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sarva DharmAn parithyajya vs. karmaNya vAdhikArasthE ... Part 2

From the Bhakti List Archives

Raja Krishnasamy • September 2, 1997 


These acts are the means of purification of self during the various
stages in one's life, for these acts cause a person to contemplate. 
Contemplation leads to worship.  Such upAsana throughout a person's life
lead to the erasure of one's karmAs which are an object of hindrance to
this release.

18.6		EthAnyapi thu karmANi sangam vyakthva phalAni cha	|
		karthvyAnIthi mE pArtha nishchitham mathamuththamam	||

With relinquishment and the fruits there of as part of one's daily
worship, certain acts must be done, renounced of attachment !  Such acts
when so performed are far superior to those performed with a specific
motive.  The only motivation for you performing any tasks must be to
offer those deeds and the fruits therof unto me.

18.7		niyathasya thu sanyAsa karmaNO nOpapaDhyathE	|
		mOhAththasya parithyAgasthAmasaha paikIrthithaha	||

He in fact goes to the extent of telling us that renunciation of
obligatory acts is actually improper, for without those actions, even
the basic sustenance of the body would not be possible.  The basic
sustenance of the body through the consumption of sacrificial remnants
leads to assimilation and perfection of knowledge.  However, the sinful
one is unable to make the distinction between the obligatory acts and
the sinful acts, and ends up consuming sin.  The consumption of such
food that is not the remnants of sacrifice forms sin, and is therefore
counter productive for one's knowledge and development of mind.

When the food one consumes is pure, so is his mind, and when this
occurs, remembrance becomes firmly fixed.  When remembrance is fixed one
is released from all knots of the heart.  Therefore knowledge is the
perception of Brahman and is dependent upon the purity of one's food. 
Hence obligatory acts and other acts worthy of adoption must be
performed till one's demise.  The renunciation of these acts is
improper.  Such renunciation would then be considered as being through
delusions which bind the self and is rooted in tAmasikam.  From tamas
arise ignorance and hence erroneous knowledge which is counter
productive to the realization of Bhrahman.  In verse 14.17, the Lord
tells us that from sAttvA arise knowledge and the superior, from rAjas
arise greed and the mediocre, and from tamas arise the ignorant and the
decadent.

3-48		yOgasThaha kuru karmAi sangam thyakthvA Dhananjaya	|
		siDhdhayasiDHdhayOH samO mUthvA samathvam yOga uchyathE	||

He tells us here that abandoning one's attachment and establishing
oneself in yOga, one performs his deeds viewing success and failure with
an even mind.  Such evenness of the mind is called yOgA.  Only by
understanding the qualities of yOgA can one realize the importance of
good qualities, and their difference from bad qualities.

Finally:

3-47		karmaNya vAdhikArasthE mA phalEshu kadAchana		|
		mA karmaphalahethurBhUrmA the sangO sthvakarmaNi	||

The Lord tells us here that "To work alone do we have a right!  Not to
expect fruits thereof.  Action with attachment is very inferior opposed
to action performed with an evenness in mind.  Miserable are they who
act with a motive!  For such people do not attain the release from
samsArA - the ultimate goal of human existence.

It is indeed amazing the various directions that Lord shrI KrishNa takes
in trying to drive the point home, and he goes over the matter of
release through renunciation in several chapters at the various stages
of his upadEsham with superior clarity in thought!

A lot of the material I have presented here comes from Sri Ramanuja's
commentary on the shrI math bhAgavadgIthA - also called as shrI
rAmAnujA's githa BhAshyam


adiyEn

rAjA krishNasAmy
raja@cyberdude.com