CHAPTER
3: THE YOGA OF ACTION
On mastering the
intelligence
(1) Arjuna said:
'If being intelligent is considered better than doing fruitive work, as
You said o Janârdana, then why are You engaging me in this
ghastly action Kes'ava? (2)
Surely you are confusing my intelligence with your equivocal words,
therefore please make sure you tell me of one only so that I may really
benefit from it' .
(3) The Supreme
Lord said: 'In this world there are two kinds of faith, as I told you
before o sinless one, it is the linking of oneself in the knowledge of
the analytic mind and the connectedness in action as practiced by the
devoted. (4)
Nor by forsaking work does a man attain liberation nor does he attain
success by simply renouncing. (5) Surely no one is but for a moment without
action and certainly everyone is irresistibly drawn to fruitive work
according the qualities born from the modes of nature. (6) Anyone who, controlling the senses, in his
mind keeps thinking of the sense-objects is a foolish soul called a
pretender. (7)
But one who, regulating the senses with his mind, o Arjuna, makes a
beginning with connecting his senses in working without the attachment
of desiring the fruits - he is by far the better. (8) Do your prescribed duties, as working for
certain is better than not to work - even your bodily maintenance is
never without the effect of work. (9) Work for the purpose of sacrifice, otherwise
work will bind you in this world. Work done for that sake, o son of Kuntî, will
liberate you perfectly from that association.
(10) In the coming
about in the beginning of the generations along with the sacrifices,
the Lord of mankind said to this: 'Be more and more prosperous; may
this bestow upon you all that you desire'. (11) Having pleased the godly by sacrifices, the
godly will please you and thus mutually pleasing one another you will
achieve the Supreme. (12)
The gods satisfied by sacrifice will surely award you with the
necessities of life, but he who enjoys the things given without
offering is certainly a thief. (13) Eating of the sacrifices the devoted find
relief of all kinds of sin, but the impious who consider just to please
their senses only eat of trouble. (14) From grains material bodies grow, from rains
there is the production of grains while rains become possible with the
[watering by] sacrifices that are performed out of duty. (15)
Ones duty is realized through the culture of knowledge while the
regulation of that knowledge is of the Supreme, therefore in sacrifice
one will always find the all-pervading spirit.
(16) Thus it is so
that one who in his life does not adopt this regular order as
established in the Vedas, will lead a useless life full of sin and
sense-gratification. (17)
But one who takes pleasure in the soul surely remains a self-realized
man contented in himself only and freed from obligations. (18) Certainly never his doing or not doing in
this world will be for a material purpose and never will he see any
advantage in taking to the shelter of other living beings. (19) Therefore, do your work constantly without
attachment as a duty, because performing labor unattached certainly one
will achieve the Original Person.
(20) For sure even
kings like Janaka and others attained to perfection through this work
and also in consideration of what the world needs you should act. (21) Whatever a respectable leader does is surely
and solely done for other people and whatever the example he gives the
whole world will do in following. (22) For Me there is no obligation of service in
the three worlds yet, indeed without wanting or desire to obtain, I am
engaged in activities also. (23)
Surely if I ever fail thus to be engaged with great care, that path of
Mine all men would follow, o son of Prithâ, in every respect. (24) All these worlds would run into chaos if I
wouldn't do My work; I would create confusion and would destroy all
these living entities. (25)
As the ignorant do their work in attachment, o descendant of Bharata,
so the learned must act without attachment in desiring to be the
example for the common people. (26) He should not disturb the minds of the
ignorant attached to the fruits of labor; a wise man should, engaged in
his duty, fit all in with his work.
(27) From all
kinds of activities performed by the modes of material nature, the
self, bewildered by the identification with the physical, thinks itself
from that the doer. (28)
But knowing the principle reality with the operating modes, o mighty
armed one, he will, who thinks that way about the difference between
the senses and their engagement, never become attached. (29) Bewildered by the modes of nature those
persons who have little knowledge and who are lax in selfrealization,
become entangled in material activities; they should not be agitated by
the ones who know. (30)
Therefore
dedicate all sorts of work to Me, giving up in the full knowledge of
your soul, with a consciousness free from desiring profit and property
and being thus: fight without hesitation!
(31) Those who
follow these directions about the eternal in a regulated manner are
human beings with faith and devotion not looking at others; all of them
will become free from even the bond of fruitive labor. (32) But those however who do not regularly
follow My instructions out of envy are confused about all knowledge and
know them well as being lost without that servitude. (33) The learned one tries according his own way the modes
of nature, nevertheless all living beings are subjected to it - what
can one expect from defeat and destruction ? (34)
The attachment and aversion of the senses to their objects needs to be
regulated as one certainly should never come under the control of those
stumbling blocks. (35)
It is better to follow one's own nature making mistakes than to be
perfect in following an estranged course of action; to find destruction
with following one's own duty is better than to run into danger with an estranged sense of duty.'
(36) Arjuna said:
'Then by what is a man impelled to sin even if he doesn't want to, o
descendant of Vrishni, as if engaged by force?
(37) The Supreme
Lord said: 'It is lust, it is anger born from the mode of passion which
is the all-devouring greatly sinful; know this here to be your greatest
enemy. (38) Just like
smoke covering a fire, a mirror covered with dust and a womb enclosing
an embryo, so similarly by this lust this is covered. (39) The knowing of the knower, covered by this
eternal enemy in the form of desire, o son of Kuntî, is just like
fire never satisfied. (40)
The senses, the mind and the intelligence are called the stronghold of
this lust which by all these clouds the knowledge in covering the
embodied. (41)
Therefore you must, regulating the senses from the beginning, o best
among the Bhâratas, curb this drive of sin that is the destroyer
of knowledge and wisdom. (42)
The senses are above things one says and more than the senses is the
superior mind. Also above that is the intelligence - but more than the
intelligence is He who is the beyond. (43) Thus, superior to the intelligence, knowing
from the steadying of the mind, deliberately conquer this enemy which,
o mighty armed one, is so formidable in the form of lust.
Spoken by Anand Aadhar Prabhu
to the text offered below