Commentary on the Bhagavadgita : 48-3. - Swami Krishnananda.
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Thursday, August 18, 2022. 20:20.
Discourse 48: The Eighteenth Chapter Begins – Renunciation, and Types of Action :3.
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Yajño dānaṃ tapaś caiva pāvanāni manīṣiṇām: All these three mentioned actions—yajna, dana and tapas—are highly purifying to everybody and, therefore, every day it is necessary for us to engage ourselves in yajna, dana and tapas simultaneously, for our own welfare and for the great blessing of God Almighty Himself.
In this chapter, brief statements are made on a variety of subjects. A predominant subject is the principle of right action, which has been more elaborately touched upon in the Second and the Third Chapters. Niyatasya tu sannyāsaḥ karmaṇo nopapadyate, mohāt tasya parityāgas tāmasaḥ parikīrtitaḥ (18.7): An obligatory duty can never be abandoned. One cannot relinquish that which is imperative—that which is a must under the circumstance in which a person is placed in this universe. We observed more details in this regard when we studied the Third Chapter.
An obligatory duty is that kind of work or performance which is organically related to our very survival and existence in this world, and is interrelated to other beings in the world. Our existence is conditioned by certain obligations to the atmosphere or the environment of the society in which we are living, and if this point is missed due to any intense form of selfishness on one's part—one works for one's own welfare very ignorantly, not considering the internal relationship that one bears consciously or unconsciously with the outer atmosphere—if this ignorance is going to be the motive behind one's action, deluded is that person. Mohāt tasya parityāgas tāmasaḥ parikīrtitaḥ: Such abandonment of work which is obligatory is called tamasic renunciation. That is, that which is imperative cannot be relinquished. More details can be found in the Third Chapter.
Duḥkham ityeva yat karma kāyakleśabhayāt tyajet, sa kṛtvā rājasaṁ tyāgaṁ naiva tyāgaphalaṁ labhet (18.8): Tamasic relinquishment is mentioned as that form of abandonment of action which is tantamount to abandonment of duty itself; that is called tamasic relinquishment. There is another relinquishment, called rajasic tyaga: “Because it is difficult—it is very painful, it involves a lot of hardship, I have to work day and night—therefore, I will not do that work.” This argument for not doing a work is not actually feasible or tenable. The reason for not doing a work should not be merely the fact that it is a strain upon oneself to do hard work. We have to sweat, and “I do not want to sweat; therefore, I will not do this work. Physically it is painful, torturous and, therefore, I am afraid of doing this kind of work or undertaking this project.” When a person abandons doing a work because it is painful and requires hard labour on their part, that kind of abandonment of work is called rajasic tyaga. It is not sattvic.
Kāryam ityeva yat karma niyataṁ kriyate'rjuna, saṅgaṁ tyaktvā phalaṁ caiva sa tyāgaḥ sāttviko mataḥ (18.9): Sattvic renunciation does not mean renunciation of action. Then, what does it mean? It is the doing of one's work because it is something that must be done under the circumstances in which one is placed. Kāryam ityeva yat karma niyataṁ: “Definitely it has to be done, because it is binding upon me. Yet, I shall do that work but be free from attachment to the work.” It does not mean that we should be attached to duty. The performance of duty is an impersonal involvement of ourselves in a call that is super-individual, and it does not call for attachment. Attachment is an emotional clinging to a particular form, event or anything whatsoever; and duty, being a superior call from a law that is above human nature, cannot be an object of attachment. Therefore, when a person performs a work as a duty incumbent upon that person and yet never feels that it is ‘my' work, and he knows that it is not anyone's work but it is a work done for the work's sake, and he does not expect any recompense or fruit thereof—such an impersonally construed unselfish action done for the sake of work alone can be regarded as sattvic action. All other kinds of work are rajasic or tamasic.
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