Karma-Yoga.
Question: — If all those endless advantage which are said to result from the Vedic rituals are not to be sought after, to what end are they to be performed and dedicated to the Isvara?
(Answer): — Listen to what follows: 46. What utility there is in a reservoir by the side of an all-spreading flood of water, the same (utility) there is in all Vedas for an enlightened Brahmafta» Whatever utility — of bathing, drinking, and the like — is served by a well, a tank, and many other small reservoirs of water &c.. all that utility is only as much as the utility which is served by an all-spreading flood of water; that is the former utility is comprehended m the later. So alsot whatever utility there is in all the Vedic ritual, all that is comprehended in the utility of the right knowledge possess- ed by a Brahmawa who has renounced the world and has * Do not yield to the objects of the senses* completely realised the truth concerning the Absolute Rea- lity; this knowledge corresponding to the all-spreading flood of water. * The sruti says: — " Whatever good thing is done by people, all that is possessed by him who knows what he (Raikva) knew." (Chh. Up 4. 1-4). The same thing will also be said here (iv. 33). Wherefore f, for a man who is qualified for works it is necessary to perform works (which stand in the place of wells and tanks) before he becomes fit for the path of knowledge. And as for you, 47. Thy concern is with action alone5 never with results. Let not the fruit of action be thy motive, nor let thy attachment be for inaction.
You are qualified for works alone, not for the path of knowledge. And then, while doing works, let -there be no desire for the results of works under any circumstances whatever. If you should have a thirst for the results ©f works, you will have to reap those fruits. Therefore let not your motive be the fruits of your action. When a person performs work thirsting for the results of those works, then he will be subject to rebirth as the result of action. Neither may you be attached to inaction, thinking " Of what * That is to say, all the pleasure which results from the performance of all works enjoined in the Vedas is comprehended in the bliss which the man who has realised the Self finds as the essence of his own Self; and every one must admit that all kinds of limited bliss are comprehend- ed in the Infinite Bliss. Thus the Path of Karma- Yoga, which in the end leads to the attainment of the infinite bliss of the Self, cannat be futile, as the questioner has been led to suppose. — (A) f Because the Path of Karma -Yoga is not futile.— (A), 64 THE BHAGAVAD GITA. [DlS. IL avail are these painful works if their fruits should not be deisred?"
If a man should not perform works urged by a desire for their results, how then are they to be performed? The reply follows: 43. Steadfast in devotion do thy works, 0 Dhanamjaya, casting off attachment, being the same in success and failure. Evenness is called Yoga.
Steadfast in devotion (Yoga) perform works merely for God's sake, casting off even such attachment as this, *' May God be pleased,'* and being equanimous in success and failure. Success (siddhi) consists in the attainment of knowledge (jna-na) as the result of the mind (Sattva attaining purity when works are done by one without longing for their fruits; and failure results from the opposite course.
What is that devotion (Yoga) to which Arjuna has been exhorted to resort in performing works? The reply is this: — Evenness of mind in success and failure is called devotion (Yoga).
In comparison with action thus performed in the service of the Isvara with evenness of mind, 49. Verily action is far inferior to devotion in wisdom (buddhi-yoga), O Dhanamjaya. In wisdom (buddhi) seek thou shelter. Wretched are they whose motive is the fruit 47—50] SANKHYA YOGA. 65 Action done by a seeker of its reward is far inferior to devotion in wisdom, i.e.t to action performed with evenness -of mind; for, the former is the cause of birth and death, O Dhanamjaya. Wherefore seek shelter in the wisdom of Yoga, or rather in the wisdom of Sankhya, which latter arises when Yoga attains maturity. That is, seek refuge in the knowledge of the supreme Reality. For, wretched are they who resort to inferior action, who are incited to action by thirst for its fruit. The sruti says: " O Gargi, wretched is he who departs from this world without knowing the Akshara, the Imperishable.'* (Bri. Up. 3-8-13).
The merit of Wisdom.
Now, learn as to what result he attains who performs his own duty with evenness of mind: 50. He who is endued with wisdom casts off here both good deeds and bad deeds. Wherefore apply thyself to devotion. In regard to actions devotion is a power.
The man that has evenness of mind casts off in this world both merit and sin (sukrita and dushkrita, puwya and p&pa) through attaining mental purity and knowledge. Wherefore apply yourseslf to devotion with equanimity. For devotion is a power, — devotion bejng the equanimity of mind in success and failure on the part of him who is engaged in the perform- ance of his o^n duties, his mind resting on the Isvara all the while. It is indeed a power, because works which are of a binding nature lose that nature when done with even- ness of mind. Wherefore be equanimous.
66 THE BHAGAVAD GITA. [DlS. IL Results of Karma-Yoga.
51. For, men of wisdom cast off the fruit of action; possessed of knowledge (and) released from the bond of birth, they go to the place where there is no evil.
For, men of wisdom, possessing evenness of mind, cast off the fruit of works ue.t escape from good and bad births* They then attain knowledge. While still alive, they are released from the bond of birth, and attain the supreme abode of Vishnu—the state of moksha or liberation...which is free from all turmoils.
Or, the wisdom (buddhi) referred to in the three verses (ii. 49—51) may be the Sankhya-(not the Yoga-) wisdom, the knowledge of the Absolute Reality, (corresponding to the wide-spread expanse of water), which arises when the mind is purified by Karma- Yoga; for, it is said in ii, 50 that wisdom directly brings about the destruction of good and bad deeds.
When is that conviction attained which (it is said) arises as soon as the mind is purified by Karma- Yoga or devotion through works? The answer follows: 52. When thy mind shall cross beyond the mire of delusion, then wilt thou attain to a disgust of what is yet to be heard and what has been heard.
51—53] SANKHYA YOGA. 67 When your intuition (buddhi) shall cross beyond the mire of delusion, by which the sense of discrimination between the Self and the not-Self is confounded and the mind (antafc- karana) is turned towards the objects of the senses — & e., when your reason attains purity — then will you attain to a disgust of what is yet to be heard and what has already been heard #: they will appear to you to be of no use.
You may now ask: " When shall I attain the true Yoga or conviction of the Supreme Truth, by crossing beyond the mire of delusion and obtaining wisdom by discrimination o£ the Self? " Listen: 53. When thy mind, perplexed by what thou hast heard, shall stand firm and steady in the Self, then wilt thou attain Yoga, When your intuition (buddhi** anta&-kara«a) which has been perplexed by what you have heard about the multifari- ous ends and means in all their relations— concerning the life of activity and the life of retirement—shall stand firm, with- out distraction (vikshepa** viparyaya) and doubt (vikalpa= samsaya), in the Self (Sama:dhi, i.e., the objective point of your meditation), then you will attain Yoga, samadhi, *.«., the knowledge which arises from discriminatioa The characteristic attributes of a perfect Sage.
Having found an occasion for interrogation, Arjuna asks with a desire to know the characteristic marks of one who has attained wisdom in steady contemplation (samadhiprajna); * Except, of course, the teaching of the scripture regarding the Atman, the Self.— (A) 68 THE BHAGAVAD GITA. [DlS. IL t Arjuna said; 54. What, 0 Kesava!, is the description of one of steady knowledge, who is constant in con- templation? How does one of steady knowledge speak, how sit, how move?
How is a man who has a firm conviction that he is the Supreme Brahman, and who is intent on contemplation (samadhi).— "how is such a man spoken of by others? How does the man of steady knowledge himself speak? How does he sit? How does he move? — In this verse Arjuna asks in order to know what the characteristic attributes of a man of steady knowledge (sthitaprajna) are.
From ii. 55 to the end of the Discourse (adhyaya), the characteristic attributes of a man of steady knowledge as well as the means of obtaining that knowledge are taught to him who, having from the very commencement renounced all works, has entered upon a course of Devotion to knowledge (j«ana-yoga-nishAa), as well as to him who has reached that stage by means of Devotion to works (Karma-yoga.) For, everywhere in spiritual science (adhyatma-sastra), the very characteristic attributes of the successful Yogin are taught as the means (of attaining that stage), since they are to be attained by effort The Lord now points out those characte- ristic attributes which, as attainable by effort, constitute the means as well.
(1) Satisfaction in the Self. The Lord said: 55. When a man, satisfied in the Self alone by himself, completely casts off all the desires of the mind, then is he said to be one of steady- knowledge.
When a man completely abandons all the various desires that enter the heart and is satisfied with the True Innermost Self (Pratyagatman) in himself, without longing for external possessions, averse to everything else because of his acquisi- tion of the immortal nectar, — i.e., his realisation of the Supreme Truth, — then he is said to be a wise man (vidvan)9 one whose knowledge arising from the discrimination of the Self and the not- Self has been steadied. [If, on his abandon- ing of all desires, nothing should be found to cause satisfac- tion while the cause of the embodied state still operates, it would follow that his behaviour would be like that of a mad man or a maniac. Hence the words ' satisfied in the Self * etc.] That is to say, he who has abandoned all desires con- nected with progeny, possessions and the world, who has renounced fall works), who delights in the Self and plays with the Self, — he is the man whose knowledge is steady. (2) Equanimity ia pleasure and paia.
Moreover, Moreover, 70 THE BHAGAVAD GITA. [DlS. If.
56. He whose heart is not distressed in cala- mities. from whom all longing for pleasures has departed, who is free from attachment, fear and wrath, he is called a sage, a man of steady know- ledge.
His heart if not distressed in calamities such as may arise from disorder in the body*, (adhyatmika), etc. Unlike fire, which increases as fuel is added, his longing for pleasures does not increase as more pleasures are attained. He is said to be a man of steady knowledge. He is called a sage, a Sannyasin, one who has renounced works. (3) Absence of attachment, delight and aversion.
Moreovers 57. Whoso, without attachment anywhere, on meeting with anything good or bad, neither exults nor hates, his knowledge becomes steady.
The sage has no attachment even for the life of the body. He does not exult in pleasure, nor is he averse to pain that may befall him. When he is thus free from delight and distress, his knowledge arising from discrimination becomes steady.
* Calamities are divided into the three following classes according to their sources: Adhyatmika, arising from disorder in one's own body; Adhibhautika, arising from external object such as a tiger; Adhidaiv.ika, arising from the action of great, intelligent, cosmic forces such as those which cause rain and storm or such beings as Yak- shasj Ra&shasas and Fisachas.
Pleasures also are divided into the seme three classes.
57—59] SANKHYA YOGA. 71 (4) Complete withdrawal of senses from objects. Moreover, 58. When he completely withdraws the senses from sense-objects, as the tortoise (withdraws) its limbs from all sides, his knowledge is steady.
He, i.e>, the devotee who strives in the path of know- ledge (j»ana-nish*ha>, withdraws his senses from all objects as the tortoise withdraws its limbs from all sides out of fear.
(Question): — Now, even the senses of a diseased man who is not able to partake of sensuous objects withdraw from sense-objects, but the taste for them ceases not. How does that cease?
(Answer): — Listen: 59. Objects withdraw from an abstinent man, but not the taste. On seeing the Supreme, his taste, too, ceases.
The senses, — ' vishayafo,' meaning literally sense~objecfst here stands for the senses, — it is true, withdraw from objects even in the case of an ignorant person who, practising extremest austerity, abstains from all sensuous objects; but the taste or inclination (rasa) for those objects ceases not- (Rasa is used in the sense of taste or inclination in such expressions as * svarasena pravritta/*,* * rasika/i»* and ' rasa"* jmh. ) Even that taste, that subtle attachment, vanishes in 72 THE BHAGAVAD GITA. [DlS. II.
the case of the devotee who, having seen the Supreme Reality, the Brahman, thinks ' I am myself That *; that is to say, his perception of sensuous objects becomes seedless (nir-bija), has lost all germ of evil. The meaning is this: In the absence of right knowledge, there can be no annihilation * of taste for sensuous objects; wherefore, steadiness of right knowledge (prajwa) should be acquired.
Unrestrained senses work mischief.
He who would acquire steadiness of right knowledge (praj*sa) should first bring the senses under control. For, if not controlled, they will do harm. So, the Lord says: 60. The dangerous senses, O son of Kunti, forcibly carry away the mind of a wise man, even while striving (to control them).
The senses are dangerous. They agitate the mind of the man who is inclined to sensuous objects. Having thus agitat- ed the mind, they carry- it away by force, while the man is wide awake t though the mind is possessed of discriminative knowledge.
(5) Devotion to the Lord Wherefore, * It is no fallacy of mutual dependence (anyonyasraya) to say that knowledge arises on the killing of desires and that desires vanish when knowledge arises. For, desire in its grossest form disappears at the first dawn of knowledge, and as knowledge is steadied and perfected, even he subtlest desires are killed out, f t'.e. while repeatedly thinking of the evil nature of sensuous objects 60—63] SANKHYA YOGA. 73 6e. Restraining them all, a man should remain steadfast, intent on Me. His knowledge is steady whose senses are under control.
He should bring the senses under control and sit calm and intent on Me, Vasudeva, the Innermost Self of all; ue-t he should sit thinking 'I am no other than He.' The know- ledge of tfctat devotee is steady who, thus seated, has by prac* tice brought the senses under his own control.
Thought of sense-objects is the source of evil.
Now the Lord proceeds to point out the source of all evil in the case of the unsuccessful: 62. When a man thinks of objects, attachment for them arises. From attachment arises desire -, from desire arises wrath.
Attachment for objects arises when a man thinks of them specifically* — Wrath arises when desire is frustrated by some cause or other.
63. From wrath arises delusion; from delu- sion, failure of memory •, from failure of memory, loss of conscience; from loss of conscience he is utterly ruined( From wrath arises delusion, a lack of discrimination be- iween right and wrong. Verily, when a wrathful man gets * i.e., thinks of their beauty etc.
74 THE BHAGAVAD GITA. [DlS. U% infatuated, he is led to insult even the Guru. From infatu- ation follows failure of memory. Despite the presence of favourable conditions, no reminiscences arise of things already impressed npon the mind by the teachings of the sastras and of the teacher (acharya). From failure of memory follows loss of conscience (buddhi) — the inability of the inner sense (anta/j-kararaa) to discriminate between right and wrong (karya and a-karya). By loss of conscience h<j is utterly ruined ► Man is man only so long as his antafr-karana is competent to discriminate between right and wrong. When it is unable to do so, the man is utterly ruined. Thus, by loss of conscience (anta&-kara«a, buddhi) he is ruined, he is debarred from attain- ing human aspirations.
Sense-control leads to peace and happiness* The contemplation of sense-objects has been described as the source of all evil. Now the means of deliverance (moksha) is described as follows: 64. He attains peace, who, self-controlled, approaches objects with the senses devoid of love and hatred and brought under his own-control- The natural activity of the senses is characterised by love and hatred- He who longs for deliverance resorts only to unavoidable objects with the senses — hearing, etc., — devoid of love and hatred and brought under his own control, his inner- sense (atman-~ antaA-karawaJ being made obedient to his own will. Such a man attains peace, tranquillity, self-possession.
(Question): — What will happen when peace is attained?
Answer:— Listen: 64—66] SANKHYA YOGA. 75 65. In peace there is an end of all his miseries; for, the reason of the tranquil- minded soon be- comes steady.
Oq the attainment of peace there is an end of all the devotee's miseries such as pertain to the body and the mind* For, the reason (buddhi) of the pure-minded man soon becomes steady, pervading on ail sides like the akasa; ue.t it remain^ steadfast, in the form of the Self.
The sense of the passage is this:— The man whose heart is pure and whose mind is steady has achieved his object Wherefore the devout man should resort only to those sense- objects which are indispensable and not forbidden by the sastras, with the senses devoid of love and hatred.
Tranquillity is thus extolled: 66. There is no wisdom to the unsteady, and no meditation to the unsteady, and to the unmedi- tative no peace; to the peaceless, how can there be happiness r To the unsteady (ayukta = asamahita), to the man who cannot fix the mind in contemplation, there can be no wisdom (buddhi), no knowledge of the true nature of the Self. To the unsteady, there can be no meditation, no intense devotion to Self-knowledge' So, to him who is not devoted to Self-know- ledge there can be no peace, no tranquillity. To the peaceless man, how can there be happiness? Verily, happiness consists 76 THE BHAGAVAD GITA. [DlS. II.
in the freedom of the senses from thirst of sensual enjoyment, not in the thirst (trishua) for objects. This last is mere misery indeed. While there is thirst, there can be no trace of happiness; we cannot so much as smell it.
Sense-restraint conduces to steady knowledge.
(Question): — Why is there no knowledge for the un- steady?
(Answer): — Listen: 6y. For, the mind which yields to the roving senses carries away his knowledge, as the wind (carries away) a ship on water.
For, the mind which yields to the senses engaged in their respective objects, i*e«, the mind which is altogether engross- ed in the thought of the various objects of the senses, destroys the devotee's discriminative knowledge of the Self and the not-Self. — How?— As the wind carries away a ship from the intended course of the sailors and drives her astray, so the mind carries away the devotee's consciousness from the Self and turns it towards sense-objects.
Having explained in several ways the proposition enunci- ated in ii. 60—61, the Lord concludes by reaffirming the same proposition: 68. Therefore, O mighty-armed, his knowledge is steady whose senses have been entirely restrain- ed from sense-objects.
67—69] SANKHYA YOGA. 77 It has been shown that evil arises from the senses pursu- ing sense-objects. Wherefore, that devotee's knowledge is steady whose senses have been restrained from sense-objects (such as sound) in all forms, subjective and objective.
(6) The Universe, a mere dream to the Sage.
In the case of the man who possesses discriminative knowledge and whose knowledge has become steady, his experience of all matters, temporal and spiritual (laukika and vaidika, sensuous and supersensuous), ceases on the cessation of nescience (avidya); for, it is the effect of nescience: and nescience ceases because it is opposed to knowledge- To make this clear, the Lord proceeds: 69. What is night to all beings, therein the self controlled one is awake. Where all beings are awake, that is the night of the sage who sees.
To all beings the Supreme Reality is night- Night is by nature tamasic, and, as such, causes confusion of things. The Reality is accessible only to a man of steady knowledge. Just as what is day to others becomes night to night- wanderers, so, to all beings who are ignorant and who correspond to the night- wanderers, the Supreme Reality is dark, is like night; for it is not accessible to those whose minds are not in It- With reference to that Supreme Reality, the self-restrained Yogin who has subdued the senses, and who has shaken off the sleep of Avidya (nescience), is fully awake. When all beings are said to be awake, ie-, when all beings* who in reality sleep in the night of ignorance, imbued with the distinct notions of perceiver and things perceivedi are as 78 THE BHAGAVAD GITA. [DlS. IL it were mere dreamers in sleep at night, — that state is night in the eye of the sage who knows the Supreme Reality; for, it is nescience itself.
Works are not meant of the Sage.
Wherefore works are enjoined on the ignorant, not on the wise- Wisdom (Vidya) arising, nescience (Avidya) dis- appears as does the darkness of the night at sunrise. Before the dawn of wisdom, nescience presents itself in various forms — as actions, means and results, — is regarded as authori- tative, and becomes the source of all action. When it is regarded as of no authority, it cannot induce action. A man engages in action regarding it as his duty — regarding that action is enjoined by such an authority as the Veda, but not looking upon all this duality as mere illusion, as though it were night When he has learnt to look upon all this dual world as a mere illusion, as though it were night, when he has realised the Self, his duty consists not in the performance of action, but in the renunciation of all action. Our Lord will accordingly show (v- 17 et $eq.) that such a man's duty con- sists in devotion to wisdom, in jwana-nishfha.
(Objection): — In the absence of an injunction (Pravar- taka pramarca *■ vidhi) one cannot have recourse to that course either.
(Answer): — This objection does not apply; for the knowledge of Atman means the knowledge of one's own Self* There is indeed no need of an injunction impelling one to devote oneself to one's Atman, for the very reason that Atman is one's own very Self, And all organs of knowledge (pramanas) are so called because they ultimately lead to a knowledge of the Self. When the knowledge of the true nature of the Self has been attained, neither organs of knowledge nor objects of knowledge present themselves to 69—70] SANKHYA YOGA. 79 consciousness any longer. For, the final authority, (viz., the Veda)» teaches that the Self is in reality no percipient of objects, and while so denying, (i>e.t as a result of that teaching), the Veda itself ceases to be an authority, just as the dream-perception (ceases to be an authority) in the waking state. In ordinary experience, too, we do not find any organ of knowledge necessitating further operation (on the part of the knower) when once the thing to be percived by that organ has been perceived.
(7) Subjugation of desire and personal self.
The Lord proceeds to teach, by an illustration, that that devotee only who is wise, who has abandoned desires, and whose wisdom is steady, can attain moksha, but not he who, without renouncing, cherishes a desire for objects of pleasure.
70. He attains peace, into whom all desires enter as waters enter the ocean, which, filled from all sides, remains unaltered; but not he who desires objects.
The ocean is filled with waters flowing from all sides. Its state is unaltered, though waters flow into it from all sides; it remains all the while within its bounds without change. That sage into whom in this manner desires of all sorts enter from all sides without affecting him — as waters enter into the ocean — even in the presence of objects; in whose Self they are absorbed, and whom they do not enslave; 80 THE BHAGAVAD GITA. [DlS. II, that sage attains peace (moksha), but not the other who has a longing for external objects. Because it is so, therefore, 71. That man attains peace, who, abandoning all desires, moves about without attachment, with- out selfishness, without vanity.
That man of renunciation, who, entirely abandoning all desires, goes through life content with the bare necessities of life, who has no attachment even for those bare necessities of life, who regards not as his even those things which are need- ed for the mere bodily existence, who is not vain of his knowledge, — such a man of steady knowledge, that man wha knows Brahman, attains peace (nirvana), the end of all the misery of samsara (mundane existence). In short, becomes the very Brahman, Knowledge leads to Divine Felicity This devotion to knowledge is extolled as follows; 72. This is the Brahmic state, O son of Pn- tha. Attaining to this, none is deluded. Remaining in this state even at the last period of life, one at- tains to the felicity of Brahman.
70] SANKHYA YOGA. 81 This foregoing state — to renounce all and to dwell in Brahman — is the Divine state, the state of Brahman. It pertains to and has its being in Brahman. On reaching this state, one is no longer deluded. Remaining in this state even at the last period of life, one attains moksha, the felicity of Brahman. And it needs no saying that he who renounces while yet a student and dwells in Brahman throughout life attains the Felicity of Brahman, the Brahma-Nirvana.
THIED DISCOURSE. KARMA-YOGA. Arena's perplexity.
The two aspects of wisdom—relating respectively to Pravntti and Niwitti, i*e-t to the Path of Works and the Path of Renunciation — with which the Gita-Sastra is con- cerned have been pointed out by the Lord in the Second Discourse. He has recommended renunciation of action to those who hold to the Sankhya-buddhi (Sankhya aspect of wisdom) and has added in ii. 72 that their end can be achieved by being devoted to that alone. And as to Arjunaf He has declared in ii. 47 that he should resort to works (karma) alone as based on Yoga-buddhi (the Yoga aspect of wisdom), while it has not been said that the Highest Good can be attained by that alone.* Seeing this, Arjuna is troubl- ed in mind and therefore puts a question to the Lord. (III. 1, 2).
This perplexity in Arjuna's mind is quite explicable. He thinks, " how might the Lord first describe to me — a devout seeker of Bliss — the direct means of attaining Bliss* namely adherence to the Sankhya aspect of wisdom, and then command me to do action which is fraught with many a tangible evil and which is but an indirect and uncertain means of attaining Bliss? Arjuna's question, too, points to this state of mind; and the Lord's words in reply to the question are explicable only when the sastra makes such a distinction (between Sankhya and Yoga) as has been described above.
* Vide ii 49—(A) KARMA YOGA. 83 No conjunction of Knowledge and Action.