Commentary on the Bhagavadgita

by Swami Krishnananda

Sreyan svadharmo vigunah (18.47): We should not try to intrude into a field of work for which we are not fitted. In that case, we will find that our knowledge and capacity are not adequate for that purpose. Either we would bungle on account of our not being suitable for that kind of work, or we would not be utilising our genius adequately by choosing some lesser kind of work while we are actually expected to be involved in a higher kind of work. So, one should be able to judge for oneself the knowledge and capacities that one has in respect of any kind of duty to be performed in society; and that capacity of choice of duty is actually the worship of God through svakarma. Svadharma and svakarma – one’s own duty is best, because we cannot expect to do more than what our duty can permit us to do. Another’s duty – that is, work that is not intended for us and for which we are not fitted – is not recommended. Svabhava-niyatam karma kurvan napnoti kilbisham: According to our nature, according to the predilection of our psyche, the inborn characteristic of our own personality will decide what kind of work we have to do and what duty is expected of us. Then we shall not have any kind of fear of sin because we are doing the best that we can – kurvan napnoti kilbisham.

Sahajam karma kaunteya sa-doshamapi na tyajet (18.48): It is incumbent on oneself to do one’s own duty, though it becomes difficult to carry on that work due to some defect involved there. We may be ill, or we may not have the appurtenances required for performing that duty. Nevertheless, we should not transgress the boundaries of what we are expected to do in this world. That is our rule, that is our law: sahajam karma kaunteya sa-doshamapi na tyajet.

Sarvarambha hi doshena dhumenagnir ivavrtah: There is what is called dignity of labour. Every work is equally good. We should not say, “Why should I do this kind of menial work? That person is doing better work.” There is no such thing as menial work and better work in this world. It is all a contribution from one’s own point of view for the total welfare of humanity. Every work is equally divine; every work is equally contributory to the welfare of one’s own benefit as well as others’. Work should not be compared. We should not say, “That person is doing a superior work, and I am doing an inferior work.” There is no such thing as inferior work, no such thing as superior work, just as in a huge mechanism we cannot say which part is superior and which part is inferior. All parts are equally necessary, because even if one little part is not working properly, the entire mechanism will be non-workable. So, the concept of dignity of work, and the divinity that one can see in the performance of duty, is to be the guiding factor in one’s daily life; and there should be no complaint either in regard to oneself, placing oneself in a so-called inferior position, or in regard to somebody else being in a so-called higher position. There is no higher position or inferior position. Each one is fitted for something, and that must be done; and what we are not fitted for, that of course we cannot do. So, we should not complain.

Sarvarambha hi doshena dhumenagnir ivavrtah: Actually, every work has a defect in it, whether it is higher work, lower work, that man’s work, this man’s work. Nobody can be omniscient. Everybody is human. Inasmuch as we lack complete knowledge of every kind of involvement in a particular undertaking or work, there is likely to be some difficulty to be encountered on the way. We will not get everything that we want, even if we work to the best of our ability and expectation. This is because, as mentioned earlier, there are five factors determining the result of an action, and inasmuch as no one can know all the five factors working in an action – one knows only one or two – those factors of which we are ignorant will react upon us in a deleterious manner. So it is not that everybody will work perfectly without any kind of pain involved in it. Every work involves some kind of pain, whether we regard it as higher work or lower work. Every undertaking has a defect behind it, because rajoguna and tamoguna pravrtti are also together with the sattvaguna pravrtti. We cannot  always be in sattvaguna, under the impression that everything will be well. Everything looks well for some time, but then rajoguna comes and distracts our mind, and tamoguna comes and puts a stop to our work. Hence, there is a defect in every kind of undertaking. Knowing this, one should not compare one’s work with another kind of work. All work is equally good or equally bad.

Asakta-buddhih sarvatra jitatma vigata-sprihah (18.49): The final yoga is summed up here. How do we practice final yoga when we are about to depart from this world? By being totally detached in understanding and freeing the intellect from involvement with anything whatsoever in the world. Asakta buddhih savratra: In everything, be detached and have no attachment. Jitatma: restrained in one’s own self. Vigatasprhah: having no liking for any particular thing in the world. Naishkarmya-siddhim paramam sannyasenadhigacchati: This kind of attitude of self-restraint is called sannyasa, the abandonment of every kind of involvement. Thus practicing, one attains to a state where one need not do anything. Naishkarmya siddhi is a state where karmas automatically find their fulfilment, and we need not have to engage ourselves in any work later on. Just asrivers move, but they need not move after they reach the ocean, so too one has to work hard until the Universal Being is reached. There, all actions find their consummation. Therefore, it is called naishkarmya. That is the ultimate perfection which is reached by sannyasa dharma which is constituted of: freedom from attachment, self-restraint, and absence of desire for all things.

Siddhim prapto yatha brahma tathapnoti nibodha me, samasenaiva kaunteya nishtha jnanasya ya para (18.50): “How does one attain to this perfection, and attain to Brahman in the end? Please listen to Me. I shall tell you in brief.”

Buddhya visuddhaya yukto dhrtyatmanam niyamya cha (18.51): purifying one’s intellect from the dross of rajasic and tamasic desires. Dhrtyatmanam niyamya cha: by restraining the lower self with the power of the higher self – that is, by restraining oneself in the light of the aspiration for a higher reality. Sabdadin vishayams tyaktva: cutting off connection of all five senses with their sense objects through withdrawing the five senses from their corresponding objects. Sabdadin vishayams tyaktva raga-dveshau vyudasya cha: freeing oneself from raga and dvesha, attachment and aversion, like and dislike for anything, and having an equilibrated attitude towards all things.

Viviktasevi (18.52): always wanting to be alone to oneself, and not feeling happy in the midst of people. The more we are alone, the more we feel free and happy. That is the characteristic of a spiritual seeker in an advanced stage. Laghvasi: eating only as much as is necessary, and not eating like a glutton. Yata-vak-kaya-manasah: working only to the extent it is necessary to work. He does not work beyond his limit and become fatigued. He speaks only when it is necessary to speak, and does not speak unnecessarily. He also restrains the mind, and thinks only when it is necessary to think in a particular line. Otherwise, he does not think anything at all because of his inward spiritual approach. Dhyana-yoga-paro nityam: always intent on the supreme meditative mood on the ultimate goal of life. Vairagyam samupasritah: totally renouncing all attachment to worldly involvements, all perishable objects – anything that is external, spatial, and temporal – renouncing all these things by vairagya dharma.

Ahamkaram balam darpam kamam krodham parigraham vimuchya (18.53): abandoning self-consciousness, not patting oneself on the back that “I have achieved something, I am a spiritual seeker, God is very kind to me, I have advanced so much”. Do not say this, and do not even feel in your mind that you are a superior person, because nobody can be regarded as so very high in the eye of God. Do not be proud of your energy, strength and capacity; do not be vainglorious in your approach; do not desire things which are unnecessary; do not be subject to anger and irritation; do not accept anything which is not actually necessary for a reasonably comfortable life; never have a feeling of ‘I’-ness and ‘mine’-ness in regard to things; do not go on asserting yourself by saying, ‘I’, ‘I’, ‘I’, and ‘mine’, ‘mine’, ‘mine’. None of these things are permitted, finally. Therefore, one must be calm and quiet inwardly, established in Brahman, free from these turmoils of the psyche which come in the form of ego, etc. Then one becomes fit for realisation of Brahman, brahma sakshatkar – brahma-bhuyaya kalpate.

Brahma-bhutah prasannatma (18.54): One who is established in Brahman is calm and quiet and composed in oneself, neither grieves nor wants anything – na sochati na kankshati. Samah sarveshu bhuteshu mad-bhaktim labhate param: devoted to God ultimately, and wanting nothing else. Having an equilibrated attitude towards all living beings, high and low, one is centred in God, and loves God and nothing else – mad-bhaktim labhate param.

Bhaktya mam abhijanati yavan yas chasmi tattvatah (18.55): The Lord says, “A true devotee knows what kind of person I am, what kind of Reality I am.” – that is, what God is, what God does, what is the characteristic of God, and what one actually attains after reaching God. All these things will become clear when the devotion intensifies. Then, one enters into the Absolute. Tato mam tattvato jnatva visate tad-anantaram: Knowing God as He is in Himself is a precondition necessary to enter into God. A conceptual appreciation of God’s existence is different from an appreciation of His Existence as He is in Himself. This is possible only if you totally annihilate your egoistic individuality, don’t conceive God as if he is something outside you, and don’t go on insisting on your own individual existence also. Let God be, and you should not be. When God takes possession of all things, your existence ceases to be and you are no more there, and then it is that you have entered into the Absolute. When you are there looking at God, or thinking that you are there contemplating on God as an independent person, you have not entered. You are only outside beholding, conceptualising, thinking and intellectualising. That is not enough. The entering into the very substance of God is the final aim of life, which is possible only when you cease to be, by a total abolition of your encrustations of physical and psychical personality. Then your soul merges in God.

Sarva-karmanyapi sada kurvano mad-vyapasrayah, mat-prasadad avapnoti sasvatam padam avyayam (18.56): If you work as a worship of God, whatever be the work that you do – let it be anything, even the littlest of activities of yours – may these activities be devoted, dedicated, to God as a humble offering. By the grace of God, who knows your goodness and your devotion, you shall attain to that Eternal Abode – sasvatam padam avyayam.

Chetasa sarva-karmani mayi sannyasya mat-parah, buddhi-yogam upasritya maccittah satatam bhava (18.57): “O Arjuna! I am telling you that with all your mind, with all your heart and with all your soul, be devoted to Me. Abandoning all other concerns in this world, and resorting to the yoga of contemplation through understanding – which is called jnana yoga – be rooted in Me, and let there be no other concern in your mind – maccittam satatam bhava.”

Maccittah sarva-durgani mat-prasadat tarishyasi (18.58): “Because of your intense devotion to Me and your rootedness in Me, you shall cross over all the turmoils of life by My grace. But if you insist on your own ahamkara and say ‘I shall do this, and I shall not do that’ – then you will be responsible for what follows.” You shall actually perish if you insist on your egoism and say “I shall do this, and I shall not do that” – as Arjuna said in the beginning of the First Chapter. Atha chet tvam ahamkaran na sroshyasi vinankshyasi : “If you do not listen to this good advice and insist on your egoism again and again – well, you will reach nothing finally.”

Yad ahamkaram asritya na yotsya iti manyase (18.59): “Because of egoism, you are saying ‘I shall not take up arms, I shall throw down everything, and I shall not do any work.’” This was the attitude of Arjuna in the beginning. “If you are so egoistic and you decide everything for yourself – okay, do it. This attitude of yours is not going to succeed finally, because prakriti will compel you to act. Even if people inwardly decide not to do anything, not to work at all, and maintain silence, it is not possible. As long as the body and mind – which are the properties of prakriti – are there, and because prakriti is always in a state of motion, it is not possible for any person to be inactive. Prakriti’s gunas will compel you to act. So, don’t say,  ‘I shall not do’.”

Svabhava-jena kaunteya nibaddhah svena karmana, kartum necchasi yan mohat karishyasy avaso’pi tat (18.60): Even without your wanting to do a thing, you shall be forced to do it on account of the operation of the gunas. It is not that you deliberately want to do something. Even your so-called deliberate undertaking is a compulsion from a higher source, which you cannot avoid. Therefore, do not decide individually, egoistically – “I shall do, I shall not do”. Let there be no such individual decision on your part. Surrender yourself to the Almighty, and all shall be well with you.