Bhagavad Gita Commentary–Twenty-four
by Swami Nirmalananda Giri
First Steps in Karma Yoga
In the latter part of the second chapter of the Bhagavad Gita Krishna has given us a perfect portrait of a man of true knowledge of Brahman (Brahmajnana). It is far from that of a devoted warrior in the heat of battle. Wherefore Arjuna asks, protesting: “But, Krishna, if you consider knowledge of Brahman superior to any sort of action, why are you telling me to do these terrible deeds? Your statements seem to contradict each other. They confuse my mind. Tell me one definite way of reaching the highest good.”
The two paths
In response Krishna begins: “I have already told you that, in this world, aspirants may find enlightenment by two different paths. For the contemplative is the path of knowledge: for the active is the path of selfless action.”
For some reason through the intervening centuries ignorant people who are not correctly following either path insist that there is only one right or “best” way of the two: knowledge or action. But Krishna is not really setting an “either or” situation before Arjuna. Instead, he is speaking of two forms of emphasis–some develop better by focussing on knowledge (jnana yoga), and some develop better by focussing on action (karma yoga). But both engage in knowledge and karma simultaneously–it is only in the degree of one or the other that the difference is to be found.
It is sadly true that through misunderstanding we find people who think that one should be cultivated to the complete exclusion of the other. This is not the intention of Krishna, as we shall see. After all, if each one leads to enlightenment, how can there be a “best”? In fact, how can they be exclusionary if they lead to the single goal?
Temperament–predominantly contemplative or active–is the deciding factor as to which of the paths to take up. It must not be done at the behest of some supposed “master” who knows us better than we know our selves, or who has been sent to earth to tell us “the only right” way. Rather we should take up the path that seems natural to us. How simple. Even more, if further on down the path it seems natural to switch over to the other orientation, that, too, is all right, for in some lives we have to take up more than one unfinished strand and complete them.
Time out
May I pause here a moment and comment on a grave mistake passed on by nearly all “teachers”? The dictum that we must choose one path and keep to it for the rest of our life, that to do otherwise is shallow and flighty is absolutely not true. And it is usually thrown out to us with the intention of manipulation and entrapment, not stabilization. The idea is that we should never change our minds or follow our inner impulses. This is not correct. It is natural for us to move in many directions throughout our life. Yes, there are unstable and flighty people, but what has that to do with the vast majority of human beings? If there is only one God and therefore only one Goal, then whatever we do will move us forward along THE Path. “Whatever path men travel is my path: no matter where they walk It leads to me.”
In our evolution through many lives we take up many approaches that we do not complete for some reason. These remain unfulfilled, and it is necessary that we complete them or in some way combine and end them all together. So it is natural to be drawn to more than one form of God or attitude at different phases of our spiritual development. One time in New Delhi some people visited me in the home of friends where I was staying for a few days. One lady told me that her entire family was devoted to Lord Rama and so she was used to calling on him in her meditation. Yet, she found that after some time in each meditation she would first see the form of Sri Rama which would after a short while turn into the form of Krishna. Why would this happen, she asked. I explained that the reason was simple. No matter how she may have been taught in this life, once she got into the deeper layers of her mind there she found that her inner mind was inclined to devotion to Sri Krishna. She was not being unstable, she was learning what was going on deep within and should follow it accordingly. This is not profound insight, it is obvious good sense.
In the same way, there is nothing wrong in following dozens of paths and teachers in a single life. I knew a great Bengali saint, Sri Yogeshwar Brahmachari, who told me that he had twenty-two gurus! And it certainly worked for him.
A test of infants found that they instinctively knew exactly what they needed at the time and would go right for those foods, including cod liver oil (!). The same is true of our own heart. We know the way we should go, and to deny it is to deny our inner divinity.
Now back to Krishna.
How not to go about it
“Freedom from activity is never achieved by abstaining from action. Nobody can become perfect by merely ceasing to act. In fact, nobody can ever rest from his activity even for a moment. All are helplessly forced to act, by the gunas.”
There is a law; it is called Karma. It consists of two forces: the impulse to act and the certainty of reaping the consequences of all acts. It is both cause and effect. And it is underlain by a more profound law, the law of Evolution. Evolution is effected by action–action that informs and improves, but action nonetheless. So action is an absolute necessity for all beings.
Krishna assures us that inaction is impossible–it is impossible even for God, so why not for the godlike?
When we are in a moving vehicle we may not want to move or see the need for it, but move we shall. In the same way, the moment we enter into relative existence, into prakriti, we begin moving, and we never stop until we transcend relativity and attain the Absolute. Therefore the gunas of prakriti, sattwa, rajas, and tamas, combine to force us to act. In this matter there is no free will–we cannot choose to act or not. The only freedom we have is to decide how we will act. This is why all religions place such importance on virtuous or right action. Act we must, so we must act rightly.
Only those who erroneously suppose the inner and outer, the spiritual and the material, to be not only different but in opposition to one another, who think that abstention from action is the way to perfection or who think that escape is liberation. This is why the Gita is so incredibly important. It shows that right activity is as necessary for inner enlightenment as the more obvious means such as prayer and meditation.
In the next chapter Krishna will speak of the “royal sages.” The holy kings who administered kingdoms and yet attained the knowledge of Brahman are the ideal he puts before us. He does this for two reasons: 1) so we will not think that avoiding activity and “involvement” is the way to enlightenment, and 2) so we will not use our earthly responsibilities and ties as excuses for not exerting ourselves to the utmost in the pursuit of liberation. How many times have spiritual layabouts talked to me about how God had given them “all these responsibilities” and consequently they were dispensed from seeking God. It is just the opposite. God intends for us to seek and find Him in the midst of those responsibilities–that is their purpose. They are not barriers or obstacles, but doors to pass through into higher life. One man actually told me that he could not look after his spiritual life because God had given him children whose spiritual lives he was to cultivate(!). Having nothing, he was going to supply them. He also overlooked the fact that God had done no such thing–he had traveled all the way to Asia and brought them back, another form of Great White Hunter who now had a menagerie to amuse himself with and use as pretexts for neglecting his own evolution. As Yogananda said: “Human beings are so skillful in their ignorance!”
The essence is this: since we are forced to act, we should act in a freeing manner, not in a binding manner.
What we are really thinking and wanting
Yet, no matter what we do, our inner intention and desire will determine the ultimate result. That is why we see people who do a tremendous amount of good and religious deeds yet remain not just ignorant but really flawed or even evil. No matter what they are doing, what they are really wanting is a completely other thing. Some people doing “good things” are always getting assailed by “temptations” and “setbacks” so they really go nowhere at all spiritually. This is true in the material world. We see people frantically scrambling for material advancement only to continually undercut themselves and create failure. In their inmost minds they either do not want to succeed or are convinced that they should not (do not deserve to) succeed.
So Krishna says: “A man who renounces certain physical actions but still lets his mind dwell on the objects of his sensual desire, is deceiving himself. He can only be called a hypocrite.” And we will see that what he really wants will eventually come to him. Then he will no longer be a hypocrite, unless he hides his involvement with them. Sometimes a “fall” is really a matter of honesty.
Sanatana Dharma is markedly different from other philosophies. They all threaten, cajole, and persuade people to join their ranks and “be good.” True Dharma, in contrast, says: “Study yourself carefully, and if you do not want what we have to offer, then do not bother–you will not get anywhere anyway. But when the time comes that you really want the higher life, come see us.” Sri Ramakrishna said that by always being truthful a person ascends to higher life, even liberation. There must be honesty in all things, including religion. Of course, there does come a pivotal moment, a midway point, where the individual must say: “I really want what is bad for me, but even more I want to rid myself of such a foolish ‘want.’ Henceforth I will cut it off and cultivate the right kind of ‘want.’” That is not hypocrisy (because he openly admits his inner desire) but liberating discipline. But it must be self-initiated, not an effect of any external factor, including another person.
We are “it”
The only Savior we will ever have is ourself–our own creative will. Later Krishna will say: “Man’s will is the only friend of the Atman.” This is because it is our will (no, not God’s will except insofar as the divine and human wills are essentially the same) that creates our entire life in all its aspects. As the Buddhist texts says: “I have nothing but my actions; I shall have nothing but my actions.” This is why Krishna also said: “If a man sees Brahman in every action, He will find Brahman.” What you will is what you (really) want; what you want is what you (really) will. Hence: “The truly admirable man controls his senses by the power of his will. All his actions are disinterested. All are directed along the path to union with Brahman.” When we understand–really understand–that every action has union with God as its core purpose and carry out each action with that perspective, then everything we will do is genuine yoga, uniting us with God.
“Activity is better then inertia. Act, but with self-control. If you are lazy, you cannot even sustain your own body.”
Liberating action
“The world is imprisoned in its own activity, except when actions are performed as worship of God. Therefore you must perform every action sacramentally, and be free from all attachments to results.”
“Up and Doing” should be our motto.
Read the Bhagavad Gita online: The English text of the Gita posted on this Web Site is arranged according to the meter of the original Sanskrit text so it can be sung–as it is done every morning in our ashram and in most of the ashrams of India.
1) Bhagavad Gita 3:1,2
[Go back]
2) Bhagavad Gita 3:3 [Go back]
3) “I am the end of the path.” (Bhagavad Gita 9:18) [Go back]
4) Bhagavad Gita 4:1 [Go back]
5) Here “activity” includes mental action, conscious and sub-conscious. [Go back]
6) Bhagavad Gita 3:4,5 [Go back]
7) Bhagavad Gita 3:6 [Go back]
8) Bhagavad Gita 6:5 [Go back]
9) Bhagavad Gita 4:24 [Go back]
10) Bhagavad Gita 3:7 [Go back]
11) Bhagavad Gita 3:8 [Go back]
12) Bhagavad Gita 3:9 [Go back]
