The entire content of this mail is from Swami Chidbhavananda's translation of The Bhagavad Gita, published by Ramakrishna Mission.
Translations of other slokas of the Gita are available on my blog http://haricharanam.blogspot.
Jnana Yoga & Karma yoga are complementary - 3-8
Na hi kaschit kshanamapi jatu tishthya akarmakritu I
Karyate hyavashah karma sarvah prakriti jah gunaih II sloka 5
न हि कश्चित् क्षणमपि जातु तिष्ठ्य अकर्मकृतु ।
कार्यते ह्यवशः कर्म सर्वः प्रकृति जः गुणैः ।। श्लोक ५
None can ever remain really actionlessness even for a moment; for everyone is helplessly driven to action by the Gunas, born of Prakriti
Prakriti or nature is constituted of the three gunas - Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. It is ever in a state of flux. In other words karma is inherent in prakriti. Beings involved in prakriti are therefore helplessly bound by karma. Van is their wish and attempt to rid themselves of action; eating, sleeping, breathing beating of the heart - all these are nothing but karma. From the atom upto the universe all are engaged in activities of innumerable types. It is impossible for beings to renounce karma while being entangled in prakriti.
Those ho are enlisted as in-patients in a hospital cannot get out of it until they are cured. After the cure is effected they have no need to be in the hospital. Similarly beings that suffer from the ailment of ignorance are hospitalised in prakriti. They are being effectively treated with karma for enlightenment. With the dawn of Brahma-jnanam they quit prakriti, and get to actionlessness.
If one attempts to abandon karma while being bound in prakriti the consequences will be disastrous. This is explained in the next sloka
No comments:
Post a Comment