.

Now the jnani also has to act in this world as long as he is alive because as said earlier in this chapter, sarreeayathraa api na prasidDhyeth akarmaNah, even the sustenance of the body will not be possible without acting. But the jnani does only the minimum work that is necessary for maintaining his body and soul.

18. naivathasya krthena arThaH na akrthena iha kaSchana

na cha asya sarvabhootheshu kaSchith arThavyapaaSrayaH

There is nothing to be gained by him ( the one described above) nor by not doing any work. He does not depend on any being on earth for attaining anything.

The idea expressed in the previous sloka is reiterated here. Since the enlightened one has everything he wants because of his contentment in reveling in the self, there is no purpose for him to do any work there is nothing necessary for him to gain from anybody or anything.

The one who has surrendered to the Lord acts in this world as the agent of the Lord and does not feel that he is doing anything. All work that he seems to be doing is done by the Lord through him.

But this state is achieved only by the one who has attained perfection through karmayoga, jannayoga or bhakthiyoga. Till then one has to go on doing karma without attachment. This is what Krishna tells Arjuna in the following slokas.