Gita 03.16 – Those who don’t sacrifice waste their life

Thank you evam pravartitam chakram nanu vartaya tihaya aghaya yurindriya rama mogham parthas jivati here krishna is speaking to arjuna and he is stating evam pravartitam chakram this is the pravartitam this is the ordained chakra, the cycle of cosmic cooperation intracosmic cooperation between the celestial and the terrestrial realms under the supervision of the transcendental lord nanu vartaya tihaya one who does not anuvarti, one who does not participate properly in this cosmic cycle aghaya yurindriya this person is aghaya actually the ayu, the life is filled with sin indriya rama this person lives primarily for self gratification and mogham parthas jivati mogham this person lives in vain mogham now this is a strong word what exactly does it mean here Krishna has talked about multiple levels in this chapter so first from verses 3 to 9 he compared karma yoga and jnana yoga so in the hierarchy jnana yoga is higher than karma yoga but in terms of preference for arjuna, Krishna said that your dhikar is for karma yoga then Krishna goes one level down and he says that if you feel that you cannot work with detachment then you can work with attachment but at least work in a spirit of sacrifice work within the karma kanda framework, do your gives and that will keep you free from sin so that means jnana yoga, karma yoga, karma kanda so the previous section talked about karma kanda but also gave pointers towards the ultimate spiritualization of karma kanda but it is not very explicit now Krishna is concluding with this one verse here about a level that is below karma kanda also that is vikarma it is sinful action so he is saying that if somebody does not even do karma kanda then that person is actually living sinfully and that he says that actually there is a cycle of cooperation that is ordained in scripture so evam pravartitam chakram evam pravartitam that which is ordained by scripture chakram the cycle so more and more scientists are realizing that we live in an interdependent universe the earlier idea was, the pre-scientific idea was the that we are dependent on the universe that any time storms may come any time this may happen we are just merciless we are just helpless in front of merciless nature then as technology developed the idea came that we can be independent of nature instead of being dependent on nature we can become independent even if nature does not provide rains still we can make irrigation, we can make dams and we will bring water over there but in the process of trying to become independent of nature we disrupted nature insensitively and disastrously and now we are beginning to recognize that the best way to live with nature is not by trying to dominate it entirely according to our will but by learning to cooperate with it so interdependence so can we say that nature is dependent on us actually not exactly in the sense that we maintain the world but yes in the sense that our actions also have consequences on nature when if we create industries which pollute rivers and pollute the air cause deforestation and desertification of land then certainly nature is affected by human actions so in that sense the the harmony of nature is also the proper functioning of nature the balance of the ecosystems and the other balance in the biosphere are also dependent on us and so we also have a duty to take care of when we interact with nature so Krishna is saying that there is this chakra that means nature does something for us and we do something for nature of course modern science just has a view of nature in terms of natural forces interacting on certain laws the Vedic scriptures take that vision deeper to see duties supervising or overseeing those, functioning of those laws, functioning of nature but either way the point is there is a domination of you and me but if somebody does not have that relationship with you and me so one can participate in the cycle the cycle is mentioned briefly in 3.12 देवा भावे ताने न ते देवा भावे नतु so we satisfy the world and they satisfy us so we do sacrifices for them and they bless us with real royal necessities now those who don't do like this नानु वर्त यती है they don't offer sacrifices अगहायूरिंद्रियाराम अगहायूर goes back to the point which Krishna made in 3. actually that was 3.11 देवा भावे ताने ते देवा भावे नतु the verse is about 3.12 इश्टानखो गान्धिवो देवा दास्यं ते यज्ञी भावि तहा ते तानफ दायो योभुं ते स्थेनै वसहा योभुं ते स्थेनै वसहा there also Krishna had mentioned that those who do not participate in sacrifice those who do not sacrifice, they are thieves Krishna is making a no general statement.

Thievery is a specific robbery. Agha is a more generic word for wrong doing which will attract karmic reaction which is sin. And Krishna says अगहायूर तो जब तो जब one sin, the whole life time of sin एवं प्रवर्तितं चक्रं नानु वर्तयती है हा अगहायूर the whole life, we have to eat our whole life we have to do many other activities throughout our life and if we do not have a mood of acknowledging God and His role in our life then our life remains unfortunate अगहायूर इंद्रिया राह्मा because you are motivated by the desire for pleasure through the senses.

Why would someone not perform sacrifices? Because one feels that with my resources I can do something else and then the best, better thing that we can do, the mind and the cultural values is sense gratification and in the pursuit of sense gratification one often falls from one level down to another level down till one falls to a very simple activity and in this way नोगमार्थ the person lives in vain why lives in vain? because in this human form of life one has the opportunity to rise to higher and higher levels of spiritual realization and spiritual happiness just like a student in a top college like IIT has the opportunity to develop, to get good marks and to get a great job and to have a shining career but if that person doesn't do any studies just fools around just trying to serve some nonsense on the net and just get some food and enjoy and sleep that person is wasting अभायूर्, मोगम, मोगम, that person wastes the time in IIT similarly, for the soul to get a human body is left to get intrigued to IIT the soul just chooses the human body properly and that soul can get liberated and attain the Kingdom of God but when the soul refuses to do that soul stays tied up in material existence so, the solution for our entanglement if you don't want misery, if you don't want sin, if you don't want your life to go waste then you have to participate in the cycle of sacrifices that are ordained by the Lord and we can participate in the practice of devotional service wherein we offer our consciousness to Krishna through the process of devotional activities and thus we will be participating in the cosmic cycle and we will be steadily growing in our spiritual life towards supreme perfection.