|
Chapter 3
The Lord declares,"He who performs his duty ordained according to his nature, incurs
no sin" (18/47). Besides common duty and one's own duty, the duty of another is fraught with fear, because it is prohibited by scripture. It will deprive other persons of their rightful means of livelihood, and it will lead him to hell. Therefore, the Lord asks Arjuna to perform his duty of fighting, which is better than begging. Begging, is prohibited for Arjuna, being a Ksatriya it is not beneficial for him.
A Vital Fact Pertaining to One's Duty & the Duty of others
Nature (prakrti) and its evolute (body and world), are different from God and the self (soul). Duty of the self is one's duty, while the duty of nature, the body and the world, is the duty of another. Absence of modification, flawlessness, imperishability, eternity, desirelessness and non-attachment, are duties of the self, while modifications, flaws, transitoriness, mortality and desires for pleasures, prosperity, honour and praise etc., are the duties, of the body and the world and therefore, are the duties of another. The duty of the self is imperishable, because the self is imperishable, while the duty of the body is perishable, as the body ever undergoes change.
Renunciation, (the Discipline of Action), knowledge (the Discipline of Knowledge) and love (the Discipline of Devotion), being axiomatic, are one's own duty. These need no practice, as practice is done by the body and whatever has affinity for the body, is the duty of another.
To be united with God, is one's own duty, while to be a pleasure seeker, is the duty of another; to remain detached is one's duty, while to be attached is the duty of another; to render service is one's own duty while to have desire is the duty of another; to be a lover is one's own duty while to be passionate is the duty of another. It means, that whatever is connected with the self is, one's own duty, while whatever is connected with nature (prakrti), is the duty of another. One's own duty is sentient, while the duty of another is insentient.
The self is a fragment of God while the body is a fragment of nature (prakrti). The desire for Self-realization and God-realization, is the duty of the self, because the self is a fragment of God, while the desire for pleasure and prosperity is the duty of another (paradharma). This desire for pleasure and prosperity, is aroused by accepting affinity for an unreal body. A desire for one's ultimate good, is one's duty because being a fragment of God, one's own desire is the desire of God Himself, and not that of the world.
A man is independent in performing his own duty of God-realization or Self-realization or salvation, because in this there is no need of body, senses, mind and intellect etc., but only the need to sever connection with them. In performing duty for another, a man is dependent because that needs the body, senses,
mind, intellect, things and persons etc.
When a man practises spiritual discipline in order to realize God, without accepting his affinity for the body, his practice is his own duty. All the means followed, in order to attain Self-realization or God-realization, are included in one's own duty (svadharrna) while all the actions done for the world, are included in the duty for another (paradharma). Thus, practising the three Disciplines (Action, Knowledge and Devotion) is a man's own duty, while hankering after worldly pleasures and prosperity, having accepted affinity for the body, is the duty of another.
|
|