Gita Chapter III: Krishna's reply in Slokam-3
Purify Mind thro' Karma Yoga, practise Jnana Yoga, gain Atma Jnana and achieve freedom from bondage (moksha)
Desiring for the fruits of actions initiated for fulfillment of one's desires creates pain/pleasure and an ever-repeating cycle of 'action-reaction-action' known as samsara saagara. It is also the cause of rebirth. We take a new body repeatedly to experience karma phalam. If, however, we perform actions with Ishvara bhaava in fulfillment of His purpose without desire for fulfillment of the desires of the ego-self, we cross the samsara sagaram and are released from the bond of repeated births, attain to the blissful state of the immortal abode. Sages who possess stitha pragnya dedicate the fruits of their actions to the Vasudeva Kutumbam, not for personal 'enjoyment'. The buddhi referred to in the three verses 49, 50 and 51 of Gita Ch. II is the wisdom of the Sankhyas, i.e., the knowledge of the Self, Atma-Jnana which dawns when the mind is purified by Karma Yoga.
Chapter III opens with Arjuna expressing his confusion: Yoga of Knowledge or Yoga of Action? Krishna instructs him that self-less action through Karma Yoga cleanses the mind and prepares the sadhaka to receive atma gnyana, knowledge which takes him to the Goal. Ramana Maharishi described the nature of such action as: Ishvaraarpitam na icchayaa kritam, chitta shodhakam mukti saadhakam - that action which is dedicated to the Lord and is not initiated to satisfy the mind's ego-based desires for power, possession and pleasure but action for the benefit of the samudaayam, society at large and public weal. Such action, Karma Yoga, leads to the Jnana Yoga path and the ultimate goal of sat-chit-ananda, bliss-experience.
God created the world, with many dedicated, determined people who can and are willing to work for establishing harmony in the world; these are the karma-yogis, aware of the duty entrusted to them by the Creator. They motivate people like Arjuna to join them in their work for God. Perhaps, that is the reason for the last slokam in Bhagavd Gita (18.78):
yatra yogeshvarah krishno/ yatra partho dhanur-dharah/
tatra shreeh vijayo bhootih dhruvaa neetih matirmama
Swami Chinmayananda has explained the significance of this picture of the togetherness of Krishna and Arjuna lucidly thus:
"ARJUNA, READY WITH HIS BOW (Paartho-Dhanurdharah) --- Paartha represents here 'the confused, limited, ordinary mortal, with all his innumerable weaknesses, agitations and fears.' When he has thrown down his "instrument" of effort and achievement, his bow, and has reclined to impotent idleness, no doubt, there is no hope for any success or prosperity. But when he is "READY WITH HIS BOW," when he is no more idle but has a willing readiness to use his faculties to brave the challenges of life, there, in that man, we recognise a 'PAARTHA READY WITH HIS BOW'. Now putting these two pictures together --- Lord Krishna, the Yogeshwarah, and Arjuna, the Dhanurdharah --- the symbolism of a way-of-life gets completed, wherein, reinforced with spiritual understanding, man gets ready to exert and pour in his endevours, to tame life and master prosperity (shreyas). In such a case, there is no power that can stop him from success. In short, the creed of the Geeta is that spirituality can be lived in life, and true spiritual understanding is an asset to a man engaged in the battle-of-life.
In modern, day-to-day lives we will be taking the first few steps if we work towards maintaining harmony between the husband and wife, ourselves learn and practise ethical/moral values and inculcate values in the children, keeping a check on our own egoistic behaviour. As Rajaji defined: Culture is restraint. Gita instructs us in many ways how to be successful in this art. Let us make a beginning in this janmam, the present life. - krishnaswamy
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Commentary on Gita Ch.III-Sloka 3 from GitaSuper-site
Sri Ramanuja's Sanskrit Commentary
English translation by Swami Adi-devananda
3.3 The Lord said -- You have not properly understood what I taught you before. In this world, full of people with varying degrees of qualifications, I have taught in the days of yore two ways, that of knowledge (Jnana Yoga) and that of works, according to the qualifications of aspirants. There is no contradiction in this. It is not possible for all people of the world in whom the desire for release has arisen, to become capable immediately for the practice of Jnana Yoga. But he who performs the worship of the Supreme Person without desire for fruits and thereby gets completely rid of inner impurities and keeps his senses unagitated --- he becomes competent for the path of knowledge.That all activities are for performing the worship of the Supreme Person will be taught in the Gita verse, 'He from whom the activities of all beings arise and by whom all this is pervaded --- by worshipping Him with his duty man reaches perfection' (18.46). Earlier also performance of activities without any attachment to the fruits is enjoined by the verse beginning with. 'You have the right to work alone ...' (2.47). Next for those whose intellect has been redeemed by this kind of discipline, is enjoined Jnana Yoga by the words, 'When a man renounces all the desires ...' (2.55).Consequently, firm devotion to Jnana Yoga is taught only to the Sankhyas, i.e., those persons who are competent to follow the discipline of the knowledge of the self, and Karma Yoga to Yogins, i.e., to those competent for the path of work. Sankhya means Buddhi and those who are endowed with the Buddhi (intellectual or mental disposition) having only the self for its object, are Sankhyans. Therefore those who are not fit for this are qualified for Karma Yoga. Those who are possessed of Buddhi which is agitated by objects of the senses, are the persons qualified for Karma Yoga, whereas those whose Buddhi is not thus agitated, are qualified for Jnana Yoga. Therefore nothing contradictory and confusing is taught.It is said in the next stanza that Jnana Yoga is difficult to practise all at once, even when the desire for release arises in any worldly person.
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Sri Sankaracharya's Sanskrit Commentary
English translation by Swami Gambhirananda
3.3 anagha, O unblemished one, O sinless one; This word of address suggests that Arjuna is qualified to receive the Lord's instruction. dvividha, two kinds of ; nishTha, steadfastness, persistence in what is undertaken; asmin loke, in this world, for the people of the three castes who are qualified for following the scriptures; proktaa, were spoken of; maya, by Me, the omniscient God, who had revealed for them the traditional teachings of the Vedas, which are the means of securing prosperity and the highest Goal; puraa, in the days of yore, in the beginning the creation, after having brought into being the creatures.Now then, which is that steadfastness of two kinds? In answer the Lord says: The steadfastness jnaanayogena, through the Yoga of Knowledge-Knowledge itself being the Yoga Here jnaana, Knowledge, refers to the knowledge of the supreme Reality, and Yoga is used in the derivative sense of 'that (Knowledge) through which one gets united with Brahman'.-; had been stated saankhyaanaam, for the men of realization-those possessed of the Knowledge arising from the discrimination with regard to the Self and the not-Self, those who have espoused monasticism from the stage of Celibacy; itself, those to whom the entity presented by the Vedantic knowledge has become fully ascertained (see Mu. 3.2.6)-,the monks who are known as the parama-hamsas, those who are established in Brahman alone. And the steadfastness karma-yogena, through the Yoga of Action-action itself being the Yoga Yoga here means 'that through which one gets united with, comes to have, prosperity', i.e. such actions as go by the name of righteousness and are prescribed by the scriptures. had been stated yoginaam, for the yogis, the men of action (rites and duties).
This is the idea. Again, had it been intended or stated or if it will be stated in the Gita by the Lord-and if it has also been so stated in the Vedas-that Knowledge and action are to be practised in combination by one and the same person for attaining the same human Goal, why then should He here tell His dear supplicant Arjuna, that steadfastness in either Knowledge or action is to be practised only by different persons who are respectively qualified? If, on the other hand, it be supposed that the Lord's idea is, 'After hearing about both Knowledge and action, Arjuna will himself practise them (in combination); but, to others, I shall speak of them as being meant to be pursued by different persons', then the Lord would be imagined to be unreliable, being possessed of likes and dislikes! And that is untenable. So, from no point of view whatsoever can there be a combination of Knowledge and action. And what has been said by Arjuna regarding superiority of Wisdom over action, that stands confirmed for not having been refuted; and (it also stands confirmed) that steadfastness in Knowledge is suitable for being practised by monks alone. And from the statement that they (Knowledge and action) are to be followed by different persons, it is understood that this has the Lord's approval.
Noticing that Arjuna had become dejected under the impression, 'You are urging me to that very action which is a source of bondage', and was thinking thus, 'I shall not undertake action', the Lord said, 'Na karmanaam anaarambhaat, not by abstaining from action,' etc. Or:-When steadfastness in Knowledge and steadfastness in action become incapable of being pursued simultaneously by one and the same person owing to mutual contradiction, then, since it may be concluded that they become the cause of attaining the human Goal independently of each other, therefore, in order to show-that the steadfastness in action is a means to the human Goal, not independently, but by virtue of being instrumental in securing steadfastness in Knowledge; and that, on the other hand, steadfastness in Knowledge, having come into being through the means of steadfastness in action, leads to the human Goal independently without anticipating anything else-,the Lord said.
---------------------------------------------------------
Commentary by Swami Sivananda
The path of knowledge of the Sankhyas (Jnana Yoga) was described by Lord Krishna in chapter II, verses 11 to 38; the path of action (Karma Yoga) from 40 to 53. Pura Prokta may also mean "In the beginning of creation the twofold path was given by Me to this world." Those who are endowed with the four means and who have sharp, subtle intellect and bold understanding are fit for Jnana Yoga. Those who have a tendency or inclination for wok are fit for Karma Yoga. (The four means are discrimination, dispassion, six-fold virutes, and longing for liberation. The six-fold virtues are: control of the mind, control of the senses, fortitude (endurance), turning away from the objects of the world, faith and tranquility.) It is not possible for a man to practise the two Yogas simultaneously. Karma Yoga is a means to an end. It purifies the heart and prepares the aspirant for the reception of knowledge. The Karma Yogi should take up Jnana Yoga as soon as his heart is purified. Jnana Yoga takes the aspirant directly to the goal without any extraneous help. (compare: ch.V.5).
=======================================
(Individuals like Ramana Maharishi who have cleansed their mind in previous births are born ready to continue their travel on the spiritual path, to practice Jnana Yoga and realise moksha. - krishmaswamy)
Purify Mind thro' Karma Yoga, practise Jnana Yoga, gain Atma Jnana and achieve freedom from bondage (moksha)
Desiring for the fruits of actions initiated for fulfillment of one's desires creates pain/pleasure and an ever-repeating cycle of 'action-reaction-action' known as samsara saagara. It is also the cause of rebirth. We take a new body repeatedly to experience karma phalam. If, however, we perform actions with Ishvara bhaava in fulfillment of His purpose without desire for fulfillment of the desires of the ego-self, we cross the samsara sagaram and are released from the bond of repeated births, attain to the blissful state of the immortal abode. Sages who possess stitha pragnya dedicate the fruits of their actions to the Vasudeva Kutumbam, not for personal 'enjoyment'. The buddhi referred to in the three verses 49, 50 and 51 of Gita Ch. II is the wisdom of the Sankhyas, i.e., the knowledge of the Self, Atma-Jnana which dawns when the mind is purified by Karma Yoga.
Chapter III opens with Arjuna expressing his confusion: Yoga of Knowledge or Yoga of Action? Krishna instructs him that self-less action through Karma Yoga cleanses the mind and prepares the sadhaka to receive atma gnyana, knowledge which takes him to the Goal. Ramana Maharishi described the nature of such action as: Ishvaraarpitam na icchayaa kritam, chitta shodhakam mukti saadhakam - that action which is dedicated to the Lord and is not initiated to satisfy the mind's ego-based desires for power, possession and pleasure but action for the benefit of the samudaayam, society at large and public weal. Such action, Karma Yoga, leads to the Jnana Yoga path and the ultimate goal of sat-chit-ananda, bliss-experience.
God created the world, with many dedicated, determined people who can and are willing to work for establishing harmony in the world; these are the karma-yogis, aware of the duty entrusted to them by the Creator. They motivate people like Arjuna to join them in their work for God. Perhaps, that is the reason for the last slokam in Bhagavd Gita (18.78):
yatra yogeshvarah krishno/ yatra partho dhanur-dharah/
tatra shreeh vijayo bhootih dhruvaa neetih matirmama
Swami Chinmayananda has explained the significance of this picture of the togetherness of Krishna and Arjuna lucidly thus:
यत्र योगेश्वरः कृष्णो यत्र पार्थो धनुर्धरः।
तत्र श्रीर्विजयो भूतिर्ध्रुवा
नीतिर्मतिर्मम।।18.78।।"ARJUNA, READY WITH HIS BOW (Paartho-Dhanurdharah) --- Paartha represents here 'the confused, limited, ordinary mortal, with all his innumerable weaknesses, agitations and fears.' When he has thrown down his "instrument" of effort and achievement, his bow, and has reclined to impotent idleness, no doubt, there is no hope for any success or prosperity. But when he is "READY WITH HIS BOW," when he is no more idle but has a willing readiness to use his faculties to brave the challenges of life, there, in that man, we recognise a 'PAARTHA READY WITH HIS BOW'. Now putting these two pictures together --- Lord Krishna, the Yogeshwarah, and Arjuna, the Dhanurdharah --- the symbolism of a way-of-life gets completed, wherein, reinforced with spiritual understanding, man gets ready to exert and pour in his endevours, to tame life and master prosperity (shreyas). In such a case, there is no power that can stop him from success. In short, the creed of the Geeta is that spirituality can be lived in life, and true spiritual understanding is an asset to a man engaged in the battle-of-life.
In modern, day-to-day lives we will be taking the first few steps if we work towards maintaining harmony between the husband and wife, ourselves learn and practise ethical/moral values and inculcate values in the children, keeping a check on our own egoistic behaviour. As Rajaji defined: Culture is restraint. Gita instructs us in many ways how to be successful in this art. Let us make a beginning in this janmam, the present life. - krishnaswamy
======================================
Commentary on Gita Ch.III-Sloka 3 from GitaSuper-site
Sri Ramanuja's Sanskrit Commentary
English translation by Swami Adi-devananda
3.3 The Lord said -- You have not properly understood what I taught you before. In this world, full of people with varying degrees of qualifications, I have taught in the days of yore two ways, that of knowledge (Jnana Yoga) and that of works, according to the qualifications of aspirants. There is no contradiction in this. It is not possible for all people of the world in whom the desire for release has arisen, to become capable immediately for the practice of Jnana Yoga. But he who performs the worship of the Supreme Person without desire for fruits and thereby gets completely rid of inner impurities and keeps his senses unagitated --- he becomes competent for the path of knowledge.That all activities are for performing the worship of the Supreme Person will be taught in the Gita verse, 'He from whom the activities of all beings arise and by whom all this is pervaded --- by worshipping Him with his duty man reaches perfection' (18.46). Earlier also performance of activities without any attachment to the fruits is enjoined by the verse beginning with. 'You have the right to work alone ...' (2.47). Next for those whose intellect has been redeemed by this kind of discipline, is enjoined Jnana Yoga by the words, 'When a man renounces all the desires ...' (2.55).Consequently, firm devotion to Jnana Yoga is taught only to the Sankhyas, i.e., those persons who are competent to follow the discipline of the knowledge of the self, and Karma Yoga to Yogins, i.e., to those competent for the path of work. Sankhya means Buddhi and those who are endowed with the Buddhi (intellectual or mental disposition) having only the self for its object, are Sankhyans. Therefore those who are not fit for this are qualified for Karma Yoga. Those who are possessed of Buddhi which is agitated by objects of the senses, are the persons qualified for Karma Yoga, whereas those whose Buddhi is not thus agitated, are qualified for Jnana Yoga. Therefore nothing contradictory and confusing is taught.It is said in the next stanza that Jnana Yoga is difficult to practise all at once, even when the desire for release arises in any worldly person.
----------------------------------------------------------
Sri Sankaracharya's Sanskrit Commentary
English translation by Swami Gambhirananda
3.3 anagha, O unblemished one, O sinless one; This word of address suggests that Arjuna is qualified to receive the Lord's instruction. dvividha, two kinds of ; nishTha, steadfastness, persistence in what is undertaken; asmin loke, in this world, for the people of the three castes who are qualified for following the scriptures; proktaa, were spoken of; maya, by Me, the omniscient God, who had revealed for them the traditional teachings of the Vedas, which are the means of securing prosperity and the highest Goal; puraa, in the days of yore, in the beginning the creation, after having brought into being the creatures.Now then, which is that steadfastness of two kinds? In answer the Lord says: The steadfastness jnaanayogena, through the Yoga of Knowledge-Knowledge itself being the Yoga Here jnaana, Knowledge, refers to the knowledge of the supreme Reality, and Yoga is used in the derivative sense of 'that (Knowledge) through which one gets united with Brahman'.-; had been stated saankhyaanaam, for the men of realization-those possessed of the Knowledge arising from the discrimination with regard to the Self and the not-Self, those who have espoused monasticism from the stage of Celibacy; itself, those to whom the entity presented by the Vedantic knowledge has become fully ascertained (see Mu. 3.2.6)-,the monks who are known as the parama-hamsas, those who are established in Brahman alone. And the steadfastness karma-yogena, through the Yoga of Action-action itself being the Yoga Yoga here means 'that through which one gets united with, comes to have, prosperity', i.e. such actions as go by the name of righteousness and are prescribed by the scriptures. had been stated yoginaam, for the yogis, the men of action (rites and duties).
This is the idea. Again, had it been intended or stated or if it will be stated in the Gita by the Lord-and if it has also been so stated in the Vedas-that Knowledge and action are to be practised in combination by one and the same person for attaining the same human Goal, why then should He here tell His dear supplicant Arjuna, that steadfastness in either Knowledge or action is to be practised only by different persons who are respectively qualified? If, on the other hand, it be supposed that the Lord's idea is, 'After hearing about both Knowledge and action, Arjuna will himself practise them (in combination); but, to others, I shall speak of them as being meant to be pursued by different persons', then the Lord would be imagined to be unreliable, being possessed of likes and dislikes! And that is untenable. So, from no point of view whatsoever can there be a combination of Knowledge and action. And what has been said by Arjuna regarding superiority of Wisdom over action, that stands confirmed for not having been refuted; and (it also stands confirmed) that steadfastness in Knowledge is suitable for being practised by monks alone. And from the statement that they (Knowledge and action) are to be followed by different persons, it is understood that this has the Lord's approval.
Noticing that Arjuna had become dejected under the impression, 'You are urging me to that very action which is a source of bondage', and was thinking thus, 'I shall not undertake action', the Lord said, 'Na karmanaam anaarambhaat, not by abstaining from action,' etc. Or:-When steadfastness in Knowledge and steadfastness in action become incapable of being pursued simultaneously by one and the same person owing to mutual contradiction, then, since it may be concluded that they become the cause of attaining the human Goal independently of each other, therefore, in order to show-that the steadfastness in action is a means to the human Goal, not independently, but by virtue of being instrumental in securing steadfastness in Knowledge; and that, on the other hand, steadfastness in Knowledge, having come into being through the means of steadfastness in action, leads to the human Goal independently without anticipating anything else-,the Lord said.
---------------------------------------------------------
Commentary by Swami Sivananda
The path of knowledge of the Sankhyas (Jnana Yoga) was described by Lord Krishna in chapter II, verses 11 to 38; the path of action (Karma Yoga) from 40 to 53. Pura Prokta may also mean "In the beginning of creation the twofold path was given by Me to this world." Those who are endowed with the four means and who have sharp, subtle intellect and bold understanding are fit for Jnana Yoga. Those who have a tendency or inclination for wok are fit for Karma Yoga. (The four means are discrimination, dispassion, six-fold virutes, and longing for liberation. The six-fold virtues are: control of the mind, control of the senses, fortitude (endurance), turning away from the objects of the world, faith and tranquility.) It is not possible for a man to practise the two Yogas simultaneously. Karma Yoga is a means to an end. It purifies the heart and prepares the aspirant for the reception of knowledge. The Karma Yogi should take up Jnana Yoga as soon as his heart is purified. Jnana Yoga takes the aspirant directly to the goal without any extraneous help. (compare: ch.V.5).
=======================================
(Individuals like Ramana Maharishi who have cleansed their mind in previous births are born ready to continue their travel on the spiritual path, to practice Jnana Yoga and realise moksha. - krishmaswamy)
