March 11 – Bhagavadgita Chapter 3; Verses 3.19 (Day 71) Karma Yoga

 March 11 – Day 71

Verse 3.19 

तस्मादसक्तः सततं कार्यं कर्म समाचर ।

असक्तो ह्याचरन्कर्म परमाप्नोति पूरुषः ॥ ३-१९॥ 

tasmād asaktaḥ satataṁ kāryaṁ karma samāchara
asakto hyācharan karma param āpnoti pūruṣhaḥ (19) 

த¹ஸ்மாத³ஸக்¹த¹: ஸத¹த¹ம் கா¹ர்யம் க¹ர்ம ஸமாச¹ர |
அஸக்¹தோ¹ ஹ்யாச¹ரன்க¹ர்ம ப¹ரமாப்¹னோதி¹ பூ¹ருஷ: ||19|| 

19. Therefore, without attachment, do thou always perform action which should be done; for, by performing action without attachment man reaches the Supreme. 

COMMENTARY: If you perform actions without attachment, for the sake of the Lord, you will attain to Self-realization through purity of heart. (Cf, II. 64; IV. 19, 23; XVIII. 49) 

Commentary by Swami Venkatesananda [verse 19] 

Kṛṣṇa is not in favour of our abandoning our ‘duty’. Various expressions are used; niyataṁ karma (action in accord with the cosmic order); kāryaṁ karma (action that should be done), or sva-karma (one’s natural. action). And these are used as synonyms for sva-dharma (one’s own duty). Duty holds society together. My duty is your privilege and vice versa. Action performed with this ideal in view is dharma. It holds people together in love and harmony.

Both selfish action and the performance of another’s function (obviously taken over through selfish desire) are to be abandoned, but not one's own duty. Not even a monk should renounce his own duty; Kṛṣṇa gives a revolutionary definition even to saṁnyāsa.

Our scriptures give us several instances of yogī attaining perfection while leading their normal household lives in the right spirit, i.e. without desire and without attachment. An exaggerated value of worldly objects creates desire in the mind. This desire gives rise to attachment to the actions calculated to secure the desired object and the reward too. This attachment is the source of all sins; it itself is sin. Renunciation of attachment is the surest way to attain perfection. The world is not a hindrance. Work is not a hindrance either. But attachment is a definite hindrance on our path to perfection.

What is popularly known as ‘detachment’ is not the true opposite of or antidote to attachment: that is another form of attachment – attachment to self-interest, self-esteem and the adoration of one’s ideology, and aversion to others. Non-attachment is the discovery of the truth concerning attachment itself. Even so with ‘duty’. It is the discovery of what is ‘natural’ to oneself, not some injunctions and prohibitions prescribed or proscribed by others.

-*-