Gita 03.17 – Only those who rejoice internally are released from external duty

Gita 3.17 one who's attachment is within One who is satisfied within. Ātmaññe eva ca santuṣṭas. One whose joy comes within.

Tasya kāryaṁ na vidyate. That person has no duty. Now here Krishna is speaking in the third chapter about the person who has genuine renunciation.

From the world. This is Krishna is going to the highest level of a person having the adhikar to practice jnana yoga. So in this chapter Krishna has talked about for basically four levels the jnana yoga, karma yoga, karma kanda and vikarma.

So Krishna has said that for Arjuna karma yoga is preferable because that is his adhikar. And if karma yoga is not possible, then he should try to do karma kanda. But he should not do vikarma.

That was condemned in the last verse. Previous verse 3.16. So in that sense Krishna is going down the hierarchy. So karma yoga, karma kanda, vikarma.

Now Krishna is going up to the top of the hierarchy and he's saying that suppose Arjuna you think that you are qualified for jnana yoga. That means you feel that you have the inner renunciation by which you can practice jnana yoga. And he will conclude that even then you should practice karma yoga.

That will be the reasoning in this section that he will say that you should practice karma yoga to set an example for others. But let's look at the reasoning here. When is a person freed from duty? When a person does not need anything external, when a person does not depend on anything external, when one is completely satisfied within.

So this was mentioned in three different describers where the emphasis is on internal. Santushtas. So the joy is within, the delight, the satisfaction is within, the pleasure is within, the attachment is within, whichever way you want to look at it.

Now the point of emphasizing within, within, within so many times, atmanya, atmanya is that actually we live in an interdependent world and especially in the society social stability is possible when people have a healthy attitude of give and take, not just take without giving. That means people have the attitude that they want to just they want to take from the world, but not give anything to the world. Then such people are disapproved, they are condemned and that was what was talked about in the previous verse.

They are living sinfully, just like a citizen who takes facilities from the government, but does not pay the taxes. Now who may not, who doesn't have to pay the taxes? If someone is taking no facilities from the citizen, from the government then such a person does not have to pay any taxes and that is what Krishna will speak, Krishna is speaking over here, that one who is self-satisfied and whose satisfaction is within, tasya karyam na vinyate, karya refers to prescribed duty. Now in principle it's intelligible, it's understandable that a person can get such a deep satisfaction within, that one does not want anything external.

But in practice such a level of deep satisfaction is very difficult, wherein one just doesn't need anything external at all. At the very basic level we need things for our body's sustenance and beyond the body's sustenance we also need further things for our we often may need some things for our spiritual growth also. So for example, as devotees when we are we practice devotional service, we actually depend on the community of devotees for inspiration, for guidance and even if we think we are very senior and we feel that I don't need so much guidance, I am giving guidance to others.

It is rare, we always need guidance, but even if in that case also still the devotee community provides us a forum for outreach. Without that we would not have a satisfying service. So we are always dependent and this is all the more true on the devotional path, on the path of Bhakti Yoga.

Now we depend on Krishna and we depend on devotees all the more because they offer us the means to serve Krishna, to link with Krishna. Now although we want to come to the ideal of Atmaratir, we also want to be self-satisfied. Prabhupada would say that if you want to understand who is a materialist and a spiritualist, a simple definition is one who finds happiness internally is a spiritualist, one who finds happiness externally is a materialist.

Now this definition is in principle again precise, but in practice devotees find happiness internally but often they do external things also because the internal manifests in external manifestations on the Bhakti path. Means we want to link with Krishna in our heart, but in Krishna manifests as the deities. Krishna's glories manifest as the Krishna's glories manifest as, manifest through the Sangha of the devotees when they speak about him.

So there are generally in the devotees prayers, there are many prayers of positive engagement of the senses. Let my tongue always speak your glories. Let my eyes behold your form.

Let my legs go to your holy places. So these positive forms of engagement are meant to inspire us to draw out our energies and provide a channel for that energy to go to the indwelling Lord through an external means. So even in the devotee community there may be very advanced devotees who are Bhajananandis and Goshanandis, two kinds of devotees are there.

Bhajananandis are those who just delight in bhajan. Now Goshanandis are, they delight not only in bhajan, but they also delight in sharing Krishna's glories. So normally even those who are very advanced, so advanced they can absorb themselves in bhajan constantly.

When they still feel compassion for all living beings, they feel deeply within them the Lord's desire that the lost souls come back to him. And that's why they such souls also preach in the Lord's behalf. And in this way they enable, they facilitate the fulfillment of the Lord's mission.

So they don't stop preaching, they don't stop external activity. So from the highest level from the Uttamadhikari level, they descend to the Madhyama level. So that although they may be seeing everyone at a spiritual level as souls meant to serve Krishna, they also come down to a more practical level and see that, okay this soul is averse to Krishna, so let me stay away from this soul.

This soul is already serving Krishna, let me be friend and this soul has the inclination to serve Krishna and just needs to be provided the knowledge. And let me guide this soul. So like that they also come down.

So essentially on the path of bhakti, even those who have transcended duty age and still take up duty, not out of any necessity for gaining liberation, but as a choice because they want to please the Lord who prefer them to act out of devotion, out of compassion. So overall the message of this section will be.