VERSE NUMBER 31 OF KARMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF ACTION OR THE METHOD OF ACTION

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER THREE

KARMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF ACTION OR THE METHOD OF ACTION

VERSE NUMBER 31

Text in Transliteration:

ye me matam idam nityam anutishthanti maanavaah

sraddhaavanto ‘nasooyanto mucyante e ‘pi karmabhih

Text in English:

Those who ever abide in this teaching of Mine, full of sraddha and free from cavilling, they too are released from actions.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

 A wayfarer is unable to find out, by himself the intricate path to his destination. But he places faith on those who go that way and follow their instructions. By this means he is sure to achive the end. A pilgrim in the path of spirituality is of mediocreif he with sraddha entrusts himelf to the adepts in yoga. Even he gets freed from the shackles of karma.

“sraddha” is a state of mind conducive to all round advancement. Ardently applying oneself to an undertaking, to be meek and accommodative with the others, placing faith in fellow beings—these are all characteristics of “sraddha.” To be submissive to the preceptor is the mark of having “srddha” in him. Earnestly digesting the understandable portions in the Bhagavad Gita and hoping that the abstruse portions will soon become lucid—this is placing sraddha in this great book.

It is cavilling if one becomes intolerant of others obtaining what is not obtained by oneself. Merits in one, if any, get melted away if one is given to cavilling. Conversely, advancement is ensured for one who delights in the prosperity of others.

SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

Haughty people there are who deride the the ignorance, credulity and superstion in others. They are proud of their own attainments. Such people hardly ever make any progress in spirituality. On the other hand, the humble and the meek who are ever dependent on the Lord, get over their effects, if any, very soon. The gracious Lord sees to it that His erring devotees come round soon.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

Sraddha is a mental attitude. It means faith. It is faith in one’s own Self, in the scriptures and in the teachings of the spiritual preceptor. It is a compound of the higher emotion of faith, reverence and humility.

Comments by the blogger:

When reading through the Gita we will surely come across several passages which will run against our cherished notions and desires. Can’t one live for one? Should we simply prostrate at His feet and surrender everything? HE says his spirit permeates the entire universe, how about the cooum river in Chennai and ghettos of Calcutta? Is he there too?

We will find all our cherished notions and ambitions trounced by the Lord. Several people have left reading the Holy Gita in the midway because it teaches a way of life fit only to hermits!

Shraddha is unflinching faith in God and His teachings.

We as human beings know only one thing and that is our earth, but compared to the universe, both in size and magnitude it is not even an iota of dust particle. But the Lord inheres in all of us and He alone knows what is best for us. This faith and conviction also is shraddha. Great many people have achived great many things simply through their shraddha.

Why not we too?

There is both good and bad in this world. How could God inhere in the bad? It is easy to answer. All this has been brought into existence only by Him, and apart from his illusion nothing is there. So we should have faith in the Lord. And this world has been purposely made incomplete and many here are unjustifiable and ugly. That is why Lord Shiva has been adorned with the comely moon as well as the hissing cobra. Both good and bad have been designedly brought into existence here. Our purpose of life is not finding justice to this world, but have faith, or shraddha in the wisdom of the overmastering supercosmic intelligent person and Being and adhere to Gita’s teaching with total faith and conviction.

  

VERSE NUMBER 30 OF KARMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF ACTION OR THE METHOD OF ACTION

HOLY GITA

CHAPTER THREE

KARMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF ACTION OR THE METHOD OF ACTION

VERSE NUMBER 30

Text in Transliteration:

mayi sarvaani karmaani samnyasyaa ‘dhyaatmachetasaa

niraaseer nirmamo bhootvaa yudhyasva vigatajvararah

Text in English:

Surrendering all actions to Me, with your thoughts resting on Self, freed from hope and selfishness and cured of mental fever, engage in battle.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

The more one attunes one’s mind to truth, the more one gains in equilibrium. The truth is, the Lord is the invisible propeller of all actions in the universe. He is the true owner of everything sentient and insentient. Man’s prerogative is to know this truth and adjust his life activities accordingly. His mental fever gets pacified in that way. Further efficiency in the execution of duty increases in him.

SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

Iswara, the Lord of the universe smiles on two derisory occasions. When the son is sinking on his death bed, the doctor assures the desponding mother, Don’t be aftraid; I’m here to save your son.” This is the first occasion on which God is moved to smile. Two borthers survey and share a land saying, “That portion is yours and this mine.” This is the second occasion on which the Lord smiles.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

By self-surrender to the Lord who presides over tcosmic existence, and activity, we must engage in work. “Thy will be done” is to be our attitude in all work. We must do the work with the sense that we are the sevants of the Lord. See XVIII, 59—60 and 66.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

Surrender all the actions to Me with the thought, “I perform all actions for the sake of the Lord.”

Fever means grief or sorrow. (Cf. V.10; XVIII.66)

Comments by the blogger:

Our ego sense is a stalwart one.  It is not easy to surrender all in front of the Lord. If that be so, surrendering all actions to the Lord is so much more impossible. Because we cannot surrender the most dearly lovable actions like eating, drinking, smoking and making love and such other daily actions to the Lord! This is in case of good folks. And bad folks indulge in all sorts of wicked things. So surrendering our actions and become Lord’s man/woman is not so very easy. That is the case of our ego. The camel may enter the hole of the needle but not our ego! We are fond of doing actions for ourselves. We want to enjoy this world first hand and for our own selves.

And some people, who are mainly preponderatingly Rajasic in guna think that even devotion is an evidence of weakness! They say we must be master of our own actions. And I am responsible for my actions. This tendency is there especially while the blood is young and thick, but the general foolishness that it is a weakness to have or develop devotion to the Lord persists till their last breath. How nice it would be if we can make them see and realize that far from being a weak streak in our mental make up, having unflinching faith in God is a great act of inner strength! But can we unbend and straighten the dog’s tail? Such people feel embarrassed if some devoty sing the glory of God in their presence! Such is their sense of individuality!

But blessed indeed are they who have the strength to have a little faith in the Maker. But they are king among us who can surrender themselves, surrender their all to the Lord’s wishes and direction!

The mental fever referred to Arjuna can be re-read in verses 28 till the end of the First Chapter and a few more in the Second Chapter.

VERSE NUMBER 29 OF KARMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF ACTION OR THE METHOD OF ACTION

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER THREE

KARMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF ACTION OR THE METHOD OF ACTION

VERSE NUMBER 29

Text in Transliteration:

prakrter guna sammoodhaah sajjante guna karmasu

taan akrtsnavido mandaan krtsnavin na vicaalayet

Text in English:

Those deluded by the Gunas of Prakriti get attached to the funtiouns of the Gunas. The man of perfect knowledge should not unsettle the mediocre whose knowledge is imperfect.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

No differentiation can be made between the skin and pulp in a tender fruit. It is only after it matures and ripes that this difference comes about. Even so the mediocre make no distinction between the action-fabricated Prakriti and the actionless Atman. They are therefore entangled in karma. Attempt at discrimination between Atma and Prakriti will only lead to confusion of understanding. There is no harm in their perfoming their duties with attachment. They should therefore be encouraged to be more and more active. Work with attachment has its place in the evolution of man.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNA:

We should not disturb those who act under the impulsion of nature. They should be slowly delivered from the false identitification of the self with the ego subject to nature. The true self is the divine, eternally free and self-aware. The false self is the ego which is a part nature, which reflects the workings of prakriti. Here the true self, on the Samkhya analysis, is described as inactive, while prakriti is active and when purusha identifies itself with the activity of prakriti, the sense of active personality is produed. The Gita does not support the Samkhya view of the withdrawal of purusha from prakriti by complete inaction. Discernment does not imply inaction but it involves action done in a way that does not hinder the attainment of release. If we realize that the atman or the ture self is the detached witness, serene and impartial, no action binds us, though we engage in the great battle against imperfection and sorrow and work for world solidarity.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

The ignorant people do action with the expectation of fruits. The wise people who have the knowledge of the Self should not distract the faith or conviction or belief of such ignorant persons. If they unsettle their minds they will give up action and become victims of inertia. They will lead an idle life. They should be encouraged by the wise to do actions of the sakama type ( actions for the sake of their fruits) in the beginning. The wise ones should turn the minds of the ignorant by giving them gradual instructions on Karma Yoga ( yoga of Selfless, desireless action) and its benefits, viz., purification of the heart that leads to the attainment of Self-realisation.

Comments by the blogger:

Most of us belong to the second category and are attached to the actions for the fruits thereof. I am one such an imperfected person. The advice here given by the Lord would not take in as perfect even the most eligible of students, Arjuna! So nobody should fall in this trap and consider themselves as perfected souls. There is not even one perfected soul to be found among a crore people. so we should not mistake the Lord speak to us. He speaks, on the contrary, the really perfected souls like Sri Ramakrishna, his chela, Swami Vivekananda, Swamis like chidbhavananda and Sivanananda. Others are imperfect in their own way.

VERSE NUMBER 28 OF KARMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF ACTION OR THE METHOD OF ACTION

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER THREE

KARMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF ACTION OR THE METHOED OF ACTION

VERSE NUMBER 28

Text in Transliteration:

Tattvavit tu mahaabaaho gunakarma vibhaagayoh

Gunaa runeshu vartanta iti matvaa na sajjate

Text in English:

But, O mighty-armed, the one intuitive into the nature of Guna and karma knows that Gunas as senses merely abide with Gunas as objects, and does not become entangled.

COMMENTARY BY CHIDBHAVANANDA:

 There is a kinship between the senses and their respective ohjects. They are both constituted of the same elements and of the same Gunas. The element fire for example has its own combination of Gunas. Emitting ligh is characteristic of fire. The combination of Gunas in fire takes one form as the sense of sight and another form as the objct of sight. Because of the sameness of nature in both of them sense experience becomes possible. And this is the fact in regard t all the five senses. Atman which is consciousness, remains unaffected by the sensation, even as Ajasa is substratum to the dashing couds. The sage who realises this truth is free from entanglement.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S. RADHAKRISHNAN:

Prakrti and its modes represent the limits of human freedom such as the force of heredity and the pressure of environment. The empirical self is the product of works even as the whole cosmic process is the result of the operation of causes.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

He who knows the truth that the Self is entirely distinct from the three Gunas and actions does not become attached to the actions. He who knows the truth about the classification of the Gunas and the respective functions understands that the qualities as sense-organs move amidst the qualitites as sense –objectes. Therefore he is not attached to the actions. He knows, “I am Akarta—I am not the doer.”

Comments by the blogger:

What is in the ‘Anta’ or the Univers is in the ‘Pinta’, or the human body. The Anta or the Universe is made of triguna, namely, Sattvic, Rajasic and Tamasic. These three gunas in the Anta or the Universe are in perfect equilibrium. That was well before the Big Bang. And at that time there was no creation. And the universe was in perfect internal alignment with three gunas. There was one single huge planet and the rest was the infinite sky. At that time there was perfect equilibrium. There was no creation. But the object of this perfect co-ordination between the single planet and the vast sky with the three gunas was to move toward Creation and disruption in the perfect equilibrium in the three gunas. That objective had to be brought to bear by the Big Bang. We should never forget that the  Big Bang was to facilitate creation and consummation of God’s purpose for this universe. The one and single planet was the representative of the ‘prana’ or shakti and the rest was the infinitely extending sky. The Big Bang was as pre-ordained as the creation of organic being. We should never forget this. The Big Bang  was not an accident or coincidental thing. Silly it would be to think so. After the big bang the one planet of hard palpable and tangible thing broke, and that was the first atomic fission. For the entire and huge and single planet just one atom had to be split and that had probably happened because of the internal creative pressure somewhere inside the huge single planet, and with the result of the big bang the whole universe, not necessarily as we see it tody, came into being. (for it should have taken million of trillion light years for the Milky Way and other planatory configuration elsewhere to have happened). Nothing was without the purpose. And the purpose was creation of the single cell organism. The Big-Bang itself was a God-Pre-Ordained event. Even before that the single planet in the vast vacuous sky was scintillating with the universal and cosmic intelligence along with the sky. The Big Bang itself might have been cause by the force exerted by the vacuous and infinite sky on the single planet continuously. At some pre-ordained time the three gunas existing inside of the single planet and the vast sky outside might have become of the single palpitating value and vibration. When the said two vibrations met for a split second, (there was time before the Big Bang for the huge planet was a cauldron and it emitted light continuously so the there was only day and no night!) there was atomic fission brought to bear inside, in the middle of the of huge single globe or planet which was in elliptical in form. The sky also should be elliptical or oval in size like everything here in being and non-being. We have nine elliptical holes or nine oval-sized holes in the body, note the incidence and all the planets are elliptical or oval in size. Man has nipples though he has no use for them, and it was because of the proximity he had had for nine months to female organism, His mother, who has big half-oval sized breasts. If the two breasts were to be cut at the base and joined end to end so that the cut part would become into contact, there would be a perfect one single OVAL SIZED breast. ) Before the big bang the single and enormous planet was like the yoni or the vagina of the creative Goddess or Force, and the nuclear fission that had taken place inside of the elliptical and single planet was an act of vast non acting sky, Lord Shiva, and the Shakti or the great single elliptical vagina or yoni of the planet, was the first love making! The sky has energy and it has resent quantified. But it remains non acting.

Just imagine the underwater ship or submarine (nuclear or otherwise) and the thickness of it’s steel wall determine the maximum deapth it can attain in the mighty ocean. Because there is water body’s pressure on the body of the underwater ship’s body and if the ship dives more than it’s steel wall could withstand, then the Oceanic waters’ pressure would breake it like it were just a co-conut shell!

The same is the case with the singe planet, a vast yoni or cauldron or Sri Dhevi and the vast almost infinite sky all around it and the energetic pressure it had been continuously brought to bear on the planet. The love making was the longest one taking million of trillion years and the ecstatic moment occurred when the vibrating number of the yoni or the planet and the sky or Lord Shiva came to a meeting point. When the atomic vibrating number co-incided for that split second there was a mighty fission we call the Big Bang! It was the Brahmic extacy enacted in honour of Creation. (we have already seen one Brhamic bliss includes..... and the Big Bang was just an infinitesimal quality and quantity of that Brahmic Bliss!

After the Big Bang other elements like gas, water and earth were made as the children in honour of that cosmic coitus!

Now, after the Big Bang several thousands of millions suns were created out of the centripetal force with which the fissiparus parts as small as the earth and the moon. Several millions or trillon parts are still travelling, at the speed of ligh, away from our own sun from the moment of the Big Bang! Such the the volume of the elyptical sky!

After the Big Bang seasons came into being as the offshoot of the day and night owing to the planets circling our sun. Thus the night was created by light by default after the Bang. The darkness has it’s own power and value. For it acts upon our Tamasic tendency and brings sleep having set our biological clock. And dream and dreamless sleep are the products of the night. And we should give respect and worship as much to the night as the daylight!

When the Big Bang occurred, several million suns were born and around them several planets were made to travel in an elypticl yonic way! And there was torrid places on the earth as well as snow clad mountains. Some times heavy heavenly objects from outside the eleptical circle came crashing toward the earth and banged on such snow clad mountains and becase of the impact and simultaneous heat and the resultant chemical reaction in the frozen water in the iceberg single cell organisms came into existence.

These single cell organisms had the cosmic intelligence besides partaking of the cosmic body which is the conglomeration of the Five Primal Elements like, earth, water, air, fire and the sky. Atom is nothing but the shakti, infinitesimally small point of shakti encapsulated by the sky.

Thus what is there in the ‘Anta’ or the Universe or cosmos, is there in the ‘Pinta’ or animal body, including human beings’.

The Universe has the three primal Gunas, Tamasic, Sattvic and Rajasic and we also have them. So these Gunas are at once senses and sense objects. It is the sense in us goes out to be among the sense objects. So all the actions are wrought out by the Universe through us. This is what is mentioned in verse number 27 also. But the Nirguna Braman or fondly called by the Vedhopanishadic saints and sages as ‘Turiyam’ have these senses and thus no proclivity to have attraction for the sense objects. We are indeed single light point of that Turiam, the Nirguna Brahman. That is what our Self is. But we are robed of our knowledge of this fact and thus we always want to indulge in sense pleasures. Once that is known and intuited, then the compulsion to indulge in the sense objects voluntarily goes out, but we eat ,drink and sleep and do other self ordained actions knowing fully our senses alone go to inhere in the midst of the sense objects and we are pure Self! The moment this happens the light of knowledge dawns on us.

But till then we have to do our pre-ordained duties or swadharma, and Arjuna’s swadharma as an incomparable warrior is to give battle to his enemies. We have to turn the bondage giving actions into bondage annihilating or killing actions. And this can be done only by carrying duly our swadharmic actions without no personal stake in them. Then, by gradation the pull of illusion exerted by mother Nature on us would fall asunder by gradation and we would get to seeing our true Self which is contemperoneous with the TURIYAM , THE NIRGUNA BRAHMAN!

VERSE NUMBER 27 OF KARMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF ACTION OR THE METHOD OF ACTION

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER THREE

KARMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF ACTION OR THE METHOD OF ACTION

VERSE NUMBER 27

Text in Transliteration:

prakrteh kriyamaanaani gunaih karmaani sarvasah

ahamkaara vimoodhaatmaa kartaa ‘ham iti manyate

Text in English:

The Gunas of Prakriti perform all karma. With the understanding clouded by egoism, man thinks, “I am the doer.”

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANANDA:

Karma is inherenet in Nature which is constituted of the three Gunas—Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. But there is no karma whatsoever in Atman. The ignorant man is incapable of distinguishing between the action-ridden Nature and the actionless Self.

It is egoism to identify the Self with the non-Self. Twop trains stand side by side in a  railway station. A passenger in one train fixes his gaze on the other. When the other train moves the man fancies that his own vehicle moves. Lidewise the mobility of Prakriti is imposed on the immobile Atman. Egoism is brought about by mistaking Prakriti for Atman. Bondage persists as long as egoism lasts. The egoistic man thinks of himself as the doer while actually he is not. Egoism and agency are the outcome oc ignorance.

SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

When an onion is peeled continually all skin goes away and no substance is left. Similarly on analysing the ego it is found to be no entity.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

prakrteh: pradhaana of the Samkhya. It is the power of maayaa or the power of the Supreme God.

The deluded soul attributes the acts of prakrti to itself.

There are different planes of our conscious existence and the self which becomes the ego attributes to itself the agency for actions forgetting the determinism of nature. According to the Gita, when the ego soul is entirely subject to nature, it does not act freely. Body, life and mind belong to the side of the environment.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

Prakriti or pradhana or Nature is that state in which the three Gunas, viz,. Sattva, Rajas and Tamas exist in a state of equilibrium. When this equllibrium is disturbed, creation begins; body, senses, min, etc., are formed. The man who is deluded by egoism identifies the Self with the body, mind, the life force and the senses and ascribes to the Self all the attributes of the body and the senses. He therefore, thinks through ignorance, “I am the doer”. In reality the Gunas of Nature perform all actions.

Comments by the blogger:

It is very difficult to accept for us all that it is Nature that acts through us and we, in our ignorance, think it is we who act.

The I ness of the aspect of the mind is called ahankara or Ego. Like the peeling of the onion, if we continue to dismember a person and ask if you are this hand or this legs of this trunk or this mouth or these earas or this head, till life force is there and understanding is possible, that man would look at the dismembered part and stoutly say this hand or leg or trunk or mouth or ear or any other part is not ME. Then we need not put any question. Because there is something inside of him, his Self, that is him or he. Out of God’s ignorance man thinks his body his Self , or mistakes his body for his Self. Body can never be the self.

Then, if all the actions are wrought by Nature or Prakriti or Samkhya’s Pradhana , then why should the Lord impose the war on Arjuna. There is no need for Arjuna, who does not want to kill his kinsmen and great folks worthy of his unstinted worship, to slay them. Is God a masochist or a cynic?

How could God that be?

The whole world is Ishwara’s body and every action takes place in the body and mind because of the proximity of the Self and outside, every action of the planet’s planned motions and movements and changing seasons occurs because of the proximity of the Universal Soul. It is not as though the inanimate is of less value. God permeates the whole universe in which we are.

God says the Dhruyodhnadhis or the Kauravas are already dead and wants Arjuna just His agent of action. Moreover in the process, Arjuna’s swadharma gets fulfilled. Otherwise God does not need Man for conducting this Universe.

  

VERSE 26 OF KARMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF ACTION OR THE METHOD OF WORK

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER THREE

KARMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OR ACTION OR THE METHOD OF ACTION

VERSE NUMBER 26

Text in Transliteration:

na buddhi bhedam janayed ajnaanaam karma sanginaam

josayet sarva karmaani vidvaan yuktah samaacharan

Text in English:

Let not the wise man unsettle the mind of ignorant people attached to karma. By doing persistently and precisely let the wise induce the others in all activities.

COMMENTARY BY CHIDBHAVANANDA:

Doing duty for duty’s sake devoid of desire, is an exaled stated given to the enlightened only. This philosopby of action is too high for the common man to understand. He eighther works for results or wants to avoid exertion on one plea or another. To work for results is far superior to being given to laziness born of inertia. The indolent man must be roused to ambitions and exertion leading to pleasures and prosperity. Teaching disinterested service to him will unsettle his understanding. Then there is the man who suffers from philosophical indigestion. He is given to an escape-mentality from actions on the ground that they are all wrought with pain and evil. His creed is to pose quietism which is a pitfall in Vedanta. Care should be taken that no confusion is created in the minds of the indolent and the ignorant. Himself active, the elightened man should induce all toward intense activity.                                                         

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

na buddhibhedam janayet: let him not unsettle the minds. Do not weaken religious devotion of any kind. The elements of duty, sacrifice and love seem to be the foundation of every religion. In the lower forms, they may be barely discernible to the principles which they uphold. These symbols are vital to those who believe in them. They become intolerable only if they are imposed on those who believe in them. They become intolerable only if they are imposed on those who cannot accept them and when they are suggested to be absolute and final forms of human thought. The absolute character of theological doctrine is incompatible with the mysterious character of religious truth. Faith is wider than belief. Again, if we know the better and do not adopt it, then we commit a wrong.

When the illiterate bow down to forces of nature, we know that they are bowing to the wrong thing and they are blind to the larger unity of Godhead. And yet they bow to something which is not their little self. Even crude views possess someting by which men and women who want to live rightly are helped to do so. Traditinal forms charged with historical association and the vehicles of unspoken convictions, though they may not be well understood. The quality of mind and not the object determines whether the source is religeous or not. It is true that every one shoul reach the highest level but this can be attained generally by slow steps and not by sudden jumps. Besieds our views of religion are not chosen by us. They are determined by our ancestry, upbringring and general environment. We should not speak contemptuously of them. We must approach the followers of simple faiths with reverence and not heedlessly disturb them, for the simple faiths have practical value and spiritual appeal. Modern anthropologists advise us that we should not, in our anexiety to “uplift” the aborigines, deprive them of their innocent joys, their song and dances, their feasts and festivals. Whatever we should like to do for them, we should do with love and reverence. We must use their restricted apprehensions as steps to the larger vision.

Adopting the view that we should not throw out dirty water until we get in fresh, the Hindu pantheon has accommodated divinities worshipped by the different groups, those of the sky and the sea, the stream and the grove, the legendeary figures of the distant past and the tutelary gods and goddesses of villages. In its anxiety to lose nothing in the march of ages, to harmonize every sincere conviction without renouncing any, it has becoe an immense synthesis combining within itself varied elements and motives. It is not surprising that religion is full of superstions, dark and primitive.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

An ignorant man says to himself, “I shall do this action and thereby enjoy its fruit”. A wise man should not usettle his belief. On the contrary he himself should set an example by performing his duties diligently but without attachment. The wise man should also persuade the ignorant never to neglect their duties. If need be, he should place before them in vivid colours the happiness they would enjoy here and hereafter by discharging such duties. When their hearts get purified in course of time, the wise man could sow the seeds of karma yoga (selfless service without desire) in them.

Comments of the blogger:

Unsettling in a sin. Nothing short of it.

There is a story about it. In an island three simpleminded Christian souls were living. Daily they prayed. But simple was the prayer. Their prayer consisted of, “O God, you are three, we are three. Save us!” upart from that there was no ceremony no rits and no hymns. Prayer itself was faulty, in the sens it was in according to the way shown in the Holy Bible.

This distressed a priest living in the nearby island peopled by many and there were proper churches for prayer and sabattiacal observances. So in order to “uplift and save the souls of the three ignorant me, the priest took upon himself the orduous jorney to that particular one to teach them proper way of praying to the Lord. The three simple souls were much stung with remors that they had lived so far without knowing the Lords prayer. They egerly memerized the prayer taught by the priest and at the end of the day, blessing them, the priest embarked on his backward journey. When he had gone half way on the ocean in his small craft with satisfaction of having redeamed three souls for the Lord, the three simple souls ran on water to close the gap and when they arrived at the craft of the flabbergasted priest and asked to be retaught the Lord’s Prayer as they had completely forgotten them!

The much chastened priest said, “No my dear three, you are nearer the Lord than me. So continue with your prayer for nothing wrong in it!

Another thing is elsewhere Lord Krishna say in Gita itself, that people come to him from different directions. And in another context, in the Gita Sri Krishna says all persons praying to any god ultimately come only to Him!

When such is the case we shouldn’t take upon ourselves in unsettling the unintiateds’ faith. It is a great sin. And a disservice to Lord. All worshippers would by gradation come to chanting the Lord Krishna’ name in the end. The wise people, if at all want to teach them, they shoul teach more by conduct than anything.

Hinduism has given place to vareiou faiths and they have theie own way of worshipping God. There has been a continuous process of assimilation. So there should not be harsh way of inculcation. The really great souls set examples by their conduct only whic will deliver in the ultimate millennial analysis. Nine day wonders should not be the expectation.  

VERSE NUMBER 25 OF KARMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF ACTION OR THE METHOD OF ACTION

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER THREE

KARMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF ACTION OR THE METHOD OF WORK

VERSE NUMBER 25

Text in Transliteration:

saktaah karmaani avidvaamsa yathaa kurvanti bhaarata

kuryaad vidvaams tathaa ‘saktas chikirsur lokasamraham

Text in English:

As the unenlightened act from attachment to action, O Bharata, so should the enlightened act without attachment, desirous of the guidance of the multitude.

COMMENTARY BY CHIDBHAVANANDA:

Differences between man and man is in the sort of desire harboured at heart. The enlightened one is desireless. Desire for the fruits of actions goads the multitude to activity. The enlightend man has no personal motive. Out of compassion for the ignorant he ceaselessly works. Following his example the others do their work.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

Though the soul which is centred in the light has nothing further to accomplish for itslf, it unites itself with the cosmic action, even  as the Divine does. Its activity well be inspired by the light and joy of the Supreme.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

The ignorant man works in edpectation of fruits. He says, “I will do such and such work and will ger such and such fruit.” But the wise man who knows the Self, serves not for his own end. He should so act that the world, following his example, would attain peace, harmony, purity of heart, divine light and knowledge. A wise man is one who knows the Self.(Cf. II.64; III.19; .49)

Comments of the blogger:

Here on the earthly plane nothing could be done without action. But while the uninitiated and ignorant people act out of selfish excitement and in expectation of fruits of their action, the enlighten also should indulge in action, but without any expectation. This is very important. For the ignorant people should not become listless seeing the enlightened going without any action.

The same thing is repeated, represented many a time. One object is viewd from different angles and perspective. It is the proper method of teaching. And as for calling Arjuna as Bharata the Lord acknowledges his mettle as he belongs to an enlightend race. So Arnjuna’s confusion and despondency was only transitory!

In our times we see even highly cultured and literate behave like a boor and bruit and thereby play a foul game through indulging in wrong actions. Non action is bad and hypocritic and exposes one as not understanding the scheme of the universe, wrong action is a foul action.

In explanation of the above, the article I sent to a reputed National Newspaper may be cited with merit.

                                                                   CHECK ON MY CAT!

One Mainak Sarkar, an Indian American, shot his wife and a professor, William Klug, of the institution he was part of and his own wife, Ashley Hasti, before taking his life. The three-named hit list included another professor too, but fortunately he was out station. It was not clear whether his marriage survived from the date of marriage , that is June 14, 2011 to the time of shooting.

The shooting was reported in the papers dated June 4, 2016.

There must be strong reason/s for an IIT student to commit murder and take the self.

But whatever be the reason, he is not an unkind person. For he has left a note that says, “check on my cat!” The love extended to his cat could not be extended to his former (?) wife and a couple of professors of UCLA.

The gunman was an Indian to start with. His Kolkatta school teachers and a fellow student describe him as a good student. But within twenty or so years he has turned a gunman on a shooting spree.

What could be the reason? It could be anything including a nursing wound because of breach of marital fidelity and friendship. But a highly qualified intellectual behaves like the mindless ISI maggot. The blood that was coursing through them was that of Indian. A Hindu Indian at that! He has behaved like an American teenager who enters a nursery class and sweeps it with his gun taking the lives of ten or so children. Hiduism is a culture that teaches to see the whole of the humanity as Vasudheva Kutumpakam; whose ancient seers and sages pray for the welfare of all the two legged and four legged!  The problem is in the type of education imparted. No moral study paper needs to be tackled for an engineer, doctor, lawyer and the IIT students. India is a nation with 85% of the people belonging to Hinduism. How can a Hindu take others life? Which means he was not inculcated in the Hindu way of life! Once they start to roll on wealth they progressively start to be unable to handle normal problems that crop up in one’s life.

Unbridled materialism is the reason for this. Once you have all your dreams seen come true materially your spiritual sinew starts to rot. Unbridled materialistic pursuit sap one’s spiritual power.

China and Soviet Russia banished religion that had been flourishing till the “Revolution” in those countries. A modern china, when it became one of the world leaders in economic terms, found the need for a dash of spiritualism. The portrait of the famed philosopher, Confucius was declared open at the Tianamen Square, the altar of mammoth human sacrifice in the modern History of China.

In this field, the Indian Express scores high. Its supplements of Saturday and Sunday have enough spiritual food for thought. One can live extreme poverty without losing self, but it is very difficult to retain ones spiritual moorings in the face of extreme riches and wealthy conditions. 

                                                         

VERSE NUMBE 24 OF KARMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF ACTION OR THE METHOD OR WORK

THE HOLY YOGA

CHAPTER THREE

KARMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF ACTION OR THE METHOD OF ACTION

VERSE NUMBER 24

Text in Transliteration:

utseedeyur ime lokaa na kur yam karma ced aham

samkarasya cha kartaa syaam upahanyaam imaah prajaah

Text in English:

These worlds would perish if I did not do action; I should be the cause of confusion of species and I should destroy these beings.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

The potentiality of a seed is known only when it sprouts and grows. The worth of a man is known only through his actions.

To be devoid of function is equivalent to be dead. The difference between the two is very little. The body of the dead disappears while that of the funtinoless drags on a wretched existence, proving itself a burden to society.

Fostering the body is common to high and low. The difference, therefore, between the two cannot be known merely from bodily existence. For, if life got confined to the physical level only, there would be  no difference between the refined and the crude, between the enlightened and the ignorant, between the virtuous and the vicious. The levelling down would mean confusion of species.

Through the meticulous performance of one’s dharma one’s attainments get exemplified. The level of one’s evolution becomes self-evident through the discharge of one’s duty. Where karma is kept in abeyance, the distinctions get lost. If Iswara, the Cosmic Intelligence does not induce His beings in their respective functions confusion of species is bound to take place, leading to cosmic calamity.

COMMENTARY BY DR. S. RADHAKRISHNAN:

God, by His incessant activity, preserves the world and prevents it from falling back into non-existance.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

If I did not engage in action, people would also be inactive. They would not do their duties accoding to the Varnasrama Dharma (code of morals governing their own order and stage of life). Hence confusion of castes would arise. I would have to destroy these beings.              

Comments of the blogger:

In Brahman there is no action. Only the universe, the veda or the body of Ishwara, is full of action.

Just imagine a stage: except the sky and atman everything here is indulged in action. In the vacuous sky above the atmosphere is full of energy. According to Einstein's theory there is a circular movement of energy around the sphere of the planets that give them their pulling power. Each planets pulling power is determined by its size. Which means, there is energy in the vacuous sky around the spehere of the planets. And this is responsible for the planets staying in their respective course. The Super Intelligence of the universe is the witness for the movements of this univers which is in a constant flux. This universe is acting and reacting within the same and the witness is the real one which has no stack in whatsoever happens. But because of its proximity everything here happens according to an inner rhythm and this is called rta in the Vedas. Thus what is there is restated by the Lord. This was the case before the Krishna Avatara. It must be born in mind.   

When Brahman works at the cosmic level as Saguna Brahman, he is worshipped as Govinda, Vishnu, Ranganadha, Shiva, Lingeshwara, Paramasivan, Dhevi, etc. Brahman Himself is Nirguna Brahman in whom not action takes place. Saguna Brahman is always at work. If He does not work even for a second there would be utter cataclysm. Shivathandavam should be understood in this cosmic context.                                                      

VERSE NUMBER 23 OR KARMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF ACTION OR THE METHOD OF ACTION

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER THREE

KARMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF ACTION OR THE METHOD OF ACTION

VERSE NUMBER 23

Text in Transliteration:

yadi hy aham na varteyam jatu marmany atandr itah

mama vartmaa ‘nuvar tante manusyaah paartha sarvasah

Text in English:

If ever I did not engage in work relentless, O Partha, men would in every respect follow My path.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

 Staunch adherence to good and devotion to duty are the characteristics of the great. But the ordinary people in society do not usually feel inclined to emulate the merits in the eminent. If there be any lapses in them such as idleness, procrastination and indifference to duty, these are readily caught by the ordinary. They even cite these shortcomings in the great as precedents, Sri Krishna is therefore exemplary in His conduct. In all of His doing He is a model to mankind.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

If I remain inactive, people also will imitate Me and keep quiet. They will all become Tamasic and pass into a state a inertia.

Comments by the blogger:

Some people could come up with a poser that Lord Krishna was full of action when he walked the earth, but what about the period after His earthly soujourn?

Krishnavatara was, like any other avatar, was necessitated to rid the world of the most wicked. And avatar is one of the ways to do this. Acts of God are other examples. In this chapter, it is stated food is necessary for Human Beings which is begot by rain and rain is because of sacrifice and so on. So even rain or shine is because of our sacrifice or not! Rain is not enough. Rain at the proper time is becuse of sacrifice. Rain at the harvesting season is a visitation.

Always there there is the universal witness or soul overseeing our conduct and evolving the same very minutely. I have written about this in my article SAMSARAA AND SAMSKARA. IT IS GOOD TO ONCE AGAIN REPRODUCE THE ARTICLES.

                                                       SAMSAARAM AND SAMSKAARAM!

   Samssram is a sagaram, or an ocean, in Hinduism; Sri Shankarar defines the word samsaaram in his bashyam or commentary for Aithreya Upanishdham as maya or  illusion, kama or wishes and karma or action or a proclivity to act as Samsaaram. According to that incomparable saint from a small village in Kerala, namely, Kaladi, Samsaram is described as an ocean into which being are tossed. Thus, we are affected by illusion, wants or avarice and action; in other words, we cannot choose out of these trinity of the ocean that is Samsaram or worldly life; samsaaram itself is a Sanskrit word for worldliness.

   On the other hand, Samskaaram, in Sanskrit,  means entirely a different thing in Hinduism: it is a minute unit, smaller than an atom of the worldly matter, used by the Creator to measure up the actions of the human beings and other beings and non beings or sentient and insentient; to measure up their effect, and to evaluate them. This is how our actions and the involuntary activities going on inside our bodies, and that of this universe, like the planetary movements and other things and other natural events, and also Acts of God  like the seasonal changes and cataclysms like the earthquake that shook Napal recently and the deluge that engulfed the entire Chennai city of Tamil Nadu State in India.

   Isn’t it very confusing? First, samskaaram or the ocean of the worldliness, and then the samskaaram, which is the infinitesimally smallish unit of the Brhamic measurement! Could there be any relation between them, and, if at all there is a relationship, how could it be established? Why should the worldly life be described as our having been tossed into the ocean? And what the hell is the matter with the samskaaram? Can’t a human being go through life without becoming conversant with these ostensibly idiotic words?

   SAMSAARAM AND SAMSKAARAM, HAAA?

   WHAT THE HELL DO THEY MEAN AND WHY THE HELL WE SOULD UNDERSTAND IT?

   WHILE THE QUESTIONS ARE NATURAL, THERE IS MUCH SUBSTANCE IN THESE TWO WORDS, SAMSARAM AND SAMSKAARAM!

    WHILE THESE BASIC THINGS WERE REVEALED TO THE RIG VEDIC SAGES, GREAT THINKERS LIKE ARISTOTLE AND  RESERARCHERS  LIKE CHARLES DARWIN DID NOT GO INTO THEM! WHILE RIG-VEDIC SAGES AND UPANISHADIC SAGES DELVED DEEP INTO THEM! THAT IS THE ORIGINALITY OF THE HINDUISM, AND THIS IS HOW THE HINDU WAY OF LIFE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO WITHSTAND THE ONSLAUGHT OF VARIOUS INVASIONS AND MORE THAN FOUR CENTURIES OF FOREIGNERS’ OCCUPATION WHO THRUSTED THE MOHAMMADANISM AND THE CHRISTIANITY ON THEIR SUBJECT!

WE SHALL GO INTO THE PHILOSOPHY INVOLVING SAMSAARAM AND SAMSKAARAM TOMORROW.

  

    

                                     SAMSAARAM AND SAMSKAARAM—PART 2

We have briefly noted what is meant basically by Samsaaram or the ocean, which is worldly life indeed, and Samskaaram.

   When samsaram involves or the very incidence of our birth involves our three-fold bondage, which is very difficult to cross over: they are   maya or illusion or taking this worldly life FOR REAL TO THE ABSOLUTE EXCLUTION OF THE SPIRITUALITY INVOLVED IN OUR LIVES;  kama or wants or wishes which makes us to make a wish or sankalpa to get something, or to do something. To get wealth, to build and own a bungalow, or to become a high profile VIP, anything, even to get a free meal or meal after paying for it, is kama or avarice or wishes; and then, the natural human proclivity, because those two things, is the action or the tendency to get activated always. This is samsaara saakaraa. Why? Because, like an ocean, it is not possible to cross over it,or travel beyond these trinity of human bondages, without doing and indulging in karma or activity in an impassioned and selfless manner.  But that doesn’t mean it is totally impossible of crossing this ocean or sagaram, in Sanskrit. Samsaara saagaram could be and have been successfully crossed over by too many Hindu, Mohammedan and Christian saints and sages to be able to name.

   Samskaaram, on the other hand, is a very minute unit of measurement. It is with which, the God and the Creator of the world and the cosmos, has been able to watch over its flux, and not in the general sense, but in the individual sense. If there is a beach, knowing the number of sand grains there is absolutely no problem for  Him, the Creator. The Bible readers will tell you that God can tell you the number of individual hair follicles on one’s head! It is no joke! And this kind of measurement is possible only because of this very infinitesimally minute unit of measurement in evaluation of the flux of the universe as also the individual human being’s action and the very flux of his mind!

   In order to be better informed about such philosophical things and Hindu concepts, the readers and viewers are advised to follow my domain on Google + my articles on and about THE HOLY BAGAVAT GITA.

 I humbly state that I have 1849 followers on the domain Philosophy of Religion, and more than seven lakh viewers. I also state that I am blogging at myresourcefulaunt.blogspot.com which is a serialized Romantic Comedy. Please follow me there on every Wednesday.     

THUS THERE IS AN UNIVERSAL SOUL EVALVATING EVEN OUR MINUTE ACTION TAKING PLACE IN OUR MINDS!

This universal soul always acts as witness and in that way it is ceaselessly engaged in action.

So Arjuna, there is no way but to act and carry out your self-ordained duty. So do it and give battle with a positive mind. Then no sin would be accrued by you, for inaction is nothing but sin unless you are a Brahma Jnani!  

VERSE NUMBER 22 OF KARMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF ACTION OR THE METHOD OF WORK

THE HOLY YOGA        

CHAPTER THREE

KARMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF ACTION OR THE METHOD OF YOGA

VERSE NUMBER 22

Text in Transliteration:

Na me paarthaa ‘sti kartavyam trishu lokeshu kimchana

Naa ‘navaaptam avaaptavyam varta eva cha karmani

Text in English:

There is nought in the three worlds, O Partha, that has not been done by Me, nor anything unattained that might be attained; still i engage in action.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

    Iswara or the Saguna Brahmam is immanent in the universe. Because of His proximity there are orderliness and precision in all the happenings in the cosmos. These happenings, however, are all impersonal. Incessant activities are evident even in His incarnations as Rama, Krishna and others. Sri Krishna had nothing to gain or lose in the Mahabharata warfare. Still the part He played in in was far more than those of all the characters put together.                                  

COMMENTARY BY DR.S. RADHAKRISHNAN:

Life of God and Life of the world are not opposed to each other.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

I am the Lord of the universe and therefore I have no personal grounds to engage Myself in action. I have nothing to achive as i have all divine wealth, as the wealth of the universe is Mine, and yet I engage Myself in action.

Why do you not follow My example? Why do you not endeavour to prevent the masses from following the wrong path by setting an example yourself? If you set an example, people will follow you as you are a leader with noble qualitites.

Comments of the blogger:

God’s soul is scintillating in the universe in the beings and nonbeings. This cosmos is not an inert thing. It is not as though Man alone is the most intelligent beings. And there are some holding on to the view that there might be beings million times more intelligent in the universe. And to catch the extra terrestrial waves and vibrations sent out by them America and other countries have set up huge radars. The fact of the matter is that this universe is full of consciousness and wisdom. There is a universal soul and we can live a peacefully or other way, notwithstanding our economic and othe conditions, insofar as we are in sinc with that universal soul. We often feel it but can’t give an expression to it. But here only the ancient Indian Rig-Vedic sages and the sages and Nature-worshippers of ancient Egypt, Rome and other countries score over other modern religions including the Hinduvism as we are now practising.

There is an universal soul and you can invoke it by proferring your prayer toward a mountain, tree, vast stretches of desert land, vast water bodies like the ocean, or the minutest particle of a grain of soil, a rock, sun up, sun down, rain , hurricane , tornado, earthquake and other acts of God. Sun up and sun down and twilight is nothing less an act of God that the tsunami and earthquake.

And in the Holy Ouran it is said that Allah the Great created seven skies. In the Holy Bible Lord Jesus says His Lords Palace has many mansions. Indeed there are more worlds and planes of consciousness than ours.

In the last verse the Lord stated that whatever a great man does, others follow. In this verse, since He is the Supreme Lord, He takes His own case for example.

In the seven lokas there is nothing the Lord does not possess and in want of, but still He constantly engages in action.

The Shiva dhandava is to be understood in this wise. The cosmic dance of Lord Shiva goes on till delusion whereupon, at the end of the four yugas, the world is slurped up by the Lord.

If the Lord Krishna Himself acts without respite, how could we or Arjuna, for that matter, desist from action?    

VERSE NUMBER 21 OF KARMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF ACTION OR THE METHOD OF ACTION

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER THREE

KARMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF ACTION OR THE METHOD OF ACTION:

VERSE NUMBER 21

Text in Transliteration:

yad-yad aacharati sreshthas tat-tad eve ‘taro janah

say at pramaanam jurut lokas tad anurvartate

Text in English:

Whatever a great man does is followed by others; people go by the example he sets up.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

Being eminent wit vitues is a rare gift which ccomes from God. In one so imbued godly qualities are in evidence. In one so imbued godly qualities are in evidence. Such a man is viewd a model to society. The world feels inclined to walk in his way. His resoponsibility is therefore very great. Man is to society what a limb is to the body. As the action of a limb affects the body, the action of a man affects the society. In public interest a person of eminence has therefore to put forth his best. Slighting or allowing godly gifts go to waste, amounts to slighting God Himself.

SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

A person took his ailing son to a physician for medical consultation. The man asked him to bring the boy again on the following day. After posing to emamine the ptient for a while the healer advised the father against giving sweets to the sickly boy. “This could have been mentioned at the very first visit instead of making me walk towice carrying the boy,” complained the parent. The doctor explained, “But then my man, there was kept here yesterday a plate of candy. My advice might have been mistaken by your son for selfishness.” The responsibility of those who guide the society is very great.                                                                                                         

 COMMENTARY BY DR.S. RADHAKRISHNAN:

Common people imitate the standards set by the elect. Democracy has become cofused with disbelief in great men. The Gita points out that the great men are the pathmakers who blaze a trail that other men follow. The light generally comes through individuals who are in advance of society. They see the light shining on the mountain heights while their fellos sleep in the valley below. They are, in the words of Hesus the “salt”,  the “leaven”the “light” of human communities.when they proclaim the splendour of that light, a few recognise it any slowly the many are persuaded to follow them.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

Man is a social animal. He is an imitating animal too. He takes his ideas of right and wrong from those whom he regards as his moral superior. What ever a great man follows, the same is considered as an authority by its followers. They try to follow him. the endeavour to walk in the footsteps.

Comments by the blogger:

Arjuna is a great warrior. Once he gave battle to Lord Shiva, who blessed him by giving him an astra. If Arjuna engages himself in a fierse battle, then all the soldiers would get inspiration and follow suit. But, on the other hand, should Arjuna runs away the field and took to a path of a renouncer, that act would severly affect the others and the enemies could easly win the Pandava. Whatever the great soul set as standard serves as the guidance to the masses.

Now we are not serious about religion. In those days various darsanas were there. Hindus having faith in the Vedas were belonging to various mutually exclusive schisms like Dwaidham, Athwaitham and Vishistadhvaitham. Sri Bhagavan Krishna taught Gita to bring about a reconciliation among them. So it is very important for Janaka like great souls to not free from actions but to scrupulously stick to enjoined action in the proper manner, that is without any personal stake in one’s actions.                  

                                  

                                

  

VERSE NUMBER 20 OF KARMA YOGA OR YOGA OF ACTION OR THE METHOD OF ACTION

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTERE THREE

KARMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF ACTION OR THE METHOD OF ACTION

VERSE NUMBER 20

Text in Transliteration:

karmanai ‘va hi samsidhim aasthitaa janakaadauah

lokasamgraham  evaa ‘pi sampasuaan kartum arhasi

Text in English:

Janaka and others indeed achieved perfection by action: having an eye to the guidance of men alos you should perform action.

COMMENTARY BY SWMAI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

Raja-rishis such as Janaka and Asvapati were engaged in the active and efficient administrarion of their kingdoms. Incidentally they took part in several other activities conducive to people’s welfare. But their aim in life was more than that. That diligently applied themselves to Self-knowldge and got it.

There is an additional advantage in the spiritually enlightened taking to altruistic work. The ingnorant cannot guide society any more than the blind lead the blind. But the enlightened are the best servants of society. The nature of karma is also very well known to them. Efficient work on right lines can be turned out by them. Following in their duties in all earnestness. Taking this important factor into account, the elite shoud ever engage themelves in the discharge of their dharma to the best of thir ability.

The world goes int way waiting for guidance form nobody. A pertinent question may therefore be put whether concern for the world is not a self-created problem.                                     

 COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

Janaka was the king of Mithila and father of Sita, the wife of Rama. Janaka ruled, giving up his personal sense of being the worker. Even Shankara says the Janaka and others worked lest people at large might go astray, convinced that their sense were engaged in activity, gunaa gunaeshu vartante. Even those who have not known the truth might adopt works for self-purification. II, 10.

Lokasamgraha: world-maintenance. Lokaskgraha stands for the unity of the world, the interconnectedness of society. If the world is not to sink into a condition life is to be decent and dignified, religious ethics must control social action. The aim of religion is to spiritualize society, to establish a brotherhood on earth.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

Samsiddhi is Moksha (perfection or liberation), Janaka, (asvapati) and others had perfect knowledge of the self, and they performed actions in order to set an example to the masses. They worked for the guidance of men

Comments of the blogger:

Here there are two posits by Sri Bhagavan; one, king Janaka and others like him attained perfection through performing action in a manner that did not tainted them. Instead, a great Raja did actions without expectation but with full commitment. He is a perfect Karma yogi.

Anothther is to Arjuna: the Lord reminds him that he must, like Janaka, indulge in action with a view to the protection of the masses. Ranged against his army are mostly wicked people who should be wiped out so that the masses might have the reign of dharma under Udhishtira and other Pandava kings.

For us, the point is, if a king like Janaka could make the bondage begetting actions into liberating one, can’t we at least try to do our self-ordained duties without expectation?

                                                                                                       

                 

                                  

                                

  

VERSE NUMBER 19 OF KARMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF ACTION OR THE METHOD OF ACTION

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER THREE

KARMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF ACTION OR THE METHOD OF ACTION

VERSE NUMBER 19

Text in Transliteration:

tasmaad asaktah satatam kaaruam karma samaachaara

asakto hu aacharan karma param aapnoti poorushah

Text in English:

Therefore, constantly perform your obligatory duty without attachment; for, by doing duty without attachemt man verily obtains the Supreme.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI CHIDBHVANANDA:

Because of the incessant beating of the heart, bodily existence goes on effectively. But man gives no thought whatsoever to the beating of the heart.Several other essential activities have to be carried on in similar ways, free from atttachement. Absence of attachement leads to the pacification of the mind. Work and rest go on side by side. Mind made calm this way becomes capable of grasping the self. Calmness of mind is not for him who neglects duty. Calmness is a prerequisite for Self-knowledge.

SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

Hwo are we to reconcile the worldly entanglements and engagements with spititual detachement? See how the carpenter’s housewife busies herself with all and sundry. With one hand she pushes the paddy to be pounded in the mortar; with the other hand she embraces and suckles her baby. At the seam time she bargains with a customer for the flattened rice. In the midst of all of thers activities her mind is on the hand pushing the paddy lest the pestle should hurt it. Likewise do your worldly activities; but in the midst of them keep the mind fixed on the Lord, Deviate not on any account from Godly path.
COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
Here work done without attachment is marked as superior to work done in a spirit of sacrifice which is itself higher work done with selfish aims.
while this verse says that the man reaches the supreme, param, performing actions, without attachment, Shankara hold that karma helps us to attain purity of mind which leads to salvation. it takes us to perfection indirectly through the attainment of purity of mind.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

If you perform actions without attahement, for the sake of the Lord, you will attain to Self-realisation through purity of heart.

Comments by the blogger:

Mind has a tendency to wander. Our intelligence and knowledge of a subject all were gained when the mind was made calm by consentrating on the subject chosen by us. Once we pass the exam, or finish a book, our mind, without asking us starts to wander. But , as the Lord says, if the mind is made absolutely calm by carrying out the duty without any attachement, then there is no action in the mind. When the mind thus becomes calm amonst the tumult of activities, then it is able to get at the Supreme.

VERSE NUMBER 18 OF KARMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF ACTION OR THE METHOD OF ACTION

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER THREE

KARMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF ACTION OR THE METHOD OF ACTION

VERSE NUMBER 18

Text in Transcription:

nai ‘va tasya krrtenaa ‘rtho naa ‘krrtene ‘ha kaschna

na cha ‘sya sarvabhooteshu kaschid arthavyapaasrayah

Text in English:

For him there is in this world no object to acquire by doing an action; nor is there any loss by not doing an action; nor has he to depend on anybody for anything.  

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

In sound sleep man is self-sufficient. He has nothing to seek from any entity. But it is a negative state based on nescience. It is temporary. The spiritually enlightened man, on the other hand, enjoys infinite beatitude. Naught else is there for him to obtaine. This Brahmaavasta is never again lost. The Braahma-jnani therefore has nothing to seek from man or God.

SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

 One of the signs of the enlingtenment man is that he is enjoying boundless bliss within himself. The surcace of the ocean seems boisterous; but at the bottom it is all calmness. Even such is the state of affair of the Jnani.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

The next verse indicates that, though the liberated man has nothing to gain by action or non-action and is perfectly happy in the possession and enjoyment of Self, there is such a thing as desireless action which he undertakes for the welfare of the world.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

 The sage who is thus rejoicing in the self does not gain anything by doing any action. For him really no purpose is served by any action. No evil (pratyavaya Dosha) can touch him from inaction. He does not lose anything from inaction. He need not depend upon anybody to gain a particular object. He need not exert himself to get the favour of anybody.

Comments by the blogger:

Verses 14 and 15 speakes about the universal or cosmic chain set in motion by the Lord, and verse 16 enjoined on all to give shoulder to sustain the momentum of the rolling of the dharma chakra, the cosmic wheel, and in verse number 17 declares that but for the man who is rejoicing in Self there is no obligation to work. Verse 18 is an elongation of such a Self-possessed Jnani’s state. For him there is no interest whatever in what is done or what is not done. Nor does he depend on any being for any object.

Here, what must be understood is, such a Self- Possessed being is out of the pale of SAMSARA.

Samsara constitutes maya or illusion, kama or desire and karma or action. Into this samsara are beings tossed. Such beings are shrouded in ignorance or  illusion. So they do not know their original self and their real nature of the origine. So they entertain kama or desire. Their senses go out and engage in sense objects. And this constitutes action or karma. This kind of being has a self ordained duty in each reincarnation. And this being is expected to do such duty without any expectation of the fruit thereof. Then by, gradation, such being is raised stage by stage and at last becomes a Brahma – Jnani. For such Soul its origine is known. So the could be no illusion. And such a soul would not form a desire and so there will be no action for him. the common cosmic wheel and its momentum is does not hold out anything for him. He is self possessed and rejoicing in Self alone. Such a soul does not have an expectation from God even. 

VERSE NUMBER 17 OF KARMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF ACTION OF THE METHOD OF ACTION

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER THREE

KARMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF ACTION OR THE METHOD OF ACTION

VERSE NUMBER 17

Text in Transliteration:

yas tv aatmaratir eva syaad aatmatrptas cha maanavah

aatmany eva cha samtushtas tasya kaaryam na vidyate

Text in English:

But the man who rejoices in the Self, is satisfied with the Self, and is centred in the Self, for him verily there is no obligatory duty. 

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

Prakriti or Nature is constituted of karma. But there is no karma whatsoever in Atman. Actionlessness and Atman are one and the same. Mind is in fact a phase of prakriti. Karma is therefore going on constantly in it. But there ios a speciality in the functioning of the mind. When it impinges on the external world with the aid of the senses or even without their aid, its activities are on the increase. But when it revolves back on the self or Atman, ist activities is to get established in /atman. The river is active until it reaches the ocean. On merging in it, its functioning is over. Likewise the functioning of the mind is over in its being resoved in Atman. Bliss is the characteristic of Atman. That mind which is set in the self is therefore ever satisfied, pacified and blissful. The finale of all activities is for the mind ro rest in Arman.

All being are tending towards this goal consciously  or unconsciously. To the mind merged in Atman, there is no duty.

SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

The minute hand and the hour hand in a clock are interrelated. Though they appear separate, they get united also hourly. The jivatman and the Paramatman seem separate. In time they get united.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHKRISHNAN:

He is freed from a sense of duty. He works not out of a sense of duty or for the progressive transformation of his being but because his perfected nature issues spontaneously in action.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

The sage does not depend on external objection for his happiness. He is quite satisfied with the Self. He finds his joy, bliss and contentment within his own Self. For such a sage who has knowledge of the Self, there is nothing to do. He has already done all actions. He has satisfied all his desires. He has complete satisfaction. (Cf. II . 55)

Comments of the blogger:

Verses 14 and 15 deal with the wheel set in motion by the Lord Krishna and verse 16 says man’s duty to give shoulder to the wheel set in motion for the publice wheal and how man can only improve by gradation by giving shoulder to the wheel. Now in this verse the Lord says that there are persons who need not indulge in any action and they are thus not duty-bound. They are in  blissful condition and feeling and sensing and enjoying the and live in self are not belonging to the mechanism of this world. The universe is not dependent on them and they are not, like us, dependent on the Universe. Lord says this only to highlight the point to Arjuna that such blessed souls attained such blessed state only by carrying out their duty and always giving shoulder to the wheel set in motion by the Lord! Thus Arjuna has a chance through this unsaught war, he being a kshatriya, to give his shoulder to the wheel and thus obtain immortal bliss.

We have already seen elsewhere the quantification of the bliss. How one Brahmic bliss is a mammoth and undying bliss of all blisses. That is the nature of the bliss the realized souls get to experience for ever. And they are for ever free from worldly duties. So engage your enemies in battle, O Arjuna! Life in this world is a war at kurukchetra. We all have our own individual battle to indulge in unflinchingly. Then by gradation we can attaine the actionlessness. Till then we are bound by this world. Proper action without any expectation of the fruits is the only key.