All World
Gayatri Pariwar

 (Continued from previous issue)

The way to harmonize the two principles: Renunciation of the fruit of actions

13.    The Lord has no doubt enunciated the principles of life. But this, in itself, does not serve the purpose. These principles were already there in the Upanishads and the Smritis. To restate them is not the Gita’s unique contribution; that lies in its explaining how these principles are to be translated into practice. It is in solving this great problem that the ingenuity of the Gita lies.

Yoga means nothing but the art of translating the principles of life into practice. The word ‘sankhya’ means principles or science while ‘yoga’ means art of translating it into practice. Jnanadeva’s saying, ‘Yogiyan sadhli jivankala’ (‘The yogis have mastered the art of living’), proclaims this as an experiential fact. The Gita includes both sankhya and yoga, the science and art respectively; and has thus achieved completeness and perfection. When science and art unite, the beauty of life blossoms into its fullness. Science, by itself, remains on an abstract level. One may know the theory of music, but only when one has mastered the art of singing, the many- splendoured beauty of nad-brahm (the Supreme truth revealed in the sound of music) comes to life. That is why the lord has taught not only the principles, but also the art of applying them to life. What then is this art - the art of practicing swadharma and realizing that the body is of little worth and that the self is imperishable and indivisible?

Usually a man holds either of the two attitudes when it comes to acting. One of them is: ‘If I do something, I shall definitely enjoy the fruit of my actions; I am entitled to it.’ The second attitude is: ‘I shall not act at all if I am not going to enjoy the fruit of my actions.’ The Gita prescribes an altogether different attitude. It says “You must, of course, act; but do not have any claim over the fruit of your actions’. One who acts is certainly entitled to enjoy the fruit of one’s actions, but one should voluntarily surrender that right. Rajas1 says, “I shall act only if I am going to enjoy the fruit of my actions.” Tamas says “If I am not going to enjoy the fruit I shall not act at all.” These attitudes are like two sides of the same coin; there is nothing to choose between them. One should go beyond both of them and adopt pure sattva; one should act and then relinquish the fruits of actions; and act without any claim over them. The desire for the fruit should never the there, either before or after the action.

14.    The Gita, while asking us not to have any desire for the fruit of actions, insists that the work must, however, be perfect. The work of a desireless doer can rightly be expected to be better than that of one driven by desire for the fruit. The reason is that, because of attachment to the fruit, he is bound to waste at least some time and energy in day-dreaming about it. On the other hand, every moment of the desireless doer’s life and every bit of his energy would be spent in the work in hand. A river knows no respite; wind takes no rest; the sun blazes for ever. Likewise, a desireless doer is ever engaged in unremitting service. Who else can then achieve perfection in work, if not he? Secondly, mental poise, the equanimity of mind is a great quality; and the desireless doer has this quality in his own right. When equanimity of mind is combined with the skill of the hands, even an ordinary work of an artisan is bound to be better and more beautiful. Moreover, the difference between the outlook of a desireless doer and of one with attachment to desires is also conducive in making the former’s work better. A man having an eye on securing the fruits looks at the work from a selfish point of view. In his view, the action as well as its fruits are exclusively his own. Therefore, he does not feel that any negligence in the work is a moral lapse. For him, it may, at the most, cause the output to be defective. But a desireless doer has a moral sense of duty towards his work. He is, therefore, extremely alert to avoid any shortcomings therein. Hence his work is bound to be more flawless. Thus, from whatever angle one may see, Falatyaga (renunciation of the fruits of actions) proves to be a sound and effective principle. That is why it could be called a sort of yoga or the art of living.

15.    Even if the matter of desireless action is left aside, we find that the joy in performing an action is much more than that in the enjoyment of its fruits. Total absorption in one’s own work is any everlasting spring of joy. Were you to offer any amount of money to an artist for refraining from painting, would he agree? Certainly not. If you tell a farmer not to go to the field, not to graze the cattle or draw water from the well, and offer him as much grains as he wants, he would certainly not agree to it if he were a true farmer. A farmer goes to the field in the early morning. There the Sun-god welcomes him. Birds sing for him. Cattle gather around him. He caresses them with affection, casts a loving glance at the plants. There is a sattvik, sublime joy in all this. This joy, in fact, is the true and main reward of his work. Compared to it, the material fruit of action is of much less value.

When the Gita takes a man's attention away from the fruit of his actions, it increases hundredfold his concentration in his work through this ingenuity. When the doer's mind is free from .the desire for the fruit of his actions, his absorption in his work attains the character of samadhi. Hence his joy is also hundred times more than that of others. Looked at from this angle, it is clear that the desireless action is itself a great reward. Jnanadeva has rightly asked, "The tree bears fruits, but what fruit could the fruit bear?" .When the body is used for the desireless pursuit of swadharma, such pursuit itself is the beautiful fruit that the body bears. Why then expect and look for any other fruit? The Gita asks us to refrain from such a behaviour. It asks us to relish work, to rejoice in it, to be fully absorbed in it and draw life-blood from it. To act itself is everything. A child plays for the joy of playing. It does get the benefit of exercise thereby, but it is not to secure that fruit that it plays. Its joy is in the playing only.

Renunciation of the fruit of action: Two examples

16.    The saints have demonstrated this in their lives. Shivaji, the king, had great respect for saint Tukaram because of the latter's exemplary devotion to the Lord. Once he thought of honouring him and sent a palanquin to fetch him. But Tukaram was deeply distressed by the arrangements made to honour him. He thought to himself, "Is this the reward for my devotion to the Lord? Is it for this that I worship Him?" He felt that the Lord, by placing this fruit of the worldly honour in his hands, was pushing him away from Him, and said,


‘O, Lord! This prank on your part is not good. You may be trying to push me away from you by offering this little bribe. You may be thinking of getting rid of me this way. But I am not so naive as to be taken in by this. I shall cling firmly to your feet.'
Devotion (Bhakti) is the swadharma of the devotee (Bhakta). His 'art of living' lies in ensuring that the devotion does not get distracted by the lure of other worldly gains.

17.    The life of Pundalik shows us an even more profound ideal of renunciation of the fruit of actions. Pundalik was de¬voted to the service of his parents. Pleased with this, Lord Pandurang rushed to meet him. Pundalik refused to give up his duty to welcome the Lord. The service of the parents was, for him, a form of worship of the Lord. He was not taken in even by the great temptation offered by the Lord. Someone may rob others to provide comforts to his parents; or a patriot may seek the prosperity and glory of his own country at the cost of other countries. Such 'worship' of one's parents or one's country is nothing but selfish attachment; it is not true worship. Pundalik was not trapped in such attachment. It was indeed true that the Lord Himself was standing in front of him; but was that His only form? Was the whole creation lifeless like a corpse before He appeared in that form? Pundalik told the Lord, "O, Lord! I fully understand that you have come to bless me. But I be¬lieve in the doctrine of 'this also.' I do not think that you alone are God. You certainly are God; but my parents too are God to me. And since I am engaged in their service, I am not in a position to pay attention to you. Please, therefore, forgive me." Saying this, he pushed a brick for the Lord to stand on, and again became engrossed in his work. Saint Tukaram refers to this with loving admiration in a lighter vein –


('Why have you become so presumptuous in Love? You made Lord Pandurang stand at your door! How have you be¬come so audacious as to throw a brick to Him to stand on!')

18.    The doctrine of 'this also' which Pundalik applied is a part of the ingenuity in the renunciation of the fruit of actions. A man who renounces the fruits of actions is totally absorbed in his work and his outlook is broad, tolerant and balanced. He does not, therefore, get entangled in the web of abstruse aca¬demic arguments and remains firm on his own standpoint. He does not argue that 'not that, this alone is true.' He holds, humbly but firmly, that 'this also is and that also is, but for me, this alone is' -that he should stick to his own swadharma.

A man once went to a sage and asked him, "Must one leave his home-that is, give up one's worldly duties and re¬sponsibilities as a householder-in order to attain moksha2 ? The sage said, "Certainly not. King Janaka attained moksha while living in the palace, fulfilling his duties as a king; then where is the need for you to leave your home?" Later, another man went to the sage and asked him, "Sir, can one attain moksha without leaving the home?" The sage replied, "Who says so? Had it been possible, were persons like Shuka3 fools to renounce their homes - that is, this-worldly attachments - for the sake of moksha?" Later, these two men met each other and a dispute arose. While one asserted that the sage was in favour of one's leaving one's home, the other said that the sage had advised him against it. They again came to the sage. He explained, "Both the advices are correct. What is important is to become detached. Then one can follow different ways in accordance with one's disposition. The answer depends on the way the question is posed. It is true that one need not leave the home for moksha and it is equally true that one has to leave one's home for attaining it." This is what the doctrine of 'this also' means.

19.    Pundalik's example shows the extent to which one can renounce the fruits of actions. The temptation that the Lord offered to Pundalik was certainly much more alluring than that offered to Tukaram. Still, Pundalik was not carried away by that. Had he succumbed to that temptation, it would have spelled his ruin. Once a certain path (for God-realisation) is chosen for oneself after due deliberation, then it must be pursued till the end. Even if the Lord Himself appears before you, you should not be tempted to leave that path. As long as one is in a body, it is one's duty to follow the chosen path. Seeing the Lord face to face is then in one's hands; His vision is always there for the asking. Why should then one bother about it?'  ‘Sarvatmakapan maanjhen hironk neto kon’ ('Who can deprive me of my oneness with the whole creation?') ‘Mani bhatichi aawadi’ ('The heart longs for the Lord'). The very purpose of this birth is to fulfill that longing. When the Gita says ‘Ma te sangoswakarmani’, the meaning of this extends thus far that while doing desireless work, one must not have desire even for the ultimate freedom from action, i.e., moksha. Moksha means nothing but freedom from all desires. Why should there be any desire for it? When the renunciation of the fruit of actions reaches this point, the art of living attains perfection like the full moon.

The ideal teacher

20.    Thus the science and the art have been explained. Still the whole picture does not stand clearly before our eyes. Sci¬ence is nirguna (attributeless). Art is saguna (one with at¬tributes). But even saguna cannot become manifest until it assumes concrete form. Formless saguna can be as abstract and elusive as nirguna. The remedy is to see somebody who is the personification of a particular quality. That is why Arjuna says, "O, Lord! You have told me the basic principles of life and explained the art of translating them into practice. Still the picture is not clear to me. Please, therefore, tell me the char¬acteristics of one whose intellect and mind are fully anchored in the basic principles of life and who has fully assimilated the yoga of renunciation of the fruit of actions. Tell me about such a person who demonstrates the limit upto which the fruit of actions could be renounced, who is steadfast in the contemplation of the Lord while working and who is firm like a rock in his settled conviction - a person who can be called a sthitaprajna 4. How does he speak, how does he sit, how does he walk? In short, how does he live his daily worldly life, and how can one recognize him?"

21.    In response to this entreaty the Lord has portrayed, in eighteen verses at the end of the Second Chapter, the noble and exalted character of the sthitaprajna. These eighteen verses can be said to contain the essence of the eighteen Chapters of the Gita. Sthitaprajna is the ideal that the Gita puts before us. In fact, it is the Gita which has coined the word sthitaprajna. Later the Gita describes the jivanmukta (the liberated one) in the Fifth Chapter, the bhakta (the devotee) in the twelfth, the gunateeta (one who has transcended the three gunas) in the Fourteenth and the jnananishtha (one steadfastly committed to knowledge) in the Eighteenth Chapter, but the description of the sthitaprajna is much more elaborate than theirs. This descrip¬tion highlights the characteristics of both the siddha (a realized soul, one who has attained liberation) and the sadhaka (the spiritual seeker). Thousands of satyagrahi5 men and women regularly recite these verses during their evening prayers. If these verses could be taken to every home in every village, what a happy thing it would be! But then, they would spread on their own accord if they are first imprinted on our own mind. If the daily recitation becomes mechanical, it would not get imprinted on the mind; it could rather have an opposite effect. But it would not be the fault of regular recitation; it is the lack of accompanying reflection that is to be blamed for this. Regular recitation must be accompanied with constant re¬flection and soul-searching.

22.    Sthitaprajna, as the term itself tells, means one hav¬ing steadfast wisdom. But how could there be steadfast wisdom without subduing the senses? Hence the sthitaprajna has been described as the embodiment of restraint. Restraint implies that the intellect is anchored in the Self and the mind and the organs are under the control of the intellect. The Sthitaprajna reins in all his organs and uses them in desireless and selfless action. Just as a farmer uses the bullocks for ploughing, the sthitaprajna uses his organs for the desireless pursuit of swadharma. His every breath is used in the highest pursuit - the spiritual quest.

23.    Reining in the organs is certainly not easy. It is, in a way, easier to stop using them altogether. Things like fasting, observing silence etc. are not really very difficult. On the other hand, as is quite evident, is not everybody giving free rein to his organs? But it is most difficult to practice restraint like a tortoise. It draws in its limbs completely in its shell whenever it senses danger and uses them whenever it is safe to do so. Likewise, one should refrain from using the organs for sensual pleasures and make proper use of them in the spiritual pursuit. This is extremely difficult and requires Herculean efforts, and also wisdom. Even then, one may not always succeed. Are we then to despair? Certainly not. A spiritual seeker should never lose hope. He should try everything in his capacity, use all his ingenuity; and when he reaches the end of his tether, he should seek the love of the Lord - supplement his efforts with devotion. This is the valuable advice the Lord has given while describing the attributes of the sthitaprajna. This advice is given in just a few words, but these few words are far more valuable than volumes of sermons; for, the element of devotion has been in¬troduced precisely where it is needed. We shall not here go into a detailed discussion of the attributes of the sthitaprajna. My intention is to draw your attention to the exact place of devotion in the spiritual pursuit lest we should forget it. God alone knows who could reach the ideal of the perfect sthitaprajna; but the figure of Pundalik is ever in my mind as an example of the sthitaprajna who is completely dedicated to service.

24.    The Second Chapter ends with the description of the sthitaprajna's qualities.

We can summarize this by the formula ¬

The Whole Science of Life

It is bound to lead to brahmanirvana, or moksha, i.e. liberation of the Self and its union with the Brahman. What else could be the final result?

[Reproduced with kind permission of Paramdham Publication, Pavnar from Chapter 2 of ‘Talks on The Gita’ by Sant Vinoba Bhave, 16th edition (Jan 2005)]

Notes:
1.    Gunas, according to the Sankhya philosophy, mean basic elements. Prakriti, or the Nature, is constituted of three gunas, which can be called essential qualities or modes: Sattva is the principle of equilibrium and harmony; rajas is the principle of passion, restlessness, endeavour and initiation; and tamas is the principle of ignorance and inertia. Human nature and action is determined by the proportion of these gunas therein and their interaction.

2.    Moksha means the liberation of self from bondage, from the cycle of births and deaths, whereby the Self unites with the Brahman, the Supreme self. It is believed to be the ultimate goal of human life for which everybody should aspire and strive for. It is often translated in English as 'salvation'.

3.    Shuka, son of sage Vyasa, is said to have left his home imme¬diately after his birth to attain moksha.

4.    Sthitaprajna means one who has attained 'steadfast wisdom', whose intellect is settled in a state of union with the Divine as a result of assimilating the fundamental principles of life and mastering the art of living in accordance with them. Vinoba was particularly fond of the eighteen verses in the Gita describing the ideal of the sthitaprajna and gave discourses on them during his incarceration in 1944. They have been published in the form of a book titled 'Sthitaprajna-darshan' (The Steadfast Wisdom). Alongwith the 'Talks on the Gita' it too is an essential reading to understand Vinoba's unique and novel interpreta¬tion of the Gita.

5.    Participants in the satyagraha campaigns led by Mahatma Gandhi against the British imperialism. Satyagraha means holding steadfastly to the truth one has perceived.