Bhagavat Gita a detailed study-chapter4The truth about action

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32. evam bahuviDhaa yajnaaH vithathaaH brahmaNo mukhe

karmajaan vidDhi thaan sarvaan evam jnaathvaa

viokshyase

 

Thus many kinds of yajna are elaborated in the Vedas. Knowing them all to be born out of action you will be free from bondage.

 

The word brahma here means veda as the yajnas are described only there. Even if the word is taken to mean the Brahman or Brahma the creator, it will not be out of context because the Vedas which are the source of all karma originated from Brahman and expounded by Brahma. As the man is supposed to act in accordance with the injunctions and prohibitions laid out in the Vedas, all the yajnas which have to be done employing the body, mind and intellect are mentioned as karmaja, born out of action.

 

The statement evam jnaathvaa vimokshyase implies that by knowing the true meaning of the word yajna and doing all actions with the spirit of yajna one gets freed from bondage.

 

Through out the chapter it has been stressed that karma cannot be avoided and the path to salvation consists not in giving up action but doing them as karmayoga. This is what is meant by the above statement.

 

33. Sreyaan dhravyamayaath yaajnaath jananayajnaH

paranthapa

sarvam karma akhilam paarTha jnaane parisamaapyathe

 

The yajna of knowledge, oh scorcher of foes, is superior to those done with material objects. All actions, Arjuna, reach their completion in knowledge.

 

Krishna winds up the explanation about various kinds of yajna by claiming that jnanayajna is superior to dravya yajna, done by offering material things, which implies all the yajnas prescribed in the Vedas in the karmakanda. The reason for this is given by Krishna as sarvam karmaakhilam partha jnane parisamaapyathe. All the vedic karmas though they produce good results are nevertheless binding and cause rebirth. Only when the same karma is done without attachment and ego, shedding the thought of `I' and `Mine' it becomes the means of self realization, the ultimate goal of life. This is implied by the statement, all actions without exception ,sarvakarma akhilam, culminate in knowledge., jnane parisamaapyathe.'

 

What does Krishna means by the terms jnanayajna and jnana? The real knowledge, jnana which is the awareness of Brahman, the Absolute Reality, is termed as that, by knowing which one does not revert back into delusion such as the one Arjuna was experiencing, because that gives the insight to perceive all beings in oneself as well as in Brahman. This is the awareness that everything is in God and God is in everything. Jnanayajna denotes the way to acquire this jnana and consists of the yogic disciplines like learning the scriptures, practising the self control and cultivating viveka, discrimination and vairagya, detachment.