Ch.3:Communion through Action
Sanskrit Verses
Hearing the discourse on the path of knowledge, Arjuna’s confusion only increases. Arjuna wants to know, how it is acceptable for him to fight the war, when the Lord has described renunciation of action as the means to God realization. The rest of the chapter is Lord Krishna’s answer to this.
The Lord says that merely abstaining from action does not make a person a stitapraGYa. It is not possible for anyone to remain inactive, because man is a part of nature which is always active. Even a person who seems to have renounced all objects cannot be called detached as long as he keeps thinking about such objects. Therefore performance of actions in a regulated manner is better than not acting at all.
In verses 9 to 18, the Lord defines yaGYa or sacrifice and says that the highest sacrifice is serving God as being present in all creations. The Lord says that each person must perform his prescribed duty in the society.
In verses 19 to 26, the Lord says that action is necessary and that disinterested action leads to God realization. Arjuna is therefore told to do his duty without attachment. The Lord cites the examples of Janaka and others and even His own self to show that performing actions is advantageous while non performance is harmful.
In verses 27 to 35, the Lord says that a wise man knows that all actions are due to nature while he is a non doer. The ignorant man feels that he is the doer. The way to attain detachment is not by refraining from actions, but by performing actions without expecting the results of the action. The Lord says that GYaana yogaH and karma yogaH are complementary and that it is not possible to realize one without the other. When a person derelicts his duty he incurs sin.
In verses 36 to 43, Arjuna wants to know why man commits sin even if he does not want to and the Lord answers that it is the desire and anger that appear as sin and make man do undesirable actions. The senses, mind and intellect are the seats of desire and anger. To avoid sin, man must learn to control the senses and not merely suppress his desires. The Self is declared as far superior to the senses, mind and intellect, the Lord concludes this chapter urging Arjuna, to subdue the mind by the intellect and kill the enemy in the form of desire.
