Gita 03.09 – Nature of action is determined by its intent, not its form

Yajnaarthad karmano anyatra loko yankarma bandhanah kadartham karma kaunteya mukta sangha samachara yajnaarthad karmano anyatra Krishna is now explaining Karma Yoga and taking it to a higher level where he is identifying the object to whom the attached work is to be offered yajnaarthad karmano anyatra 3.9 in the Gita yajnaarthad karma work should be done for the purpose of yajna anyatra otherwise loko yam in this world karma bandhanah one will get bounded kadartham karma kaunteya for that work arjuna kaunteya mukta sangha samachara then you will stay free from bondage mukta sangha samachara your action will be like that now here the question primarily is what can we do about our work in such a way that it doesn't cause bondage so Krishna has still now identified that one should work with detachment that is one level of work but Krishna is taking it higher yajnaarthad work for the purpose of yajna now what does yajna mean yajna means sacrifice so what kind of sacrifice traditionally the word yajna is associated with doing fire sacrifice and Krishna will analyze that and we will discuss that in the future verses but the word fire sacrifice is a specific form of sacrifice now sacrifice means to give up something now for example say in cricket say one player may sacrifice his wicket so that another batsman who can bat faster may come in sacrifice means one gives up something so that something better can be had eventually the essence of sacrifice is to give up a small thing to gain a bigger thing so how exactly sacrifice done in the case of work we will discuss the logistics of sacrifice again later but here the principle is that we work for the purpose of purification for the purpose of spiritual realization so by acting with the knowledge that I am the soul and I am meant to realize my spiritual identity now how do I realize the spiritual identity that is by acting in a way that does not increase my bodily identification when I see that and I understand that I am the soul I am not the body then I naturally want to act at the soul's level because that's how I will stay free from bondage now yajna arthaar yajna is work sorry yajna vai vishnu it is said in scriptures yajna is yajna vai vishnu yajna vai vishnu so yajna is vishnu now what does this equalization mean now we know that yajna that is fire that is invoked and we could say that fire is the manifestation of agni dev so what exactly does yajna vai vishnu mean it actually means that yajna yajna is performed by vishnu for the pleasure of ultimately vishnu yajna is often considered in the vedas scriptures to be the mouth of vishnu the fire sacrifice we offer the fire sacrifice some things and then that goes through agni to the devdas and ultimately to vishnu so just as in yajna the point is that we sacrifice that which we could have used for ourselves for a higher purpose similarly the work which we could do for our pleasure we do it for a higher purpose and what is that higher purpose that higher purpose is at the highest level it is satisfaction of vishnu so when we work for the satisfaction of vishnu we rise above the mundane level and we learn to attain the transcendental level now let's consider a simple example to understand this kind of work how it keeps one free from bondage so for example if there is a wall outside the house and then the owner has forbidden the writing of graffiti on that wall if somebody comes and writes graffiti on that wall and that person will be punished now a child goes there and writes something and then the owner comes there and the child's friends are watching hey you will be punished the owner catches him and they think now this child will be punished may be beaten black and blue by the owner and they find the child has come back with a big chocolate in his hands and he toils how did he give it to you like that then he says see what i wrote then they go to the wall and see this wall is private property writing graffiti here is prohibited so now what has happened over here the child has done the work for the owner of the owner so that's why although the act of writing remains the same but the content of the writing and the intent of the writing are different so it's not graffiti and it's not for spoiling the wall it is meaningful writing done to prevent further future spoiling of the wall so when the when a child writes like that then the child is rewarded by the owner similarly in this world when we act when we act with self-centered intention then we become bound by karma but if we act with spiritual intention that means we act for the pleasure of Krishna doing the work of Krishna then there is no question of bondage rather there is purification and elevation and progress towards liberation by that kind of action so Krishna is telling Arjuna therefore work for the purpose of yajna so this war that you are fighting don't think that it is just just battle between two clans who are having a property dispute actually because Krishna himself is involved supreme lord is involved and he wants the rule of dharma to be established therefore the battle has become something much bigger the battle has now taken on the dimensions of a dharma yudha and because it is dharma yudha Arjuna when he is fighting so for a Kshatriya fighting for the purpose of war is allowed and heroism in war is glamorized but there is still war itself involves killing and whimsical violence is not encouraged Krishna is telling Arjuna that the violence that you are doing is definitely not whimsical it is far from whimsical it is essential for the protection of dharma whimsicality itself often constitutes a violation of dharma therefore Arjuna remembering that you are acting for a higher spiritual purpose you can counter whatever effects that might be there whatever negative effects that might be there and in that way you can move onwards towards liberation although Krishna has not identified himself but yajna means for the purpose of sacrifice in general and when we understand yajna to be Vishnu then for the purpose of Vishnu you work then what will happen? Mukta Sangha Samachara you will act but you will act without bondage and that is the way you should act so if you are afraid that fighting in the war will cause bondage then you don't have to give up your action but give up your self-centered motivation and by imbibing by internalizing a higher motivation you will be able to move onwards and rise to your spiritual level of consciousness where you will become liberated and attain eternal life.