THE HOLY YOGA
CHAPTER THREE
KARMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF ACTION
VERSE NUMBER 4
Text in Transliteration:
na karmanaam anaarambhan naiskrmyam puruso ‘snute
na cha samnyasanaad eva sidhhim samdhigacchati
Text in English:
Man gains not actionlessness by abstaining from activity,
nor does he rise to perfection by mere renunciation.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
The little ones
seeking education take to schooling. But it is no intention of theirs to stick
lifelong to educational institutions. They are to pass out after successfully
completing the courses of study. It avails them nothing to come out of the
school abandoning the studies. The training that the Jivatman gets in the school of Nature is similar to this.
Naishkarmyam and siddhi connote the same: for , the state
of perfection is that in which all activities are transcended. A fully ripe
fruit may be said to have reached the state of perfection. Its taking form from
the flower, its development, growth and maturity are all different stages of
its activity, leading to actionlessness in perfect fruition. The fully ripe
fruit severs its connection with the tree. But if it is plucked out before
ripening its fulfilment remains incomplete.
Man’s spiritual
life or his progress towards sreyas is
akin to this. As the tender fruit grows
receiving sustenance from the tree, so man marches towards perfection in and
through the discharging of the duty fallen to his lot. He derives no benefit by
violently snatching himself away from duty. Desirless action is the sure means
to reach actionlessness.
SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
The goal in life of
man is to merge in godhood. Make a reminder knot of this fact in a corner of
your scarf and then plunge in the discharge of your duties.
COMMENTARY OF DR. S. RADHAKRISHNAN:
Naishkarmya is the
state where one is unaffected by work. The natural; law is that we are bound by
the results of our actions. Every action has its natural reaction and so is a
source of bondage committing the soul to the world of becoming and preventing
its union with the Supreme through the transcendence of the world. What is
demanded is not renunciation of works, but renunciation of selfish desire.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
Actionlessness (Naishkarmyam)
and perfection (siddhi) are
synonymous. The sage who has attained to perfection or reached the state of
actionlessness rests in his own essential nature as Existence-knowledge-Bliss
Absolute (Satchidananada Svarupa). He has neither necessity nor desire for action
as a means to an end. He has perfect satisfaction in the Self.
One attains to the state of actionlessness by gaining the
knowledge of the Self. If a man simply sits quiet by abandoning action you
cannot say that he has attained to the state of actionlessness. His mind will
be planning, scheming and speculating. Thought is real action. The sage who is
free from affirmative thoughts, wishes, and likes and dislikes, who has the
knowledge of the Self can be said to have attained to the state of
actionlessness.
No one can reach perfection or freedom from action or
knowledge of the Self by mere renunciation or by simply giving up activities
without possessing the Self. (Cf/ XVIII. 49)
Comments of the blogger:
Non-performance of actions means non-performance of
self-ordained duties or swadharma and
reounciation means giving up of all actions while being in perfect possession
of one’s self. It will be known to our private selves if we are perfect souls
or in need of perfection. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred we find ourselves
in varying stages of ripening. No man is the same in his inward culture as the
other, even as no man’s biometric signature is the same as the other ones. Among
the five pandava kings there is no similarity in the inward culture. Yudhishtra’s
perfection is not the same as that of others of his brothers, Arjuna too is in
a particular stage of perfection or ripening. But has not attained the fullness
as yet. He needs to wage this righteous war as becoming of an accomplished
warrior or kshatria. But he asks for
renouncing the world and live on beggars bread even! That is the accomplished
state of a great master. Sanyasihood is not a matter of choice as it is a
matter of understanding. Arjuna has to do a lots of things, indulge in a
teeming number of activities here in this incarnation itself, he cannot escape
them simply because they are not palatable to the understanding of his heart!
Actionlessness is not a state of non-being, a being at a
superconscious level. That has only been revealed to him through the samkhya yoga, but that state is equal to
a book yogi who has understood about yoga and samkhyam through reading
commentaries by Acharyas or great commentary writers and Teachers. But Arjuna needs to go through life by duly
carrying out his duties before attaining that coveted state of actionlessness
and siddhi.
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