Srimad Bhagavad Gita -Ramanujacharya 142

Srimad Bhagavad Gita -Ramanujacharya

Chapter-4 Jñāna Vibhāga Yogaḥ

Sri Krishna explains what must be known in regard to action and non-action:— How is wisdom practiced through works which are actually being done? Sri Krishna explains: yasya sarve samārambhāḥ kāma saṅkalpa varjitāḥ | jñānāgni dagdha karmāṇāṃ tam āhuḥ paṇḍitaṃ budhāḥ || 19 || 19. He whose every undertaking is free from desire for personal gain and the delusive identification [of the body with the Self], whose karmas are burnt up in the fire of knowledge — him the wise describe as a sage. Commentary In the case of the seeker of liberation, the three types of actions (obligatory, periodical and desiderative), are undertaken without any desire for profit — that is, without any attachment to the results. The misconception that the Self is the body (Prakṛti) and its modes (Guṇas), is termed kāma-saṅkalpa, — 'delusive identification', the genuine Karma Yogi is free from such identification. The enlightened ones call one who acts in this way and whose previous Karmas are thereby burnt up by the fire of realisation of the real nature of the Self, a rational and discriminating sage — he is a true Karma Yogi. Thus the point that wisdom is involved in true Karma Yoga, is established.