Gita Bhashya -Sankara 164

Shri Sankara's Gita Bhashya

(Sri Sankaracharya's Commentary on the Gita)

CHAPTER -4

Yasya sarve samārambhāh kāma-samkalpa- varjitāh JMnāgni-dagdha-karmānam tam-āhuh panditam budhāh </ref> 19. Him the sages call Wise, whose undertak­ings are all devoid of desires (for results) and plans; and whose actions are burnt by the fire of Knowledge. Whose, i.e., of him who possesses the vision described in theprevious verse, undertakings, the actions in which he engageshimself, are all devoid of desires for results, and plans: i.e. purposes (sarhkalpas) which originate desires;-that is to say, he executesmerely the movements of actions, without any selfish purpose inview-to serve as guidance to the world, in case he is followingthe pravrtti mārga (the path of activity, i.e. wordly life), or for thebare sustenance of life, in case he has renounced worldly life;and whose actions, good and bad, are burnt by the fire of Know­ledge, the vision of inaction in action and vice versa;-him, {such an one), the sages, the knowers of Brahman, call Wise in the truesense. As for him who sees inaction and action (in their true light), he becomes freed from action by virtue of that very knowledge; renounces the world and betakes himself lo no work, doing merely what is necessary for the sustenance of life-even though he had engaged himself in action before the dawn of knowledge. He acquires right Knowledge (of the Self), certainly does renounce work and its accessories, because he finds no use for activity. Even if, for some reason, he cannot renounce action and engages himself in action as before-(surely) without attachment to the action and its fruit, because he has no object to gain therefrom; and (merely) with a view to the guidance of the world-he really does nothing. To show that his activity gets transmuted as in­ action, by reason of that activity having been burnt in the fire of Knowledge, the Lord proceeds: