Verse 26

In plain words

So: for me — one who knows the Self and means to carry out lokasaṅgraha, the holding-together of the world — there is nothing left that must be done. Nor for anyone else, once you set lokasaṅgraha aside. And so this is what is taught to that knower of the Self —

What is a disruption of the intellect? It's when someone's settled conviction — 'this is mine to do, and mine to enjoy the fruit of' — gets cracked open and shaken loose. That is exactly what a wise man must never cause in someone still ignorant, still undiscriminating, still attached to their own actions. So what should he do instead? He should simply let them keep doing all their actions with full engagement — and he himself should do the very same actions the unawakened person does, steady, wholehearted, quietly practicing right alongside them, disturbing nothing.

Close to the Sanskrit

Thus, of me, a knower of the Self, wishing to do the holding-together of the world, there is no duty to be done, nor of another, leaving aside the holding-together of the world. Therefore, to him, the knower of the Self, this is taught —

Disruption of the intellect: the intellect having the form of the conviction 'this is to be done by me, and the fruit of this action is to be enjoyed [by me]' — the splitting, the unsettling, of that intellect is disruption of the intellect. That he should not produce, should not bring about, in the ignorant, in the undiscriminating, in those attached to action, in those clung to action, in those possessing attachment. What then should the wise man do? He should let all actions be engaged in, should let them be performed, [by the ignorant]; the wise man himself, performing exactly that same action of the unlearned, disciplined, devoted, practicing it thoroughly [alongside them].

In plain words

If instead the sun sat idle, thinking, ‘Why should I bear this much heat?’, what would have become of human beings in the world! In the same way, if I sat idle, thinking, ‘I have no need to do this immense karma of the universe’, what would have become of this universe! So for what gain do I Myself perform karma as My duty? What happiness comes to Me? What fruit? Think it over. Brother-in-law! In this world those fit for karma are the majority. They are in a state of Ajñāna in which they cannot know either their own fitness or the secrets of dharma and karma. Such people must cross over by following the conduct of eminent people. For that reason, even those who are jñānis must practise karma themselves and become guides for them too, so that the understanding of the ajñānis is not confused. So, whoever one may be, one cannot escape doing karma to the letter. Would an aeroplane stay in the sky alone, saying, ‘I have no need of the earth, after all’? The passengers who board it cannot fly up by themselves, can they? So, just as for their sake it comes down at the various stations, takes them aboard and flies off upward, so too, even though jñānis have no need of karmas, the jñāni himself must gird himself and bend to the performance of karma, to lead along as guides those who have the fitness, mind you! To uplift the ajñānis and to destroy the karmas of adharma, jñānis must come down from their own level, mingle freely with the unlettered, and perform karma with them. Did not even those as great as Janaka and the others do the karmas of dharma? Did not the great-souled Aśvapati perform karma?”