Gita 18.11 To pursue liberation, give up the idea of giving up action

Transcript

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bhagavad gita 18.11 nahi deha bhrata shakyam tyaktum karma anya sheshita karma phala tyagi satyavidya vidiyate krishna is here concluding his starting analysis about how we can stay disentangled and he makes categorical statement here that we just can’t stay inactive nahi deha bhrata shakyam for the embodied soul nahi deha bhrata shakyam it’s not possible tyaktum karma anya sheshita it’s not possible to give up all work to be inactive yes yes to karma phala tyagi therefore one who gives up the fruits of work satyagita vidiyate that person is actually a renouncer so renunciation cannot be of action because for example even if we sit at one place we are breathing that is an action we are thinking that is also at a neural level neurological level it’s action a lot of activity is happening in our brain cells and from the vedic perspective that also causes bondage just by breathing by taking in some germs we are not just taking in those germs but we are also taking away their life so therefore it is vital for us to recognize the reality that none of us can ever be free from action nahi kashchit kshanvapi jato tishthatya karmakrit karyate yavasah karma sarva prakrti jair gunai the bhagavad gita says in the third chapter a similar theme nahi kashchit kshanvapi not even for a moment in any way jato tishthatya karmakrit can we be situated in not doing anything so actually we need to say nothing doing to the idea of doing nothing because we just can’t be inactive not doing anything at all karyate yavasah karma we are helplessly forced to act it’s not in our control suppose we decide to stop breathing now how much can we hold our breath for some time but eventually we just can’t hold it on because we will die so our shah in our body there are voluntary activities which we can stop and there are involuntary activities which we just can’t stop so that is definitely the avasya helpless by force component with respect to our body and it’s functioning sarvah prakriti jair gunai it’s all born of the modes of material nature sarvah prakriti jair gunai means kushkrishna in this third chapter verse which is similar to the 18th chapter verse it’s not talking specifically of involuntary bodily actions as being indicative that we can’t be inactive he is talking about the influence of the modes in the mode of passion a person will be drag will have some desire or the other and will be dragged by that desire to get the object that will fulfill the desire a person in the mode of goodness will be by nature contemplative will think about this and that and that’s how one will function one cannot avoid that thought a person in the mode of goodness in the mode of ignorance too will have to think but their thinking will be different in the sense that they will be simply led or misled by their mind into thinking of whatever the mind comes up with but still again the point remains that they will have to think so and then they will act often destructively, violently, self-destructively they will act so we just cannot be inactive that is the common theme of these two verses there Krishna mentions the modes as being the impellers of action or you could say compellers of action that we cannot avoid so similarly here in this verse Krishna is stressing that same point nahi deha bhrata shakhyam tyaktum karmaanya shesh taha that we cannot live without acting we cannot renounce work it’s not possible entirely entirely and therefore who is actually a renouncer karma phala tyagi tyagi ityabidhi yate therefore a person who becomes detached from the fruits of work that person is actually a renouncer Arjuna’s question was tyaktum tyaktum ichchhaam veditum he wanted to understand the tattva of tyaga and sannyasa and then Krishna goes about explaining that in this section so the way to go beyond illusion the way to go towards purification the way to go towards liberation is not to give up action but to give up the idea that we can give up action we just can’t do that we are in an embodied state and as long as we are embodied we cannot wish away the way the body functions and a fundamental feature of the way the body functions is that it is driven towards action consider for example a person who goes to a jungle and tries to meditate over there even there that person can’t be simply peaceful and inactive because there also they have to get some something to eat, something to drink and they have to make some endeavor to get those things so to the extent we recognize that we have to be active then we start thinking okay how can I be healthily active trying to be inactive is trying to stop eating, suppose somebody has some diseases because of which whatever they eat they throw up then we can’t very well stop it although there seems to be a one to one correlation between eating and suffering but it is not eating that is the cause of suffering it is the disease with the body because of which one is throwing up so one needs to find out what one can take in during the disease condition and eventually one has to treat the disease and then one can eat in a healthy way, eat without having any distressing effects such as becoming sick similarly for us if we understand that for us action is natural and action is natural so rather than thinking that we need to give up action we should think okay how can I act in a healthy way so it is germs in the body prevent us from digesting what we eat and they cause distress similarly it is the attachments inside us which make us act in ways that increase our distress but just as if those germs were removed we could eat healthily similarly if the attachments are from within us are removed then we can act healthily then we can act in a way that won’t cause any bondage but will rather take us towards liberation thank you