 Bhagavad Gita Commentary–Forty-two–by Swami Nirmalananda Giri
 Action–Renounced and Performed
Duality and differentiation are the bedrock of relativity and delusion, and human beings desperately cling to them to preserve their beloved illusions and maintain their false independence from Spirit–a condition that produces nothing but suffering, yet is desperately held on to. How is this? Because the Self has been pushed out of the way by the ego which has taken control. By keeping our consciousness in duality and differentiation the ego perpetuates its power–even its very existence, for the consciousness of Oneness that is the truth will dissolve the ego. So although I have said that “we” cling to delusion, that is one of the lies of the ego we have come to believe and follow. It is the ego that is holding on “for dear life”–not us. Only when we break that hold will we truly begin to live.
Even as we progress in consciousness we find the habit of duality persisting, and we often drag it into our attempts at spiritual reasoning. More than once in the Gita Arjuna presents Krishna with an “either or” question that mirrors this illusion. Krishna explains the truth of the matter, and in doing so reveals the error of the question itself. We have come to one of those points. Arjuna asks–not without a hint of complaint and accusation: “You speak so highly of the renunciation of action; yet you ask me to follow the yoga of action. Now tell me definitely: which of these is better?”
In other words: “Which one of these can I throw away?” In our intellectual laziness we demand a simplistic, streamlined outlook so we can avoid the effort of combining two seeming contradictions in order to find out the truth that lies between them and includes them. We demand a false unity so we can perpetuate our false duality! Fortunately for Arjuna and us Krishna never concedes to this intellectual indolence (and cowardice), but reveals the whole picture, refusing to serve up to us the Truth Lite we crave. Both
So Krishna replies: “Action rightly renounced brings freedom: action rightly performed brings freedom: both are better than mere shunning of action.”
Action is rightly renounced when we refrain from an action because it is negative, useless, or foolish. Action is also rightly renounced when we act, but in a calm and detached manner, wishing only to do the right and not demanding any particular result. This, of course, is “action rightly performed.” Both bring us freedom and are superior to merely not acting because we are unsure or afraid and merely want to avoid shame and pain, not taking into account the right or wrong of the situation. Such a motivation is centered fully in the ego, not the intelligence. The inner state
“When a man lacks lust and hatred, his renunciation does not waver. He neither longs for one thing nor loathes its opposite: the chains of his delusion are soon cast off.”
Again, “lust and hatred” are raga and dwesha–attraction and repulsion, both rooted in ego instead of understanding. When we see with the eye of the spirit rather than feel with the compulsions of egoism, we neither like nor dislike an action, though we do value the doing of our duty. In that perspective our detachment will not waver and we will not hesitate to do that which is right to do. This is the path to freedom. The way of the wise
“The yoga of action, say the ignorant, is different from the yoga of the knowledge of Brahman. The wise see knowledge and action as one: they see truly. Take either path and tread it to the end: the end is the same. There the followers of action meet the seekers after knowledge in equal freedom.”
There is an amazing phenomenon that has existed in the world for ages beyond calculation. In all religions the teachings of great Masters and scriptures are praised and adulated–yet hardly ever really followed. These two verses are truly “honored only in the breach” in India where the vast majority insist that the way of knowledge is incompatible with the yoga of action. The Gita is chanted there daily by tens–if not hundreds–of thousands, yet its clear message is disregarded as assiduously. As I have pointed out before, Adore the Messenger and Ignore the Message seems to be the motto of all religion.
Only the ignorant say that jnana is incompatible with karma. What about Shankara then? His many works seem to affirm this incompatibility. When Shankara speaks of karma he is referring to the karma khanda, the ritualistic part of the Vedic tradition, as well as of busyness with ego-inspired action. Krishna is speaking of the doing of right action in the right manner, right action being the duty, the swadharma of the individual. Without fulfilling that duty through right action, there can be no spiritual release for anyone.
Knowledge and action are one when action is the manifestation of knowledge. An individual may choose to view life more in the aspect of intellectual knowledge or in the aspect of duty and right action. The viewpoint may differ, but the actual living will be the same which ever view is chosen. That, too, is a matter of the natural condition of the aspirant’s mental energies, and is of no great consequence, for moksha (liberation) is the inevitable culmination. The necessity of both
“It is hard to renounce action without following the yoga of action. This yoga purifies the man of meditation, bringing him soon to Brahman.”
Sri Ramakrishna often said: “The mind is everything.” This is especially seen to be true in this part of the Gita. It is not action that is either the problem or the solution–it is the state of mind, including the attitude and the perspective, that determines whether an act is a hindrance or a help toward liberation. It is important for us to realize that Krishna is not advocating “good behavior” as a means to self-upliftment, but is intent on the psychological condition of the seeker as he engages in action. At all times the aspirant must strive to “see true” throughout daily life; then he can “live true.”
It is a great error to suppose that Krishna is presenting his teaching as a kind of “live right” lesson. Rather, he is speaking to “the man of meditation,” and to no one else, for without meditation the state of mind (bhava) he is advocating is impossible to attain. Further, only the man of meditation is capable of the freedom Krishna is pointing us to as the aim of karma yoga. For only the man of meditation wishes to unite with Brahman–and only meditation can bring about that union. The prerequisites
“When the heart is made pure by that yoga, when the body is obedient, when the senses are mastered, when man knows that his Atman is the Atman in all creatures, then let him act, untainted by action.”
When I was reading through the catalog of university courses before my first semester, I was continually frustrated because all the courses that really interested me had a list of prerequisite courses that had to be taken first. And many of the prerequisites did not interest me! Now I am a bit more adult and realize the need for such prerequisites in all other aspects of life, also. Childish people get an idea and think they need only jump in, thrash about, and they will achieve what they want. This almost never works. Krishna knows this, so he lists to Arjuna the things needed to really be a karma yogi. Mere aspiration accomplishes nothing of itself. “When the heart is made pure”
Good intentions are not enough. There has to be a change of heart-mind in the form of purification. The ordinary Sanskrit word for “pure” is shuddha, but the word used in this verse is vishuddha–supremely pure, totally pure. The intriguing thing is that karma yoga is the way to produce these prerequisites and yet can only be practiced with them. This is the mystery of karma yoga which is obviously itself supernatural. “When the body is obedient”
Not only the mind, but the body must be purified and mastered. Morality is of the essence, for karma yoga is not really a physical process, but a mental-spiritual procedure. Physical purity is also essential, especially in the matter of diet. “When the senses are mastered”
The senses must not just be controlled occasionally, they must be permanently mastered. This mastery will be relatively easy when the heart and body are made pure. Yet, mastery of the senses must not be assumed, for they have their own petty treacheries, for mind, body, and senses have long been in the complete control of the ego and thereby become oriented to its war against the Self and Its revelation. To conquer them and enlist them on the side of right in the form of karma yoga is no easy or simple matter. “When man knows that his Atman is the Atman in all creatures”
Brahman is the Self of all, including the individual Self. Therefore when we begin to experience the Infinite and finite Selves, we begin to intuit the unity of all things in Spirit–and therefore our unity with all sentient beings. “Then let him act, untainted by action”
When all these components are in place, karma yoga can take place, ensuring that the karma yogi shall not be ever touched by karmic reactions on any level. A bit of Prabhavananda
Swami Prabhavananda was a disciple of Swami Brahmananda, the great disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. For some years he lived in contact with the other disciples of Sri Ramakrishna as well, and also knew Sri Sarada Devi, the virgin consort of Sri Ramakrishna. With this background, compounded by his own intelligence and linguistic gifts, Prabhavanandaji imparted the supreme wisdom to Americans in a manner so easily comprehensible that its brilliance was often unperceived. But those of us whose lives were profoundly affected by his translations and spiritual writings appreciate his unique capacity for imparting in words the insights that cannot really be spoken.
As I have pointed out before, his translation of the Gita is highly interpretative, and for that reason much more valuable than a literal one, for it conveys his deep understanding of the Gita’s implications as well as its obvious wording. At the beginning of the next verse he has inserted words not found in the Sanskrit original, but which in themselves are a marvel of spiritual truth: “The illumined soul whose heart is Brahman’s heart….”
There are many ways to describe or define the state of illumination, but this surely is one of the best. An enlightened person is one whose inmost consciousness is not the same as, but which is the Consciousness of Brahman that IS Brahman. Such a person is indeed a manifestation of God, an “incarnation of God,” a true Son of God. (Even those in female bodies are Divine Sons in the symbolic sense of no longer being identified with Prakriti, the Divine Feminine Power.) When we meet such persons we are meeting God, incredible as it seems. Those of us who have met such great beings know this to be true. I will never forget listening to Sri Mohanananda Brahmachari talk, and being aware that Infinity was speaking through him. What the simple presence of Sri Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh conveyed to us is as beyond words as was his limitless consciousness, his evident omniscience. Swami Prabhavananda wrote that when he was leaving India for America one of Sri Ramakrishna’s disciples said to him respecting Swami Brahmananda: “Never forget that you have seen the Son of God. You have seen God.” The karma yogi’s perspective
How can we be capable of action that produces no effects on us? It seems impossible. But Krishna explains:
“The illumined soul whose heart is Brahman’s heart thinks always: ‘I am doing nothing.’ No matter what he sees, hears, touches, smells, eats; no matter whether he is moving, sleeping, breathing, [5:8] speaking, excreting, or grasping something with his hand, or opening his eyes, or closing his eyes: this he knows always: ‘I am not seeing, I am not hearing: it is the senses that see and hear and touch the things of the senses.’”
Again and again we encounter the profound uniqueness of the Bhagavad Gita as a scripture, even when compared to the upanishads which it greatly reflects. Here, too, we find wisdom that can be found nowhere outside the Gita. We are given a description of the continual experience-insight of the illumined individual.
The enlightened knows that any “happening” occurs only to the body, the senses, mind or intellect–that he is ever, and only, the unacting witness, the consciousness that perceives without acting in any manner whatsoever. In the Gita we find a clearly-drawn distinction between purusha and prakriti, between the conscious witness and the moving energies that are witnessed. Always the perfect karma yogi is in this state of experiential distinction–it is not a matter of intellectual conception, but of the living fact.
In the third chapter we have already found this summation:
“Every action is really performed by the gunas. Man, deluded by his egoism, thinks: ‘I am the doer.’ But he who has the true insight into the operations of the gunas and their various functions, knows that when senses attach themselves to objects, gunas are merely attaching themselves to gunas. Knowing this, he does not become attached to his actions. The illumined soul must not create confusion in the minds of the ignorant by refraining from work. The ignorant, in their delusion, identify the Atman with the gunas. They become tied to the senses and the action of the senses.” Offering
Next Krishna tells us that the enlightened live their life devotionally, saying: “He puts aside desire, offering the act to Brahman. The lotus leaf rests unwetted on water: he rests on action, untouched by action.” This is important, first for its practical application, but it also frees us from the common idea that the life of the wise, of the jnani, is somehow antiseptic in character and devoid of involvement with God in a personal manner. In the Yoga Sutras it is stated that samadhi, the entry into superconsciousness, is the result of Ishwarapranidhana–offering the life to God. Other verses from the Gita underscore this:
“Perform every action with your heart fixed on the Supreme Lord. Renounce attachment to the fruits.”
“Let the wise…show by example how work is holy when the heart of the worker is fixed on the Highest.”
“Those whose minds are fixed on me in steadfast love, worshipping me with absolute faith, I consider them to have the greater understanding of yoga.” Not I–but them
Krishna puts it all together by simply saying in conclusion:
“To the follower of the yoga of action, the body and the mind, the sense-organs and the intellect are instruments only: he knows himself other than the instrument and thus his heart grows pure.”
Self-knowledge is the key to karma yoga as well as its ultimate fruition.
Read the Bhagavad Gita online: The English text of the Gita posted on this Web Site is arranged according to the meter of the original Sanskrit text so it can be sung–as it is done every morning in our ashram and in most of the ashrams of India.
1) Bhagavad Gita 5:1 [Go back]
2) Bhagavad Gita 5:2 [Go back]
3) Bhagavad Gita 5:3 [Go back]
4) Bhagavad Gita 5:4, 5 [Go back]
5) “It is better to do your own duty [swadharma], however imperfectly, than to assume the duties of another person, however successfully. Prefer to die doing your own duty: the duty of another will bring you into great spiritual danger.” (Bhagavad Gita 3:35) [Go back]
6) Bhagavad Gita 5:6 [Go back]
7) Bhagavad Gita 5:7 [Go back]
8) Bhagavad Gita 5:8, 9 [Go back]
9) Bhagavad Gita 5:27-29 [Go back]
10) Bhagavad Gita 5:10 [Go back]
11) Bhagavad Gita 2:48 [Go back]
12) Bhagavad Gita 3:26 [Go back]
13) Bhagavad Gita 12:2 [Go back]
14) Bhagavad Gita 5:11 [Go back]
|
