त्रैगुण्यविषया वेदा निस्त्रैगुण्यो भवार्जुन ।
निर्द्वन्द्वो नित्यसत्त्वस्थो निर्योगक्षेम आत्मवान् ।। २-४५ ।।

trai-guṇya-viṣayā vedā nistrai-guṇyo bhavārjuna |
nirdvandvo nitya-sattva-stho niryoga-kṣema ātmavān || 2.45 ||

It is very important to know how well Krishna denounces the ritualistic involvement. With a view to make the spiritual and yogic mind selfdependent and self–sufficient, he calls for utter indifference towards all the rewards (this worldly and the other worldly) the Vedas promise vociferously. In fact the Vedas, he says, have nothing more than the three gunas and their outcomes to offer:

Even brahmaloka, the highest of ritualistic promises, comes within the range of the gunas. Gunas and their effects alone constitute the whole universe. As upon this earth so everywhere else, including the highest worlds of the Vedas, the effects of gunas alone are available for any one. Why should then the yogic seeker strive for any worldly reward at all? This is the kind of reflection Gita insists upon.

What else then are the substitute or superior disciplines to be taken up by the yogic seeker? The latter half of the same verse answers this question:

‘Nirdvandvatva’ is the crux of spiritual wisdom and attainment. Like a sword, it cuts across all kinds of conflicts and contradictions that assail the mind and intelligence of man. It takes away from the seeker all the undue inhibitions, constraints and delusions. The normal attractions and allurements of the mind have their sole foundation in the dvandvas. When the mind is led to the insight of nirdvandvatva, there comes a drastic change or evolution. Krishna impresses this on Arjuna at the very commencement of the Yoga enunciation.

Dvandvas denote the pairs of opposites of all kinds, which constitute the world. The world is no more than an endless collection or amalgamation of dvandvas. Dvandvas relate to all walks of life and all the facets of the world: day and night, good and bad, morality and immorality, sin and virtue, favour and disfavour, heaven and hell, past life and future life, prosperity and adversity, and so on. The norms of dharma and adharma, righteousness and unrighteousness, together with the various worldly and religious practices aimed at their respective ends, all have their place and relevance only within the range of dvandvas. It is these dvandvas that Krishna exhorts man to be wisely and sternly indifferent to. In other words, the aim of the Yogic practitioner must be to keep them at a distance and focus his attention to something far above.

Such nirdvandva attitude or orientation will make the spiritual pursuit quite easy and comfortable. The one given to nirdvandva viewpoint will be comfortably freed from all torments and delusions, all bondages, assures Krishna in chapter 5 (verse 3).

The external dvandvas may be anything, but the ultimate effect all these produce are in the mind of man, wherein the resultants are only two: sukha and duhkha. To rise above the external dvandvas will be to sublimate the dual hold of sukha-duhkhas on the mind -- the preference for the sukha-producing events and prejudice towards the duhkha-causing events. Thus the Yoga pursuit aims at a constant effort for inward sublimation and refinement.

Is this not a clear shift in emphasis? Instead of unduly getting concerned with the so many ideas, propositions, goals and values, enshrined in the karmakanda of Vedas, the Yogic seeker constantly concerns himself with the effort to transcend the dvandva-hold on his mind. Everything that he does, speaks or thinks will ultimately have only one conclusive purpose - that of evenizing and transcending the dvandvas and achieving inner sublimation and harmony.

The pursuit, in Krishna’s words, is to become nitya-satvastha and niryogakshema. Kshema denotes preservation of the existing welfare. Yoga implies further desirable additions to the present. But all this comes under the range of gunas alone. Being so, of what ultimate benefit is any Yoga or Kshema? It can at best mean some addition or alteration to the worldliness that already surrounds you. The net result will still be worldliness, transitoriness, with all the vicissitude of sukha-duhkhas.

To take such a stand is to cultivate the necessary restraint and resolve. Atmavan denotes such a self-disciplining and self-orienting seeker. He has to pursue constant self-observation and through that the elimination of all kinds of unnecessary fancies and deflections which tend to overwhelm the mind. To become spiritual is to take to a life of personal refinement, to adopt the sadhana of purifying and sublimating the vagaries of the senses and the mind.