चेतसा सर्वकर्माणि मयि संन्यस्य मत्परः ।
बुद्धियोगमुपाश्रित्य मच्चित्तः सततं भव ॥ १८.५७ ॥

cetasā sarva-karmāṇi mayi sannyasya mat-para: |
buddhiyogam-upāśritya maccitta: satatam bhava || 18.57 ||

Audio-BG-18.57

PR-20180823-Renunciation-is-of-the-mind

Renouncing all actions to the Supreme

Having emphasized performance of all activities with wholesome reliance on the Supreme, Krishna leads the seeker to the inner sphere of the mind and links his sādhanā there. In a way, it is a definite progression in the sādhaka’s life. In another way, it also implies a recession, in the sense that the sādhaka seeks to delve into his own within for joy and fulfillment, in preference to getting entrenched with the external objects. In fact, this is the true refinement, which elevates human life from sheer transitoriness.

Mentally renouncing all activities, thereby placing them on the supreme Reality, making the Supreme as the sole object of interest, let your mind, resorting to buddhi-yoga (the practice of equalness) abide constantly in the Supreme.

Krishna brings the concept of sannyāsa as the foundation for the purpose. He has spoken about sannyāsa, renunciation, earlier too (3.30). His emphasis there was on performing all activities meticulously, but with ceaseless ‘reliance’ on the Supreme.

Here he goes a step further. This is natural, in a way inevitable too. The emphasis is on the mind, where the seeker should install the notes of real renunciation. In spirituality, renunciation is not only important, but also indispensable. There cannot be any spirituality without the spirit of sannyāsa. Krishna does not conceal the point. He is quite explicit about the need for renunciation, and his description becomes more and more appealing.

Krishna lays down the loftier principle of ‘abdication or renunciation’. In other words, he wants the seeker to completely ‘disown’ his actions, whatever they are, by assigning and ascribing their origin, prevalence and conclusion completely to the domain of the Supreme. This will be possible only when the performer regards the supreme Reality as everything and all in his life.

The seeker has to understand and accept that the world, including his life in it, is but a beautiful display of the Supreme. All kinds of physical and chemical, bio-physical and bio-chemical, psychological and other laws operating in the world have their place and purpose only within the domain of the Supreme. The seeker should not fail to include himself in it. His mind works under the Supreme. His intelligence also operates under the same canopy. The potential and possibilities, as well as the facilities for all that he does are but provisions designed and enabled by the Supreme Itself. Where is then any question of owning up anything at all – whether materials or activities?

This note of non-ownership makes the seeker extremely sublime and dedicated. The mind gets infused into the Supreme. Any pulsation arising from such a mind will be fully in tune with the Wish and Will of the Supreme.

Krishna’s words – maccittaḥ satatam bhava (abide constantly in the Supreme) – are very suggestive. The inner renunciation or abdication makes the mind a full non-possessor. As a result, the Supreme and that alone fills it. Thoughts, outlooks, emotions and the like emanating from such a mind will start revealing a new confidence and blessedness. In fact, true compassion and benevolence are the very expression of such a renunciation-enriched mind.

From reliance to renunciation

The difference between performing all activities with full reliance on the Supreme and renouncing all activities to the Supreme is quite subtle but distinct, and the seeker should grasp it with discretion.

In one, there is a distinct play of ego: “I am doing activities, and these are the ends I have to gain through them. For these, I rely upon the Supreme.” In the other, the attitude and assessment are different. All work belongs to the Supreme, from which has sprung the world, and everything in it. That source alone is the full owner and possessor of all beings, including the seeker. If the seeker belongs to the Supreme, whatever he does from time to time also equally belongs to the same source. The seeker finds no place besides the Supreme. All that he has is verily of the Supreme.

This clearly means renouncing everything to the Supreme. This is a feeling of wholesome sublimity that the mind gains and preserves. In a way it is a kind of deep, unwavering attunement.

How can such renunciation be adopted or made true of oneself? Krishna says buddhi-yoga is the means for it. What is buddhi-yoga? He explained this concept first in the 2nd chapter. Any renunciation has to be brought about by the intelligence (buddhiḥ). The process first works in the intelligence, as a result of the evaluation, assessment and insight it seeks and gains.

One given to spiritual introspection, Krishna says, renounces all the results, good or bad, accruing from the activities – buddhi-yukto jahātiiha ubhe sukṛta-duṣkṛte (2.50). Results of activities are inseparable from them. Hence, where is the question of rejecting or refusing the outcome?

To abandon or renounce the results of what one does is only an inner development, by dint of which the seeker inwardly disclaims and dispossesses the very actions. Krishna says that such dispossession is gained by ascribing all activities to the supreme Reality Itself, whose display is this variegated world of objects.

The one factor that facilitates this kind of inner renunciation is the mind becoming Godly and spiritual. Maccittaḥ denotes infusion of such a note into the mind. For the mind, it is a wholesome transformation from worldliness to Godliness. And the whole process is an outcome of the assessment about what constitutes Divinity, how the world is a Godly display, and how even the seeker stands included in this Divine aggregate. The intelligence plays the key role in the whole sublimity. Hence it is called buddhi-yoga.