March 18 – Bhagavadgita Chapter 3; Verses 3.31-3.32 (Day 78) Karma Yoga

 March 18 – Day 78

Verse 3.31-3.32

ये मे मतमिदं नित्यमनुतिष्ठन्ति मानवाः ।

श्रद्धावन्तोऽनसूयन्तो मुच्यन्ते तेऽपि कर्मभिः ॥ ३-३१॥ 

ye me matam idaṁ nityam anutiṣhṭhanti mānavāḥ
śhraddhāvanto ’nasūyanto muchyante te ’pi karmabhiḥ (31) 

யே மே மத¹மித³ம் நித்¹யமனுதி¹ஷ்ட²ன்தி¹ மானவா: |
ஶ்ரத்³தா⁴வன்தோ¹‌னஸூயன்தோ¹ முச்¹யன்தே¹ தே¹‌பி¹ க¹ர்மபி⁴: ||31|| 

31. Those men who constantly practise this teaching of Mine with faith and without caviling, they too are freed from actions. 

COMMENTARY: Sraddha is a mental attitude.  It means faith.  It is faith in one’s own Self, in the scriptures and in the teachings of the spiritual preceptor.  It is a compound of the higher emotion of faith, reverence and humility. 

ये त्वेतदभ्यसूयन्तो नानुतिष्ठन्ति मे मतम् ।

सर्वज्ञानविमूढांस्तान्विद्धि नष्टानचेतसः ॥ ३-३२॥ 

ye twetad abhyasūyanto nānutiṣhṭhanti me matam
sarva-jñāna-vimūḍhāns tān viddhi naṣhṭān achetasaḥ (32) 

யே த்¹வேத¹த³ப்⁴யஸூயன்தோ¹ நானுதி¹ஷ்ட²ன்தி¹ மே மத¹ம் |
ஸர்வஞ்ஞானவிமூடா⁴ன்ஸ்தா1ன்வித்⁴தி³ நஷ்டா¹னசே¹த¹ஸ: ||32|| 

32. But those who carp at My teaching and do not practise it, deluded in all knowledge and devoid of discrimination, know them to be doomed to destruction. 

COMMENTARY: The pig-headed people who are obstinate, who find fault with the teachings of the Lord and who do not practice them are certainly doomed to destruction.  They are incorrigible and senseless persons indeed. 

Commentary by Swami Venkatesananda [verses 31-32] 

The idea is quite clear and plain. He who practices this buddhi yoga, feeling that he is one with the entire creation, that one cosmic consciousness pervades all and in that consciousness he is one with all – is instantly freed from ignorance and from all karma which give rise to birth and death. Renunciation of egoism destroys the ‘bundle of karma’ (sañcita) waiting to fructify; these ‘effects’ of past actions, not yet ripe for fructification, are deprived of the ego-centered body on which to spend their force. Even prārabdha karma or karma which has already begun to work itself out in this birth through the present body, is deprived of its ‘sting’ since the yogi does not identify himself with the body and its experiences of pleasure and pain, etc. The actions that he now performs (the āgami or kriyamāṇa) are not performed by his ego; his mind is centered in God and therefore there is direct realization that the actions spring from the divine. Hence they do not affect him in the least. He is liberated from karma (the law of action and reaction, cause and effect). When the body falls, he is totally absorbed into the infinite.

Only the faithful man will practice this but its effectiveness does not depend on faith – in the sense of belief! It is not a naive doctrine to hypnotize the gullible, but a scientific approach to divine life. Nor is there a suggestion that it is the only path! There are other means to freedom – ‘they too are freed’!

Self-knowledge or self-surrender (surrender to the divine) is common to all religions. All religions encourage the seeker to surrender himself to the divine or to seek and discover that there is no self independent of the totality or God. Regardless of what the religion is called, it will lead you to this freedom.

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