3. The Path of Action (karma-yoga)

In addition to knowledge (jnana), the Gita lays down the path of disciplined activity. Through divine service or karma we can also reach the highest. Karma is said to be beginning-less, and the exact manner by which the work of the world proceeds is hard to understand (iv,17). At the end of creation the whole world is said to lie in the form of a subtle karma seed ready to sprout again at the next start (viii, 18-19). Since the world process is dependent upon the Lord, we can call Him the lord of karma (vii, 22). It is necessary to see to it that our conduct promotes the interests of righteousness, which at the same time results in spiritual rest and satisfaction. Karma marga is the path of conduct by which the individual thirsting for service can reach the goal.

It should be noted that the Gita teaches renunciation of attachment rather than of actions. It is pointed out that it is not possible to renounce actions.

Krishna says that although there is nothing for me to do,

“Still I do engage in action”.

Since man imitate God, He must act.

“If I did not perform actions, these worlds would be destroyed, I should be the cause of caste-intermingling; and I should be ruining these people” (iii, 24).

The Gita asks its readers to dedicate all actions to God. The God of the Gita is an active God. He reincarnates Himself as a man and acts among man. Of course He is not defiled by actions.

He declares:

“Actions defile me not. I have no attachment to the fruit of actions. He who knows me thus is not tied down by actions. Knowing this, the men of old who wished for final emancipation, performed actions. Therefore, do you too perform action as was done by men of old in olden times” (iv, 14-15).

The doctrine of niskama karma is a doctrine of action to protect dharma in the society. The Gita’s expression for detached activism is karmayoga. Karmayoga treats the act as an end in itself and not as a means to another end.

Performance of desire less actions is thus a path to freedom from sin. Performance of actions with devotion to God is therefore repeatedly recommended. Knowledge of action and inaction is desirable.

He whose actions are free from desire and whose actions are burnt down by the fire of knowledge is called a learned one.

“Having abandoned attachment to the fruit of works, ever content, without any kind of dependence, he does nothing though he is ever engaged in work. Having no desires, with his heart and self under control, giving up all possessions, performing action by the body alone, he commits no wrong” (iv,20-21).

The Gita recognizes that it is through work that we are brought into relation with the rest of the world. The problem of morality has significance only in the human world. The self of man alone, of the objects of the world, possesses a sense of responsibility. The individual aspires after spiritual happiness, but he cannot derive it from the material elements of the world. The pleasure which he strives after is of different kinds. What is derived from a deluded mind and false desires has more of tamas in it, what is derived from the senses has more of rajas, and the pleasure of self-knowledge has more of sattva in it (vi.22, xii,12, ii,71, xvii,62, xviii,36-38). The highest satisfaction can come only when the individual ceases to look upon himself as an independent agent and feels that God in His infinite grace guides the world^[1]. Good work is that which helps us to the liberation of the individual and perfection of the spirit.

In the beginning of the fifth chapter of the Gita Arjuna asks Krishna to tell him which one of the two is superior, renunciation of action or pursuit of action.

Krishna replies as follows:

“Renunciation and pursuit of action are both instruments of happiness. But of the two, pursuit of action is superior to the renunciation of action. He should be understood to be always as ascetic, who has no aversion and no desire. For, O you of mighty arms, he who is free from the pairs of opposites is easily released from all bonds. (v,2-3).

Therefore analyzing the nature of the act of karma, the Gita distinguishes the mental antecedents from the outer deed, and calls, upon us to control the former by suppressing all selifishness(xviii,18). Naiskarmya, or abstention from action, is not the true law of morality, but niskama, or disinterestedness (v, 11, xviii, 49). Passion, anger and covetousness, the three ways to hell, are to be overcome (ii, 6263, xvi,21). All desires are not bad. The desire after righteousness is divine (vii, 11).

The Gita asks us to act in a way when action does not bind. The Lord himself acts for the sake of humanity. Though from the absolute standpoint He is self-contained and desireless, He has always something to accomplish in the world. Even so is Arjuna asked to fight and do his work. The free souls have also the obligation to help others to discover the divine in themselves. Service of humanity is worship of God (xviii, 46).

The Gita draws a distinction between sannyasa and tyaga:

“Sannyasa is renouncing all interested works; tyaga is giving up the fruit of all work” (xviii, 2).

In order to grasp the special import of karma-yoga, it seems appropriate to refer to two ideals of life that dominated certain sects at the time the Gita came into being-negative ideal of renunciation (nivrtti), and the positive ideal of active participation (pravrtti) in the ongoing of the world as a stepping-stone to perfection. The ideal of nivrtti believed in the renunciation of action and complete withdrawal from all worldly obligations. It came to be believed that every deed was a positive hindrance in the way of salvation in as much as it confirmed the sense of egoism and individuality of the doer. All actions were sure to produce their appropriate results from which it was impossible to get away. The ideal of pravrtti, on the other hand, doubtlessly enjoined upon the aspirants the need to lead their lives in the midst of society and discharge all their obligations relating thereto, but even such a mode of living could not wholly free itself from selfishness. They were somehow seized with the conviction that perfection was to be pursued and attained by one’s own independent efforts which involved a number of observances which were exclusively the concern of the aspirant alone. Thus, their concern for their own advantage was primary, while the task of discharging social obligations came to be looked upon as secondary.Consequently, such an outlook could hardly be characterized as free from selfishness. The contribution of the Gita’s ethics lies in synthesizing the two ideals–the negative ideal of renunciation to the desire for fruit of action (nivrtti) and the positive ideal of active participation(pravrtti) in discharging social obligation. Renunciation apart from an active life is empty while activity divorced from the spirit of renunciation is spiritually blind. Or, to state the same point in words; renunciation is only a form the matter or content of which must be derived from activity as grounded in the law of one’s essential self. Thus, it is found that the Gita’s ethics is the ethics of action. It is not anti-social or escapism. It is the ethics of God realization through selfless services to humanity. Thus it is not ethics of asceticism. The Gita’s ethics is religious and spiritual in nature.

Thus in the principle of karmayoga the Gita synthesizes the positive elements of pravrtti and nivrtti.

“While it does not abandon activity, it preserves the spirit of renunciation. It commends the strenuous life, and yet gives no room for the play of selfish impulses. Thus it discards neither ideal, but by combining them refines and ennobles both”^[2].

The two paths are fused in the Gita–ideal of the karma yoga. The Gita ideal of pravrtti does not merely put social checks on the activities of Men, but pleads for a total exclusion of self-interest. It frees all activities from egoism and makes sannyasa not a mere formal act, but a necessary attitude of mind. The Gita does not ask us to renounce the world for the sake of salvation. It asks us to make use of all the good things of life in due proportion for the sake of spiritual realization. It asks us to tread the middle path, which puts an end to all sorrows.^[3]

Karma-yoga in the Gita defined as that practical discipline of morality whereby the human will, by gradually liberating itself from the sensuous self, can lead to the fullest consummation of the truth of our being (vi, 8). The Gita says:

“Far inferior indeed is mere action to the action of the disciplined will; therefore, O Arjuna, seek refuge in the discipline of the spiritual will; wretched are those who hanker after the fruit of their actions” (ii, 49).

The path of the disciplined will (Buddhiyoga) is the only available ray of hope for those who want to seek complete solution of the riddle of life through the help of action.

Says the Gita:

“Here in this world one who has anchored his will into the law of his self, transcends the fruit both of good and evil deeds. Strive, therefore for the perfection of this law, since it is in its perfection alone that lies the key to freedom from action” (ii, 50).

The Gita holds that karma-yoga ultimately results in the flowering of spiritual knowledge (iv, 33). But, what the specific character of this knowledge is will have to determined by the consideration of the spirit in which the spiritual aspirant engaged himself in activity prior to the attachment of his goal. Now, according to the Gita, there are two main springs of spiritual activity, and either of these can be made the motive for exertion. They are: 1. Purification of the soul (atma-suddhi) (v, 11) and 2. Carrying out God’s will by doing all duties as his commands (Isvaratha) (iii,30,ix,27). Though the sphere in both the cases is the same, yet it is in the manifestation of the spirit with which the duties of each sphere are undertaken that the difference lies. What in the one case is looked upon as the duty to promote the welfare of other, is looked upon in the other as the service to God. In the former case the spiritual aspirant dedicates himself to the promotion of happiness of others (sarvabhutahita); his aim is to contribute to the bringing about solidarity on earth. An attempt is therefore, made to transcend the limits of narrow, private self. Such selfless service of others is based upon the true self to rid itself of the false sense of egoism (ahamkara). However much we may dedicate ourselves to the service and welfare of others, we can never claim much success in our spiritual mission if this sense of I-ness is not completely transcended. So long as it continues to hold its way over our mind, it will irresistibly militate against all our endeavour to actualize the real nature of our self, thus obstructing the liberation. The Gita encourages us to master strength and put forth our best efforts, since “in this path no efforts are ever lost, nor is there any obstacle in the way of its coming to fruition; even a little that we may do in the spirit of karmayoga will save us from great danger (ii,40, ii,7). Conscientious discharging of all social obligations ultimately qualifies the aspirant for enlightenment (jnana), which the Gita conceives as being brahman (Brahma-bhuyam or Brahma-bhuta). (v, 24, vi,27, xiv,26, xviii,54).

The final goal consists in absolute self-determination on the dawn of which all the hostile forces of the empirical outfit melt away.

This is the ethical significance of ‘yoga’ which seems to have shaped the karma-yoga of the Gita.

“No one who has not ceased to be immoral, who is passionately restless, who has not possessed his true self, whose mind is not tranquil, can realize his self”.^[4]

Krishna advises Arjuna that constituted as we are; we are bound to do actions. But it is also said that a man is bound by his action alone. Karmana badhyate jantu vidyaya tu pramuchyate.^[5] Then how to reconcile these two positions? There is a way says the Gita following which one may perform his actions and yet may not be bound by them. The Gita teaches the art of doing actions which may not cause bondage. The whole philosophy of action has been put by the Gita in a one often quoted verse.

The verse runs like this,

“Your right is to work only, but never to the fruits of it. Let not the fruits of action be not your object, nor let your attachment be to inaction” (ii, 47).

Tilak comments on this verse as,

“These doctrines are so important from the point of view of karma-yoga, that the four quarters of the above stanza may be said to be the four aphorisms (catuh-sutri) of the science of karma yoga or the Gita religion”^[6].

But for an average man it is difficult to do action keeping himself wholly detached with the result of them. It requires a highly moral perfection. So the same ideal is taught by the Gita from the different angles. When this type of attitude will be developed by the agents towards actions only then they will not bind him.

Because really speaking, as Tilak rightly points out,

“……. Gross of lifeless karma by itself does not either bind or release anybody; that, man is bound by karma as a result of his hope or fruit, or by his own attachment; and that, when this attachment has been got rid of, a man stands released, not withstanding that he may be performing action by his external organs”^[7].

According to the Gita, man is suffering because of the dialectical existence (iccha dvesa samutthena dvanda mohena bharata) and the ideal before him is to transcend the dialectical process (te dvandvamoha nirmukta bhajante mam drdhavratah). (vii, 27-28).

This theme has been presented in the 12^th chapter of the Gita, It says:

“Pperforming actions for my sake, you shall attain perfection (siddhi)” (xii, 10).

It wants to say that a cultured man would be that who has conquered the petty personal ambitions and the shallow temptations of life. At another place, the Gita suggests that perfection (samsiddhi), can be achieved by discharging by everyone his allotted task (xviii, 45). Thus for realizing the highest aim of life, perfection, man is not to go to another world, but he is supposed to discharge his social task. Such a sense of perfection comes when man discharges his duties honestly and sincerely, not with profit motive, but with a sense of service to humanity. Service of humanity through performance of duty, according to the Gita, is the real service to God, and, from the ultimate point of view, a service to one’s own cause (xviii, 46).

Hence the scripture hardly permits the contention that,

“There is no logical place for social morality in a system of thought, the dominating conception of which is that of the identity of the self and Brahman.^[8]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Plato: Republic,ix.

[2]:

Hiriyana: Outlines of Indian philosophy, p-121

[3]:

Bist U.S(editor) -Gitarthasangraha Explanation and discussion, P-103

[4]:

Katha. Upanisad, 1.ii.24. from Eight Upanisads,vol,1,Commntary of Sankaracarya translated by Swami Gambhirananda,p-155

[5]:

Santiparva-240.7, from Dutt.M.N, “Mahabharata Sanskrit text with English translation”,p-201

[6]:

Tilak: Gita Rahasya tr by Bhalchandra Sitaram Suthankar, p-155.

[7]:

Tilak: Gita Rahasya tr by Bhalchandra Sitaram Suthankar, p-438

[8]:

Mckenzie,John: Hindu Ethics, p-9.