THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 12 AND VERSE NUMBER 11, BHAKTI YOGA OR THE YOGA OF DEVOTION

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 12

VERSE NUMBER 11

BHAKTI YOGA OR THE YOGA OR DEVOTION:

TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION:

athai tad apy asak to ‘si kartum madyogam aasritah

sarva karma phala tyaagam tatah kuru yataatmavaan

SANSKRIT WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING IN ENGLISH:

atha = if: etat = this: api = also: asaktah = unable: asi = (thou) art: kartum = to do: mad yogam = my yoga: aasritah = refuged in: sarva karma phala tyaagam = the renunciation of the fruit of all actions: tatah = then: kuru = do: yataatmavaan = self-controlled.

TEXT IN ENGLISH:

If you are not able to do even this, then taking refuge in Me, abandon the fruits of all action with the self-subdued.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

Among virtues, unselfishness is the most paying. Godhood is the reward for complete self-abnegation. When the sadhaka established in unselfisheness meditates on God, he hastens his union with Him. But selfishness dies hard. It persists in many an unknown subtle form and causes hindrance to meditation. That hindrance has to be eliminated by Abhyaasa-yoga. Failing in that, all actions inherent in man may be performed for the glory of the Lord. But if the selfishness be so deep-rooted that a man does not desire to get out of it, or is incapable of outgrowing it, even for him there is a way out.

The earth-bound man is not prepared to abandon the fruits of his actions. Rather he he wants to gather more and yet more fruits of his work. He ought with him if he lived a life of self-control. He must be told next that more profit would come to him if he relied on God. Thirdly he must be induced into the belief that by offering a portion of his income to God and through God to His children, his income is bound to be multiplied. He learns by experience that selfishness is more paying when it is based on self-lessness. An effort at abandoning the fruits of action is to be instilled into the ordinary man gradually in this way. In course of time he comes to learn that supramundane life omes of self-denial and not of self-seeking.

SRIMAT SWAMI RAMAKRISHNA PARAAMAHAMSA AS QUOTED BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:  

You cannot remain without doing work. Your inborn nature forces you to work. Therefore let your activities be carried on well. But if they were done without attachment, they take you Godward. Be not affected by the pleasure and pain ensuing from your activities. Associate them all with Iswara. Prepare yourself in this way for union with Him.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

madyogam aasritah: taking refuge in my wondrous power—Sreedhara.

If you cannot dedicate all your works to the Divine, then do the work without desire of the fruit. Adopt the yoga of desireless action, nishkaamakarma. We can renounce all personal striving, resign ourselves completely and solely to God’s saving power, submit to self-discipline and work, abandoning all thought of reward. One must become like a child in the hands of the Divine.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:

This is the easiest path. If thou art unable to perform actions for My sake, if thou canst not even be intent on My service, if thou art, unable to practise the Bhagavata Kharmas, if thou wishest to do actions impelled by personal desires, then do thou perform them (for your sake from a sense of duty) renouncing them all in Me and also abandon the fruits of all actions, at the same time practising self-control.

In verse 8 the Yoga of meditation is prescribed for advanced students; in verse 9 the Yoga of constant practice; if one finds that, too, to be difficult, the performance of actions for the sake of the Lord alone has been taught in verse 10; and now those who cannot do even this are asked to abandon the fruits of all actions.

Madyogam: My Yoga. Surrendering all actions and their fruits to Me is My Yoga.

Yatatmavan: The man of discrimination who has controlled all the senses, who has withdrawn the senses from sound, touch, form, taste and smell.

Now the Lord eulogises the renunciation of the fruits of all actions in order to encourage the aspirants to practise the Yoga of renunciation of fruits of actions.

Comments by the blogger:

From verse 8 onwards the Great Lord makes increasing margins for the inability of the Sadhakas or Practitioners. Even a human mother would get angry sometimes. But the Sri Bhagavan never shows any impatience with His disciple, Arjuna. He gives multiple choice in the way Arjuna should behave and act to realise Him.