Bg 3.31
ye me matam idaṁ nityam anutiṣṭhanti mānavāḥ
śraddhāvanto ’nasūyanto mucyante te ’pi karmabhiḥ
Bg 3.32
ye tv etad abhyasūyanto nānutiṣṭhanti me matam
sarva-jñāna-vimūḍhāṁs tān viddhi naṣṭān acetasaḥ
Bg 3.33
sadṛśaṁ ceṣṭate svasyāḥ prakṛter jñānavān api
prakṛtiṁ yānti bhūtāni nigrahaḥ kiṁ kariṣyati
Translation:
31. Those men who constantly practise this teaching of Mine, full of faith and without cavilling, they too are freed from actions.
32. But those who carp at My teaching and do not practice it, deluded in all knowledge, and devoid of discrimination, know them to be doomed to destruction.
33. Even a wise man acts in accordance with his own nature; beings will follow their own nature; what can restraint do?
Commentary Excerpts:
The term "matam" in Sanskrit, means 'opinion.' This is "Krishna's opinion" --- Sri Krishna's Matam. The philosophy of spirituality is universal and, therefore, the same everywhere. But religions differ from prophet to prophet, because there are many different OPINIONS entertained by these different Masters, regarding the best manner by which their particular generations could be guided towards the final experience of the Eternal-Factor.
One ought not to live through life as a mere beast of burden doing its daily routine and sweating under the driver's whip. Work only hardens the muscles; it can smoothen out the ugly wrinkles in our character and add a glow of health and vitality to our inner personality only when we bring the inner equipments of our heart and head into the work which our hands and legs perform in the outer world. This is accomplished by pursuing the Karma Yoga advised earlier, with full faith (Shraddha) and without cavilling (Anasuyantah).
FAITH (Shraddha) --- is a very pregnant word in Sanskrit which refuses to be defined fully by any single word in English.
But Shankara's explanation of Shraddha has a purely intellectual import and it has no direct emotional appeal for the seeker. "Faith" in Vedanta means the ability to digest mentally, and comprehend intellectually, the full import of the advice of the Saints and the declarations of the Scriptures. In fact without "faith" no activity is ever possible; and "faith" cannot grow where intellectual convictions have not come to play in their full blaze.
WITHOUT CAVILLING (Anasuyantah) --- A mere intellectual theory cannot be understood and appreciated without our adverse criticisms of it. We criticise to know and understand more exhaustively a piece of knowledge. But here, Krishna is advising a technique of living which cannot fulfil itself in our life through mere criticism and questioning. Krishna is warning Arjuna that he will neither understand fully, not come to gain the blessings of that Way-of-Life, by deep study and noisy discussions. It can be understood and experienced ONLY by living it.
THEY TOO ARE FREED FROM WORK --- Immature students of the Geeta have been seen to cool down in their enthusiasm when they meet with the use of such terms. All through the chapter Krishna was insisting that man should act --- act diligently and rightly. All of a sudden He points to a strange-looking goal, WORKLESSNESS. Naturally, an intelligent reader immediately comes to feel a disgust at this ugly paradox. This is mainly because of our lack of appreciation of the term in its native Scriptural import.
Earlier we have explained how the IGNORANCE of our Spiritual Nature gives rise to DESIRES, which in their turn cause THOUGHT-AGITATIONS, and also how WORK is nothing other than thoughts fulfilled among the sense-objects. Thus, the "State of Workless-ness," is itself the "State of Thoughtless-ness," which indicates the "Condition of Desireless-ness." Absence of all desires can come only when we rediscover the All-full Nature of the Self. In short, with the Knowledge of the Self, when spiritual "ignorance" is terminated, desires can no more arise. Thus, the term "FREED FROM WORK" indicates the state beyond "ignorance," or the State of Self-hood.
"Those who decry this great teaching of Mine and do not practise it," Krishna warns His students, "will become more and more deluded and will lose their discrimination."
Man is encouraged to follow a life-of-action, only when he comes to appreciate that Way-of-Life completely in his understanding. When the very theory is decried, it is no longer conducive to the intellect to accept it. Thus, decrying a philosophy is a sign of one's intellectual rejection of it. Having once rejected intellectually, there is no chance of an individual ever striving to live that philosophy. Karma Yoga is a way-of-life, and we have to live it if we want to come under its grace.
The Path-of-Work lies through a process of elimination of the desires in us. When the ego and ego-centric desires are eliminated, the work accomplished through such an individual is the true divine action, which is destined to having enduring achievements. To the extent man is NOT practising this efficient Way-of-Work, he would grow necessarily unintelligent, and to that extent, his discriminative capacity will deteriorate and ultimately get destroyed.
Even the man-of-knowledge acts in conformity with his own nature, which is determined by the pattern of thoughts that arise in him. At any given instant of time, each one of us is determined by the thoughts that are in us at that moment; and the thoughts in us always get patternised by the channels of thinking, designed by the thoughts which we had entertained in the past. The nature of each individual is decided by the style of thinking which each is capable of.
The man-of-knowledge mentioned here indicates one who has read and understood thoroughly the "technique of action" as explained in this chapter. Even when he knows the technique, the Lord says that it is not easy for him to follow it, because his mind is designed to carry his thoughts through ego-centric and selfish channels, ever panting to gain some desires. Because of these past impressions (vasanas), even an honest student finds it hard to practise this simple-looking technique in his life. The reason is quite universal: "BEINGS FOLLOW THEIR OWN NATURE." Naturally "WHAT CAN RESTRAINT DO" when nature is too powerful?
Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta
ye me matam idaṁ nityam anutiṣṭhanti mānavāḥ
śraddhāvanto ’nasūyanto mucyante te ’pi karmabhiḥ
Bg 3.32
ye tv etad abhyasūyanto nānutiṣṭhanti me matam
sarva-jñāna-vimūḍhāṁs tān viddhi naṣṭān acetasaḥ
Bg 3.33
sadṛśaṁ ceṣṭate svasyāḥ prakṛter jñānavān api
prakṛtiṁ yānti bhūtāni nigrahaḥ kiṁ kariṣyati
Translation:
31. Those men who constantly practise this teaching of Mine, full of faith and without cavilling, they too are freed from actions.
32. But those who carp at My teaching and do not practice it, deluded in all knowledge, and devoid of discrimination, know them to be doomed to destruction.
33. Even a wise man acts in accordance with his own nature; beings will follow their own nature; what can restraint do?
Commentary Excerpts:
The term "matam" in Sanskrit, means 'opinion.' This is "Krishna's opinion" --- Sri Krishna's Matam. The philosophy of spirituality is universal and, therefore, the same everywhere. But religions differ from prophet to prophet, because there are many different OPINIONS entertained by these different Masters, regarding the best manner by which their particular generations could be guided towards the final experience of the Eternal-Factor.
One ought not to live through life as a mere beast of burden doing its daily routine and sweating under the driver's whip. Work only hardens the muscles; it can smoothen out the ugly wrinkles in our character and add a glow of health and vitality to our inner personality only when we bring the inner equipments of our heart and head into the work which our hands and legs perform in the outer world. This is accomplished by pursuing the Karma Yoga advised earlier, with full faith (Shraddha) and without cavilling (Anasuyantah).
FAITH (Shraddha) --- is a very pregnant word in Sanskrit which refuses to be defined fully by any single word in English.
But Shankara's explanation of Shraddha has a purely intellectual import and it has no direct emotional appeal for the seeker. "Faith" in Vedanta means the ability to digest mentally, and comprehend intellectually, the full import of the advice of the Saints and the declarations of the Scriptures. In fact without "faith" no activity is ever possible; and "faith" cannot grow where intellectual convictions have not come to play in their full blaze.
WITHOUT CAVILLING (Anasuyantah) --- A mere intellectual theory cannot be understood and appreciated without our adverse criticisms of it. We criticise to know and understand more exhaustively a piece of knowledge. But here, Krishna is advising a technique of living which cannot fulfil itself in our life through mere criticism and questioning. Krishna is warning Arjuna that he will neither understand fully, not come to gain the blessings of that Way-of-Life, by deep study and noisy discussions. It can be understood and experienced ONLY by living it.
THEY TOO ARE FREED FROM WORK --- Immature students of the Geeta have been seen to cool down in their enthusiasm when they meet with the use of such terms. All through the chapter Krishna was insisting that man should act --- act diligently and rightly. All of a sudden He points to a strange-looking goal, WORKLESSNESS. Naturally, an intelligent reader immediately comes to feel a disgust at this ugly paradox. This is mainly because of our lack of appreciation of the term in its native Scriptural import.
Earlier we have explained how the IGNORANCE of our Spiritual Nature gives rise to DESIRES, which in their turn cause THOUGHT-AGITATIONS, and also how WORK is nothing other than thoughts fulfilled among the sense-objects. Thus, the "State of Workless-ness," is itself the "State of Thoughtless-ness," which indicates the "Condition of Desireless-ness." Absence of all desires can come only when we rediscover the All-full Nature of the Self. In short, with the Knowledge of the Self, when spiritual "ignorance" is terminated, desires can no more arise. Thus, the term "FREED FROM WORK" indicates the state beyond "ignorance," or the State of Self-hood.
"Those who decry this great teaching of Mine and do not practise it," Krishna warns His students, "will become more and more deluded and will lose their discrimination."
Man is encouraged to follow a life-of-action, only when he comes to appreciate that Way-of-Life completely in his understanding. When the very theory is decried, it is no longer conducive to the intellect to accept it. Thus, decrying a philosophy is a sign of one's intellectual rejection of it. Having once rejected intellectually, there is no chance of an individual ever striving to live that philosophy. Karma Yoga is a way-of-life, and we have to live it if we want to come under its grace.
The Path-of-Work lies through a process of elimination of the desires in us. When the ego and ego-centric desires are eliminated, the work accomplished through such an individual is the true divine action, which is destined to having enduring achievements. To the extent man is NOT practising this efficient Way-of-Work, he would grow necessarily unintelligent, and to that extent, his discriminative capacity will deteriorate and ultimately get destroyed.
Even the man-of-knowledge acts in conformity with his own nature, which is determined by the pattern of thoughts that arise in him. At any given instant of time, each one of us is determined by the thoughts that are in us at that moment; and the thoughts in us always get patternised by the channels of thinking, designed by the thoughts which we had entertained in the past. The nature of each individual is decided by the style of thinking which each is capable of.
The man-of-knowledge mentioned here indicates one who has read and understood thoroughly the "technique of action" as explained in this chapter. Even when he knows the technique, the Lord says that it is not easy for him to follow it, because his mind is designed to carry his thoughts through ego-centric and selfish channels, ever panting to gain some desires. Because of these past impressions (vasanas), even an honest student finds it hard to practise this simple-looking technique in his life. The reason is quite universal: "BEINGS FOLLOW THEIR OWN NATURE." Naturally "WHAT CAN RESTRAINT DO" when nature is too powerful?
Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta
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