250. Freedom From Karma


 Krishna says, "Those whose intellect (buddhi) is not attached everywhere (sarvatra), have conquered the self, and are free from desires through renunciation attain the perfection of 'freedom from karma' (naishkarmya-siddhi)" (18.49). Earlier, it was made clear that every karma (action) carries a blemish (18.48). At the same time, there is no escape from karma as our survival becomes impossible without performing karmas (3.8). In these perplexing scenarios, this verse gives three paths to attain freedom from karma-bandhan (bondage of action).

The first path is the non-attachment of intellect everywhere. Our intellect is habitual of getting attached to multiple things, people and situations. We have different thought processes and yardsticks for each attachment making us poly-psychic. It is a journey of moving from multiple attachments to one attachment. The final stage is not to have any attachment or detachment as both are the same at the core. Krishna termed this as Veet Raag which is beyond Raag and Viraag (4.10); Anaasakti which is beyond Aasakti and Virakti.

The second one is conquering the self. Krishna earlier called them sthita-pragna (stoic)(2.56) and also says we are our friend as well as enemy (6.5). If one conquers self, one is a friend to oneself and doesn't need any external sensual pleasures or else makes themselves their own enemies.

The third one is the renunciation. So much is said about renunciation in the Bhagavad Gita. While Arjun was trying to renounce karma of participating and fighting the war, Krishna says we should renounce hatred and desires while performing karmas but not karmas (5.3).

Krishna earlier cautioned that even the wise are confounded about the subtleties of karma and akarma (4.16). In this verse, he gives the path of non-attachment, conquering self and renunciation to attain freedom from karma.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

1. Start with Ahankaar

Image
Bhagavad Gita is a 700 verse conversation between Lord Krishna and Warrior Arjun in the battle field of Kurukshetra.  Just before the start of war, Arjun gets the feeling that war would kill many of his friends and relatives and argues that this is bad from many points of view.  Arjuns dilemma eminates from his presumption that " I am doer" - Aham karta and is also known as Ahankaar . This Ahankaar keeps us telling that we are distinct, but reality is different. Though ego is usually given as meaning to Ahankaar , but ego can be taken as one of many manifestations of Ahankaar . The entire conversation is about this Ahankaar , be it directly or indirectly and Krishna gives various paths and milestones (yardsticks) to get rid of it. If we take Kurukshetra war as a metaphor, all of us enter into a situations, like Arjun did, in our daily lives be it in family, work place and interms of health, wealth, relationships etc. As long as one lives, these dilemmas are natu...
Read more

57. Centred in the Middle

Image
Krishna says (2.66) that the ' ayukta ’ (imbalanced) lacks both buddhi (intellect) and bhaav (emotions) and as a result, he will not get shanti and there is no joy for the peace less. Krishna laid emphasis on equanimity (2.38 and 2.48) and this verse highlights the same from a different angle.  Till one learns to centre oneself in the 'middle', one is likely to anchor oneself at one of the 'other' centres like friends, enemy, work, spouse, children, money, pleasure, power, possessions etc. and this anchoring is the hallmark of the ayukta .  If someone is centred on money, all his plans and actions revolve around maximizing wealth at the cost of all other things like relationships, health etc. One doesn't hesitate to deceive, cheat or do anything to attain pleasure if one is pleasure-oriented. A spouse oriented person evaluates the entire word as to how their spouse is treated. One can also be enemy centred, thinking about how to damage his enemies...
Read more

235. Renunciation and Prescribed Actions

Some of the common threads in the Bhagavad Gita are easy to understand but difficult to inculcate. On the other hand, some of them are very difficult to even comprehend. One such issue is ' Niyat Karma ' (prescribed or obligatory action). The questions like what are our prescribed, obligatory duties; what should be tolerated and what shouldn't be -are always intriguing.  Books and preachings of various enlightened masters add to the confusion as they outwardly look contradictory. Even our own understanding keeps changing with our age and experiences.  Eating when hungry and drinking when thirsty are natural niyat karma . But life is complex and presents many catch-22 situations. That's why Krishna earlier said that this issue is an intricate one and even the wise are confounded about the subtleties of karma and akarma (inaction) (4.16). He further says that the nature of karma is very difficult to know. Certainly, in order to fully understand the nature of right and ...
Read more