Sankhya Yoga: Shlokas 45 to 50
If you have not already done so, I would request you to review the Chapter 1, Arjuna Vishada Yoga before studying chapter 2 as that would help set the right context.
You can find the explanation of shlokas 38 to 44 here. Please go through that to get better understanding of the context.
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त्रैगुण्यविषया वेदा निस्त्रैगुण्यो भवार्जुन |
निर्द्वन्द्वो नित्यसत्त्वस्थो निर्योगक्षेम आत्मवान् || 2.45||
trai-guṇya-viṣhayā vedā nistrai-guṇyo bhavārjuna
nirdvandvo nitya-sattva-stho niryoga-kṣhema ātmavān
त्रैगुण्यविषया – Traigunya-viṣayā – Subject matter related to the three modes of material nature वेदा – Vedāḥ – The Vedas निस्त्रैगुण्यः – Nistraiguṇyaḥ – Transcendental to the three modes of material nature भवार्जुन – Bhavārjuna – Arjuna, the son of Pritha निर्द्वन्द्वः – Nirdvandvaḥ – Without duality नित्यसत्त्वस्थः – Nitya-sattva-sthaḥ – Situated in pure goodness eternally निर्योगक्षेमः – Niryoga-kṣemaḥ – Free from the notions of gain and preservation आत्मवान् – Ātmavān – Self-realized.
Arjuna, the Vedas deal with the subject matter related to the three modes of material nature, but you must become transcendental to these modes. Be free from all dualities and situated in the pure goodness eternally, without being concerned with material gain and protection, and become self-realized.
यावानर्थ उदपाने सर्वत: सम्प्लुतोदके |
तावान्सर्वेषु वेदेषु ब्राह्मणस्य विजानत: || 2.46||
yāvān artha udapāne sarvataḥ samplutodake
tāvānsarveṣhu vedeṣhu brāhmaṇasya vijānataḥ
यावान् – Yāvān – As much as अर्थः – Arthaḥ – Object of sense enjoyment उदपाने – Udapāne – In a reservoir of water सर्वतः – Sarvataḥ – All around सम्प्लुतोदके – Samplutodake – Completely merged in water तावान् – Tāvān – Similarly सर्वेषु – Sarveṣu – In all वेदेषु – Vedeṣu – Vedic knowledge ब्राह्मणस्य – Brāhmaṇasya – Of the Brahmana विजानतः – Vijānataḥ – One who knows well
For a wise Brahmana who has realized the Self, the Vedas are as useful as a reservoir of water in a place flooded by water everywhere.
कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन |
मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि || 2.47 ||
karmaṇy-evādhikāras te mā phaleṣhu kadāchana
mā karma-phala-hetur bhūr mā te saṅgo ’stvakarmaṇi
कर्मणि – karmaṇi – in prescribed duties एव – eva – only अधिकारः – adhikāraḥ – right ते – te – your मा – mā – do not फलेषु – phaleṣu – in the results कदाचन – kadācana – at any time मा – mā – do not कर्मफलहेतुः – karma-phala-hetuḥ – the cause of the results of action भूः – bhūḥ – become मा – mā – do not ते – te – your सङ्गः – saṅgaḥ – attachment अस्तु – astu – let there be not अकर्मणि – akarmaṇi – in inaction
You have the right to perform your prescribed duties, but you are not entitled to the results of your actions. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, nor be attached to inaction.
योगस्थ: कुरु कर्माणि सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा धनञ्जय |
सिद्ध्यसिद्ध्यो: समो भूत्वा समत्वं योग उच्यते || 2.48||
yoga-sthaḥ kuru karmāṇi saṅgaṁ tyaktvā dhanañjaya
siddhy-asiddhyoḥ samo bhūtvā samatvaṁ yoga uchyate
योगस्थः – yogasthaḥ – Being steadfast in yoga कुरु – kuru – perform कर्माणि – karmāṇi – actions सङ्गं – saṅgam – attachment त्यक्त्वा – tyaktvā – giving up धनञ्जय – dhanañjaya – O Arjuna सिद्धि-असिद्ध्योः – siddhi-asiddhyoḥ – in success and failure समः – samaḥ – equipoised भूत्वा – bhūtvā – becoming समत्वं – samatvaṃ – equanimity योगः – yogaḥ – yoga उच्यते – ucyate – is called
Perform your duty steadfastly in yoga, O Arjuna, abandoning attachment to success and failure. Such evenness of mind is called yoga.
दूरेण ह्यवरं कर्म बुद्धियोगाद्धनञ्जय |
बुद्धौ शरणमन्विच्छ कृपणा: फलहेतव: || 2.49||
dūreṇa hy-avaraṁ karma buddhi-yogād dhanañjaya
buddhau śharaṇam anvichchha kṛipaṇāḥ phala-hetavaḥ
दूरेण – dūreṇa – far away हि – hi – certainly अवरं – avaṛṃ – inferior कर्म – karma – actions बुद्धियोगात् – buddhi-yogāt – by intelligence in devotional service धनञ्जय – dhanañjaya – O Dhanañjaya बुद्धौ – buddhau – in intelligence शरणम् – śaraṇam – refuge अन्विच्छ – anviccha – seek कृपणाः – kṛpaṇāḥ – miserly फलहेतवः – phala-hetavaḥ – who desire fruits
O Arjuna, seek refuge in divine knowledge and insight, and abandon actions performed with the intention of seeking rewards, which are certainly inferior to works performed with intellect established in divine knowledge. Those who desire to enjoy the fruits of their works are considered to be miserly.
बुद्धियुक्तो जहातीह उभे सुकृतदुष्कृते |
तस्माद्योगाय युज्यस्व योग: कर्मसु कौशलम् || 2.50||
buddhi-yukto jahātīha ubhe sukṛita-duṣhkṛite
tasmād yogāya yujyasva yogaḥ karmasu kauśhalam
बुद्धियुक्तो – buddhi-yukto – one who is endowed with spiritual intelligence जहाति – jahāti – gives up इह – iha – in this world उभे – ubhe – both सुकृत – su-kṛte – pious activities दुष्कृते – duṣ-kṛte – sinful activities तस्मात् – tasmāt – therefore योगाय – yogāya – for the sake of union युज्यस्व – yujyasva – engage yourself योगः – yogaḥ – yoga कर्मसु – karmasu – in work कौशलम् – kauśalam – skillfulness.
One who wisely practices the science of work without attachment can get rid of both good and bad reactions in this life itself. Therefore, strive for Yoga, which is the art of working skillfully with proper consciousness.
The need to rise above the three modes of nature
The material world has three modes of nature: goodness (Sattva), passion (Rajas), and ignorance (Tamas). It is these gunas that create and feed the Ego, which binds the divine soul to the physical body. These modes affect each individual differently, depending on their sanskaras, from previous lives. Shri Krishna will explain these gunas in depth in chapter 14.
Our soul is a tiny spark of God, who is beyond these gunas. The Vedas provide many prescriptions for a person to progress from Tamas to Rajas to Sattva guna. Shri Kṛṣṇa is telling Arjuna to understand that the goal of all the teachings of the vedas is to realize this God, and that Arjuna needs to rise above these gunas and focus on self realization which will lead him towards God realization.
How to rise above these gunas? Shri Krishna says: nirdvandvo nitya-sattva-stho niryoga-kṣhema ātmavān
Nirdvandvo: Avoid getting disturbed by dualities of nature (earlier, Shri Krishna advised Arjuna to practice Samatvam, or calm mindedness).
Nitya-sattva-stho: Always be established in sattva guna.
Niryoga-kṣhema: Here, the term Yoga is used to mean “to acquire” and Kshema means “the efforts to preserve”. Our Ego keeps us busy acquiring various material things and then worrying about preserving them. Shri Krishna is advising that Arjuna should discipline his mind to not run behind things to acquire or worry about things to preserve, as we have to keep the Ego under check while on the path of self-realization. Also, acquiring and preserving are the manifestations of Rajo guna and Tamo guna and once we avoid these, we are able to establish ourselves in Sattva guna, which is a prerequisite for spiritual evolution.
Atmavān: Focus on self-realization,
A point to be noted is that we should not be reading the vedas and other spiritual texts with the intent of becoming a scholar of those texts. What is actually important is that we understand and implement the knowledge to attain self realization. This is what we termed as Nidhidhyasan previously.
Shri Kṛṣṇa says that the Vedas are like a water tank, full of spiritual knowledge. But Self realization is like a flood of water. And when we are surrounded by a flood of water, we do not need a water tank. Similarly, we should approach the Vedas and all spiritual knowledge with the understanding that they are only a means to spiritual growth and self-realization. Once we achieve this realization, we no longer need these books or scriptures.
Performing actions without attachment to results – the golden rule
And now comes the most iconic and popular verse of the Bhagavad Gita, verse 2.47. This verse has been quoted countless times by many seers, sages, and scholars since time immemorial. This verse conveys the central idea behind most other teachings in the Bhagavad Gita.
कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन |
मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि || 2.47 ||
karmaṇy-evādhikāras te mā phaleṣhu kadāchana
mā karma-phala-hetur bhūr mā te saṅgo ’stvakarmaṇi
You have the right to perform your prescribed duties, but you are not entitled to the results of your actions. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, nor be attached to inaction.
We are instructed by the Lord to always focus on our duties and rightful actions. All sorts of anxiety and stress occur only when we fret about the results of our actions.
If you reflect on your own life you will realize that most of your painful memories are based on either something unexpected happening or something expected not happening. ‘Expectation’ is always the cause. Many western and eastern philosophers have established this fact over and over again.
Even in Buddha’s teachings, one of the Four Noble Truths is that “the cause of all sufferings is attachment”.
If you look at nature, you see such detached actions everywhere. The honey bees gather honey but have you ever come across a honeybee which was looking depressed because someone else was enjoying the honey that it gathered? Have you ever come across a hummingbird which stopped singing because nobody was listening?
We can see that everything in Nature is practicing verse 2.47 🙂 The animals, trees, oceans, sunshine, rain etc all are doing what they are supposed to be doing without worrying about the outcome.
So the question is why it is so difficult for humans to perform our actions without attachment to results? The simple answer is our massive Ego 🙂 It is the Ego which makes us get attached to results because it wants us to believe that we are the doers and we are in control of everything. If we let it, the Ego will make us believe that we are in control of even God.
So why is this Ego bad? Basically we are a tiny spark of the supreme God. However, we cannot succeed in realizing the Supreme God as long as we are engrossed in our own self. We are too full of our small “i”. Once we remove our small “i”, we make room for the big “I”.
In Buddhism, the concept of a separate identity or Ego is seen as a delusion or illusion that causes suffering. This view is based on the understanding that everything in the universe is interconnected and interdependent. Therefore, the notion of an individual, independent self is seen as an illusion, a construct created by the mind. This delusion of a separate self is considered to be the root cause of suffering, as it leads to a sense of separation, attachment, and craving.
Pragma 3: Always choose rightful action over inaction. Never be attached to the results of your work.
Detachment from results is the way to a happy and painless life.
It becomes easier to practice pragma 3 when we have gained some mastery over the first two pragmas that we covered earlier. Our good self (higher self) always wants to do good deeds. However, our saboteur within will either prevent you from doing them or it will make you feel bad about doing good deeds by making you focus on the results of our actions.
If we should not perform actions with desires for results, then how should we perform them? This is what Shri Krishna goes on to explain in the next Shloka.
Importance of Evenness of mind
In 2.48, Shri Kṛṣṇa says “Be steadfast in the performance of your duty, O Arjuna, abandoning attachment to success and failure. This evenness of mind is also known as Yoga.”
As Swami Mukundananda says “If we are sailing in the ocean in a boat, it is natural to expect the waves of the ocean to shake the boat. If we get disturbed each time a wave rocks the boat, our miseries would be endless.”
Imagine you are in a plane high in the skies when a storm breaks out. Now, you cannot stop the plane and you definitely cannot stop the storm. The best option is to stay calm so that you can take the right action at the right time. That is the fundamental aspect of this teaching.
The key to developing this calmness of mind is provided in Vedanta through the study of ‘Sama’ and ‘Dama’. ‘Sama’ means control of our mind and ‘Dama’ means control of our senses. Once we practice sama and dama, we will achieve Samatvam which means calmness and equanimity of the mind.
The mind will sometimes say things like “If only I get that car, I will be so happy” and on the other end, it will say things like “What if I get into an accident?”. So we need to train our mind to not have expectations of “if only” and not have fears of “what if”. And we should restrain our senses and direct them towards God. This is how we attain Samatvam.
Kṛṣṇa has spoken about the importance of an even and calm mind in 2.15, 2.38 and here again in 2.48. He has also spoken about how we should use Buddhi yoga to control our mind. So, we need to use buddhi yoga to train our mind to be calm in all situations and then keep our ego under check by totally surrendering to Kṛṣṇa . We should then do our duties and perform rightful actions without getting attached to the results.
If you have small children at home, this is the best lesson you can teach them. Don’t always give them everything they ask for. Sometimes say No to a few things that they ask and train them to not get upset when they don’t get what they want. This will teach them this Samatvam. This would be a wonderful training for them and will help them succeed in life.
Attachment, the cause of pain and suffering
In the context of the Bhagavad Gita, attachment refers to an emotional investment in the outcome of our actions. When we are attached to the results, we become attached to success or failure, pleasure or pain, and we are swayed by our desires and fears. This attachment is caused by our ego, which ultimately leads to pain and suffering.
On the other hand, when we perform actions without attachment to the results, we become free from the emotional burden of success or failure. We do whatever needs to be done without desiring or worrying about any particular outcome. This is what is meant by ‘acting in without attachment’ and it allows us to perform our duties with clarity of thought and equanimity of mind. When we have clarity of thought, we are able to discern what is right and what is wrong and we are able to better understand what is aligned with dharma and what is not. It also makes it easier for us to understand what our duties are and what are the rightful actions we need to take at any given point in time.
There is another very important aspect to acting without attachment. Karma yoga is all about rendering service and ‘giving’. The true karma yogi is also generous and charitable. However, when we perform action with expectation of particular outcomes, we are in the mode of ‘taking’, not ‘giving’. So, it is impossible for such a person to succeed on the path of Karma yoga. That is why Shri Krishna says that those who perform actions with expectation of certain results are misers.
Thus, Lord Krishna advises Arjuna: “yogasthaḥ kuru karmāṇi”, act without attachments and develop evenness of mind, which means to remain steady and balanced in all situations.
Shri Krishna asked Arjuna to eventually rise above all gunas and in 2.50, Shri Krishna provides a very concise direction for this: “बुद्धियुक्तो जहातीह उभे सुकृतदुष्कृते।” (Buddhiyukto jahātīha ubhe sukṛtaduṣkṛte). The wise person, united with yoga, abandons both good and evil deeds in this world. Therefore, strive for yoga, which is the art of skillful action.
Here, “yoga” refers to the union with the divine, which can be achieved through the practice of meditation, self-discipline, and self-awareness. The person who has attained this union with the divine, is able to transcend the duality of good and evil and act skillfully without being attached to the results of their actions.
I would like to quote Swami Vivekananda on this topic: “Those who work without any consciousness of their lower ego are not affected with evil, for they work for the good of the world. To work without motive, to work unattached, brings the highest bliss and freedom. This secret of Karma Yoga is taught by the Lord Sri Krishna in the Gita.”
It is very important to realize that even good karma if performed with attachment will prevent us from getting liberation. Only by surrendering to Lord Kṛṣṇa and performing our duties without being attached to the results, we can attain liberation from the karmic effects (both good and bad). If we don’t follow this, we will keep getting stuck in countless births based on our karmic account.
You can review the next set of verses, 2.51 to 2.54 here:
kṛṣṇadaasa
Servant of Krishna
Aka +Vinayak Raghuvamshi