Contents
Shri Sankara's Gita Bhashya
(Sri Sankaracharya's Commentary on the Gita)
CHAPTER -5
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Objection - Has not karma-yoga also been declared here and there in the sections dealing with the exposition of the nature of the Self?- as, for instance, in "Fight, therefore, O descendant of Bharata!"[1], 'Having regard to your own dharma also "[2], " Your right is to work alone " (īī-47)'etc. ? And so, how could karma-yoga be impossible for the man of realisation? Reply - Because of the antithesis between true Knowledge and wrong knowledge and between their effects. In the wordsi " By jñāiia-yoga for the Sārhkhyas"[3], devotion to the path of jñāna-yoga, characterised by abidance in the actionless Self, to be practised by those who know the true nature of the Self, the Sārhkhyas, is distinguished from devotion to the path of karma-yoga which is to be practised by those who have not known the Self. Because the knower of the Self has accomplished his object (i.e. fulfilled himself; achieved all), he has no need for any thing else. And he has no more duty to perform, as has been said : "For him, there is nothing to do"[4]. In the passage such as, "By non-performance of works"[5], "But renunciation of action, O mighty-armed"[6], karma- yoga is laid down as an accessory to Self-knowledge; while in the passage, "For him (the muni), when he has attained to yoga, inaction (śama) is said to be the means"[7], it is stated that, on obtaining Right Knowledge, he has no (further) need for karmayoga. Moreover, action other than that necessary for the sustenance of the body is precluded in the passage, "By perform ing mere bodily action, he does not incur any evil"[8]; and, even with regard to actions such as seeing and hearing engaged in connection with the bare sustenance of the body, it is advised, in the passage," The knower of Truth, (being) centred (in the Self)should think 'I do nothing at all"[9], that the person who, knows the true nature of the Self should, through composure of mind, never entertain the idea that he is doing (those actions). Wherefore it is impossible even to dream of associating karmayoga - which is incompatible with Right Knowledge and is based on false knowledge - with the man who knows the real nature of the Self. |
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