Category Archives: tyajet

Bhagavad Gita Verse 48, Chapter 18

06 Saturday Jul 2013

Posted by in 18.48, aavritaahaa, agnihi, chapter 18 verse 48, doshena, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, karma, kaunteya, sadosham, sahajam, sarvaarambhaa, tyajet

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sahajam karma kaunteya sadoshamapi na tyajet |
sarvaarambhaa hi doshena dhoomenaagnirivaavritaahaa || 48 ||
 
Natural duty, even though fraught with defect, should not be abandoned. For, all undertakings are covered with defect, like fire by smoke.
 
sahajam : natural
karma : duty
kaunteya : O Kaunteya
sadosham : with defect
api : even
na : not
tyajet : abandoned
sarvaarambhaa : all undertakings
hi : for
doshena : with defect
dhoomen : by smoke
agnihi : fire
iva : like
aavritaahaa : covered
 
Some people in this world are perfectionists. Either we know such people as friends or co-workers, or we may be one ourselves. Perfectionism is a recipe for constant sorrow, because no matter who performs the actions, they will never be perfect. As we have seen earlier, an action is based on several factors, including the mental state of the performer, the instruments used, the state of the outside world and so on. It is next to impossible to expect all these factors to line up in such a manner that the action and its result will be perfect.
 
Shri Krishna says that any undertaking, any project, any action will always have some imperfection built into it, just like any fire will have some smoke covering it. So there is no point giving up our actions and our duties because they contain some imperfection or the other. Even the human body, the most intricate organism on this earth, has some minor defect in one form or the other, in the form of ill health or deformity and so on. Therefore, we have to accept this fact and continue to perform our best actions, not focus too much on the result.
 
With this shloka, the topic of karma yoga is concluded. If we recall, this topic was prompted by Arjuna in the beginning of this chapter, when he wanted to know the difference between sanyaasa and tyaaga. Tyaaga was redefined by Shri Krishna to mean karma yoga, and was analyzed in great detail. Tyaaga or karma yoga, combined with bhakti, is a process, is a means to get us to a destination. When practised properly, it lifts us from our materialistic life and places us on the path towards liberation. So then, if tyaaga is the means, what is the goal? This is taken up next.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 8, Chapter 18

27 Monday May 2013

Posted by in 18.8, chapter 18 verse 8, duhkham, kaayakleshabhayaat, karma, kritvaa, labhet, raajasam, tyaagam, tyaagaphalam, tyajet

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duhkhamityeva yatkarma kaayakleshabhayaattyajet |
sa kritvaa raajasam tyaagam naiva tyaagaphalam labhet || 8 ||
 
Whatever action is given up because it is quite sorrowful, from fear of bodily distress, he performs that giving up which is raajasic, and does not even obtain the reward of giving up.
 
duhkham : sorrowful
iti : in this manner
eva : quite
yat : whatever
karma : action
kaayakleshabhayaat : fear of bodily distress
tyajet : given up
saha : that
kritvaa : performs
raajasam : raajasic
tyaagam : giving up
na : not
eva : even
tyaagaphalam : reward of giving up
labhet : he obtains
 
A little knowledge of the scriptures can prove to be dangerous. Earlier, we came across some people who claim to be performing spiritual renunciation of action, or the giving up of action, when in reality they are lazy, idle or careless in performing their obligatory duties. Now Shri Krishna describes another misinterpretation of tyaaga or giving up. He says that those who give up their duties simply because they will cause sorrow or distress to their body are practising tyaaga that is raajasic.
 
Many times we may shirk from performing our job at work, or perform a job half heartedly, because we think it will cause us pain or sorrow. We may have to give some bad news to a client. We may have to fire an underperforming employee. We may procrastinate starting a project because we may have to put in some extra hours. Such behaviour could come into our family lives as well. We may hesitate in helping out a relative because we may have to expend some of our money and energy.
 
Why do we fear pain or sorrow? We tend to forget many of the teachings of the second chapter. We are not the body, our true nature is the eternal essence. But we have a strong sense of attachment to the body and the mind. We are advised to patiently develop titkshaa, the quality of forbearance, towards pain and sorrow while discharging our duties. Instead, we fall back into our old ways of thinking and run away from our duties. Shri Krishna says that people who abandon their duties out of fear of pain and sorrow will not get the fruit of giving up actions, which is purity and peace of mind.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 21, Chapter 16

16 Tuesday Apr 2013

Posted by in 16.21, aatmanaha, chapter 16 verse 21, dvaaram, idam, kaamaha, krodhaha, lobhaha, naashanam, narakasya, tasmaat, trayam, trividham, tyajet

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trividham narakasyedam dvaaram naashanamaatmanaha |
kaamaha krodhastathaa lobhastasmaadetattrayam tyajet || 21 ||
 
Three gates of hell cause one’s destruction, desire, anger and greed. Therefore, give up these three.
 
trividham : three
narakasya : hell
idam : these
dvaaram : gates
naashanam : destructive
aatmanaha : oneself
kaamaha : desire
krodhaha : anger
tathaa : and
lobhaha : greed
tasmaat : therefore
etat : these
trayam : three
tyajet : give up
 
Like a good teacher, Shri Krishna summarizes the entire chapter comprising the rather lengthy list of devilish qualities into three main ones: desire, anger and greed. He says that we always need to watch out for these three qualities in our daily lives, and minimize them as much as possible. He calls them gateways into hell, because they lead to the path of destruction rather than the path of liberation. Even the order of these three is important, because both anger and greed follow desire.
 
The second chapter explained how kaama or desire comes into our lives. Dhyavato vishayaan, by constantly thinking of an object (or a person or a situation), we develop an association with it. If carried on for long, this association results in a desire to procure that object. If anyone or anything comes between us and the object, we develop anger. And once we have the object, once our desire is fulfilled, we want more of the object. This results in greed.
 
So then, how do we tackle these three gates of hell? Let us first look at kaama or desire. If desire develops through contemplation of objects, we can reduce desire to a certain extent by keeping a watch on what we expose our mind to. For example, we can go to the mall with a shopping list rather than wander around shops that we don’t need anything from. But the root of desire is the labelling of objects as desirable by our mind. This labelling or superimposition is known as “shobhana adhyaasa”. It is why the same dress looks desirable to one person and irrelevant to another, since objects by themselves are not desirable. Controlling and convincing the mind through study of scriptures and meditation helps to reduce this labelling.
 
Desire is somewhat easy to control, but once we are in the grip of anger, it becomes somewhat difficult to do so. At least we do not publicly display our desires, but we do not hesitate to show our anger publicly. We require tremendous control over our mind in order to release ourselves from the grip of anger. It is therefore better to focus on rooting out unnecessary desires than to confront anger directly.
 
Lastly, lobha or greed can be kept in check through charity. Anytime we start feeling pride over our wealth or possessions, we should immediately donate a portion of our wealth or possessions. How exactly we should do so is covered in the next chapter.