Srimad Bhagavadgita-Rahasya OR Karma-Yoga-Sastra -Bal Gangadhar Tilak
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CHAPTER 4
Therefore, the Gita says paradoxically and very skilfully in this stanza that he who understands that even 'akarma' amounts to ' karma ' (sometimes, even very terrible karma) ; and also that even in performing Action, such Action is ' dead action ' or 'akarma' from the point of view of Causality, is the real Jnanin; and this meaning has been explained in different ways in the subsequent stanzas. According to the Gita science, the only true means by which one escapes the bondage of Action is by performing Action unattachedly, that is, 'giving up the Hope of Fruit'[1]. Therefore, that Action alone, which is performed in this way, that is,, unattachedly, is the proper, that is, the sattvika Action, according to the Gita[2]. That is the true 'Non- Action '[3] according to the Gita ; because, its 'karmatva ' (that is, its nature of being a ' karma '), or its- binding force[4] according to the law of Causality[5] is lost. When, from all that men do, (and even sitting idle is included in the word 'do'), Action of the above kind, that is, sattvika Action, or, 'akarma' according to the Gita, is deducted, all that remain's can be divided into two parts, namely,
is abandoned as a result of Ignorance, it is still a 'vikarma',. not an 'akarma'[8]. Then remains the rajasa Action. This Action is not of the first class, that is, sattvika ;. nor is it what the Gita describes as true 'akarma'. The Gita calls this 'rajasa Action' ; but if anyone wants to do so,, he may use the single word ' karma ' to mean this kind of rajasa Action. In short, whether a particular Action is a- 'karma ' or an 'akarma' is to be decided according' to the binding force of the Action, and not from its nature of being an act, nor also according to what may be laid down- in barren religious treatises. The Astavakra-Gita supports the Path of Renunciation. Yet, even in it, it is said that : that is: "the 'nivrtti' of fools, that is, their turning away from Action, as a result of perversity or of Ignorance, in itself amounts to 'pravrtti ' or ' Karma ' ; and the 'pravrtti' of the wise, that is to say, their Desireless Action, gives the same benefit as nivrtti[10] or karmatyaga (that is, Abandonment of Action)". This very meaning has been very skilfully, paradoxically, and metaphorically set out in the above stanza ; and unless one carefully bears in mind this definition of 'akartna ', he cannot fully understand the argument about ' karma ' and 'akarrna' in the Gita. The Blessed Lord now explains this very meaning more explicitly in the following stanzas ]
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