ARJUNA said : "O Krishna ! at one time
Thou praised the Karma-sannyasa-
Cessation of fruitive acts by following
Selfless Karma-Yoga, - and another time
Thou hast asked me to adopt
Selfless Karma-Yoga, by destroying all doubt and
scepticism
With the sword of knowledge.
Tell me plainly which of these two is better now for
me.
I understand that Karma-Sannyasa means to cease
from all
Furitive acts while Karma-Yoga means
That I must follow every act
And dedicate the fruits to Thee, O Lord Supreme !"
Said Bhagavan : "Both Karma-sannyasa and
Karma-Yoga
Are beneficial and conduct to bliss;
But of the two, the Karma-Yoga is the better.
Renouncing all attachment for Karma
Is what Karma-Sannyasa means,
And not a literal cessation from all actions.
Karma-Yoga also is selfless performance of thy
duties,
But with more explicit comprehension of the act
Of consecrating the results to God
Which would ensure for thee the heart's purification
By that pure knowledge which destroys all doubt ;
So that in point of fact,
Karma-Sannyasa and Karma-Yoga mean very much
the same.
O Mighty-armed ! he who is not malicious
Nor desirous of the fruits of Karma
And who is firm and steady when confronted
By earth's relative temptations,
Is truly a Karma-sannyasin, renouncer of fruitive
acts.
He is easily released from bonds of action.
Salvation may not be attained by disregarding
Karma-sannyasa ;
A Karmin, who has no attachment for Karma
But whose heart is purified in fires of knowledge,
Is a valiant sannyasin, competent to conquer in the
Realm of Freedom.
IT is the ignorant discerner-not the wise-
Who draws distinctions.
He it is who differentiates between Sankhya-Yoga
Which is Karma-Sannyasa and the Karma-Yoga.
Either of these, when rightly followed,
Will husband the fruits of both.
Both principles of Karma-Sannyasa and of
Karma-Yoga
Are essentially the same,
Though there be differences of degree
In thine adherence to attachment or to non-attach-
ment.
What is attained by Karma-sannyasa in pursuing
knowledge
Is also attainable by Karma-Yoga : the name alone
is different.
He who identifies the one fact with the other is
truly enlightened.
O Mighty-armed ! renouncement of thy Karma as
abstraction
Without selfless Karma-Yoga is by itself a misery.
He who accomplishes his selfless Karma-Yoga
And dedicates the fruits thereof to Me
Attains Brahman more speedily by his adoption
Of the Karma-sannyasa.
Jnanins who devote themselves to selfless Karma-
Yoga
Are classified into four groups
According to their purity of mind, of heart and
sense-control.
Each is respectively superior to the other.
Being objects of universal love and adoration,
They are not involved in actions,
Though they perform them all.
A selfless Karma-Yogin, who has purified his mind
And heart , with fires of knowledge
And understands the principles of Karma-Yoga
And of Karma-Sannyasa,
Though he performs the functions of his senses,
Namely : seeing, touching, smelling,
Eating, moving, sleeping, breathing,
Thinks in his pure intelligence like this :
"I have done nothing."
While in the act of taking part in talks,
Accepting and rejecting certain things,
In the opening and closing of his eyes,
He recollects:
"Now I am schackled in material bodies.
Not I the true, but my constricted ego does all this.
That ego only is engaging the attention
Of the senses and their objects.
In my freed and pure self,
I have no concern with earth's phenomena."
AS the leaf of a lotus, though in water,
Is not submerged by water,
So also one who resorts to Karma,
Offering its fruits to God,
Is not entangled in the vice or virtue
That accrue from Karma.
That they may purify their minds,
The Karma-Yogins do their duties,
Abandoning attachment to results,
With body, mind, intelligence and with their senses
purified.
By giving up desire for fruition,
A balanced Yogin does attain undeviated peace,
A freedom from the hamperings of Karma,
While the non-balanced seeker after fruits
Becomes entangled in his Karma,
Through his lustful hankerings.
Although this individual
Apparently accomplishes his duties,
He is essentially non-attached to what he does
By following the mental process just explained.
He may live happily at home
Within his fleshy body,
Consisting of nine doors or vents or outlets,
But truly speaking, neither he himself does aught
Nor can he make another do a thing.
THE soul, who is the master of his body and
material mind
Takes no initiative in doing aught
Or confusing actions to be done
And thus does not connect himself with the results.
When it is said that souls proper
Have no prerogative anent their actions,
It does not mean that such prerogative should be
ascribed to God,
For then Divinity might be accused of grave
injustice.
Man's egotism, Karma and its fruits
Are not of God's creation, but of man's,
Whose nescient nature is responsible for such;
For ignorance induces him to egotism.
If neither good, or evil are caused by God,
He cannot be responsible for their results.
He does not enjoy the vices or virtues of mankind.
Pure knowledge is the normal nature of all souls,
But is now in a conditioned state
Enveloped by the Maya Potency of God,
For they forget their real nature
And misidentify themselves with body and with mind,
And this has given rise to egotism.
KNOWLEDGE is two-fold-of the world and
transcendental.
Knowledge that has been garnered from the world
By application of the human senses and experience
to phenomena,
Is in its essence the unwisdom of the fallen souls;
Whereas transcendental knowledge is the wisdom
of the pure souls.
To those whose ignorance is dissipated by the
awakening
Of transcendental knowledge of their nature,
The Lord Supreme reveals Himself
As the diffusing radiance of the rising sun
Dispels the darkness of the previous night.
Just as the sun's effulgence does reveal
The sun itself and everything around,
So the true knowledge of the Lord and of man's self
Removes the ignorance of a conditionate state,
Revealing the eternal nature of the freed soul
And of the godly Fountain-head of all intelligence.
But when this innate self-realisation
Is shrouded by the mist of ignorance,
An individual is chained to all the consequences of
his acts.
Maya, the Deluding Potency of the Supreme,
Causes the material bondage of a soul,
While the Efficient Cause is the Indwelling Master
Who wakens such a soul from worldly stupor.
THE dormant nature of a fallen soul or atma
Is wakened by a knowledge of his real self,
But a true conception of the Soul Supreme, the
Paramatma,
Is not conceded save to the devout.
Thus devotional activities are indispensible for
knowing God.
Those who have dedicated their devotion,
Intelligence and mind and body
To the service of the Lord, and I am He,
Attain eternal freedom from their ignorance
By garnering Truth Immortal.
Those who are attached to Me alone,
Are free for ever from lust and earthly hankerings.
Then they rejoice in chanting forth My Name
And in discoursing on My Form and Attributes,
My Occupations and Entourage.
Only by attachment and devotedness to Me
Can any soul attain a true conception of My Self.
Then he may enter My Abode of Bliss
And render everlasting service to My Glory.
IN this world, things are classified into three
main divisions
According to the triple qualities of Maya.
But those imbued with qualities transcendent,
Are not concerned with thoughts disturbing,
Which are concomitants of earthly attributes.
The Pandit regards all forms of life with glance
serene :
Equally he gazes on a Brahmana possessed of
wisdom and tranquility,
Or upon a cow or elephant or dog,
Or one who lives on dogs flesh.
Knowest thou the Brahmana and the cow belong to
the superior class
In whom the quality of Sattva is all-prominant;
The elephant belongs to where the Rajas dominates:
the second group,
While dogs and out-castes come within the lowest
class,
Possessing the mentality of Tamas.
But one in whom true knowledge is awakened,
Looks far beyond these cosmic relativities
And realises the existance of the Lord,
Who doth transcend all earthly relations, in every
entity.
THOSE who are endowed with the tranquility
And equanimity of mind,
Can conquer all the world.
They grow unblemished as they incorporate the
nature of Brahman,
Whorefore their very life is in the life of Brahman.
A knower of Brahman has his existence in Brahman
And is not adicted to mundane sense-perceptions
But is firm of purpose.
He is not elated or dejected by the world's events,
Whether they be pleasant or unpleasant.
The knower of Brahman does not confine his joys
to earth's phenomena.
He savours transcendental joy
In the knowledge of his own true self
And gains eternal bliss
By steadfast consecration on Brahman,
So that in course of time he feels
A natural aversion to all sensual pleasures.
Such an one whose truest nature is awakened
Never yields to sensuality
Which does beget but misery;
These joys are born of relative associations
And have their beginning and their end;
They are not therefore everlasting.
O Son of Kunti ! such a sane man
Feels no liking for these transient pleasures.
He accepts his selfless Karma in relation to them
For the bare necessities of life
Though he is not attached to them.
HAPPY is he in reality
And equanimity he has attained,
Who can withstand with patience until death
The impulse of desire and anger
By following the selfless Karma-Yoga
Whilst knowing that he has to mingle with objects
of the world.
This dealing with phenomena is indispensible
So long as there is life in mortal man;
But fortunate is he who deals with them
Without becoming in the least involved.
HE who is not addicted to the pleasures
And instructions and the comforts of this
world
But honestly aspires to inner happiness and comfort
And enlightenment in touch with Brahman,
Is a real Yogin gaining spiritual liberation.
Brahma-Nirvana, the Transcendental Bliss
Or spiritual liberation, may be attained
By sages who are free from sin and doubt,
Who are intent on the eternal welfare of all souls
And have achieved a perfect self-control.
Those sages now bereft of all desires and anger,
Completely self-restrained,
Well versed in all the lore of the soul and Oversoul
Ere long attain the transcendental Bliss in all
perfection.
A selfless Karma-Yogin in this world,
After distinguishing between the truth and
non-truth,
Realises that Brahman is beyond
The scope of earthly time and space ;
And thus realising this,
He finds his own existence is in Him;
Thus is extinguished the burning fire of earthly
weal and woe,
By what is called Brahma-Nirvana.
The heart is purified by Karma-Yoga
The fruits of which are offered unto God;
Purification of the heart begets true self-determina-
tion
And this pure knowledge which is all untinged by
worldly attributes,
Reveals a true conception of Brahman ;
This leads man to steadfast dedication to Brahman's
Divinity;
From this attachment is awakened active loving
service unto Him;
And this is what we know as Bhakti.
NOW the process of Asatnga-Yoga,
Which is control of the eight limbs, is described.
Drive out all contact with external sense-perceptions
Of sound, sight, touch, taste, smell, and others, from
the mind,
Withdrawing all these senses and retracting them
within.
The gaze should be fixed upon the tip of the nose
With glance cast through the space between the eye-
brows;
It should be done so that the eyes be neither fully
closed,
Lest they should lull thee to sleep,
Nor fully open, lest outward objects should distract;
The breathing through the nostrils should be so
regulated
That the in-going air or Prana and the out-going air
or Apana
Should be equalised, and finally their upward and
downward motions
Should be witheld at equilibrium at the navel.
Thus seated, the sage who has complete control
Over his senses, mind, intelligence
Being free from anger and from fear
Practises his realisation of Brahman.
And with the aim of final liberation
He can attain immunity from earthly attributes.
There this Astanga-Yoga can be said to be
A part and parcel of selfless Karma-Yoga.
Such Karma-Yogins know Me to be
The presiding Deity of all sacrificial rites-
The Lord Supreme of all the worlds-
The Friend of every entity.
AND ultimately they attain the final liberation
In blissful comprehension of My Form Divine
By cultivating unalloyed devotion
In association with My devotees.
I am the Recipient of the Yajna performed by
all the Karmins;
I am the Protector of the Jnanins who practise these
austerities;
I am the best Friend of all souls
For I alone assist them for their good
Through the advice of My devotees;
I am the Paramatma-the Indweller
Whom the Yogins meditate upon ;
I in My own true Nature
Am the only Object of love and service
To be attained by pure devition only ;
I am the Lord Supreme of the the worlds ;
Final beatitude awaits the Yogin who realises Me
as such.
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