Oh Krishna, asks Arjuna, what does he do, he who has faith but no action
Cannot control his mind and not practise Yoga to perfection 6.37
Oh, Krishna, he who fails in action and in reaching oneness with spirit
Does he then perish deluded as he seeks the eternal spirit 6.38
Oh Krishna, help me resolve this problem now
I have no one else to tell me how 6.39
Dear Arjuna, says Krishna, no one in the right path falls from my Grace
Neither now or any other time and space 6.40
He who lives doing good for years and yet in Yoga fails
Will be born again in a good home where bliss prevails 6.41
Or, he is born again in family of Yogins wise
A birth that is otherwise hard to realize 6.42
He continues where he left his action
And works towards perfection 6.43
His practice before forges him on to realization
In Yoga practise he goes beyond the words to perfection 6.44
Through committed practice, over many a birth
The Yogin purified reaches the ultimate truth 6.45
The Yogin is superior to an ascetic, and even the wise men
He is above men of action, be thou a Yogin 6.46
Of all Yogins, he who full of faith seeks Me
With his Self, he reaches Me. 6.47
I acknowledge the picture from the Net.
Arjuna feels like Sisyphus, pushing the rock up the mountain. What do I do, he wails, however much i do, with all faith in you, i can’t control my mind. Do I keep trying? How does it help? I feel like a failure. Where do I end?
Krishna’s answer is very simple. Nothing good you do ever goes wasted. The karma, the good action, accumulates. It pays back. Krishna says, even if you do not believe that you have achieved much, even if you feel you cannot control your mind, as long as you practise the path of yoga, and strive towards the oneness of the individual spirit with the universal spirit, you keep moving forward. From birth to birth you progress.
Krishna says, you will be born in wealthy comfort that will enable you to move up. Or you may even be born in a family of yogic adepts which will take you beyond mere concepts and words. You’ll realize experientially. You will be a Yogin yourself.
It’s easy to take Krishna literally and start arguing about rebirth and reincarnation. These may be or may not be. They may even be metaphors. No one dead has come back to prove reincarnation, despite various claims. I believe in it personally, but i do not expect others to believe. But, what Krishna says here is true in anything we do. he gives us hope that when we embark on something with faith and commitment and work on it without worrying about outcome, we will progress.
He says more. Work towards the understanding that you are one with the universe, that you are divine. You are then better than a man of knowledge, man of renunciation and a man of action. You are then with Me. You are then Me. with this statement, he ends the first part of Gita, Karma Yoga.
I believe that Karma Yoga is the crux of Gita. Gita is not about a God and religion outside. It’s not about temples, churches and mosques, and priests and mullahs. It’s about who we are, that we are spiritual beings in a human body. There is no need to seek a spiritual being called God outside. That God is within. Look for him within and you’ll find Me, says Krishna. Do what you need to do,with no expectation, Krishna says, and you will find Me.
As Arjuna wails, we all wonder how do we even begin this path. The easiest is to fall prey to the thousands of false prophets who seek to guide you. I too did. To my good fortune, i realized that the external path of dependence on a guide, guru or prophet led me no where. I turned within and found what i sought outside.
In my future blogs, let me reveal to you the hundred odd techniques that help you travel within. Within these you will find at least one that works for you.