കര്‍മ YOGA

Ch III The Yoga of Karma
(Karma Yoga)

Arjuna said:
If greater is wisdom
In option to action
Why I am then deputed
For duty so terrible ?

Listening to thy speech perplexing
My mind is much confused.
Hence tell me the selected one
By which I gain sure perfection.

The Blessed Lord said:
Path is two way in this world
As I told before Oh Sinless.
Wisdom - Yoga for seekers;
Action - Yoga for the saints.

Abstaining from own actions
No man becomes action free
Nor by renunciation of actions
None can achieve perfection.

Because none can remain
Action less even for a second,
But all beings do helplessly
Act by own natural instinct.

Organs of actions restricted, yet;
Mind engaged on fondling objects
Such one ever will remain a stupid
And can only be called a hypocrite.

But one who tries to restrict his
Lust through wisdom Oh Arjuna !
Enduring organs in actions - he,
Is through excellent Karma - Yoga.

Then by staying on as active
Do noble duties as directed.
For inactive too act helplessly
At least to care own body.

Except that for the sacrifices
All other actions binds to world.
Hence to free from bondage do -
Actions as sacrifice Oh Kawntheya !

Creating the mankind with sacrifice
Creator declared in the beginning
Sacrifice will be thy way to prosper
It is the milk-cow of thy desires too.

Worship the gods with sacrifice
In turn Gods will bless you.
Both thus pleasing each other
All will gain great excellence.

Your desires will be fulfilled by
Gods pleased with your sacrifice.
He who enjoys the gift from Gods
With out offering them is thief only.

The righteous are fed on
Remnants of the sacrifice.
As it equals divine nectar,
Eaters of it is freed of sins.

But the sinful cook food
For his own sake only and
Without sharing it with Gods
Verily eat but sin only.

Beings emerge from food
Food arise from the rain.
Rain emerge from sacrifice,
And sacrifice is born action.

Action comes from Brahman
Form imperishable is Brahman.
Hence all pervading Brahman
Exists ever in all sacrifices.

He who does not follow
The wheel thus set in run
Live enjoying lust in vain
His life is sinful, Oh Partha !

Man who rejoices in the self
Is satisfied with in the self
Such man content in self alone
Has nothing more to do here.

He is uninterested in
That done or left over.
He depends on no being
For gaining any objects.

Hence do thy duty unattached
There by thee reach the supreme.

Janka such others attained
Perfection through actions
At least in view of protection
For thy masses thee perform.

What the honoured have done
That the others will follow.
What standard he had set
World follows to scale on it.

No duty binds me ever over
In all three worlds Oh Partha!
Nothing left but all achieved
Yet myself engage in action.

If I do no action thus
Without any relaxation;
My way they will follow
Men all over Oh Partha.

If I do not function, then
World surely will perish
Then I will be the author
Of inter-caste and anarchy.

The ignorant act Oh Bharatha
With attachment to action, while;
The wise acts unattached
Wishing all -world the good.

Agitate not the mind of those
Ignorant with attachment to action.
Let the wise restraint too devote
To engage all and self to work.

Nature makes all to do
Work always by instinct.
I am the doer but he thinks
The ego deluded man a fool.

But who know Oh Mighty armed
Divisions of actions and objects
And sense organs work for senses
Thus knowing act unattached.

Those deluded in the grip of nature, acts-
Attached to actions per ego or instincts.
With such unsettled Hippocratic foolish men
The wise should not try to reform them.

Renouncing all actions in me
With mind centred on own self
With no ego or desire on earth
Sorrow free thee do thy fight.

Men practicing my teaching
Devotionally and regularly
With faith and envy less; they,
Are liberated from all actions.

But those who carp my teachings
And do not practice it either
Know such fools doom for ever
Loosing chance to wake his self.

Even the wise himself do
Like wise his instinct says
All beings follows nature
What else can a restraint do?

Organs made for senses
Sway by love and lust
Don’t surrender to senses
For they are thy real foes.

Greater is own duty which
Though he think its unworthy.
Than the duty of another
Even if it is well discharged.

Greater is the death if it is
Happened while performing own duty.
Terrible is the death if it is
Happened while discharging else’s duty.

Arjuna said:
But what do compels men all over
To commit sin though unwilling.
Engaged as if he is forced to do
Even against his will Oh Varshney!

The Blessed Lord said:
Unquenched is this lust and rage
Originated from the Rajogunas
So, terrible sins are caused by it
Hence treat them as thy real foes.

Like the smoke covers the fire
And like dust covers the glass or
The womb covers the foetus
Likewise wisdom is covered by it.

Ever it is an enemy for the wise
For wisdom is covered by that
Kawntheya it’s the form of desire
Like fire, it can never be appeased.

The sense mind and intellect
Are said to be its seats, and;
It deludes the embodied
By eclipsing his wisdom.

Therefore Oh Bharatha !
Control thy senses first.
Thus axe off the cause of sins
The destroyer of development.

Senses are superior to body
Mind is superior to senses,
Wisdom is superior to mind
Yet, most superior is the soul.

Thus realising the superior wisdom
Restraining the self by thyself
Slay foe - lust Oh Mighty armed
For foe - lust is hard to overcome.

Thus Shimad Bhagavathgithopanishad
The Supreme Doctrine Yoga Science
Shrikrishna - Arjuna dialogue named
The Karma Yoga the Third Chapter.

The Yoga of Knowledge

CH -II Yoga of Knowledge
Sanjaya said :-
He thus sat in with tears
Dull and also very pitiful.
So then told to thus grieved
Madhusudhana the Lord of all!

The Blessed Lord said:-
Its un-heavenly, cowardice;
And disgrace too oh Arjuna!
At situation neared so critical
Stupidity caught thee then.

Rise up Partha ! Oh Foe-foiler
Do not yield to impotency.
As it does not befit thee, so;
Cast off weakness of thy heart.

Arjuna said:-
How can I war Bhishma - Drona,
How can I war oh Madhusudhana?
Say oh Foe-mar ! can I shoot
Such honoured sirs of mine?

Great is to go and beg for bread
Than killing noble sirs so dear.
It is same as drinking blood
Killing Gurus to enjoy wealth.

Either we win or they win
What happens we don’t know.
For dear life we don’t wish
To kill the Kurus in any war.

I pray thee to make me thy pupil
And teach for sure betterment.
For by pity, my duty sense is lost
So show me way, I pray thee Lord !

Possession of lands, position as Lord
Foe-less state and full of wealth -
Are there, yet I see nothing to soothe
Surging sorrow, routing my sense.

Sanjaya said:-
Then Partha the Foe-foiler -
Thus told Lord Hrishikesa
“I am not fighting at all”
And sat there in tears mum.

Despondent amid the armies thus
Hrishikesa called him Bharatha.
And spoke these words important
To him with an earnest smile.

The Blessed Lord said:-
You grieve for the undeserved
Yet speak and discuss as wise.
For those alive or for those dead
The wise deserves never to grieve.

You never perish and so
Are these kings and me too.
Nothing can cease here so
For ever we all will last.

Child, youth and old age are
The stages that the body pass.
But never grieves a wise for it
For he knows life cease at last.

Heat, cold, joy and pain
Feels the organs by contact.
Momentary and though changing
You have to endure them all.

Whom do this afflict not
Is the chief man amid men.
So be bold in joy and pain
It is considered deathlessness.

The real knows no death
The unreal knows no being.
The truth of real - unreal
The noble seers only know.


Know that it is eternal
Pervading all here or there.
Eternal as such is self
None can cause it destruction.

For everlasting imperishable
And undividable is the soul;
Dwelling in this perishable mass
Thus knowing, oh Bharatha fight.

That he thinks to kill the soul
That who think it is slain.
Both know not the fact that
Soul neither die nor can be killed.

Soul was never born nor never dies
Neither soul forms and then reforms.
The everlasting, invincible, ancient soul -
Takes a perishable body though perpetual.

Known as deathless eternal
Unborn and exhaustless one
Say; how such one oh Partha
Can be killed by someone else?

Like a man puts off his rags
And he wear on new cloths
Thus soul also leaves an old
And enters another body new.

No weapon can cleave a soul
Nor the fire can burn it.
Neither water can wet it
Nor the wind can dry the soul.

Undividable and non-burnable
Un-bulking and un-compactable
Also the self is eternal
All - pervading and stable
Immovable as well as
Ancient also is the soul.



The self is inert and stable
Unclear and unimaginable
Hence knowing such is self
You need not grieve for it.

Think it takes birth daily
Think it also dies daily
Yet for ever oh Mighty Armed,
You need not grieve for it.

Death is sure for that born
Birth is sure for that dead.
For which it is inevitable
Why you need to grieve for it?

Unclear is state prior to life
Seems it to be clear on earth;
Again unclear after death it seems,
Why should you grieve for all this?

Soul is a wonder, observes one
It is a wonder, tells another one
It is a wonder, hears yet another
It is felt by all, yet known by none.

The soul eternal is indestructible
That dwells in all bodies Bharatha.
Hence for all these perishable mass
Bharatha, you need not grieve for it.

Looking thine own duty too
Thee deserve not to waver.
Nothing, than righteous war is
Known as great for a Kshatriya.

Great heaven is open
In front of you so easy.
So lucky is the Kshatriyas
Getting war like this Partha !




If this duty bound war
Is not fought now itself.
Sin will incur thee and
Thy self respect and fame.

It will cause not only shame
But scandals also will follow
Once if happens any dishonour
For you it is more than death.

Great warriors may think it is
Cowardice if thee flee war field.
Though well honoured was in past
Thee will be counted on for less.

Scandals many unspeakable
Will be told against you,
Abused will be thy skills
What else is more pitiful ?

You get heaven if slain
You can enjoy life if won.
So arise oh son of Kunthi
Determined to fight this war.

Be balanced in joy and pain,
In gain, loss or victory, defeat.
Hence arise to fight oh Partha
Thus incur not any sin on thee.

You have been taught of Sankhya,
Now hear more on wisdom - Yoga;
Partha! skill in this wisdom - Yoga
Will wipe off thy action - bondage.

Once it began, it never ends,
Know it also never retaliates.
Even a bit of this knowledge will
Protect you from great fears.




It is the concentration of the mind
On the one alone Oh Kurunandana !
Endless and many branched
Mind is always an irresolute.

Those who loves Vedas oh Partha,
Their words are like flowers only.
These arrogant narrators do
Have nothing great to teach.

Mind lusty, heaven longing
And deeds rebirth rewarding
Actions vivid all passion-full
To amass all soothe and wealth.

Mind stole by lust and wealth
Such irresolute fate no peace.

Veda deals the three attributes
But he unatributed Bharatha !
Ever be inert, without dualities;
Ever preserved in the stable self.

What is the use of a well;
When every where is flooded
Same is from all Vedas
What a Brahman can fetch.

To work only is your right
But never for their fruits
You neither be wage motive
Nor be subjected to inaction.

Be steady and perform actions
Abandoning all attachments.
Gain or loss have balance,
For balance of mind is Yoga.

Keep away from action
Fruit motive and cheap,
Seek refuge in wisdom for
Wisdom - yoga, is action.

With wisdom, quit it here
Both deeds good and bad.
Hence with yoga arise, Partha
For the skill in action is Yoga.

Work always with wisdom,
Abandon the lust for wage.
Free life from bondage and -
Thus man reach perfection.

When your mind turns
Away from mired lusts;
Then you become indifferent,
To that heard and to be heard.

Because epics puzzled you,
But when you reach inertia;
With composed, steady mind;
Know then you are Yoga gained.

Arjuna said:--
Oh Kesava, say how can I know
An established in the supreme self ?
How they speak and how respond ?
How they move and how they rest ?

The Blessed Lord said:--
When desires are slaughtered
Then steering mind well Partha !
With in the self he satisfies
Say his wisdom is steady.

Mind buoyant in sorrow and
Kept detached from rejoicings;
Jealousy, fear, lust and anger;
Such steady minded is a sage.

All that cause good or bad -
Either applauded or abused
That who stays unaffected
Say his wisdom is perfect.



Like a tortoise withdraws itself -
Its limbs in from all around; thus -
who withdraw senses from objects
Then say his wisdom is steady.

Man who is abstinent,
Turns away from objects,
When he see the supreme self
His balance lust also leaves.

Though he be the hard striving,
The turbulent senses do try -
To shatter his mind by force then
Even the wisest loose oh Kawntheya.

Sit steady with mind centred
Only on me with restrained sense.
For restrained whose senses are
Steady becomes his wisdom too.

For men pondered on objects
Desire geminates in his mind.
Lust arises from grown desires
And anger spurt when lust is burst.

Anger cause men delusion
Delusion cause sluggishness;
Sluggishness cause stupidity
And stupidity cause the doom.

If habits free from lust and hate,
Though he moves among objects,
Self oriented and self controlled.
Happy he lives ever in peace.

By the grace of such peace
All his pains are destroyed
Such tranquil minded man
Soon he becomes steady willed.




Whose mind is unsteady
He cannot have meditation.
Peace never grace un-meditated
And peace less how can be happy?

When lust concerned senses
Drive the mind like a boat it -
Drift away by wind a while
Lust conquered, steers his mind.

Therefore oh Mighty Armed
That who eliminate always
Organs from all objects
His knowledge is perfect.

When it is night for all beings
Then keep awake the restrained.
When all beings are awake
That’s night and cease the sage.
Intakes all streams, though full;
Ocean remains yet unchanged.
Thus though lust enters all, but;
Lust of the lusty never quench.

Man if do as desire less
Leaving desire, ego, hate;
And all longings for lust then
He attains peace absolute.

This Brahmic state oh Partha
Who ever attains in this stage
Even if at the end of his life
Attains supreme Brahmic Bliss.

Thus Shimad Bhagavathgithopanishad
The Supreme Doctrine Yoga Science
Shrikrishna - Arjuna dialogue named
Sankhya Yoga the Second Chapter