Commentary on the Bhagavadgita : 11.2 Swami Krishnananda.

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Friday,  August 6, 2021. 8:40. PM.
Discourse 11: The Fifth Chapter Begins – Knowledge and Action are One -2.
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The Slokam  in the Third Chapter was lokesmin dvividhā niṣṭhā purā proktā mayānagha, jñānayogena sāṅkhyānāṁ karmayogena yoginām (3.3): “I have mentioned to you that there are two ways or approaches to Reality: jnana and karma.” Now in the Fifth Chapter Sri Krishna again speaks practically the same words. Sāṁkhyayogau pṛthag bālāḥ pravadanti na paṇḍitāḥ, ekam apy āsthitaḥ samyag ubhayor vindate phalam (5.4): “Only children think that sankhya and yoga are two different things. Therefore, childish is your query whether jnana is superior or karma is superior, or whether you have to resort to knowledge or resort to action. I have mentioned to you that these two are inseparable.”

The soul is not the same as the body, but yet it is found that God is inseparable from the soul. The implied application of knowledge in the form of action may make it appear that action is different from knowledge, but it is not different from knowledge in the sense that it is knowledge itself applied in daily life. Therefore, karma, or yoga, or action is not to be considered as something quite different from the insight, or knowledge, spoken of earlier. Only children and illiterate, uneducated persons think that sankhya and yoga are two different things, that knowledge and action are different. If we are established in sankhya, we will automatically get established in yoga also. If we get established in yoga, we will automatically get established in sankhya also.

When we go to the furthest limits of the cosmos outside, as has been done by modern physics, for instance, we will find at the farthest distance of the cosmic periphery the same thing that we find in the deepest recesses of our heart. The farthest and the nearest are the same. The Atman in the deepest recesses of our heart is the same as the Brahman that we see beyond space and time. That is why modern physics has slowly found itself on the lap of the Upanishads, and tells us in its own language what the Upanishads proclaimed long before Einstein was born.

Thus, whatever sankhya is, that yoga also is. If we apply ourselves to the right action, we will find ourselves in the state of the highest knowledge that is necessary for doing that action. A person who is established in the highest knowledge is very active in the same way as, perhaps, God is active. Sri Krishna refers to Himself: na me pārthāsti kartavyaṁ triṣu lokeṣu kiṁcana, nānavāptam avāptavyaṁ varta eva ca karmaṇi (3.22). Sri Krishna is saying, “There is nothing that I have not acquired, there is nothing that I want, there is nothing that I need, there is nothing that can impel Me to do action, yet I am very active.”

God does not gain anything by being active. He is not profited by the creation of this world. No benefit accrues to God because He has created the world, yet we say He is very active in the creative process as Brahma, very active in the sustaining process as Vishnu, and very active in the transforming process as Rudra. Supreme Activity will ultimately be found to be inseparable from the Supreme Being.

To be continued ....

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