BHAGAVAD GEETA: 65 - Swami Advayananda.

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BHAGAVAD GEETA 

Chapter - 2

Discourse – 2 (72 Slogas)

“Yoga of the SUPREME SELF”

Sri Veda Vyasaji

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Monday 01, Apr 2024 06:40.

2.9   THE PATH OF KAMYA KARMA 

(Slogas: 42-44, 3 No.)

Post - 65.

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2.9   THE PATH OF KAMYA KARMA 

(Slogas 42-44, 3 No.) 

THERE ARE TWO TYPES of persons, each having a different approach to action: 

Type A - jumps into action by nature; he has an action-oriented approach.  

Type B - avoids actions by nature; he has an action-repelling approach.  

Both approaches are valid and can occur in the same person at different stages of his 

growth: this illustrates two inherent qualities in action. 

The qualities are: 

i)   Quality 1: Actions are Absorbing, yet Addictive: 

Once we start an activity, it absorbs our attention. The action itself can bring great joy because the mind gets fully occupied. When we see results coming, we get greater joy. 

Thus actions can become addictive. At this point, the person tends towards Type Aand gets attracted to action.  

Actions are self-denerating. Soon action snowballs and grows on its own and get 

beyond our control. We become enslaved by it and cannot disengage ourselves from it. At 

this point, the person wants to go for a vacation. He tends towards Type B aversion for action. 

ii)   Quality 2: Actions Demand Perfection, yet are Uncertain: 

An activity is never isolated but is part of a Project or group of activities strung together and spread over a time scale. The project could be quite long depending on what it is. In agriculture the time 

scale between sowing and harvesting would be a season. In construction, a road may take 

years to build. All this requires careful planning, supervision and execution. Projects demand 

Perfection, which explains a Type A’s attraction for it.  

However, the result of such activity only comes when the last action in the string is 

performed. And there is no guarantee as to what the result will be. It may even turn out to 

be a total failure. If rains do not come, there could be no harvest at all. If rains are heavy, 

the whole road can get washed away. The uncertainty of the results puts some people off. 

Results demand Patience. This explains Type B’s aversion for action.  

The three slogas of this Chapter are taken together. All of them illustrate what 

happens when our intellects are rooted at the Ego level – the intellect gets completely 

disintegrated. As just expressed, God is the ultimate uniting factor. The opposite is that the 

Ego is the ultimate dividing factor, leaving just one person – one’s own self! 

The Vedas speak of desire-prompted actions only so that we begin to realize how 

futile it is to spend our life aiming for such temporary pleasures. The Vedas hope to instill 

dispassion in us through these elaborate explanations in the Karma Kanda. However, people 

given to sense pleasures do not see this benevolent spiritual intention behind the Vedas. 

Hence they consider their inclusion in the Vedas as divine consent to continue pursuing 

them. It suits their low aim of life perfectly to do that. They blind themselves to the broader 

context of the Vedas, which always directs the human mind towards dispassion for the 

world and towards God, the ultimate source of happiness. 

*****

Next

Slogam - 42: A. The Misquoting of Scripture 

Continued

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