THE HOLY GITA, DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION, CHAPTER 6, VERSE NUMBER 01

THE HOLY GITA

DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION

CHAPTER 6

VERSE NUMBER 01

Text in Transliteration:

                                      sri bhagavaan uvacha

anaasritah karma phalam kaaryam karma karoti yah

sa samnyaasee cha yogi cha na niragnir na chaa ‘kriyah

Text in English

                                      The Blessed Lord said:

He who discharges his duty without seeking its fruit, he is the Sanyasin, he is the yogi; not he who is without sacred fire and without rites.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

People in general have a misconception about sanyasa. That the Sanyasin should not shoulder any responsibility and that he should be a drone, is the prevalent notion. Lighting fire is a symbol of performing Yajna. The general wrong belief is that the Sanyasin is not to do any altruistic work. Arjuna’s plea that he would not engage himself in the impending war and that he would beat a retreat and live on holy alms, is an example of this wrong idea. But the Lord’s contention is different. What He upholds is the true practice of Vedanta. No person should ever discard action. Each has his duty and it has to be well executed. Among the doers of duty, he is a Sanyasin, he is a yogi, who discharges duty for duty’s sake and in no way attached to the fruits of his action. Because of the renunciation of attachment to work and its effect, he is a Sanyasin and because of his doing the duty very efficiently he is a karma yogi. (The next stanza deals with the relationship between karma snayasa and karma yoga).

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

The teacher emphasizes that samnyaasa or renunciation has little to do with outward works. It is an inward attitude. To become a samyasin it is not necessary to give up the sacrificial fire and the daily ritual. To abstain from these without the spirit of renunciation is futile.

Shankara, however, by the use of the word “kevalam,” makes out that “he who does not light the sacred fire and performs no rites is not the only samnyasin.” This does not seem to be quite fair to the text.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

Actions such as Agnhotra, etc., performed without the expectation of their fruits purify the mind and become the means to Dhyana Yoga or the Yoga of Meditation. karyam karma: bounden duty.

Niragnih: Without fire. He who has renounced the daily rituals like Agnihotra, which are performed with the help of fire.

Akirya: without action. He who has renounced austerities and other meritorious acts like building rest-houses, charitable dispensaries, digging wells, feeding the poor, etc.

The Sannyasi performs neither Agnihotra nor other ceremonies. But simply to omit these without genuine renunciation will not make one a real Sannyasi.

Comments by the blogger:

Fire was the symbol of Agni god of the Vedas. Fire has different properties according to the Vedic Sages. It the god Agni who takes care of the sacrifices and brings to different gods their due share of the oblation. And Agni Himself takes and consumes his own share offered at the sacrificial fire. Agni is not just fire, but all knowing god’s one of the properties. Agni has the knowledge of the different lokas or worlds of consciousness. Agni acts as a go-between in a sacrifice. All other gods depend on Agni for their share of the oblations. As human beings die, it is the god Agni who takes them to the different worlds of consciousness according to their doings here.

This was why much importance was given to Agni god in the Vedantic philosophy. Even after the external sacrifices got internalized during the Upanishadic period, Agni and fire were given their due importance. Sharpness of the mind gives birth to sharpness of the intellect and this leads to a better understanding of the scheme of the universe. The sun god is made of scintillating fire. And the sun is said to be the externalized form of Prana.

So Agnihortra or tending fire and worshipping of it is one of the predominant duties of a householder. But an accomplished Yogi who has seen in himself Brahman is not subject to even this predominant duty. It is posited differently when the Lord says that he who discharges his duty without seeking its fruit is the Sanyasin and Yogi and not he who is without sacred fire and without rites. Here fire is eulogised in a negative manner. But, at the end of the Universal day, even fire rites are not important for the Sanyasin and Yogi is the real meaning.