Bg 3.16
evaṁ pravartitaṁ cakraṁ nānuvartayatīha yaḥ
aghāyur indriyārāmo moghaṁ pārtha sa jīvati
Bg 3.17
yas tv ātma-ratir eva syād ātma-tṛptaś ca mānavaḥ
ātmany eva ca santuṣṭas tasya kāryaṁ na vidyate
Translation:
16. He who does not follow here the wheel thus set revolving, is of a sinful life, rejoicing in the senses. He lives in vain, O Son of Pritha.
17. But the man who rejoices only in the Self, who is satisfied with the Self, who is content in the Self alone, for Him verily there is nothing (more) to be done.
Commentary Excerpts:
Every member in the entire kingdom of the minerals, the vegetables and the dumb-creatures, instinctively follows this principle of Yajna and contributes thereby to the smooth running of the Universal-Wheel-of-Action. Among living creatures, man alone has been allowed the FREEDOM OF ACTION to contribute to the harmony, or to bring about discord in the smooth running of this cosmic mechanism. So long as the majority of a generation manage to live abiding by the Law-of-Harmony they shall grow from strength to strength, opening up fields of happiness for themselves. Such periods are called the golden eras of their social and cultural life.
But, this faithful obedience is not always possible, for all of them, at all times. At certain periods of history, man, as a social being, comes to revolt against this Eternal Law, and then, life starts slipping away from its peaceful domain of constructive growth, and shatters itself in tearful ruin. Such ages are the dark ages of despair and restlessness, war and pestilence, flood and famine.
The question naturally arises as to why the bright day of the world slowly sets itself to bring in the dark night of chaos. The explanation is given here in the Geeta.
A community is made up of its individuals. However much we may glorify the achievements of the community as such, we cannot totally ignore the contributions made by the units constituting the community --- the individuals. If the individuals are perfect, the community works smoothly. But, if the units are wrongly composed, then the entire healthy growth and strength of structure in the total collapses. The individuals' negative existence starts with their pre-occupation with their senses. In their limited recognition that they are themselves nothing more than their body, they become pre-occupied with its nourishment and fattening. As a body, they cannot perceive the Higher 'ways of life'; nor can they entertain any goal other than seeking satisfactions for their mere animal passions.
In such an era, nobody would come forward to work in the redeeming noble spirit of Yajna, without which, no "favourable circumstances" (rain), could be created for the "productive potentials" (Devas) to manifest themselves as nourishing joy. Seekers of sense (Indriya-ramah), they compete among themselves, each seeking with lustful greed, his own selfish happiness, and they, often unconsciously, bring about a discordant rhythm in the Wheel-of-Action. Such people are considered by the Geeta as "living in sin," and the Divine Song asserts, "they live in vain."
The Wheel-of-Action explained above is generally applicable to the majority of seekers, and actions in the world undertaken in a spirit of Yajna integrate their personality and make them more and more prepared for the highest vocation in life, meditation. Through selfless work, an individual gains an increasing amount of inner poise and when such a single-pointed mind is brought to function at the meditation seat, the meditator gains the experience of transcending his limited ego. To such a perfected one, work is not a training to purify himself but it is a fulfillment of his own God-realization.
It is a fact that we are egged on to activity seeking and demanding a better SATISFACTION and a complete CONTENTMENT. Satisfaction and contentment are the two wheels of the life-chariot. In order to gain a better satisfaction and to reach nearer the point of contentment we are goaded to act in the outer world, to earn and to save, to hoard and to spend. But the man of perfection, who on transcending his limited identification with his matter-envelopments, when he gets himself ushered into the All-perfect Realm of the Spirit, he comes to feel so satisfied with the State of Self-hood which he thereby attains, that he experiences a complete sense of contentment in the very Divine Nature, and that provides eternal satisfaction for him.
Where satisfaction and contentment have arrived, there, in that bosom, desires cannot arise at all; and where the desires are not, there cannot be any action. Thus, the effects (Karya) are not possible in him; the effects of the spiritual 'ignorance'and 'desires,' 'thoughts' and 'actions.' Naturally, in such an individual there cannot be any "obligatory duty"; all work has been at once fulfilled in him. Thereafter, he is free to act, or not to act, to serve, or not to serve, and lives as a God-man upon the earth.
Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta
evaṁ pravartitaṁ cakraṁ nānuvartayatīha yaḥ
aghāyur indriyārāmo moghaṁ pārtha sa jīvati
Bg 3.17
yas tv ātma-ratir eva syād ātma-tṛptaś ca mānavaḥ
ātmany eva ca santuṣṭas tasya kāryaṁ na vidyate
Translation:
16. He who does not follow here the wheel thus set revolving, is of a sinful life, rejoicing in the senses. He lives in vain, O Son of Pritha.
17. But the man who rejoices only in the Self, who is satisfied with the Self, who is content in the Self alone, for Him verily there is nothing (more) to be done.
Commentary Excerpts:
Every member in the entire kingdom of the minerals, the vegetables and the dumb-creatures, instinctively follows this principle of Yajna and contributes thereby to the smooth running of the Universal-Wheel-of-Action. Among living creatures, man alone has been allowed the FREEDOM OF ACTION to contribute to the harmony, or to bring about discord in the smooth running of this cosmic mechanism. So long as the majority of a generation manage to live abiding by the Law-of-Harmony they shall grow from strength to strength, opening up fields of happiness for themselves. Such periods are called the golden eras of their social and cultural life.
But, this faithful obedience is not always possible, for all of them, at all times. At certain periods of history, man, as a social being, comes to revolt against this Eternal Law, and then, life starts slipping away from its peaceful domain of constructive growth, and shatters itself in tearful ruin. Such ages are the dark ages of despair and restlessness, war and pestilence, flood and famine.
The question naturally arises as to why the bright day of the world slowly sets itself to bring in the dark night of chaos. The explanation is given here in the Geeta.
A community is made up of its individuals. However much we may glorify the achievements of the community as such, we cannot totally ignore the contributions made by the units constituting the community --- the individuals. If the individuals are perfect, the community works smoothly. But, if the units are wrongly composed, then the entire healthy growth and strength of structure in the total collapses. The individuals' negative existence starts with their pre-occupation with their senses. In their limited recognition that they are themselves nothing more than their body, they become pre-occupied with its nourishment and fattening. As a body, they cannot perceive the Higher 'ways of life'; nor can they entertain any goal other than seeking satisfactions for their mere animal passions.
In such an era, nobody would come forward to work in the redeeming noble spirit of Yajna, without which, no "favourable circumstances" (rain), could be created for the "productive potentials" (Devas) to manifest themselves as nourishing joy. Seekers of sense (Indriya-ramah), they compete among themselves, each seeking with lustful greed, his own selfish happiness, and they, often unconsciously, bring about a discordant rhythm in the Wheel-of-Action. Such people are considered by the Geeta as "living in sin," and the Divine Song asserts, "they live in vain."
The Wheel-of-Action explained above is generally applicable to the majority of seekers, and actions in the world undertaken in a spirit of Yajna integrate their personality and make them more and more prepared for the highest vocation in life, meditation. Through selfless work, an individual gains an increasing amount of inner poise and when such a single-pointed mind is brought to function at the meditation seat, the meditator gains the experience of transcending his limited ego. To such a perfected one, work is not a training to purify himself but it is a fulfillment of his own God-realization.
It is a fact that we are egged on to activity seeking and demanding a better SATISFACTION and a complete CONTENTMENT. Satisfaction and contentment are the two wheels of the life-chariot. In order to gain a better satisfaction and to reach nearer the point of contentment we are goaded to act in the outer world, to earn and to save, to hoard and to spend. But the man of perfection, who on transcending his limited identification with his matter-envelopments, when he gets himself ushered into the All-perfect Realm of the Spirit, he comes to feel so satisfied with the State of Self-hood which he thereby attains, that he experiences a complete sense of contentment in the very Divine Nature, and that provides eternal satisfaction for him.
Where satisfaction and contentment have arrived, there, in that bosom, desires cannot arise at all; and where the desires are not, there cannot be any action. Thus, the effects (Karya) are not possible in him; the effects of the spiritual 'ignorance'and 'desires,' 'thoughts' and 'actions.' Naturally, in such an individual there cannot be any "obligatory duty"; all work has been at once fulfilled in him. Thereafter, he is free to act, or not to act, to serve, or not to serve, and lives as a God-man upon the earth.
Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta
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