Bg 12.10
abhyāse ’py asamartho ’si mat-karma-paramo bhava
mad-artham api karmāṇi kurvan siddhim avāpsyasi
Bg 12.11
athaitad apy aśakto ’si kartuṁ mad-yogam āśritaḥ
sarva-karma-phala-tyāgaṁ tataḥ kuru yatātmavān
Translation
10. If you are unable even to practise ABHYASA-YOGA, be you intent on performing actions for My sake; even by doing actions for My sake, you shall attain perfection.
11. If you are unable to do even this, then taking refuge in Me, self-controlled, renounce the fruits-of-all-actions.
Commentary
The thoroughness of the Hindu scriptures consists in suggesting varying and exhaustive techniques of self-development. Psychologically, the technique is so analytical that the more one studies it, the more one is convinced of the 'path.' There is no "do it or else to hell" sort of threat ever seen anywhere in our great Shastras. Any young man, open to intellectual conviction and scientific appraisal, can get totally convinced of the Hindu way of life.
If a meditator is agitated and wild in his mental personality he will be incapacitated even to perform the "Yoga-of-practice" (Abhyasa-Yoga). Here, Krishna advises him not to struggle hard and thereby bring about avoidable and unnecessary mental repressions and psychological suppressions. The inner personality is a million times more delicate than an unopened flower-bud and to hasten its unfoldment is to ruin for ever its beauty and fragrance. Meditation is only an attempt on our part to create the necessary conditions, most favourable for an early blossoming of the greater man in us. Naturally, therefore, one who is incapable of performing one kind of practice must be given an alternative method of self-development.
An individual will find it easy to gather his mind from its chosen fields of dissipation only when the mind is gliding NOW AND THEN into unworthy channels along the impression-routes created by his own past actions. But if a seeker is too full of such impressions and is so extremely extrovert in nature as to make the practice of concentration futile, then he is advised to surrender all his actions unto the Lord in a spirit of dedication. In doing so, even the most extrovert man will remember the Lord all through his day's activities.
This is the method unconsciously adopted and silently pursued by all fathers towards their new-born child. Every son is born to his father as a stranger. But, in a couple of months, the father's love for the child increases, and as years roll by, it gathers itself into a magnitude wherein the father lives literally in the son. This happens because, after the birth of the son, all actions and experiences of the father are influenced by background memory of the son, i. e., an unconscious spirit of dedication towards him.
Krishna, the Lord of Yoga, is most practical in showing here the 'Path' to an ordinary average man. It gives a hope even to the most extrovert among us. It is indeed a royal 'Path' to the majority of us. Just as a firm's representative, while talking, always associates himself with his firm and says "we shall try to supply --- we are producing --- we are not responsible," etc., and he identifies himself with the great manufacturers, as if he is one of the directors of the firm, although, in fact, he is only a low-paid local agent. Similarly, if anyone of us were really to entertain in our mind the firm idea that we are the agents of the Divine, executing His will in all our external activities, then, not only will our mind thereby be made to contemplate on the Lord continuously, but we shall be drawing from ourselves miraculous powers of efficiency, organisational dexterity, and confident courage in all our undertakings, big or small.
To a student of the ancient Vedic lore, as Arjuna was, this statement, seemingly so simple, may bring along with it a doubt as to its real potency. The orthodox are always suspicious of an unorthodox declaration, even if it be made by the greatest living man of the era, or even by a Divine manifestation. Therefore, Krishna assures his readers of the efficacy of the 'Path' advocated in the second line: "EVEN BY DOING ACTIONS FOR MY SAKE YOU SHALL ATTAIN PERFECTION."
Even while boiling some water, we are apt to call it as "making tea." Though factually it is a lie, it is the whole truth, for, once the water is boiled it does not take much time, nor great labour to make tea. And therefore, whenever water is boiled with the intention of making tea, we generally name the initial act itself by the final goal. Similarly, by the art of dedicating ourselves totally unto the Lord, in and through all our daily activities and contacts with the outer world, we will be developing, in ourselves, the divine vasanas, and during our actions we will be exhausting the existing impressions. Such a prepared mind gets properly tuned up for the Yoga-of-practice and soon it gains sufficient balance and equipoise to contemplate steadily upon the Truth and get itself merged therein.
AND SUPPOSING THERE BE ONE TO WHOM EVEN THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE?
In the previous stanza, we were advised to act in the world outside, renouncing totally our ego, or the sense of a separate, individualised existence. To the strongly egoistic and self-opinionated one, this is not an easy task. Such a man is extremely agitated (rajasic), with the force of low impulses (tamas) poisoning his personality-structure. Even to such seekers, belonging to the lowest conceivable type, the Geeta has a 'path' of advice. Ordinarily, such persons would have been a despair to all religions. Even such chronic cases are taken up by the Geeta, treated considerately, with simple methods, and finally elevated to the highest personality-lustre and efficiency.
If self-dedication unto the Lord, in all activities, is impossible, such individuals are advised here an equally powerful alternative, viz., at least to "ABANDON THE FRUITS-OF-ACTIONS, AND, TAKING REFUGE IN ME, BE SELF-CONTROLLED" in all actions.
Lord Krishna seems to hate all those who are MERE wage-earners. This is not the Bourgeois-contempt for the labourer, or the higher-class vanity that makes some look down upon the sweating wage-earners. In a socialistic pattern of society, especially in an era of the welfare State, any educated man must entertain this Krishna-impatience with every worker in the nation who works only for his wage or profit. In such a socialistic scheme of national life, a worker, who works only for "higher wages, with less hours of work, and with maximum inefficiency" is a criminal who deserves to be punished, in any society. It is this modern attitude, which we see reflected in Krishna's condemnation of all those who work in the world "merely for-the-fruit" --- meaning pay or wages.
The "fruit-of-an-action" is the action of the present-moment maturing itself in a future-period of time. Today, if I plough and sow the seeds, the profit in my harvest will come only after a couple of months. And supposing a farmer broods over the amount of profit that he is to get out of the cultivation and thus wastes his time and energy in dreaming over the possibilities of a success or a failure of the crops, he will surely be an utter failure. Even though this fact is very well known, the majority of us waste our PRESENT chances, opportunities and time in brooding over the FUTURE. All our energies get wasted in our anxieties and fears of a horrid future which has not yet come --- and which may not at all materialise! Krishna urges us here only to curb these wasteful imaginations and to live vitally, sincerely, fully and dynamically in the PRESENT, shutting off all negative imaginations regarding the FUTURE. Even this act can integrate our personality and make it single-pointed and strong.
The above three verses give us three alternatives which are in fact only three different types of mental medicines to cure the mind of its various distractions. All of us are, to a certain extent, extrovert. We differ from each other only in the thickness of the Vasana-layers that we entertain in our inner-equipment. When a brass vessel is slightly dim, an 'ash-treatment' is sufficient to polish it; if it is with a thicker layer of oxide, some 'acid-dipping' will be needed. Similarly, here, if the mind is thinly coated with Vasanas, the slight distractions created by them can be controlled by the Yoga-of-practice. But if the layer of Vasanas is thick, then it can be treated with the Yoga-of action performed in a spirit of Divine dedication. If the mind is shackled with still thicker layers of Vasanas, then the seeker is advised 'to curb his imagination' and act in the world (Karma-phala-tyaga). As I said earlier, nowhere in the world's spiritual literature do we see such an exhaustive treatment of the different 'Paths' for self-development, as in the Geeta.
BUT THEY MUST BE PERFORMED SERIALLY, TO INDICATE THAT THESE ARE NOT TO BE PURSUED TOGETHER. NOW THE LORD EXTOLS THE ABANDONING-OF-THE-FRUITS OF ALL ACTIONS.
Sources: Vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta
abhyāse ’py asamartho ’si mat-karma-paramo bhava
mad-artham api karmāṇi kurvan siddhim avāpsyasi
Bg 12.11
athaitad apy aśakto ’si kartuṁ mad-yogam āśritaḥ
sarva-karma-phala-tyāgaṁ tataḥ kuru yatātmavān
Translation
10. If you are unable even to practise ABHYASA-YOGA, be you intent on performing actions for My sake; even by doing actions for My sake, you shall attain perfection.
11. If you are unable to do even this, then taking refuge in Me, self-controlled, renounce the fruits-of-all-actions.
Commentary
The thoroughness of the Hindu scriptures consists in suggesting varying and exhaustive techniques of self-development. Psychologically, the technique is so analytical that the more one studies it, the more one is convinced of the 'path.' There is no "do it or else to hell" sort of threat ever seen anywhere in our great Shastras. Any young man, open to intellectual conviction and scientific appraisal, can get totally convinced of the Hindu way of life.
If a meditator is agitated and wild in his mental personality he will be incapacitated even to perform the "Yoga-of-practice" (Abhyasa-Yoga). Here, Krishna advises him not to struggle hard and thereby bring about avoidable and unnecessary mental repressions and psychological suppressions. The inner personality is a million times more delicate than an unopened flower-bud and to hasten its unfoldment is to ruin for ever its beauty and fragrance. Meditation is only an attempt on our part to create the necessary conditions, most favourable for an early blossoming of the greater man in us. Naturally, therefore, one who is incapable of performing one kind of practice must be given an alternative method of self-development.
An individual will find it easy to gather his mind from its chosen fields of dissipation only when the mind is gliding NOW AND THEN into unworthy channels along the impression-routes created by his own past actions. But if a seeker is too full of such impressions and is so extremely extrovert in nature as to make the practice of concentration futile, then he is advised to surrender all his actions unto the Lord in a spirit of dedication. In doing so, even the most extrovert man will remember the Lord all through his day's activities.
This is the method unconsciously adopted and silently pursued by all fathers towards their new-born child. Every son is born to his father as a stranger. But, in a couple of months, the father's love for the child increases, and as years roll by, it gathers itself into a magnitude wherein the father lives literally in the son. This happens because, after the birth of the son, all actions and experiences of the father are influenced by background memory of the son, i. e., an unconscious spirit of dedication towards him.
Krishna, the Lord of Yoga, is most practical in showing here the 'Path' to an ordinary average man. It gives a hope even to the most extrovert among us. It is indeed a royal 'Path' to the majority of us. Just as a firm's representative, while talking, always associates himself with his firm and says "we shall try to supply --- we are producing --- we are not responsible," etc., and he identifies himself with the great manufacturers, as if he is one of the directors of the firm, although, in fact, he is only a low-paid local agent. Similarly, if anyone of us were really to entertain in our mind the firm idea that we are the agents of the Divine, executing His will in all our external activities, then, not only will our mind thereby be made to contemplate on the Lord continuously, but we shall be drawing from ourselves miraculous powers of efficiency, organisational dexterity, and confident courage in all our undertakings, big or small.
To a student of the ancient Vedic lore, as Arjuna was, this statement, seemingly so simple, may bring along with it a doubt as to its real potency. The orthodox are always suspicious of an unorthodox declaration, even if it be made by the greatest living man of the era, or even by a Divine manifestation. Therefore, Krishna assures his readers of the efficacy of the 'Path' advocated in the second line: "EVEN BY DOING ACTIONS FOR MY SAKE YOU SHALL ATTAIN PERFECTION."
Even while boiling some water, we are apt to call it as "making tea." Though factually it is a lie, it is the whole truth, for, once the water is boiled it does not take much time, nor great labour to make tea. And therefore, whenever water is boiled with the intention of making tea, we generally name the initial act itself by the final goal. Similarly, by the art of dedicating ourselves totally unto the Lord, in and through all our daily activities and contacts with the outer world, we will be developing, in ourselves, the divine vasanas, and during our actions we will be exhausting the existing impressions. Such a prepared mind gets properly tuned up for the Yoga-of-practice and soon it gains sufficient balance and equipoise to contemplate steadily upon the Truth and get itself merged therein.
AND SUPPOSING THERE BE ONE TO WHOM EVEN THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE?
In the previous stanza, we were advised to act in the world outside, renouncing totally our ego, or the sense of a separate, individualised existence. To the strongly egoistic and self-opinionated one, this is not an easy task. Such a man is extremely agitated (rajasic), with the force of low impulses (tamas) poisoning his personality-structure. Even to such seekers, belonging to the lowest conceivable type, the Geeta has a 'path' of advice. Ordinarily, such persons would have been a despair to all religions. Even such chronic cases are taken up by the Geeta, treated considerately, with simple methods, and finally elevated to the highest personality-lustre and efficiency.
If self-dedication unto the Lord, in all activities, is impossible, such individuals are advised here an equally powerful alternative, viz., at least to "ABANDON THE FRUITS-OF-ACTIONS, AND, TAKING REFUGE IN ME, BE SELF-CONTROLLED" in all actions.
Lord Krishna seems to hate all those who are MERE wage-earners. This is not the Bourgeois-contempt for the labourer, or the higher-class vanity that makes some look down upon the sweating wage-earners. In a socialistic pattern of society, especially in an era of the welfare State, any educated man must entertain this Krishna-impatience with every worker in the nation who works only for his wage or profit. In such a socialistic scheme of national life, a worker, who works only for "higher wages, with less hours of work, and with maximum inefficiency" is a criminal who deserves to be punished, in any society. It is this modern attitude, which we see reflected in Krishna's condemnation of all those who work in the world "merely for-the-fruit" --- meaning pay or wages.
The "fruit-of-an-action" is the action of the present-moment maturing itself in a future-period of time. Today, if I plough and sow the seeds, the profit in my harvest will come only after a couple of months. And supposing a farmer broods over the amount of profit that he is to get out of the cultivation and thus wastes his time and energy in dreaming over the possibilities of a success or a failure of the crops, he will surely be an utter failure. Even though this fact is very well known, the majority of us waste our PRESENT chances, opportunities and time in brooding over the FUTURE. All our energies get wasted in our anxieties and fears of a horrid future which has not yet come --- and which may not at all materialise! Krishna urges us here only to curb these wasteful imaginations and to live vitally, sincerely, fully and dynamically in the PRESENT, shutting off all negative imaginations regarding the FUTURE. Even this act can integrate our personality and make it single-pointed and strong.
The above three verses give us three alternatives which are in fact only three different types of mental medicines to cure the mind of its various distractions. All of us are, to a certain extent, extrovert. We differ from each other only in the thickness of the Vasana-layers that we entertain in our inner-equipment. When a brass vessel is slightly dim, an 'ash-treatment' is sufficient to polish it; if it is with a thicker layer of oxide, some 'acid-dipping' will be needed. Similarly, here, if the mind is thinly coated with Vasanas, the slight distractions created by them can be controlled by the Yoga-of-practice. But if the layer of Vasanas is thick, then it can be treated with the Yoga-of action performed in a spirit of Divine dedication. If the mind is shackled with still thicker layers of Vasanas, then the seeker is advised 'to curb his imagination' and act in the world (Karma-phala-tyaga). As I said earlier, nowhere in the world's spiritual literature do we see such an exhaustive treatment of the different 'Paths' for self-development, as in the Geeta.
BUT THEY MUST BE PERFORMED SERIALLY, TO INDICATE THAT THESE ARE NOT TO BE PURSUED TOGETHER. NOW THE LORD EXTOLS THE ABANDONING-OF-THE-FRUITS OF ALL ACTIONS.
Sources: Vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta
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