Bhagavatgita a detailed study-chapter3-karmayoga

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Sri bhagavaan uvaacha

 

The Lord said,

 

3. loke asmin dhviviDhaa nishTaa puraa prokthaa mayaa anagha

jnaanayogena saankhyaanaam karmayogena yoginaam

 

In this world there are two ways of reaching the ultimate good have been taught by Me, Arjuna, one is yoga of knowledge for the contemplative and other is karmayoga for those who are bent on action.

 

Like an eminent physician Krishna has given Arjuna a shot in the arm to bring down the fever of despondency by describing to him the state of realization in which one attains peace. This has brought him out of his delusion about dharma `dharmasammoodachetaah ,' but he is now confused as to what is good for him , the path of knowledge or that of action. Anyway, confusion is better than delusion! Now the doctor is ready to treat the patient by milder doses of medicine and Krishna gave Arjuna a glimpse of the ideal to be attained in order to take his mind away from his dilemma, namely, katham Bhishmam aham sankhye Dronam ca ishubhih pratiyothsyami "How can I fight Bhihma and Drona." Now Arjuna is ready to take normal advice as he is out of his delirium.

There are two courses of spiritual discipline, says Krishna, the path of knowledge and the path of action .This is not left to the choice of the individual. One cannot decide that from tomorrow onwards he will give up all actions and follow the path of renunciation unless he is capable of doing so. Here it should be noted that Krishna has not repudiated the superiority of knowledge to action but what He means is that the two are to be practised by different agents.

 

Sankhya means budDhi , intellect and those who follow the path of intellect for attainment of self realization are called Sankhyas in this context. For this they should have achieved chittaSuddhi, purification of mind by following the disciplines of self control which has been described in the previous chapter about the sThithaprajna, with a mind free from desires and attachments. Even to reach that it is said that the mind should be focused on the Divine `thaani sarvaaNi samyamya yuktha aaseetha mathparaH,' (Ch.2-61) . This has been explained in the commentary on the sloka 58 of the last chapter.

 

Those who are not fit to follow this path of knowledge are qualified for karmayoga, acting without attachment to the result and doing everything as an offering to the Lord. Thus the two ways are for different aDhikaris and there is no contradiction.

 

Who is an aDhikaarri? It is explained by Ramanuja thus:

The aDhikaari is one who has arThithvam , wish for a particular method of action and also has saamarThyam, capacity to do it. The one who worships the Supreme without attachment of the fruits of karma gets his mind purified and he is then becomes qualified for jnanayoga. Thus both are complementary and not contradictory. So to the unenlightened, karmamarga is the best and Krishna is going to elaborate on it in this chapter.