Commentary on the Bhagavadgita : 50-3. - Swami Krishnananda.

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Thursday, October 06,  2022. 06:00.
Discourse 50: The Eighteenth Chapter Continues – Knowing One's Duty-3.

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The duties of a Brahmana, a Kshatriya, a Vaishya or a Sudra are determined by the gunas of prakriti—svabhāvaprabhavair guṇaiḥ. 

One is not born a genius, one is not born wealthy, one is not born an administrator, nor is one a labourer right from birth. The conditions of living accrue or grow around oneself due to various circumstances occasioned by past karmas as well as one's present abilities.

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Internal restraint of the sense organs, external control over the active senses, purity of motive inwardly and outwardly, forgiveness, straightforwardness, knowledge and wisdom, spiritual experience, and belief in God are considered to be the main characteristics of a Brahmana. 

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The characteristics of a Kshatriya are valour, heroism, spiritedness, determination to achieve a goal, power which does not diminish, never retreating in war, charitableness, and a feeling of responsibility, as the ruler, for the welfare of other people. 

These are considered as the Kshatriya's dharmas, the warrior's, the ruler's, the administrator's dharma:

 śauryaṁ tejo dhṛtir dākṣyaṁ yuddhe cāpyapalāyanam, dānam īśvarabhāvaś ca kṣātraṁ karma svabhāvajam.

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The economic group is called Vaisya: kṛṣigaurakṣyavāṇijyaṁ vaiśyakarma svabhāvajam. 

Tilling and taking care of land, producing grains, trading, wealth, protecting cattle, carrying on business—all these come under the Vaisya's duty. 

Actual hard work, whether industrially, technologically or in any way whatsoever—that which requires hard labour—is the prerogative of the fourth class, known as Sudra.

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Sve sve karmaṇyabhirataḥ saṁsiddhiṁ labhate naraḥ (18.45): 

Each one is to perform one's duty according to the station in society in which one is placed. Then it is possible for one to progress further. 

Svakarmanirataḥ siddhiṃ yathā vindati tac chṛṇu: “I shall now tell you how, by performing one's own duty, one reaches the highest.”

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Yataḥ pravṛttir bhūtānāṁ yena sarvam idaṁ tatam, svakarmaṇā tam abhyarcya siddhiṁ vindati mānavaḥ (18.46): 

One attains perfection by adoring the Almighty Being by one's own knowledge and capacity, and performing one's duty in accordance with that knowledge and capacity. God does not expect us to do anything beyond ourselves, beyond our capacity, and no one can expect from us what we cannot do. 

Our svadharma is that which we can do and, therefore, we must do. 

With that, the Supreme Being Himself will be satisfied. Our worship of God should be through the work that we do according to our ability and our concept of duty, performed in a totally unselfish manner: 

svakarmaṇā tam abhyarcya siddhiṁ vindati mānavaḥ.

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To be continued ...

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