There is nothing in the world nor in one’s activities that can verily bring bondage to the actor. If any action binds one, the reason is no other than his own erroneous attachment or identity. Neither the world nor the actions ever call for ‘attachment’ in any actor. As earth revolves and produces the seasons, so too should the human, earth’s creation, live his life, pursuing activity freely. If earth does not foster any ‘attachment’ to its mission, why should the humans invite such bane to themselves?
In fact, everyone is free to either ‘grow detachment’ or ‘remain attached’ in whatever he does. Krishna begins the discussion with the words:
He who considers all actions as an offering or dedication to the Supreme Reality, Brahman, by leaving all kinds of ‘attachment’, is not tainted by evil. He is untouched, like the lotus leaf in water.
To dedicate one’s actions to the Supreme is to ‘drop attachment’ to what one does and experiences. If, leaving attachment or identification, one performs his actions, he can, assures Krishna, remain unaffected and unbound. He brings the lotus leaf to illustrate the message. Padmapatram-iva-ambhasa – the words he uses, have become a famous quote.
The lotus leaf is lying in water always. Water often enters the leaf, remains for a while, and in another moment slips off. Below and above is water; yet the leaf remains dry.
The world as well as our interactions with it must be like this. At no time should the seeker feel any conflict with the world. His life and the world around should, instead, be beautiful complements, nourishing each other.
Not alone this earth on which we live and move but the whole universe is an endless expanse of the Supreme Reality, Brahman. Everything should be viewed in the light of that Supreme. The whole creation owes itself completely to Brahman, the Supreme, for whatever it is. Thus a deep sense of dedication should become natural to the seeker. By its very nature, it is so lofty and holy that it begins to enrich the mind at every step. All actions, however small or big, whether religious or otherwise, will stand engulfed by the sublimity of this wholesome dedication. When this happens, no action can ever bring taint, blemish or bondage to the actor:
Abandoning false identification, yogis perform actions with their body, mind and intelligence employing the senses, for gaining self-purification.
Krishna pinpoints that the activities of the yoga-seekers always bring self-purification. In fact, that is the sole aim of whatever they do, the objective results apart. Actions, in their view, are performed ‘only’ by the body, which they are not. Likewise, the mind, intelligence and senses too, which are the other instruments of actions, are different from them, the Soul. Where then is the question of contracting any identification or attachment? The success of yoga-sadhana consists in thus considering activities as solely a function of the composite constituent of limbs, mind and intelligence, all of which are not the Soul – the basic identity of the seeker. Here again the impersonal vision of the Self alone ensures such detachment and dis-identification.
Krishna then summarizes the distinction between the ‘yoga-integrated person’ (yuktah) and the rest:
Leaving the subjective taints of actions, the integrated yogi attains well-established perpetual peace and ‘quietitude’. The non-integrated, driven by passion, gets attached to the results, and hence gets bound.
“Arjuna”, says Krishna, “see the difference between the yogic-pursuit and non-yogic pursuit of actions. The yogi, as well as others, performs actions. The yogi remains ‘integrated’, whereas the non-yogi is not so. Because of this basic difference, the mental outcome of whatever they do becomes widely different. The yogic performer floats in ‘detachment and dis-identification’. His inward refinement and enrichment gain for him the well-established self-based peace (naishthikim santih).
For the non-yogi it is an entirely different situation. He does not know about the body-different Soul or his identity with It. As a consequence, attachment to fruits of action, ‘object-results’ overpowers him while acting. Passion and greed dominate his mind. He misses the impersonal note throughout. So the object result of whatever he does robs his vision. And alas, he gets bound, every time.
The contrast should not be missed. Both are performing actions, in the same world and environment. Spiritual integration fills one. As a result, he floats in peace and joy. In the other, such integration is lacking deplorably. He remains a constant victim of affliction, agitation and doubt, which together constitute bondage.
Krishna comes back again to the great position of non-doership and non-performership – the core of all spiritual and yogic wisdom, concluding his proposition on sannyasa:
The yogi rests comfortably in the nine-gated city, mentally renouncing all activities, doing, in reality, nothing himself, nor causing another to do.
The same point, described so strongly earlier – namely, “the Knower of Truth thinks ‘I am doing nothing’.....” – is emphasized again. What more? He brings the idea of sannyasa, renunciation, also. Krishna cannot but adore the culture of renunciation. Though he is a kshatriya and he speaks to another kshatriya to inspire him to fight, the grandeur of sannyasa cannot lose its relevance and charm to him. In sannyasa alone is the salvation for the mind, the redemption for the intelligence.
But such sannyasa is a powerful comprehensive realization, in which the non-acting, non-enjoying and non-suffering Soul, the core of one’s being, shines constantly. How to achieve this spirit and state of sannyasa is a different matter. As Krishna himself has explained earlier, it can be through the exclusive jnana-nishtha, or the blended yoga-nishtha
The vision of the Soul alone will bestow the power, quality and strength for renunciation. The seeker must ensure that he aims at this vision and that every step he makes is towards achieving it. Right from the 2nd chapter, words and phrases revealing, without doubt, the impersonal and non-acting Soul stand out with their unquestionable distinction:
To kill, as Arjuna is compelled to in Kurukshetra, and the victim falling dead as a result – the most gruesome act one can think of – both have no power to implicate the Soul and its immortal splendour. Was this not the way he began his sankhya-yoga (2.19)? Such a non-acting, non-involving Soul is what gives life and vigour to the body. But this means no conflict or contrast. On the other hand, it depicts the greatest wonder and mystery (ascarya – 2.29), however intriguing the harmony is!
Let the body be killed, yet the real person does not die. This was the next pronouncement he made (2.20). By this, Krishna was highlighting the absolutely unaffectable nature of the Soul. The task of any seeker or student is to realize this fact and live in its grace and brilliance.
It is the same truth and vision that he reiterates when he pictures the Knower of Truth (tattva-vit) as one who considers all actions as mere interactions between the senses and their objects. These interactions, however close and gross, have no content or essence to involve or affect the Soul-depth of one’s personality (3.28).
How emphatically he points out that to perceive total ‘inaction’ in action alone makes one Wise (buddhiman)! Such a one’s perception of the Soul is so absolute and continuous that no act or its outcome at any level intercepts or dislodges it. Karmas are but a ‘superficial furore’, not a ‘substantial event or episode’. For, no act originates (is initiated) at the core of anyone, nor any alleged outcome penetrates it (4.18).
The other classical phrases like “he does not do anything at all” (4.20), and “even when he does actions freely, no taint or blemish accrues to him” (4.21) again carry the singular truth of the non-acting Soul, wherein alone reigns one’s unmistakable identity. The message is even more exclusive in the words “even when he is acting as he does, he does not get bound by it” (4.22). “All his actions, with whatever results they are aimed at, get dissolved in full” (4.23). Nothing of any action done by the Knower can survive to implicate, involve or torment him by its result or outcome. What a sovereign position yoga wins for the seeker!
Now, to add to this lustrous list, Krishna pronounces “naiva kurvan na karayan – neither doing nor causing another to do.” To understand the truth of the Soul, to imbibe its non-acting character, and in that light to abandon or be freed of all ownership about actions, as a whole, makes one a sannyasin. Sannyasa truly represents the exquisite ability to float in the non-acting sublimity of the Soul, both as redress and as the crowning glory of human life.
Secular aspects of the message
Krishna has beautifully answered Arjuna’s question whether sannyasa is superior or yoga-sadhana is. He upholds yoga-sadhana, and at the same time ensures that it does not deflect the least from the sovereign glory of sannyasa. In fact, the extent to which yoga-sadhana is able to assimilate the principle and majesty of sannyasa, alone determines how effective and useful it is. There is no escaping this basic truth.
True, the freedom to deny and disown all actional involvement reigns within man. And such freedom alone constitutes the content and worth of all spiritual and yogic vision. Where does religion stand then? What happens to the all-powerful and all-knowing God? Is God to be a mute entity, unaware and unmindful of all that transpires in existence? Does he not have the power to mend, bend and move matters, especially in the human world? Will He not employ His will when needed?
Religious thoughts abound in holding God to be Supreme. Everything, minute or majestic, conscious or unconscious, moves only under His dictate and consent. Does spiritual knowledge contradict all the pious religious notions and compulsions?
The questions are, no doubt relevant. That is how spiritual discussions have to inevitably step into religiosity. In this land, the alliance of the two is quite pronounced. Krishna thus enters into a supremely critical analysis of God’s position with reference to the living beings. Earlier he has categorically said that all beings are under the grip of the gunas of Nature (3.5). “To perform action is to conform to the ‘revolving wheel of nature’, and to flout it will be to lead a life of utter degradation,” he said (3.16).
Here now he relates all these facts and truths with a significant addition, clarifying the true relationship the Lord has with the creation. Does the position of God in any way interfere with the impersonal, neutral, Soul in man, nay that man verily is?
Religious faith and tradition extol God, but often out of proportion too. Every action, event, incident or accident anywhere is ultimately instrumented by God’s will alone; this is their summary pronouncement. Against such immense faith and piety, does Krishna strike a heretic note? Or is he only showing clearly as to how the non-acting truth of the Soul can be in full harmony with God and His relationship with the world? He has to, of course, be ‘truthful’ to his mission of revealing the right Wisdom, the tower of strength and freedom for all.
The Lord of the Universe ordains neither the sense of doership nor various actions that are done; nor again does He connect one with results of his actions. What indeed acts and activates is “one’s nature”, the characteristic qualities of each.
What Krishna says is not new to the Vedic and Upanishadic thoughts. Right in the Rigveda you will find Vedic thinkers questioning and probing into the ‘state before creation’ and hence the Creator too. “What was there then, when neither existence nor non-existence reigned? When there was nothing to be seen, nor hence any seer, what ruled? What reference can we make to that state, when no distinctions of any kind could prevail?” Obviously, did not their search transcend the usual concept of ‘God’, the Creator? Can Krishna afford not to reflect the same spirit and purpose?
To be able to expose forcefully the truths of life and the world, one has to be steeped in freedom and clarity. In the next chapters, Krishna takes the pedestal of the Supreme Lord Himself to speak on His behalf. But here the context is different. He has been firmly holding the ‘non-involvemental nature’ of the Soul, showing that it is the true identity of everyone. How will it hold good when the Lord of the Universe is attributed with false qualities and intentions? How will thinking people accept such a God, who imposes His arbitrary will on men and women? What will become of the will and choice of the humans, which too are equally the gift of creation? Can imaginations, however faithful, be allowed to deter or confront the creative freedom of the human personality?
Krishna, or any other exponent for that matter, cannot be timid, meek or retreating when disclosing the supreme Truth. To reveal the truth is to blaze like fire. Fire burns whatever it gets. Only in being so will its real worth and mission reign.
Fearing nothing, favouring none, freed of undue reservations, the exponent has to reveal the supreme Truth, redressing the aggrieved and fulfilling the yearning. Only by that will the cause of the seeker be met and the goal of exposition served.
Krishna thus confidently pulls down all curtains of convention and superstition to show firsthand the innermost recess of religion as well as spirituality. True enlightenment alone can remove conflicts and assuage torments.
True, the sole purpose of religion as well as devotion is to give a powerful and reliable prop to human mind and psychology. But the devotional and religious message will not be complete until the worth and content of this prop are also brought home. Sreemad Bhagavatam, the great devotional scripture, therefore, makes an authentic analysis of God, devotion and devotee throughout its narration.
Devotional psychology leans upon God more with the intensity of emotion than with reason. To hold God responsible for everything – to cause good as well as bad – may be an inevitable need of piety, but not the demand of reason. The seeker must be adorned with a deeper vision. Krishna is strict in disallowing any kind of immaturity that will discredit religion and devotion. God’s position, he wants all seekers to know, is, at best, like the sky, surrounding and interpenetrating all visible existence.
Lord, the Creator, does not, he says, enjoin anything specifically on anyone with regard to any event, act or outcome. In everything that takes place anywhere, it is the scope and choice provided by nature that bring about the resultant outcome. It is so in every sphere, in every matter. As the earth found its trajectory in space and stabilized it, preserving the required harmony with the surrounding bodies, every human has to adopt his course, giving due place for those around, in natural harmony.
Anything has its in-built quality, character. To recognize it and give expression to it, taking into account similar notes in others around, is the undeniable role for everyone.
Variety rules nature on every front. Are not plants different from one another? Trees also are varied. The reptile, bird and animal kingdoms also abound in variety. The same rule and process apply for the humans too. Thus is each man or woman different from the others, in physiognomy, psychology and philosophy. This variety will reign in attitudes, responses, ideals, nay in everything.
Is anyone responsible for his or her birth? In fact, the only event, for which one cannot be held to be the cause, is his ‘birth’ into this world. All other things follow this first ‘chance’ event or outcome!
Thus one is ‘good’ as another is ‘bad’. The inborn or innate good generates its notes, and the bad, its too. Both irresistibly try their might to meet their inevitable fates. It is exactly like rain falling on earth, only to flow ‘down’. Does rain have any causality in the process? Nor does the earth have. The nature, svabhava, of water is to move to a lower level. Earth’s nature makes its terrain uneven. The flowing water and uneven terrain together result in the birth of rivers.
Nature is, of course, ‘intricate’ and ‘complex’, but it is ‘complete’ and ‘comprehensive’ to bring about all the interactions, their orderly sequence and outcome. It is like sodium and chlorine reacting to produce sodium chloride – a very natural and sequential development! The procedure is similar even when the acting and reacting constituents are sentient, including the humans.
Krishna wants all seekers to know clearly that He, whom they consider the Lord of the Universe, does not at all wish or bestow any kind of agency or ownership on anyone with regard to anything that takes place anywhere – in the limited circle of family, in still larger circles like the society, nation, world or the endless universe itself. In this, small or big incidents make no difference. The process and sequence are the same for all.
As are the planets, so are the planetary creations. The Lord has nothing special to pronounce, cause, do or undo. Things move in their order and rhythm, set by their own nature – their in-built qualities, powers and characteristics.
Birds and animals conceive and bring forth their young ones. Plants and trees have their own ways of propagation. Each species has its distinct level and features. Human race also is quite unique. But in humans the scope for thought, ideation, articulation and deliberation is abundant. Hence diverse views, norms and ideals emerge and try to assert. What Krishna does is also part of this deliberation. In the prevailing divergent views, the svabhava (the nature) of each – be it of an individual, group or still greater aggregate – manifests or expresses itself powerfully.
Salt is saline. Sugar is sweet. So too is man, human. Human variety is, of course, astounding. A tiger remains tigerly. So too are the other animals. But the human has the full scope to look into himself and others, and determine what he should be, as different from what he finds himself to be. Such observation and the subsequent transition are what make human life distinct, and in a way superior too.
The potential to change, correct and improve is in-built in the human system. That is how in Kurukshetra, Arjuna confessed his mental and moral crisis before Krishna, and Krishna began to deliver his thoughts and vision to help him. Did Duryodhana care to mend his evil in the same way? Only when one’s mind responds, the change is possible, and necessary.
Man’s nature makes him act with his volition and choice. And the actions bring their outcome. Will they not? Does not even a seed, falling somewhere by chance, begin to sprout there, though uncared and unattended? What about a willful act of the human then? To act and enjoy or suffer its outcome, is all in the nature of life and existence.
Remember what Krishna said: “All beings are adhering to their nature. Each follows its own. Even the Knower does so. What can undue restraint or restriction from outside do (3.33)?”
But he instantly rejoined: “It is for everyone to exercise his or her option and avoid falling a victim to the traps the objects create (3.34).” Did he not emphasize that the objects carry the power to ‘allure and delude’ the human mind? He equally stressed the need for each person to safeguard against enslavement or subjugation by the objects.
Krishna is clarifying the same stand here, with even more wholesome statements and elucidation. Any ultimate ownership or possessiveness one feels for whatever he does, is misplaced. It is against the broad scheme of things and the flow of nature. To assign various duties to oneself or the rest is also not in the domain of Providence. Kartrtva, doership, is the deluded notion ruling the mind.
Duties and dharma are concepts of the human mind. They are meant to facilitate and strengthen individual and collective life. It is like our laying roads, making vehicles and enforcing traffic rules. The purpose is to make travel smooth and safe. As are the traffic rules, so are the postulates of dharma – the behavioural and interactional disciplines for healthy collective living and interaction. Do not hold the Lord to be the author of all these.
Full responsibility for evolving the dharmik codes as well as their faithful pursuit rests with the humans alone. The dharma of our land has been the result of age-old thinking and evaluation. Immense thought, experience and introspection has preceded the process. Ultimately, it was with unparalleled confidence, strength, purity and self-discipline that the thinkers arrived at Sanatana Dharma, the eternal dharma, which Krishna propounds here.
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(From the Series Essential Concepts In Bhagavad Gita - Volume 3)
