Category Archives: etaani

Bhagavad Gita Verse 6, Chapter 18

25 Saturday May 2013

Posted by in 18.6, chapter 18 verse 6, etaani, karmaani, kartavyaani, matam, nishchintam, paartha, phalaani, sangam, tyaktvaa, uttamam

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etaanyapi tu karmaani sangam tyaktvaa phalaani cha |
kartavyaaneeti me paartha nishchintam matamuttamam || 6 ||
 
But, even those actions should be performed, giving up attachment and rewards. This, O Paartha, is my definite and foremost conclusion.
 
etaani : those
api : even
tu : but
karmaani : actions
sangam : attachment
tyaktvaa : giving up
phalaani : rewards
cha : and
kartavyaani : should be performed
iti : this
me : my
paartha : O Paartha
nishchintam : definite
matam : conclusion
uttamam : foremost
 
Shri Krishna says that the only way to convert selfish actions into selfless actions is to give up attachment to the action and to the rewards of the action. Consider an architect who spends months creating the plans for a building. If the architect designs the building keeping the bonus payment in mind, he is performing the action with an attitude of selfishness. If the architect designs the building with the sole motive of creating the best possible living space for people, he is performing the action with an attitude of selflessness.
 
Let us be clear about one thing. There is nothing wrong in the architect expecting a fair payment for the rendering of his services. But he does not keep a monetary expectation every second of his time while designing his buildings. He does it out of a sense of duty. His svadharma, which means his aptitude, his training and his passion, is to be an architect. Regardless of how his day goes, he derives joy in the performance of his svadharma, his duty to the world, as an architect.
 
In addition to giving up attachment to the reward of action, Shri Krishna also advises us to give up attachment to the action itself. Here, we have to keep two things in mind. First, it is not guaranteed that every action of ours will be successful, since there are external factors that may intervene. Second, even if we insist that an action should be performed in a certain way, there could be other ways that could sometimes work better. Insisting that every action ends successfully, and that every action has to be done our way, are the two ways in which we get attached to action. Giving up these attachments, along with the attachment to reward, is the only way that we get bring the purifying effect of karma yoga into every action we perform. This is Shri Krishna’s foremost conclusion on karma yoga.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 13, Chapter 14

18 Monday Feb 2013

Posted by in 14.13, aprakaashaha, apravrittihi, chapter 14 verse 13, etaani, jaayante, kurunandan, mohaha, pramaadaha, tamasi, viviriddhe

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aprakaashopravrittishcha pramaado moha eva cha |
tamasyetaani jaayante viviriddhe kurunandan || 13 ||
 
Darkness, inaction, heedlessness and also error. These arise when tamas is predominant, O descendant of the Kurus.
 
aprakaashaha : darkness
apravrittihi : inaction
cha : and
pramaadaha : heedlessness
mohaha : error
eva : also
cha : and
tamasi : of tamas
etaani : these
jaayante : arise
viviriddhe : predominant
kurunandan : O descendent of the Kurus
 
Shri Krishna addressed Arjuna as “kurunandana” when explaining the marks of tamas, but addressed him as “bharatarshabha” when explaining the marks of rajas. He was probably hinting that some members of the Kuru dynasty, the Kauravas, were under the influence of tamas. When we are under the influence of tamas, we make erroneous decisions. We become inert like a stone, resorting to inaction. Even when we act, it is out of heedlessness. Our knowledge is covered by tamas, creating darkness within us.
 
Let us go deeper into what inaction really means. When we have a lack of drive to achieve anything in the world, when we wants to escape all sense of responsibilities, when all ambitions go away, that is inaction. Moha, error or delusion is even worse. We cannot accurately judge our relationship with the world, with other people, with our family, our friends, our job and so on. We become a “good for nothing”, and will remain in that state unless someone wakes us up.
 
Nature has its own scale of tamas, rajas and sattva. It is better to crawl like an insect than lie around like a stone, better to work like an ant rather than crawl like an ant, better to pollinate flowers like a bird than simply work like an ant, better to give milk to others like a cow than pollinate flowers like a bird, and it is better to work with one’s intellect like a human than to give milk to others like a cow. So one who is steeped in tamas, should start to act, even if the actions are without any planning or thinking, just to get into a higher mental state.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 12, Chapter 14

17 Sunday Feb 2013

Posted by in 14.12, araarambhaha, ashamaha, bharatarshabha, chapter 14 verse 12, etaani, jaayante, karmanaam, lobhaha, pravrittihi, rajasi, spruhaa, vivriddhe

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lobhaha pravrittiraarambhaha karmanaamashamaha spruhaa |
rajasyetaani jaayante vivriddhe bharatarshabha || 12 ||
 
Greed, activity, commencement of actions, unrest, desire. These arise when rajas is predominant, o foremost among the Bharataas.
 
lobhaha : greed
pravrittihi : activity
araarambhaha : commencement
karmanaam : actions
ashamaha : unrest
spruhaa : desire
rajasi : of rajas
etaani : these
jaayante : arise
vivriddhe : predominance
bharatarshabha : O foremost among the Bharataas
 
Shri Krishna addressed Arjuna as “bharatarshabha”, the foremost scion of the Bharata dynasty, and enumerates the marks of a person who is under the influence of raajas. He says that whenever our mind generates thoughts of greed, selfish activity, commencement of action, unrest or uneasiness, and desire for even trivial things, we should realize that we are under the sway of rajas. In fact, we consider this to be our natural state of mind, especially during the waking hours of the day.
 
If we look at the first half of the shloka in reverse order, we start with spruha, which is a selfish desire for objects that have nothing to do with our duties, like a gold watch. Frequent thoughts for acquiring the gold watch lead to ashama or restlessness, where we are not satisfied with our present situation and want to do something else. We then begin to act, karmanaam aarambha, so that we can acquire this gold watch. Our plans may lead us to do another part time job or withdraw from our savings, which is pravritti, engaging in selfish action. Even after we acquire the gold watch, we are not satisfied and want another one. That is lobha, greed, the height of rajasic influence on our mind.
 
It is not easy to detect whether our actions are prompted by selfishness or not. Only a pure mind that has been cleansed of selfishness through karma yoga, with the aid of a guru, can recognize the subtle difference between sattvic and rajasic actions. Karma yoga teaches us to analyze our qualification and proclivity for selecting an appropriate vocation. If we are trained to become an actor, and are also passionately interested in acting, then that becomes our vocation. There is a baseline level of rajas needed to perform actions towards fulfilling the duties of our vocation, which is perfectly fine. Shri Krishna says that we need to watch for signs where rajas increases beyond that baseline level, where selfishness creeps into our actions.