The Gita according to Gandhi 248

The Gita according to Gandhi -Mahadev Desai

DISCOURCE 4 19. He whose every undertaking is free from desire and selfish purpose, and he who has burnt all his actions in the fire of knowledge—such an one the wise call a pandita. 20. He who has renounced attachment to the fruit of action, who is ever content, and free from all dependence,—he, though immersed in action, yet acts not. That is, his action does not bind him. 21. Expecting naught, holding his mind and body in check, putting away every possession, and going through action only in the body he incurs no stain. The purest act, if tainted by ‘self', binds. But when it is done in a spirit of dedication, it ceases to bind. When ‘self' has completely subsided, it is only the body that works. For instance, in the case of a man who is asleep his body alone is working. A prisoner doing his prison tasks has surrendered his body to the prison authorities and only his body, therefore, works. Similarly, he who has voluntarily made himself God's prisoner, does nothing himself. His body mechanically acts, the doer is God, hot he. He has reduced himself to nothingness.