Passage 4

¹From the fifty-sixth through the seventy-second ślokas of the second chapter, the marks and greatness of the sthita-prajña are explained. Bhagavān then says: 'I have distinguished two paths to Mukti: Jñāna Yoga for those established in Sāṅkhya, and Karma Yoga for the Yogīs. Yet no one can remain even for a moment without action. Everyone, being subject to Prakṛti, must act. Therefore perform the Karma that is yours to do. Action is better than the refusal to act.' ²'Without action even the journey of embodied life cannot continue. Actions that do not bind are those performed in the spirit of yajña; all other actions become causes of bondage. Therefore, Kaunteya, relinquish attachment and perform Karma for the sake of yajña.' In this way Kṛṣṇa took up the very origin and place of Karma and taught until Arjuna's heart was stirred. He then showed the wheel: from Paramātma come the Vedas; from the Vedas, Karma; from Karma, yajña; from yajña, rain; from rain, food; and from food, living beings. ³'Dear one, one must move in harmony with this revolving wheel of the world. Listen carefully. In all the three worlds there is nothing that I am obliged to attain, nothing lacking that I must gain. Yet I remain ceaselessly engaged in Karma. Reflect on this. If I Myself ceased to act, the world would fall into ruin, and I would become the cause of its decline. Therefore, with Buddhi established in the Ātma, offer all actions to Me, free yourself from expectation and mamakāra, cast off this feverish agitation, and fight.' ⁴'For Bhagavān's wheel of creation to move in order, every being must perform its part. No one is exempt. Even the highest jñānī cannot live without some action. Are eating, drinking, inhaling and exhaling not actions? Can anyone continue embodied life without them? And do we not constantly receive help in one form or another—from society, from the world, from countless visible and invisible sources?' ⁵'Why say more, dear one? This entire vast universe is one great workshop. Every human being is like a component within it. According to the place of each component, the fitting Karma comes to that person; it should be performed as Paramātma's work. Is there even one thing or being in the world that does nothing? Trees and plants, insects, stones, wind, rain, sunlight and cold—all perform their functions. If the Sun and Moon ceased their activity, order would fail. If air and fire did not act, life would fail. If earth and space did not perform their functions, the world could not stand. Do you hear?' ⁶'Therefore no one comes into this embodied world and remains wholly without Karma. Only when each performs the work suited to him with vigilance can the universal wheel move unobstructed. You may ask why jñānīs should continue to act. This doubt may arise not only in you but in people everywhere. The conduct of those who occupy higher positions becomes the model for the many. The actions of elders and those rich in experience become Dharma for those who look to them. Their responsibility is therefore especially great. If elders and jñānīs were to say, "We need do nothing; we have experienced everything. These actions no longer concern us," what would become of ordinary people who still live in ignorance? Dharma-glāni, the decline of Dharma, would surely follow.' ⁷For the protection of Dharma, therefore, elders must uphold it in their own lives. They should first practise Dharmic action themselves and then pass it on to others. Only after seeing it done, and seeing again and again how it is done, can those who lack understanding begin to learn and step into practice. ⁸Consider one simple matter. The human body maintains a temperature around 98.4 degrees. From where does even this bodily warmth ultimately come? Is it not because the Sun bears an immeasurably greater heat? ⁹If the Sun were to say, 'Why should I endure such heat?' and become inactive, what would happen to humanity? In the same way, if one who knows were to say, 'I have no need to take part in this vast work of the universe,' what would become of the world? Why does the wise one act? Not for personal gain, pleasure or fruit. In this world many are qualified for action but do not yet understand either their own fitness or the path of Dharmic Karma. Such people must learn by observing the conduct of those who stand before them. Therefore the jñānī should act and become a guide to the ajñānī. No one, however elevated, can simply abandon Karma without consequence for others. An aeroplane may belong to the sky, but can it remain forever aloft because it has no need of the earth? Passengers cannot board it there. It descends to the appropriate station, takes them aboard, and rises again. Likewise, even if jñānīs have no personal need of Karma, they must descend, so to speak, into action in order to lift those who are ready. To raise the ignorant and transform adharmic activity, the wise must come down from their own level, mingle with ordinary people, and act among them. Did not Janaka and others perform Dharmic Karma? Did not the great Aśvapati act? ¹⁰Arjuna then asked an urgent question, and Kṛṣṇa Paramātma replied: 'Dear one, the root and seed of every pāpa and every calamity is kāma—desire.' He explained that kāma is very difficult to conquer for one whose Buddhi is centred on bodily birth and identity, but it can be overcome by one established in Brahma-tattva. To gain such Brahma-tattva-buddhi, all Karma must be performed for the pleasure of Bhagavān. In this way the third chapter is unfolded. The discussion of Karma that begins here continues through the fifth chapter. Three principal truths are emphasised: every person must act, and without action creation itself could not continue; the conduct of elders and the experienced becomes the model of ordinary people; and because most people in the world still stand primarily in the field of Karma, jñānīs too should act as living examples. Kṛṣṇa teaches these three points to Arjuna with great affection. He then moves further: the ultimate end of all Karma is Jñāna; the final purification of the antaḥkaraṇa and the maturity of Īśvara-anugraha culminate in Jñāna; Jñāna is not merely a means to Ānanda but the doorway to the infinite abode. Thus He begins the path of Jñāna. ¹¹Jñāna Yoga shines in the Bhagavad Gītā like a priceless jewel. 'Na hi jñānena sadṛśaṁ pavitram iha vidyate'—there is nothing here so purifying as Jñāna. In the seventh chapter Bhagavān also says, 'jñānī tv ātmaiva me matam'—the jñānī is My very Self, in My view. In many places He reveals the greatness of Jñāna Yoga. Therefore Jñāna Yoga may be understood as the destination of spiritual Sādhana. All śāstras culminate in knowledge. In the contemplation of one's Jñāna-svarūpa, what remains is oneself alone: all is in oneself, and oneself is in all. To inquire into tattva and know it is Jñāna. Merely doing Karma or abandoning Karma is not the essential matter. The operations of body, Manas, Buddhi, Chitta and the senses do not belong to the Ātma. ¹²Even the body's apparent inactivity does not become an action of the Ātma. To know this clearly is Jñāna. Every action should therefore be informed by knowledge. Jñāna teaches both pravṛtti and nivṛtti in their right place, cultivates non-attachment, and through the path of Niṣkāma Karma leads man toward the kingdom of Mukti. Jñāna is the direct road to Mokṣa. Hence nothing is as pure as Jñāna, and nothing so impure as ignorance. 'See the whole in the individual and the individual in the whole; that is Jñāna. The Kṣetrajña in all kṣetras is one. To know that the Ātma, the Kṣetrajña, is oneself is Jñāna. To know that this Ātma is Paramātma is Vijñāna.' Sarvajña Kṛṣṇa began teaching this Yoga to remove Arjuna's doubts. ¹³'Dear one, I taught this sacred Jñāna Yoga long ago to the Sun. Through the lineage it passed to Manu, then to Ikṣvāku, and through them the rājarṣis knew it. In time it disappeared from the world. Therefore I have again taken upon Myself the task of restoring this imperishable Yoga to humanity,' Kṛṣṇa said. ¹⁴At first there appears to be a contradiction: how can Kṛṣṇa say that this Yoga 'disappeared' and also call it avyaya, imperishable? There is a reason. Avyaya means that which does not perish. This Yoga is called Avyaya Yoga because both its foundation and its fruit are imperishable. Its foundation is the Veda, which is imperishable. Its fruit is Mokṣa, which too is imperishable. When such a Yoga falls out of living practice and transmission through the effects of time and human conduct, it becomes hidden; in that sense people say it has 'perished.' The meaning is not that the Yoga itself has been destroyed. To bring it out again means to restore it to practice and transmission, not to recreate something that had ceased to exist. In common speech we call what becomes invisible 'lost' and what becomes visible again 'created.' Do not therefore imagine that this Yoga is itself perishable. Paramātma would never teach as ultimate truth something subject to destruction. ¹⁵There is also something to reflect upon concerning the Sun. Indians have a close and sacred relation to Sūrya. From ancient times the Sun has occupied a central and holy place not only for the heroic Kṣatriya lineages of Bhārata but for the people as a whole. Sūrya Bhagavān is regarded as the primordial source of the Kṣatriya lineage. Few symbols have held so direct and sacred a place in Indian culture. ¹⁶Nor is Sūrya only for Indians; for the whole world he is the directly visible form of Bhagavān. The world moves through time, and the Sun is the principal visible measure of time. Time itself is experienced through his movement; thus Yama, the Lord of time, is traditionally spoken of as the son of the Sun. Every human life is bound by time. Therefore Sūrya becomes both support and object of reverence for life. Whether a person consciously offers his actions to anyone or not, all embodied activity ultimately unfolds under the Sun's order. ¹⁷Day after day he measures and consumes the span of human life. Yet his service to the world is beyond the need for a thousand words; daily experience is witness enough. The crops of the earth and the green abundance of life depend upon the Sun. Without the touch of his rays, fields cannot flourish. Through those rays he lifts water from the seas, gathers it into clouds, and according to the order of nature and the fruits of people's Dharma and Karma, returns it as rain in the appropriate places. Without discrimination he shines upon whatever stands before him, sharing his radiance equally. In this sense he stands visibly as a form of Dharma-devatā. ¹⁸Sūrya is a mahā-tyāgī. Not for a moment does he seek personal pleasure or rest. Performing his duty without expectation, he is a Niṣkāma Karma Yogī, free of display and pride. Though no one renders a greater service to the world's welfare, he behaves as though he had done nothing at all. He never thinks with pride, 'So much happens because of me; what would the world do without me?' ¹⁹He bears immense heat with patience, performs unceasing work, and gives well-being to the world. If the Sun himself felt burdened by his labour, one cannot imagine what condition the world would be in. Even the warmth in the human body is possible because Sūrya bears and gives such power. In that sense he sustains the body too, placing a portion of his energy within embodied life. Without even that measure of solar energy, the body would be inert and without vitality. ²⁰If Sūrya were overcome by disgust or weariness, the world could be destroyed in a moment. Yet without resentment he protects it with immense patience. He does not regard this as a burden performed for others; it is his own svabhāva, his natural Dharma. ²¹That is the mark of sahaja-karma—action natural to one's being. In unnatural or ego-driven action, such peace is difficult. Natural action does not feel like a burden. It is in action performed through ahaṁkāra that weariness, aversion, restlessness and heaviness dance. They do not belong to what is truly natural. ²²Consider another example. If a person is living happily, no one ordinarily asks, 'Why are you happy?' But if he is unhappy, everyone asks, 'Why are you sad?' Why? Happiness is natural to man, and therefore it causes no surprise. Sorrow is contrary to his deeper nature; hence it provokes surprise and questions. Sorrow arises through bhrānti, not as the natural condition of the Self. Therefore it gives rise to many disturbances. ²³In this way Sūrya Bhagavān teaches humanity directly that weariness, burden, astonishment and pride are artificial distortions, contrary to the ease of one's true natural function. ²⁴The Karma of Sūrya Bhagavān is not artificial. Therefore, without agitation or publicity, silently and at the proper time, he performs it in perfect order. Even the time that arises through him is not wasted: it becomes the measure of human life. Through the cycles of time, not only food and joy but the ripening of good and bad are ordered, and thus he serves as a guide for beings. Because he embodies such qualities—great Tyāga, Niṣkāma Karma Yoga and freedom from pride—Bhagavān first taught this Yoga to Sūrya. Would such a teaching have been entrusted casually? Now the same imperishable Yoga is being taught again to Arjuna, who stands as the representative of humanity. Should not Arjuna therefore possess qualities worthy of Sūrya? The reader may reflect upon the greatness of his life. If such purity had not been present in Arjuna, why would Kṛṣṇa Paramātma have undertaken so much for him? Bhagavān does not reveal the highest to one wholly without fitness. There is no doubt that Arjuna possessed the adhikāra suited to the divine purpose.