THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER 4
JNANA KARMA SANYASA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF RENUNCIATION OF ACTION IN KNOWLEDGE OR THE WAY OF KNOWLEDGE:
VERSE NUMBER 37
Text in Transliteration:
yathai ‘dhaamsi samiddho ‘gnir bhasmasaat kurute’ rjuna
jnaanaagnih sarva karmaani bhasmasaat kurute tathaa
Text in English:
As the blazing fire reduces fuel to ashes, O Arjuna, so does the fire of knowledge reduce all karma to ashes.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
While in ignorance the Jivatman shares in karma in all its three forms—samchita, aagamin and praarabdha. Of these three, the first remains stored up to bear fruit in the distant future and the second in the near future. The third is working itself out in the present body. The fire of knowledge destroys the first two and renders the third ineffective though operating. The Jnani pays no more heed to it than he does to the shadow of his body.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
Just as the seeds that are roasted cannot germinate, so also the actions that are burnt by the fire of knowledge cannot bear fruits, i.e., cannot bring man to this world again for the enjoyment of the fruits of his actions. This is reducing actions to ashes. The actions lose their potency as they are burnt by the fire of knowledge. When the knowledge of the Self dawns, all actions with their results are burnt by the fire of that knowledge just as fuel is burnt by the fire. When there is no agency-mentality (the idea “I do this”), when there is no desire for the fruits, action is no action at all. It has lost its potency. The fire of knowledge can burn all actions except the Prarabdha karma, or the result of past action which has brought this body into existence and which has already begun to bear fruits or produce effects.
According to some philosophers even the Prarabdha Karma is destroyed by the fire of knowledge. Sri Sankara says in his Aparokshanubhuti:
“In the passage ‘his actions are destroyed when the supreme is realised’ the Veda expressly speaks of actions (karmas) in the plural, in order to signify the destruction of even the Prarabdha.”
There are three kinds of karmas or reaction to or fructification of past actions: 1) Prarabdha, so much of past actions as has given rise to the present birth, 2) Sanchita, the balance of past actions that will give rise to future births—the storehouse of accumulated actions, and 3) Agami or Kriyamana, acts being done in the present life. If by the knowledge of the Self only the Sanchita and Agami were destroyed and not Prarabdha, the dual number would have been used and not the plural. (Sanskrit grammar has singular, dual and plural numbers.) Cf. IV. 10-19)
Comments by the blogger:
Fire of knowledge is referred to realisation of one’s self. Once Self is realised, all the things of this world fall from that man. Or it could be said, once a man becomes shorn of all actions in the sense that he does not have to indulge in any action his Self is realised by him. So it goes without saying that once self is realised he becomes free of all actions whatsoever. Self-knowledge is likened to fire and the karmas or actions and their effect are likened to seeds. Seeds will sprout and become plants if watered by desire. But incinerated seeds cannot sprout.
Here what is important is to note the differentiation of karmas. This is another contribution to the world by the Vedic sages. Actions are of three kinds: one is sanchita karma. The second is agami karma and the third is prarabdha karma. The sum of karmic effect or effect of actions in the immediate past life is Prarabdha. After death we, every one of us, go to different planes of existence. And the majority of us should go through heavenly enjoyments for the good actions we indulged in before death. Those performing latcharchana or rendering the names of the Lord ten million times by the priests in a fire sacrifice will enjoy heaven for that. The general do-gooders of the world will go through heavenly enjoyments. When that is over they must return back here. Even though this is explicitly told in the Scriptures, people queue up to enrol their names to render latcharchana. Their idea of heaven is a permanent enjoyment without rebirth. It is possible only when knowledge of Self is attained on the earth’s plane. For which the sacrifices mentioned in verses 25 to 30 of this chapter must be carried out. Any one of the listed sacrifice will do.
So when, in ordinary cases, the heavenly time is over souls come back to the earthly plane as embodied in human form or other form. In human forms, the birth, parentage, spouse and siblings, friends and other things are pre-ordained according as our past karmic effect or effect of actions. The karmas or actions responsible for the present birth is called Prarabdha Karma. This is our fate. Apart from the heavenly enjoyments, we have to work out the effect of the past actions in the previous birth. We cannot escape this. This is the case even with the realised souls. Sri Ramakrishna suffered a cancerous wart on his hand which gave mighty pain. But when his disciples were worried about this, he would say that there was two persons in his body. One, the sthula or gross body suffers. But the real and inner body or soul did not undergo any pain. This only shows, even great realised souls should suffer the good and bad effect of their Prarabdha Karma even after their full realisation of their soul.
Agama karmas are ones that give immediate effect in case of some simple transgressions of do’s and don’ts. They will give effect in the present birth itself. And the remaining portions of Agami karma which we earn anew in the present birth will be added to the sanchita karma.
Sanchita karma is a storehouse of all the Karmas and the effect of all the actions we haven’t worked out till now. Whenever we take new birth, some portions of these karmas will be added to the Prarabdha karma which determines our present birth.
Now what the Lord of Gita says is that all the Karmas or actions will be pour into the fire of knowledge as fuel and they get burnt once and for all. And the realised souls would go up, after death of their bodies, to mingle with the Lord Vishnu. This is the philosophy of Adhvaitha or Monism. Others have differing viewpoints about the state of the realised souls after they have shed their mortal and gross bodies! We have seen them already.
But all of the differing Hindu philosophers, not excluding Gautama, the Buddha, that the realised souls never return back to the earthly plane!
As for you and me who must shed at some time this body without realising the soul, it should be borne in mind that great yogis are not manufactured in some Brahmic factory. They have had their umpteen chances to make good and bad through countless births and they attained the soul-realisation by gradation.
So we must, without losing heart, indulge in as many good actions as possible, while loving the entire humanity, for they are bearer of God inside of themselves. They might not know or aware of this singular fact. Some of them might give intolerable pain for us. These are no excuses. Those who know that all here scintillates with God, both sentient and insentient, we are bound to love all as though they are our own kith and kin and treat them as such! By gradation we will become greater devotees and will indulge in more good than bad. And this will obtain us very good births. Which will enable us to do even greater achievements towards soul realisation.
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