Bhagavatgita a detailed study chapter5-yoga of renunciation

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10.brahmaNyaaDhaaya karmaaNi

sangam thyakthvaa kari othi yaH

lipyathe na sa paapena

padhmapathram iva ambhasaa

 

One who acts without attachment reposing all actions in Brahman, is not tainted by sin like the lotus leaf by water.

 

The karma yogi acts without desire and attachment and offers all his actions to the Lord. He considers all the actions as the interaction between the gunas inside and gunas outside. Hence the result of actions producing sin or merit do not taint him and he remains like the lotus leaf which is not wetted by water on it.

 

There may arise question that when the karmayogi acts withour desire and attachment naturally he would not do anything that may result in sin. Hence why should it be said that sin will accrue to him?

 

The Lord says in the 18th chapter, `sarvaarambha hi dhosheNa Dhoomena agniH iva aavrthaa,' meaning that all actions are covered with defects as the fire with smoke. It is possible to commit sin inadvertently causing harm to other beings in course of even daily actions like the imperceptible creatures may be killed by cooking , walking and other actions. Even those will not result in sin when one has renounced the agency of action.

 

The word Brahman here is taken to mean Brahman or Narayana because all the actions are done as an offering in the spirit of yajna. Ramanuja however explains the word as prkrthi as mentioned in the fourteenth chapter as `mama yonih mahath brahma,', meaning that the prakrthi is the womb into which the Lord puts the seed of creation. The word aaDhaaya means reposing and as Brahman has no actions all the actions belong to prakrthi. But the word has also another meaning to direct towards and this meaning has been accepted by Sankara and others according to which all actions of a karmayogi are directed towards Brahman as an offering and hence the word Brahman denotes only the supreme reality.

 

11. kaayena manasaa buddhyaa kevalaih indhriyaiH api

yognaH karma kurvanthi sangam thyakthvaa aathma SudDhaye

 

The karmayogis act with their body, mind and intellect, giving up attachment for the purification of themselves.

 

12. yukthaH karmaphalam thyakthvaa Saanthim aapnothi

naishtikeem

ayukthaH kaamakaareNa phale sakthaH nibaDhyathe

 

The karmayogi giving up the attachment for the fruit of action attains lasting peace. But the one who is not attained yoga becomes attached to the fruit of action, motivated by desire, gets bound by his actions.2

 

Even a non-knower of truth, that is, brahmajnana, if he acts with an attitude of surrender, without attachment, is not stained by karma like a lotus leaf by water because such yogis, with detachment, work for self purification, and attain liberation whereas the others who are attached to the results of action get bound by them.

 

13. sarvakarmaaNi manasaa sannyasya aasthe sukham vaSee

navadhvaare pure dhehee naivakurvan na kaarayan

 

But one who has controlled himself, renounces all actions mentally and remains happy in his body as in a town which has nine gates, not doing anything nor causing any action to be done.

 

But the man of wisdom , having renounced all actions by discriminative intelligence, perceiving action as inaction sits in the body as a monarch inside a citadel with nine gates, the nine openings of the body through which all experience is gained. The self is the Lord of the castle with which the sage identifies himself and hence he does no work nor he causes any work to be done, meaning, there is no direct nor causative agency as the Self is immutable.