April 6 – Bhagavadgita Chapter 4; Verses 4.21-4.22 (Day 97) Karma Yoga

 April 6 – Day 97

Verse 4.21-4.22

निराशीर्यतचित्तात्मा त्यक्तसर्वपरिग्रहः ।

शारीरं केवलं कर्म कुर्वन्नाप्नोति किल्बिषम् ॥ ४-२१॥ 

nirāśhīr yata-chittātmā tyakta-sarva-parigrahaḥ
śhārīraṁ kevalaṁ karma kurvan nāpnoti kilbiṣham (4.21) 

நிராஶீர்யத¹சித்¹தா¹த்¹மா த்¹யக்¹த¹ஸர்வப¹ரிக்³ரஹ: |
ஶாரீரம் கே¹வலம் க¹ர்ம கு¹ர்வன்னாப்¹னோதி¹ கி¹ல்பி³ஷம் ||4.21|| 

21. Without hope and with the mind and the self, controlled, having abandoned all greed (covetousness), doing mere bodily action, he incurs no sin. 

Commentary: The liberated sage renounces all actions except what is necessary for the bare maintenance of the body.  He has abandoned all possessions.  He incurs no sin which will cause evil effects.  For a man who thirsts for liberation (Mumukshu) even righteous activity (Dharma) is a sin as it causes bondage to Samsara.  Dharma is a golden fetter for him. A golden fetter is also a fetter (a chain or manacle used to restrain a prisoner, typically placed around the ankles).  A sage is liberated from both Dharma and Adharma, good and evil or virtue and vice. (Cf. III. 7)

 

यदृच्छालाभसन्तुष्टो द्वन्द्वातीतो विमत्सरः ।

समः सिद्धावसिद्धौ च कृत्वापि न निबध्यते ॥ ४-२२॥ 

yadṛichchhā-lābha-santuṣhṭo dwandvātīto vimatsaraḥ
samaḥ siddhāvasiddhau cha kṛitwāpi na nibadhyate (4.22) 

யத்³ருச்¹சா²லாப⁴ஸந்து¹ஷ்டோ¹ த்³வன்த்³வாதீ¹தோ¹ விமத்¹ஸர: |
ஸம: ஸித்³தா⁴வஸித்³தௌ⁴ ச¹ க்¹ருத்²வாபி¹ ந நிப³த்⁴யதே¹ ||4.22|| 

22. Content with what comes to him without effort, free from the pairs of opposites and envy, even-minded in success and failure, though acting, he is not bound. 

Commentary: The sage is quite satisfied with what comes to him by chance.  In verses IV. 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 and 23 there is only a reiteration of the results of the knowledge of the Self which is beyond action.  The sage who identifies himself with the ‘actionless’ Self is not bound as action and its cause which bind one to the round of birth and death have been burnt in the fire of the knowledge of the Self or Brahma-Jnana.  Just as a seed burnt in the fire cannot germinate, so also the Karmas or actions burnt by the fire of knowledge of the Self cannot produce future birth.

Ordinary people think that the sage is also a doer of actions, an agent, active and therefore bound, when they see him doing actions. This is a mistake.  From his own point of view and, in truth, he is not an agent at all.  He really does no action at all.  He feels and says, “I do nothing at all.  Nature does or the three qualities of Nature do everything”.

He is not affected by heat and cold, pleasure and pain, success and failure, as he always has a balanced state of mind.  He is not attached even to the things which are necessary for the bare maintenance of his body.  He experiences either pleasure nor pain, whether or not he obtains food and the other things which are required for the maintenance of his body.  The reason is that he is resting in his essential nature as Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute (Satchidananda-Svarupa); he is swimming in the ocean of bliss.  So he does not care for his body and its needs. 

Commentary by Swami Venkatesananda:

Desire and its consequent ‘planned activity’, are the generators of evil; when they happen to be in accordance with divine will they confirm the ego in its self-arrogating doership of actions; when they are not and so there is failure, they cause tension which intensifies the soul’s ignorance.

The wise man’s mind, too, may entertain hope. If he is a perfected yogi, it will invariably be the reflection of the divine will. If he is an earnest seeker, he will hope for success, but be prepared for the opposite! Thus he goes beyond both. This is not merely ‘positive thinking’, but ‘perfect thinking’. We strive, for that is our birthright and the expression of divine nature in us, too. This effort may even be backed by ‘positive thinking’ and wishing for the best. But it is free from egoistic projection of self-will, for we are prepared for what at the moment appears to be the worst (in the knowledge that God’s will is ever the best). This fusion of positive and negative is perfect thinking which transcends both.

Pain and pleasure, success and failure, are the egoistic interpretation of the divine will when the selfish man breaks life into fragments or foolishly imagines that the coin of life has only one – the pleasant, successful side! Corners and patches of a painting appear ugly or beautiful, dark or bright; but when the whole painting is seen, they coalesce into a masterpiece of portraiture.

The yogi is not a gloomy pessimist. He hopes for the best, but accepts whatever happens as the best. In him the sins of ignorance, desire and private hope, are absent. 

-*-