Bhagavat Gita a detailed study-chapter4The truth about action

January 29, 2009

23. gatasangasya mukthasya jnaanaavasThitha chethasah

yajnaaya aacharthaH karma samagram pravileeyathe

All the actions of one, who is without attachment and free, done in the spirit of sacrifice, are completely dissolved.

An ascetic who is samah is devoid of elation and depression and takes what comes with out being affected by it. He is always convinced. that he is not the doer but it is his gunas which are interacting with those outside. Only other people ascribe agency to him. Thus in spite of continuing his regular activities to maintain his body and soul together and those necessary for his station in life, that is his varna and asrama, he does nothing at all. All his actions get dissolved and do not produce any result that affects him. The reason for this is given by Krishna is that, he is gathasahah, one whose attachments have vanished, mukthah, liberated and jnanaavasthitha chethaah one whose mind is established in knowledge. His action itself is a yajna.

The one who has given up attachment of his body and everything connected with it including the sensual and worldly activities is denoted as gathasanga. He is neither attached to the karma nor to its result, that is, a karmayogi. He is muktha , free because he is not affected by the karma and the result of it. This has been already brought out in the sloka 20 by the word niraaSrayaH. He is said to be nithyathrptha because his mind is ever engaged in the contemplation of the Lord, having acquired the true knowledge. This is indicated by jnaanaavasThitha chethas.

Sarvam karma prvileeyathe- All his karma is dissolved. The karma which has already started to give result does not affect him because he has no attachment to his body. Since he does all karma as a duty and as an offering to the Lord with the spirit of sacrifice their results do not cause any karma in future. The karma which has not yet started to give result is also dissolved since he has the jnana that prevents future birth. This is the meaning of karma samagram pravileeyathe.

In the third chapter of the Gita it was said that all actions except those done with the spirit of yajna produce bondage. Here Krishna elaborates on the different kinds of yajna to explain the meaning of yajna. All the actions done in accordance with varnasramadharma without selfish interest are yajnas. Different types of yogis follow different means of attaining salvation which are described here as yajnas in the subsequent slokas.