Gita Overview Mumbai 18.1-9 When renunciation does and doesn’t bear fruit

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So the 18th chapter is called as the Moksha Sannyasa Yoga.
Prabhupada translates that as the perfection of renunciation. Conclusion of the perfection of renunciation. Now in the 17th chapter, Krishna talked about the status of those people who were in between on the tree of material existence.
The top are on the upper side of the divine, the lower side of the demoniac. And in between are those who do not follow Shastra but have some kind of faith. So now Krishna will go back to the… Arjuna will go back to the essential starting question.
Should he act or not act? But he will phrase that question a little bit in technical terms. So let’s start with that. And before we do that, let’s have a look at the… So let’s look at the overview of this evening chapter.
So how it is a summary of all the chapters is, more or less that it talks about karma, jnana and it talks about bhakti. These are the three essential teachings of the Bhagavad Gita. So verses 1 to 12 talk about Karma Yoga.
Essentially Arjuna’s question will be should one act or should one not act? And Krishna endorses action. And that action is Karma Yoga. And then Arjuna’s original question was if I act I will become bound.
So Krishna tells that actually you don’t have to renounce action to become bound. You have to cultivate knowledge within your action. Then you will not become bound.
So then Krishna will talk elaborately about the jnana of a Karma Yogi. How is it that action doesn’t bind? Because the Karma Yogi has jnana. And he will present it from two different perspectives.
So from verses 13 to 17 he talks about the five doers. And how they are the five factors of action. Actually doers is not exactly the right word.
Okay it is not five factors of action. So what are the five factors that contribute to the shaping of a result of an activity? And then he goes into analysis of action to talk about the three modes. And how the action within the mode of goodness will not be binding.
Now this analysis of the three modes is different from the analysis in the previous sections. First in the 14th chapter Krishna was introducing the three modes. In the 17th chapter he was analysing shraddha based on the three modes.
Now he is analysing work based on the three modes. So again and again analysis based on the three modes will come. But the context is different.
And from the context we can see the purpose of that analysis is different. And then Krishna will talk about Karma Yoga offered to Krishna. That means it starts moving towards bhakti.
Initially the jnana of a Karma Yogi is more analytical. It is just about how I am not the doer. It is not that okay what am I doing for Krishna.
That jnana will evolve gradually. So that he talks about from verses 41 to 48. Then 49 to 55 will talk about jnana yoga with bhakti to Krishna.
That means the Karma Yogi eventually he can come to bhakti directly or he can renounce work temporarily cultivate jnana. But even when he cultivates jnana he will have to ultimately come to bhakti. So the idea is from Karma Yoga one can gradually rise through karma to bhakti.
Other is by jnana yoga one can rise to bhakti. Somebody who wants from karma yoga he can go to jnana yoga and from jnana yoga come to bhakti. Or he can just through karma yoga go to bhakti.
And then lastly Krishna will say from 18.56 onwards that you don’t have to go either through karma yoga or jnana yoga to come to bhakti. Directly practise bhakti yoga only. And that is the context in which he makes the declaration.
I will protect you from all sinful actions. You are false abhorrent religious ministers. So the first six chapters of the Bhagavad Gita talk about how karma led to bhakti.
The middle chapters focus on the glory of bhakti comparing it with Ashtang Yoga, with demigod worship, with impersonal Brahman, with Virat Rupa Upasana, all those things. So it was focussing primarily on bhakti. Now although there is comparison even in the middle 12 chapters, middle six chapters of the Gita also.
But that comparison is more of with other forms of worship. See in Karma Yoga the focus is not worship. The focus is sort of detachment and contemplation of how one is inactive while acting.
It is renunciation of the fruits of work. In Jnana Yoga the focus is more on disentanglement through analysis. There is no action.
Now so in that sense in the middle six chapters when Krishna talks about bhakti, he compares. So bhakti is a form of upasana. And even there can be Brahman Upasana, there is Vishwaroop Upasana, there is Dev Upasana.
So Krishna compares those various forms of upasana in the middle six chapters. In the last six chapters he talks about how Jnana culminates in bhakti. Now how does this exactly happen in the last six chapters? Actually the essence is that 13.22 talks about how we become bound through the modes because of the desire to enjoy.
Isn’t it? So Purusha Prakriti story. And 14.27 talks about how one transcends the modes by bhakti. So in a sense the beginning is because of modes, Sangha of modes, Udasan Vasya.
And one goes beyond the modes by bhakti. So in this way actually this process talks about, this central section talks about bhakti. So in this section for example the 17th chapter there were no explicit references to bhakti.
But the fact that Om Tat Sat is being chanted, that is also a reference to bhakti. In 16th chapter also there were no explicit references to bhakti. But what was talked about was the opposite of bhakti.
That is that those who are envious of Krishna. They are envious of me. So envy is the antithesis of devotion.
So in that sense the terrible destination that the demons get illustrates through converse effect the glory of devotion. That is papa can lead to certain things but envy can lead to far greater things. They get cast into hell.
That was what Krishna talked about in 16.18 and 19. How they get cast into hell. And now 15th chapter was quite clearly about bhakti.
So in the last six sections, the last six chapters, the 15th chapter is quite explicitly about bhakti. After Krishna talks about mamche and vicharan in the 14th chapter, then in the 15th chapter there is a Trishloki Gita which is very very clear about bhakti. And beyond that 15.19 is also very clear.
And now in the 18th chapter as Krishna moves forward things with the emphasis on bhakti will become more and more clear. Till it will be just not just an emphasis on bhakti but it will almost like a exclusiveness of bhakti. Just give up everything else.
Not exclusiveness in the sense that all other paths are false or impotent but that they are not as potent as Krishna bhakti. So is this clear about the flow overall? Now let’s start with the 18th chapter. So like the 3rd chapter as in the 11th chapter, in the 12th chapter, if you see Krishna’s, Arjuna’s questions themselves are quite enigmatic sometimes and you need context to understand the questions.
So sanyasasya mahabaho tattvam icchami veditam. So icchami veditam is very clear. I desire to know.
So what do I need to know? Sanyasa tattva. What is actually sanyasa? What is the meaning of sanyasa? I need to know that. And somebody may say sanyasa is very simple.
You know you become a sanyasa that is sanyasa. No, I want to understand the difference between tyagasya rishikesha pruthakkesha nishudana. So I want to understand that pruthak means difference.
Difference between sanyasa and tyaga. And he uses three addresses for Krishna in this verse. Mahabaho, rishikesha and nishudana.
So they all indicate how he is aware of Krishna’s glory and he knows that Krishna will actually free him from his doubts. Now the acharyas don’t give a direct context for these questions as connected to what was talked about previously. The link is Arjuna still has that background question in the mind.
Should I act or should I not act? And he wants to know from that perspective what is sanyasa and what is tyaga. So let’s move forward. Let’s see what Krishna says.
So what is sanyasa? Sanyasa is kamyakarma. So in one sense he says sanyasa means to give up but give up what? Kamyakarma. Now on the other hand to give up the fruits of all work is tyaga.
So let’s try to understand this a little bit better. So there are in the Vedic tradition two kinds of karma. There is vitya karma and kamyakarma.
So vitya karma, now here by the word karma it doesn’t refer to any particular activity. You remember karma talks about? You remember the four meanings of karma which we discussed? The word karma. What are the four meanings? Mechanism of action, reaction.
Reaction. Sorry loudly. We said reaction.
Same thing result for our action. It’s obvious. Now the most obvious meaning is action.
Any action. That is the third meaning. And last meaning is what is used over here.
Here it is actually karma has one category of the three categories. Karma, vikarma and akarma. So it’s prescribed action.
Scripturally prescribed action. So here the word karma is used in that sense. So among the scripturally prescribed actions there are two kinds of actions.
Nitya karma and kamyakarma. So nitya karma is what one is expected to do every day. The example sanjhavandan.
Sanjhavandan is the daily chanting of the Gayatri mantras. And for us for example it may be chanting 16 rounds or whatever. What we do on a daily basis.
And kamyakarma is when we want a specific result. For that purpose we do a particular activity. So the example is what say Yad Dashrath Maharaj did when he did not have a son.
A putra kameshti. So he wants a son and for that purpose he does a particular yajna. So even a sanyasi is not supposed to give up nitya karma.
So vikarma is something which any person within the Vedic karma has to give up. And among the karmas or su-karma you can use the word to make it more clear. Su-karma.
So sanyasi is one who gives up the kamyakarma. And in a sense practically all the activities that a grahastha is doing in his household life come in the category of kamyakarma. All means many of them.
So ultimately some karma is there and he is trying to work to fulfil that desire. So sanyasi gives up that sort of prescribed duty which is meant for getting worldly results, material results in this way. Now tyaga is Krishna says sarva karma phala tyaga prahus tyaga vichakshanaha.
What is known as tyaga or karma one does. But one gives up the results. So the way Krishna is using this word sanyas he is correlating it with sanyasi.
A sanyasi in the sanyasa ashram he gives up the kamyakarma but does the nitya karma. And the way Krishna is correlating tyaga over here he says that tyaga refers to even a grahastha can be a tyagi. Because when there is tyaga there is basically the activities are done but there is no entanglement in the karmic cycle because one is not attached to the fruits of it.
Is this clear so far. We will come to this a little bit more in detail as the terms are used further. But as of now.
So now tyajam doshavaditye ke karma prahur manishinah karma prahur manishinah karma So now Krishna will give various opinions. Before he gives his opinion which is the conclusive opinion. So he said what are the various opinions.
Some people say tyajam doshavaditye ke karma prahur manishinah. Tyajam means worthy of giving up. So he says that karma should be given up.
Some people say like this. Manishinah it isn’t derived their opinion. He says they are also wise.
These wise people say that karma should be given up. On the other hand apare. Apare means another category of people.
What do they say? Yakyadantapa karma natyajam ityapare. So first is tyajam the other is natyajam. So basically there are two categories of people Krishna is saying.
Some people say that worth should be given up. And others who say that yakyadantapa is something which should never be given. So now Krishna will go further and he will describe what is his opinion.
So hear clearly from me. And then he uses this word purusha vyagra. This is the only time this word is used.
Vyagra is tiger. So purusha vyagra is oh tiger among men. So this is generally speaking among the domestic animals the bull is considered to be powerful.
So purusha or rishabha. Rishabha is bull. Among the wild animals the lion, the tiger, the elephant.
These are considered to be powerful. So it is often compared with that. So purusha vyagra.
So now Krishna will start the analysis in terms of three modes. He says vyagra is of three types. Let us see what he says.
So now before Krishna gives his conclusion in terms of three modes. Krishna gives the analysis in terms of three modes. First he will give his conclusion.
Some people say that yajna, dana, tapa should be given up. Some people say it should not. Karma should be given up.
Some people say no. Krishna will tell his opinion here. Then he will give three modes of analysis.
Yajna, dana, tapa, karma. Yajna, dana, tapa, karma. Nathajyam karyamevatah.
Nathajyam karyamevatah. Yajna, dana, tapa, shaiva. Yajna, dana, tapa, shaiva.
Pavanani manishinam. Pavanani manishinam. So Nathajyam.
So the question was Nathajyam or Tyajyam. He says Nathajyam. It is not worth giving up.
Why? Pavanani manishinam. So he uses the same word over here. The word was that there are some manishis who say that it is Tyajyam.
But Krishna says no. Actually yajna, dana, tapa is such that it will purify even the manishinas. Even the… Even the… Those who are… Those who are very wise.
Those who are learned. So the word manishina means Isha is controller. So manish is the controller of the mind.
So the idea is who is the controller of the mind? Actually it is a very wise person. Controlling the mind is not easy as Krishna has told earlier. So he uses this word manishina several times in the Bhagavad Gita.
And here he is telling that the yajna, dana, tapa will purify even the wise people. And that’s why it should not be given up. Now we move forward.
And let’s see what he says in those three moves. So Nishchitam Nishchitam, definite. Actually Krishna has said two words earlier.
In the fourth verse And again he is saying Nishchitam matamuttamam. This is the nishchitmata. So what should one do? Krishna has said previously that doing work will purify.
Therefore Therefore one should do one’s kartavya, without attachment. And this is the best opinion. This is the certain and the best opinion of mine.
So the whole process of whole purpose of the Bhagavad Gita is to inspire an individual towards action. You remember we discussed earlier about how there is the thesis, antithesis and synthesis. So the idea is how many of you remember that? Ok, never mind.
I think you discussed. I think we discussed it in the No, that is different. That is in the 14th 10th chapter.
That is forms of logic. This is a European philosopher Hegel who sort of proposed this idea. And of course, in principle and logic that is an idea which is present.
But he gave it he gave it a sort of systematic exposition. So we will discuss. This will come to later.
Ok. So, karma There is karma, jnana and bhakti. So now what is the positive of karma what is the negative of karma.
What is the positive of jnana and what is the negative of jnana. Like that we will discuss. So karma means action.
So the advantage of action is that it is natural. But the Is it visible to all of you there? But the disadvantage is that it is winding. On the other hand jnana is unnatural.
Why is it unnatural? Because Actually for the soul to stay inactive is very difficult. On the other hand advantage Sorry, sorry, sorry. Here it is.
The negative of it is that it is unnatural. But the positive is that it is slowly liberating. It takes time but eventually it will liberate.
The advantage of bhakti is that it is natural as well as it is liberating. So I can act according to my propensity and while acting according to my propensity in Krishna’s service I can become liberated. So the idea is in logic there are these three steps of proposition.
So first there is thesis. Then there is antithesis. And then there is synthesis.
Correct. Sorry, I’ll just clarify that. Okay, fine.
It’s clear now. Isn’t it? So here when I bring it over here so actually what happens is this is so in bhakti it is natural as well as liberating. So basically when logic is there one person proposes a particular argument that is called a thesis.
That is the thesis of that person. And then somebody comes along and refutes that. This is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong.
So that’s the antithesis. So then a third person comes and the idea is that that person takes the good sides of both and brings about a synthesis that eliminates the negative of both and brings about the positive of both. So that is what actually bhakti does.
So bhakti integrates the naturality of karma with the liberating capacity of dhyana. And Krishna will eventually come to talk about bhakti in the Gita but here he is focussing on talking about how don’t give up karma because giving up karma is from the philosophical point of view unnatural and from the contextual point of view where Arjuna has to do is prescribe beauty of fighting. It is undesirable for him.
So therefore nischa is that you should fight. Is this clear? Moving forward now. Satsang with Sri Krishna Satsang with Sri Krishna So rajasamtayagam this is rajasamtayagam.
What is it? That dukkha mithya evayat karma. When somebody thinks that there is too much dukkha in this and therefore I will not do this activity, we missed a verse, sorry we missed a verse, that’s right, sorry, discuss this and we will move on. So 7th and 8th verse is tamasit.
So one person, Krishna will use this word. Now it’s interesting that Krishna is talking about, what is he talking about? He is talking about three types of tyaga and three types of sannyasa. Tyaga, correct.
Next verse you will see is clearly tyaga. You recited the word just now here. Naiva tyaga phalam lage, sa prutva rajasam tyagam.
So now interestingly while talking about a category of tyaga, he will use the word sannyasa. So what is he saying? So now Krishna doesn’t go into the sort of specifics of Arjuna’s questions. He says that okay the word sannyasa has some conventional meaning.
That means renouncing or renunciate, one was renounced, renouncer or renunciate. So Krishna keeps to that meaning and he says that actually speaking there is a sannyasa ashram where somebody can be a sannyasi. But along with that even if a person is not a sannyasi in the sense of sannyasa ashram, but that person is working with detachment, without attachment and such a person is also a sannyasi.
So it’s always like a sannyasi. Actually what he is saying, actually one who works with detachment is a person who is always a sannyasi. So karma should never be given up because while doing karma one is like a sannyasi if one is detached.
But if on the other hand because of illusion one gives up one’s work. So Krishna had earlier described the characteristics of the three modes. So Krishna used the same word over here moha to describe the action in the mode of ignorance.
So now we could use the word moha in a very generic way. But Krishna is using moha here in the sense of characterising the mode of ignorance. Person doesn’t know what he is doing, why he is doing, just physically the person gives up activity.
That is in the mode of ignorance. That sort of renunciation will never lead to any fruits. So then after that Krishna will talk about, will discuss about his renunciation a little bit more.
So we decided this verse. So if somebody thinks my work is very troublesome and then that person feels and he feels that actually my body will be very troubled by this kind of work. The person is tyagi in terms of vajoguna and what is the result? Naiva tyaga phalam lage.
The phala of tyaga. So actually why should one renounce? What is the phala that one is supposed to get by tyaga? Yes, purification and illumination. One gets knowledge, one gets purification.
So Krishna says if one renounces work just because if one finds it troublesome, then such a person will not get tyaga phala. So it’s again significant that Krishna uses the same word which he’s used earlier for saying that do not be attached to the phala of your work. But then he’s saying if you do this, you will not get the phala of tyaga.
So some people say that Bhagavad Gita’s work ethic is very strange. How can one work if one is not concerned about the fruits? But the idea is, Bhagavad Gita says don’t be concerned about the cross material fruits. We should be concerned about the ultimate fruits.
So what are the two fruits of work I said? Of renunciation. What should ultimately one get by that? Yes, purification, illumination. Illumination is knowledge.
So one should get purified and one should get illuminated. One should become free from material desires and one should get spiritual understanding. If that is not happening, then there is not much use of that.
So sometimes when people get introduced to ISKCON and nowadays especially the competition is so tough and work is so demanding that some people will feel that I just want to escape and one way to escape is by sort of becoming a renunciate. So that sort of attitude, that is the realisation that the world is a place of misery and there is just a miserable experience. They are two different things.
If I just get an experience of misery, that doesn’t make me a realised soul. Realisation is when it’s something, you remember we discussed reality, when we accept it internally, then it becomes a realisation. That’s why today morning only I wrote the article.
How? That bad times test our faith and good times test our faith greater. Because when there are bad times, it’s like we have to choose between the world and Krishna. When the world is offering us a bad deal, to choose Krishna is not such a difficult thing.
I can choose. Yes, I give up the world and choose Krishna. But when the world offers us a good deal and that time to reject the world and to choose Krishna, that requires a greater amount of faith.
That requires a faith that actually Krishna is better than the best that the world can offer and that’s why I choose Krishna. So just because one gets some suffering in this world and therefore one chooses, one turns towards Krishna. In one level it is true and Krishna also says that Artho, a distressed person comes to me.
But Krishna also says that among all the three Gyanis, four Gyanis is the best. Why? Because when the distress goes away, there are two eventualities that may happen. One is that because of distress, if one does Tyaga, then when a person joins the Brahmacharya Ashram and he finds that there is distress over here also, then what will the person do? In which ashram can a person go to after that? So where can one escape? So if distress alone is the motive for renouncing the world, that is not a sustainable motive.
But the other thing that can happen is that whatever the source of distress, that goes away. Okay, the economy is very down, I’m not getting a job, so I’ll become a Brahmachari. And then after that the economy starts cooking up and you see, look at all the friends and somebody finds out, oh my friends are getting such a big salary.
And then this person goes back and takes a job. So distress or trouble, it can be an initial spur, but it cannot be a sustainer. The sustainer will only be our philosophical conviction.
Our desire that there is something higher than what the world can offer and I want to attain that. So that’s why, Dukkha is trouble, misery and Kayakleshabhai is more specifically trouble for the body. So misery can be an initial spur, but not a sustainer for renunciation.
Even in the material world, actually nothing is sustainable. So in miserable conditions will come and go. The only sustainers are philosophical conviction and devotional attraction.
So when I have philosophical conviction that there is something higher than what this world offers us and I want to achieve that and for that purpose I give up this world and devotional attraction. Okay, I know there’s something higher, but I also have to develop an attraction for that and then I can continue pursuing that more and more and more. So I need this more.
So most people love the finite, most people love the temporary and when they become frustrated in their love towards the temporary, the way the modern society with its culture and media offers so many alternative temporaries that we just keep choosing another temporary object to love. But every person ultimately has to live with hope. Without hope nobody can live.
The day hope dies, the person dies with it. And then soon after that person biologically also dies because the mind will not allow the person to live. So we all need hope.
So either our hope can come in the temporary or it can come in the eternal. And if we leave the temporary but really don’t have much attraction towards the eternal, then we don’t have hope towards the eternal. Then eventually our hope for the temporary will start rekindling and one will get attracted to the temporary ones.
So in a sense, sometimes people say that when somebody takes renunciation, that person lacks ambition. So in a sense renunciation is not lack of ambition but it is super ambition. Why super ambition? Super ambition is not used in a self sort of promotional sense, a self congratulatory sense.
I just explained what I mean by super ambition. So renounce not because what the world offers is too tough to get but it is too little to get, too little to be satisfied with. Not too tough but too little.
So basically I understand that I am eternal and whatever the best of whatever the world will offer me, it is temporary and therefore it cannot satisfy me. So eventually when one comes to some level of philosophical understanding, the gyani level does not mean a person passed the gyani level, not necessarily in terms of practising gyana yoga but getting gyana, at that time a person understands that everything in this world is temporary. So therefore, yes it involves trouble pursuing the temporary things and it is not that I want to avoid the trouble but that I feel that the end result is not worth the trouble and there is something higher to achieve, there is something greater to achieve.
So the idea is that in material life, the pleasure is not worth the trouble and in spiritual life, we don’t use the word pleasure normally in terms of spiritual life, we talk about happiness or bliss or ecstasy but I am just using it here to contrast the two. So you could just use here happiness also. The happiness is worth whatever trouble is required.
So actually for example, if we consider the way Radha Maharaj left America in search of God, unless one has some very strong desire that there is something greater than this world, one will not give up the world and even if one gives up the world, actually that craving that there must be something so great that it’s worth risking one’s life for us. The kind of adventurousness in the search of God that is shown in the scene in Journey Home that was shown by Maharaj, actually it’s something which even materialistic people may hesitate to do. Even when a materialistic person goes out on some project, that kind of daredevilishness is not easy.
Even Srila Prabhupada also for that matter, his was not so much of seeking, it was for sharing but the idea is that the whole principle in spiritual life is not avoidance of trouble, it is attainment of something greater and the willingness to take up whatever trouble is required for you. So how does this work out? How does one get the conviction that there is something higher, that there is something beyond this world? Actually we need two kinds of convictions. First conviction is that what the world offers is not so great and the other is that what is beyond the world, what is in relationship with Krishna from the bhakti perspective, whatever is beyond the world is so great that I am ready to renounce anything, everything including the world also.
So actually that conviction comes over multiple lifetimes by the practise of spirituality, it may be bhakti or any kind of spirituality. Purva bhyasena te naiva hriyate yah vashopasah. I have described in the six chapters, by one’s past practise one develops attraction and how does that past practise originate? Actually ultimately it is by sangha, by association, association of spiritually minded people, our spiritual inclination awakens and so if one is renouncing the world just because one finds it troublesome, one will not be able to stay in that kind of renunciation for long.
It may be that that can be one’s initial motive, one doesn’t have to backtrack because that was one’s initial motive but after one comes to Krishna’s lotus feet then one has to revise one’s motives and one has to recognise that okay I am here for gaining something higher in life and in devotional life Krishna says that kaya kalesha bhaya. See we don’t want to unnecessarily trouble our body. See now earlier in the 17th chapter in verses 5 and 6 Krishna said that karsayanta sharirastam bhuta grao machetas.
He talks about those people who torment their bodies, torture themselves and Krishna says not only they are troubling me also. I am present in the body and I suffer too. See why are these people suffering like this? They don’t have to suffer.
So there Krishna has condemned unnecessary torment of the body. But here Krishna says fear of the trouble of the body is not good. So what is the idea? If fear of trouble of body is necessary for a higher purpose, for purification, for spiritual advancement then one should be ready to take up that trouble.
So therefore when the kaya kalesha is without any purpose then one should give it up. Kalesha is what? Trouble. In 17.56 what is the verse? The number is 56 only.
Don’t trouble the body unnecessarily. And then this is saying don’t give up beauty because of fear of bodily trouble. Due to fear of trouble for the body.
So what is not implied, what is the inference over here is that? Necessary trouble. Except bodily trouble when it is necessary for the sake of beauty. So Prabhupada gives this example even in the tamas, dikshas of Bharata verse that a housewife will have to cook in the home even if it is hot in summers.
A dharmic person will take bath with cold water early in the morning even if it is cold. So this kaya kalesha is also there but this is necessary kaya kalesha which is a part of one’s duty. So in a sense you could say the two examples Prabhupada gives are the cooking is something which is a part of one’s material duties and taking a bath in the morning is more of one’s dharmic duties.
But both examples involve kaya kalesha but one does that because that will lead to purification. Now how much kaya kalesha should we give ourselves? Now our goal is not to give kaya kalesha. Krishna has also talked about yukta har viharas, to be balanced.
Our goal is to do our service and we can take up the service according to how much is our capacity. So over a period of time we learn, if I take too many things then it causes me trouble, if I take too little that also causes me trouble, a different kind of trouble. So therefore except bodily trouble when it is necessary for the sake of beauty.
Any questions about this? Let’s look at the next verse and then we will stop. We will discuss about renunciation or tyaga in the mode of goodness. So satyagah satvikoh, this is in the mode of goodness.
Karya means it is my prescribed duty, therefore niyatam kriyate, therefore I will do it. How will I do it? Sangam tyaktva phalam jaiva, without attachment to the fruits of work. So again we see the paradox.
Krishna has shown Arjuna in the 11th chapter that he will be victorious. He has shown Arjuna how the enemies, vishvam chitronam jayatam tam chitam, they are all entering into the Vishwaroop. So in a sense Arjuna is reassured of victory.
At that time he says they are all killed by my will and you just become an instrument, tasmatam utmishtam, you just become an instrument in my will. But now Krishna is telling that you don’t act with attachment. So if Arjuna knows how they are going to be killed, how can he not be attached to the result? So there are two different things.
Actually the virat rupa darshan is a specific result for that particular activity. So in that particular case Krishna has promised Arjuna that you will get the result. Now when we do the activity, we may or may not get the result.
So Krishna there, tasmatam utmishtam, was more like a specific command based on the context. You are going to win, therefore do not be discouraged, arise and fight. But the general principle is that do your best but don’t be bothered about the result.
So Krishna is now talking about general principles over here. And that’s why he’s telling, sangam tyaktva apalam jaya. So this general principle means how one should perform karma yoga.
So now when we say start some preaching or we start some new project, we have no guarantee that the result will come out. Krishna has not shown in the virat rupa that your opponents are going to be destroyed. We may have to struggle but for us sangam tyaktva apalam jaya.
Just be attached to the roots, focus on doing our best for Krishna. Prabhupada in a sense got a reassurance from Krishna when he was on the Jala dhoota that everything will be arranged. I am coming with you.
But still Prabhupada did not necessarily get a vision directly showing okay there will be a 11 story building in New York and there will be this thing. He did not get or claim many visions like that. But Prabhupada worked and eventually got the results.
So we focus on doing our prescribed duty for the pleasure of Krishna and then we will get the inner result of purification, illumination, devotion and the outer result will come by Krishna. So thank you very much. So in the 18th chapter, first 12 verses talk about how one should practise karma yoga and