विवेचन सारांश

Performing One's Prescribed duty is the First step towards Mokṣa

Arjuna asked Śrī Krishna, that if HE opined that knowledge (jñāna) was superior to action (karma), why was HE asking him to engage in the ghastly war instead of asking him to seek a guru and acquire knowledge. He acknowledged that he was confused by Paramātmā’s equivocal stance on jñāna yoga and karma yoga, and requested him to decisively show him best path to follow.

A person wishes to go to Pune from Mumbai, and requests his friend for advice. If the friend gives multiple options, like taking a train, or cab or flight, the person obviously will get confused. Arjuna’s state of mind was similarly confused by his friend’s advice about taking the path of jñāna yoga and karma yoga.

Bhagavān had never implied that jñāna yoga and karma yoga were different. Neither was superior nor inferior to one another. HE had said that they are different paths leading to the same goal of salvation. HE had praised jñāna yoga, saying that it destroys the seeds of ignorance, and the mind would never get deluded by the material world. Human psychology is such that one hears what one wants to hear and not what is actually said. A person chooses to derive at the meaning of whatever is spoken, to suit one’s own convenience. If he is angry with someone, whatever that person says or does will make him angry. On the contrary, he will tend to ignore the insults thrown at him by someone he adores or admires.

It is human nature for a person to forget the words of wisdom spoken by a Guru, soon after the discourse is finished. But one never forgets a bad remark made against himself, even after 20 long years. Arjuna’s mentality was in contrast to normal human mentality. Being of sāttvik disposition, he did not wish to fight. Considering that the pāṇḍavas were denied their rightful throne, multiple attempts were made to kill them, and Draupadi's modesty was humiliated, he had all the genuine reasons to wage the war. Yet, he was seeking a way out to escape from fighting. He wondered that if the path of knowledge was better, then what was his necessity to follow the path of karma and wage a war to kill his own people. He was all the more confused, and requested SK to show him the definitive path that would be best for him.

Bhagavān explained to Arjuna that it is known from ancient times that there are 2 classes of men in this world - those with faith in jñāna or knowledge, and the others who have faith in Karma. People will follow the path of jñāna yoga or karma yoga, according to their faith. Both the paths lead to the same destination of self-realization. Their difference lies in the predominant factor governing them. There is predominance of kshara (the perishable world around us) in karma yoga, whereas there is a predominance of akṣara (the nonperishable soul) in jñāna yoga. Karma or the actions are carried out for the world, while jñāna is attained for the embodied soul or the supreme soul.

Bhagavān said those who have the right to perform jñāna yoga should follow it. Likewise, those with the right to follow Karma yoga should follow it. HE doesn't insist on everyone to follow a particular path. Based upon the Saṃskāras (past karmas) accumulated in the past lives, some people become intelligent in adhyatmā and develop inquisitiveness about understanding the individual soul (jeevatma) and the supersoul (Paramātma). Such people are destined to follow the jñāna yoga.

In Chapter 6, Bhagavān tells how our lives lead us in the same path that we were following in the past lives, and how we start from where we had left in the past life. Those who do not carry the Saṃskāras necessary for jñāna yoga, yet have the desire to follow the path to self-realization, can follow the seemingly inferior path of karma yoga. A person who knows swimming can cross the river, but one who does not know swimming has to learn it first. Simply jumping into the water without doing the karma of learning will be disastrous for him. Karma yoga is like the learning that is essential before indulging in jumping into the river which is equated to jñāna yoga.

A Sāṃkhya yogi or jñāna yogi focuses on remaining aloof from the material world and to constantly practice sacrificing the needs and desires through jñāna niṣṭhā. He pursues the path of jñāna and neglects the path of karma. Karma niṣṭhā involves performing niṣkāma karma, that is Vasanarahit karma. Performing prescribed duties like job and simultaneously practicing detachment from the worldly attachments is karma yoga. HE is referring to these niṣṭhās of jñāna and karma that lead one to liberation or salvation.

Paramātmā said that unless a person starts some action, he cannot experience niṣkāma karma. Action done without expectation of any return or rewards is called niṣkāma karma (Selfless). By merely giving up performing any action one cannot attain paramgati or siddi.

How can anyone be without doing any karma, when in essence, a person’s birth by itself is the outcome of an action performed by the parents? One’s karma starts when he/ she is a foetus in the mother's womb. A three-month-old foetus moves in the womb, blinks its eyes and even sucks the thumb. Thus, karma has commenced even before one’s birth. It is but our nature to be engaged in some action or the other. It is advised to perform the prescribed actions or duties, and intelligently come out of it without being affected by it. It is like putting one's hands in the mud and then cleaning them. Naturally, the question arises – why put our hands in the mud in the first place? Arjuna had the same question when he wondered why he should perform the ghastly karma of fighting that would result in distress.

Bhagavān replied that one has to perform his prescribed niṣkāma karma in order to get qualified for jñāna niṣṭhā. All the happenings in life causing one to be happy or sad or stressed are merely to test and train one’s progress in the journey of jñāna niṣṭhā. The journey depends on how one performs the prescribed duties and responds to the conflicting situations of happiness and distress. Running away from prescribed duties is not the right way to attain jñāna.

A river has to traverse over long distances to unite with the sea. Similarly, one needs to pass through Karma yoga to attain jñāna yoga. One cannot tread on the path of jñāna niṣṭhā easily, as it depends on one’s Saṃskāras. Karma niṣṭhā is necessary to experience jñāna niṣṭhā. When doing karma, one should remember to remove the two poisionous teeth - 'karma phala asakthi'- return reward expectation, and 'kartṛtva abhimāna'- false pride of doership. Karmas devoid of these two teeth do not create bondage or obstacles in the path of moksha.

Performing prescribed duties means marching ahead on the path of moksha. Like the lotus that blossoms in the mud, similarly, remaining in the path of karma that is mud, one needs to develop jñāna niṣṭhā. The Lotus of jñāna niṣṭhā will evolve from the mud of Karma niṣṭhā. Just as the mud does not soil the lotus, similarly the Karmas that one does will not make the jñāna inferior. Moreover, unless karma is performed and the favorable or unfavorable outcomes are experienced, one will not know whether he has attained the goal of being equipoised in all situations. Doing karma is a self-test as well.

Paramātmā says that no person in any condition at any time can remain without doing any karma. Everyone is forced to helplessly follow the 3 gunas of nature - Sāttva, Rājasa, Tāmasa, and act according to the dominant nature at any given time. When in sāttvik mood, the person will do Sāttvik karma. When the mood changes to rājasik, one will wish to enjoy life and enter into sense gratification, he will do rājasik karma. When in tāmasik mood, he will do tāmasik karma. These changes from one nature to another is cyclic, and continues through out one’s life.

The 3 gunas are responsible for the functioning of one’s body. Body is nothing but the gross and perceptible material part of the mind. The mind is imperceptible subtle form of the body. All that is present in the mind gets reflected in the body. The body especially the face clearly mirrors the expression of anger, lust, lethargy, happiness or sorrow or the greed present in one’s mind. People can read the face and tell what type of person one is, because the body reflects the mind. One’s face also indicates the depth of one’s intelligence. One may say that he has understood everything even when he has not understood anything, but the face will reveal that nothing has been understood. The body is the perceptible form of the mind, and can be used to program the mind. This can be tested on oneself. When one is feeling low or gloomy, either do some aerobics or surya namaskāra or just dance to a fast beat of music and within minutes one would feel better and happy as the body releases endorphins, the hormones which makes one happy. Children are always happy because they are always active. Elders involve themselves in discussing serious matters and do not feel happy all the time. Body and mind are born from nature, and due to the effect of the three gunas, activities will keep on occurring in the body and mind. These actions cannot be prevented.

This shloka is a beautiful example to show that Bhagavadgītā is not a theoretical treatise meant only for the scholars, but a practical guide on how to live life.

Paramātmā said that those people who forcefully restrain their external organs of action, but continue to dwell on the sense objects in their mind, delude themselves and are to be called as cheaters or hypocrites. A person may forcefully restrain and control his senses, and keeps himself away from their respective sense objects, by not allowing the senses to interact with the sense objects. He may succeed in restraining his eyes from seeing, his ears from hearing, and his tongue from tasting something. However, if he keeps mentally thinking about the sense objects, he is not only fooling himself but is trying to fool Bhagavān also. Such action amounts to cheating. External restrain of senses (indriya nigraha) alone is not enough. Mental restrain (mano nigraha) is equally important.

The vivechak shared his own experience about fasting. He decided to fast every thursday, and declared the same to his wife. On the day of fasting, he saw his family relishing food, but controlled himself. However, by noon, hunger pangs took over, and he started contemplating on what he would eat after breaking his fast. He instructed his wife to buy his favorite sweetmeats and snacks as he would be very hungry. The whole day although he had not tasted food with his tongue, he had relished them with his mind. In addition, when it was almost time to break the fast, his wife had not yet bought his desired items. His hunger aroused his anger. At that time, he didn’t realize that although he had restrained his body, he had not fasted mentally. Such a karma was not acceptable to Paramātmā. Controlling one’s body, yet mentally delving in objects of enjoyment is a hypocritic way of doing karma and is not appreciated by Bhagavān. Even thinking or talking of anything without literally doing it is also considered as karma.

According to Gītā, actions of the body, speech and mind, all amount to karma. In 18th chapter, it is said:

Worldly pleasures can be enjoyed both externally as well as internally. External pleasures leave their mark on our body and mind. Similarly, the internal pleasures that are derived in the mind also leave a mark on the body. External pleasures can be controlled by discrimination (viveka buddhi), by thinking of adverse social consciousness or to maintain decorum. For example, one may restrain from staring at a beautiful lady because it is inappropriate action. However, if the mind is still thinking of her, it amounts to cheating or mithyācāra. Internal pleasures are more fatal for they are not bound by any time limit, obstacles or social stigma. Hence one should carefully restrain the mind from indulging in objects of enjoyment.

Paramātmā explained that on the other hand, one who sincerely controls the senses through the mind, and engages them to perform his karma without any attachments to the results, i.e. he enters into niṣkāma karma yoga, is by far superior. This shloka shows the power of mind.

If a striver is eager to get salvation, he should have (1) desire to proceed in this path, (2) generosity to help others, (3) compassion and empathy for others by being happy in their happiness and sad in their sorrow. It is easy to share some one’s sorrow, but difficult to find genuine joy in other’s happiness. The striver who has these three traits can become eligible for karma yoga.

In karma yoga there is one division of karma (action) and another of yoga (connection). Karma is proper utilization of one’s position for the benefit of others and rendering service to the society. Working with niṣkāma buddhi for the welfare of others without selfish intent, helps one to disconnect oneself from the assumed union with the material world, resulting in Yoga. Karma has its relation with the material world; Yoga has its relation with the GOD. Karma and yoga are thus the 2 sides of karma yoga.

Paramātmā further says that one should engage in one’s duties as prescribed by the vedas and gurus. Doing so is better than doing nothing. One cannot maintain the body by not doing anything. Paramātmā is asking Arjuna to do his prescribed duty as a ksatriya and wage the war, because it is better than doing nothing.

Prescribed duties are also referred to as vidhāyaka karmas, are those duties sanctioned by our Śāstras and gurus. All the roles played in the daily life, be it father, mother, child, or coworker, have a prescribed set of duties, that one has to do. A father has to take care of children; husband has to take care of his wife; wife has to takes care of the family; son has to take care of his parents, and so on.

There is a second set of karma known as nishiddha karma, which are deplored or banned by the scriptures, gurus and society as well. It includes actions like misbehavior, killing, stealing, or lying, which are motivated by greed, lust or strong desires. Hypocrisy or showing off a false identity (dambha) aslo falls under niṣiddha karma.

A third set of karma is akarma, or non-action.

Paramātmā asks one to stop doing nishiddha karma by using intellect and discriminative wisdom (viveka buddhi), and do the vidhāyaka karma like serving elders, waking up early, doing meditation, offering prayers to god, helping the sick, doing some charity work, etc. Using the intellect to follow these small prescriptions of dos and donts will help one lead a life in the best possible way.

Bhagavad gita interprets Yajña as one’s 'kartavya' karma or prescribed duties, and not just oblations of ghee to the ceremonial fire.

Paramātmā said that performing prescribed duties without expectation of results is equivalent to yajña. Serving the parents selflessly, helping others etc is a yajña. One’s entire life can be a yajña; the entire world is a yajña. One’s karma is the sacrificial offering one offers into the yajña of world. Such a karma performed without attachment to the results will keep one out of bondage. Karmas other than the vidhāyaka karma puts one in bondage.

Nothing belongs to anyone - neither the body or the mind nor the people connected to the body; neither the sky nor the earth, neither the senses nor the sense objects; not even the three gunas. Everything belongs to the Almighty God. The person who sees his life as a yajña and considers his life as a gift from the supreme soul remains unattached and unbonded. When one who realizes that nothing belongs to him, then there is no question of getting attached to anything at all. It is HIS grace that a person is allowed to enjoy this divine play and given a role in the story of life scripted by HIM. One should be thankful to Paramātmā for the specific role given to him, and should enjoy playing it well.

Brahmā deva made clear bylaws for the demigods and humans, in the beginning of the creation of the world. He made it clear to all them that by performing their yajña (duties) they should help each other prosper, and that their yajña would bestow upon them all their desires.

Brahmā deva further told that by performing yajñas towards the demigods, the humans would assist the elevation and prosperity of the demigods who in reciprocation would help the human beings to prosper. Such mutual cooperation (parasparaṃ bhāvayantaḥ) between the demigods and human beings would yield prosperity to all. Prosperity can occur only through mutual cooperation. In addition, this shloka also reveals that amongst the 84 lakh yonis, man alone is qualified to perform new creative actions, and alter the karma balance of their previous births. The lives of demigods and those in the hell will ensure the reaping of the fruits of their past karmas, be it good or bad. Human life alone can help to attain salvation and moksha. No new work or action is required to be done.
Whatever the human does for the welfare of others, by relinquishing egoism and the desires for fruits of the action, that would lead him to the path of salvation.

The universe is like a Housing society, and Brahma deva is the chairman who has created the bylaws. The residents of the society should follow the bylaws and enjoy the stay. Brahmā deva created the world in a manner that there is no action and objective for oneself, but for others. Life is meant to be lived for others. The same applies for the four varnas (Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaishyas and Shudras) who should also do their prescribed duties for mutual benefit and prosperity of everyone. Any person discharging the duties for the welfare of others will surely be on the path of salvation.

The vivechan ended with a Questions and Answers session.

Apoorva ji
Q: Can you please clarify the 1st and 2nd charans of shloka 11? They appear to have the same meaning.
A: The shloka implies mutual cooperation between demigods and humans, for mutual upliftment and prosperity. When human beings pray to demigods, they infact help the demigods to become strong and get elevated to a higher position and reach towards the Paramātmā. In return, the demigods bestow upon the humans their desires, and the humans become strong. This is mututal upliftment. We should follow this in our day-to-day activities too. By helping fellow humans, we make each other stronger. This is the rule of the society.

Shionath ji
Q: What is the difference between indriyas and karmendriyas?
A: We have ten indriyas – 5 gnanendriyas and 5 karmendriyas. Organs that perform actions or karma are karmendriyas, and include our hands, legs, tongue, and the 2 waste disposal organs. Eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin are the gnanendriyas. Tongue falls into both the categories- it is a karmendriya when it functions as an organ of taste; it is gnanendriya when it functions as an organ of speech.

Naresh ji
Q: How many demigods are there? Is Hanuman ji a demigod or Paramātmā?
A: Demigods are many; Paramātmā is one. Ganesha, Hanuman ji or any Ishta devata we worship everyday are demigods. The problem arises when we start assuming that demigods and Paramātmā are different. As it is, following Dwaita bhava, we are distinguishing between ourselves and the Paramātmā. We should be following the Adwaita bhava and realize that we are a fragment of the Paramātmā. But we are creating a third entity by adding our Ishta devata between ourselves and the Paramātmā. Instead of becoming ONE, we are creating three. There is nothing wrong if we start seeing Paramātmā in our demigods, like ‘My Ganesha is my Paramātmā’. Even seeing our Swamiji as Paramātmā is not wrong. We should not create differentiation between one another.