250. Freedom From Karma
K rishna 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 itself becomes impossible without performing karmas (3.8). In this seemingly paradoxical context, 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. For each attachment, we have different justifications, yardsticks and thought process, making us polypsychic. 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 cor...