April 14 – Bhagavadgita Chapter 4; Verses 4.36-4.37 (Day 105) Karma Yoga

 In Praise of Wisdom

(Verse 35-42)

April 14 – Day 105
Verse 4.36-4.37

अपि चेदसि पापेभ्यः सर्वेभ्यः पापकृत्तमः ।

सर्वं ज्ञानप्लवेनैव वृजिनं सन्तरिष्यसि ॥ ४-३६॥ 

api ched asi pāpebhyaḥ sarvebhyaḥ pāpa-kṛit-tamaḥ
sarvaṁ jñāna-plavenaiva vṛijinaṁ santariṣhyasi (4.36) 

அபி¹ சேத³ஸி பா¹பே¹ப்⁴யஹ ஸர்வேப்⁴யஹ பா¹ப¹க்¹ருத்¹த¹மஹ |
ஸர்வம் ஞானப்¹லவேனைவ வ்ருஜினம் ஸந்த¹ரிஷ்யஸி ||4.36|| 

36. Even if thou art the most sinful of all sinners, yet thou shalt verily cross all sins by the raft of knowledge. 

Commentary: One can overcome sin through Self-knowledge. You can cross the ocean of sin with the boat of the knowledge of the Self.  (Cf. IX.30) 

यथैधांसि समिद्धोऽग्निर्भस्मसात्कुरुतेऽर्जुन ।

ज्ञानाग्निः सर्वकर्माणि भस्मसात्कुरुते तथा ॥ ४-३७॥ 

yathaidhānsi samiddho ’gnir bhasma-sāt kurute ’rjuna
jñānāgniḥ sarva-karmāṇi bhasma-sāt kurute tathā (4.37) 

யதை²தா⁴ன்ஸி ஸமித்⁴தோ³‌க்³னிர்ப⁴ஸ்மஸாத்¹கு¹ருதே^‌1ர்ஜுன |
ஞானாக்³னி: ஸர்வக¹ர்மாணி ப⁴ஸ்மஸாத்¹கு¹ருதே¹ த¹தா² ||4.37|| 

37. As the blazing fire reduces fuel to ashes, O Arjuna, so does the fire of knowledge reduce all actions to ashes! 

Commentary: Just as the seeds that are roasted cannot germinate, so also the actions that are burnt by the fire of knowledge cannot bear fruits, i.e., cannot bring man to this world again for the enjoyment of the fruits of his actions.  This is reducing actions to ashes.  The actions lose their potency as they are burnt by the fire of knowledge.  When the knowledge of the Self dawns, all actions with their results are burnt by the fire of that knowledge just as fuel is burnt by the fire.  When there is no agency-mentality (the idea “I do this”), when there is no desire for the fruits, action is no action at all.  It has lost its potency.  The fire of knowledge can burn all actions except the Prarabdha Karma, or the result of the past action which has brought this body into existence and which has thus already begun to bear fruits or produce effects.

According to some philosophers even the Prarabdha Karma is destroyed by the fire of knowledge.  Sri Sankara says in his Aparokshanubhuti:

“In the passage ‘his actions are destroyed when the Supreme is realised’ the Veda expressly speaks of actions (Karmas) in the plural, in order to signify the destruction of even the Prarabdha.”

There are three kinds of Karmas or reaction to or fructification of past actions:  (1) Prarabdha, so much of the past actions as has given rise to the present birth, (2) Sanchita, the balance of the past actions that will give rise to future births – the storehouse of accumulated actions, and (3) Agami or Kriyamana, acts being done in the present life.  If by the knowledge of the Self only the Sanchita and Agami were destroyed and not Prarabdha, the dual number would have been used and not the plural.  (Sanskrit grammar has singular, dual and plural numbers). (Cf. IV. 10-19) 

Commentary by Swami Venkatesananda:

This jñāna or intuitional knowledge or wisdom is fire. It burns. It purifies. It illumines. It burns all the impurities within the human heart. It purifies all that it touches. It illumines the truth. The self, hidden in the heart of man by the veil of ignorance with its heavy encrustation of sinful deeds birth after birth, is the truth. It is the veil that is affected by sin. The self – like space – is unaffected by whatever happens; it is unlimited and ever pure.

When the fire of knowledge is kindled in the human heart by the sage-guru, this fire reduces the evil (which is veil mis-spelt) – to ashes. The heavy encrustation of sin only makes the fire grow more fierce! The thickness of this encrustation is immaterial; fire is unaltered by what it burns, and fire burns all! Quantity is not the criterion here; a spark can reduce a whole forest to ashes.

Unlike most forest fires, but like the fire that catches a veil, this fire of knowledge destroys the very roots, the entire veil of sinfulness. With ignorance is burnt desire along with its ramifications as sinful tendencies. The fruits of past actions (sañcita karma) are burnt too, for they were themselves part of the dream from which the wise man has been awakened. The future actions (āgāmi karma) are egoless and desireless and so bear no fruit. But ‘sarva karmāṇi’ is plural, not dual. Even prārabdha karma (the effects of past actions which have begun to fructify) which governs this incarnation, is ‘cheated’ by the wise man who does not identify the self with the body and the mind. (Prārabdha karma can afflict only the body and the mind.) Thus freed from karma and ignorance, even the most sinful man shines as a sage in the light of knowledge of the self. Neither the veil of ignorance, nor the evil action, nor to live in sin and suffering (note the three words in bold type have the same letters) is based on truth. They are born of non-understanding and die on understanding. 

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