THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER TWO
SAMKHYA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF KNOWLEDGE
VERSE NUMBER 49
Text in Transliteration:
daarena hy avaram karma buddhiyogaad dhanamjaya
buddhau saranam anviccha krpanaah phalahetavah
Text in English:
Motivated karma is, O Dhananjaya, far inferior to that
performed in the equanimity of mind; take refuge in the evenness of he mind;
wretched are the result seekers.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
A porter carries the luggage of a railway passenger from one
platform to another. A co-passenger also carries for him one or two bundles of
his, with a helpful attitude. Though the action is the same for the porter and
the co-passenger their attitudes differ widely. The one works for a wage and
the other for love. The wage-earner remains a cooly while the other evolves in
mind. The majority in the world work like the wage-earner and make themselves wretched.
But a few work for duty’s sake expecting nothing in return. They ever assume
the role of a giver and never that of a grabber. The more the water from a well
is bailed out, the more fresh water sprouts in it. The more a man acts for duty’s
sake seeking nothing in return, the more he grows in yoga.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
Action done with evenness of min is yoga of wisdom. The yogi
who is established in the yoga of wisdom is not affected by success or failure.
He does not seek fruits of his actions. He has poised reason. His reason is
rooted in the Self. Action performed by one who expects fruits for his actions,
is far inferior to the yoga of wisdom wherein the seeker does not seek fruits;
because the former leads to bondage and is the cause of birth and death.
Comments by the blogger:
In both the verses 48 and 49 the Lord addresses Arjuna as
Dananjaya or conqueror of wealth. There is a marked reason for it. The Lord
exhorts continuous action in both the verses, but they should not be motivated
by expectation of fruits thereof. Arjuna has already indulged in such actions. He
conquered many small kings and plunder the locked up treasure and used them for
the common wheel. So, Arjuna is not a stranger to such buddhi yoga or action of
wisdom or wisdom in action. So only, in both verses the Lord makes him remember
Arjuna’s ability and worth. He has the capacity to and spiritual calibre to
indulge in such yoga.
Ok, now, to the mundane question: can’t a guy work honestly
for his and his family’s sustenance? Is it a sin? Should one always look out
for others? Can every body act and live like Florence Nightingale, Mother
Teresa and Mahatma Gandhi?
Nope! Never is the answer.
But the scheme of the universe is that one need not one’s
all wakeful time in self aggrandizement and can easily live like a sparrow. The
sparrow never ploughs, never sows seeds, never waters, never wheedles and yet
it gets it’s share of food for self and the mate and the chicks. This is the
law of the universe. We need not try to live like the corporate barons and the
cine stars. But the King Janaka lived a renounced life. A butcher could live
selfless life and lead a spiritual life. The universe is wired much as our
body. Not one individual cell of our body is extraneous to it. The blood flows
for the benefit of all the individual organs, limbs and tissues and cells. The whole
universe is wired that way. Whether we agree or not we derive greater piece of
mind and inner happiness when we take time to work for others. That kind of
happiness is just a drop in the ocean of ‘ananda’ or immortal and everlasting happiness
one derives by living solely for others like the above said great souls. By gradation
we are moving toward that state of existence only. Even selfish action is
better than non-action, according to the previous verse. But any action stained
with selfishness is limited in its power to sustain us and lead us toward our
salvation.
So, though we might not live like a Mahatma Gandhi, we might
try to help as often as we can toward the common wheel. A doctor can easily
prosper by leading his life as the servant of humanity at the same time earn
wealth. But the limited amount of wealth will be worth every penny in sterling
pound. But even at this stage, the same doctor must come back to this earth
after his death to give to the society much more than he had given at the last
innings.
A lawyer could lead a service-minded life and at the same
time earn moderately and live peacefully and happily. An engineer build for
love and affection, and in the same breath, earn money. That would be worth in
tons of gold in heaven. But he too must come back to this earth after spending much
time in heaven to pick up the thread of selfless service.
This is what great commentators like Swami Chidbhavananda
mean that evolution on physical plane might have come to an end, but man should
continue to evolve in his mind and until the complete salvation is attained,
the individual human beings continue to evolve in mind through thousands of
rebirths.
This idea of rebirth is unique to the Hinduism. This is the
scheme of the universe. God is full of kindness. We will not give just one chance
to our children to prove their worth in their play. Then how could God, who is
full of compassion, give us just one innings and expect us to evolve completely,
or be damened in Hell for ever. No, God gives us the choice to do this way or
that way and the number of rebirth is solely in our hands. Having tossed us in
the SAMSAARA He stands aside and looks
on, and with the choice we play our life, and the Lord just looks on, and if we
pray, He gives us what we deserve. Even for the atheists and agnostics the
Nature and this Universe has been wired in such a way, that if we seek we will
attain our seeking. But devotion comes easily and when a devout person seeks,
his seeking gets reinforced by the Nature or prakrity according to the scheme
of this universe. The prayer is nothing but a powerful thought. Any powerful
thought, even when not direct at our Lord, is capable of fetching the results.
But living for the others solely comes to us as a way of
life at some point of time in the millennial management of the Universe by the
Lord. And all of us, willy-nilly, move towards that state of consciousness
only. The question is when we will, at which number of re-birth, we will, individually
evolve into such persons.
So it is only a question of millennial time!
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