Post on third adhyaya.
1) तरी उचिते कर्में आघवीं । तुवा आचरोनि मज अर्पावीं ।
परी
चित्तवृत्ती न्यासावी । आत्मरूपीं ॥ 3-१८६ ॥
3-186.
You should perform all the appropriate
karmas;
dedicate and offer them to me and while doing so, keep your mind and
intellect converged in the form of Atman.
2) हें कर्म मी कर्ता
। कां आचरेन या अर्था ।
ऐसा अभिमानु झणें चित्ता ।
रिगो देसी ॥ 3-१८७ ॥
3-187.
In such performance, you should not allow egoistic thoughts
to enter your mind such as this is the karma (action) and
I am the karta (doer) performing it
etc.
3) तुवां शरीरपरा नोहावें । कामनाजात सांडावें ।
मग अवसरोचित भोगावे । भोग सकळ
॥ 3-१८८ ॥
3-188.
You should not intently indulge in the
bodily pleasures, but by giving
up all the passions and motives from your mind,
enjoy as per the occasion all available pleasures as and when
you come
across them.
=====
The above three
ovis indicate bottom line of third adhyaya. I found it difficult to pinpoint
one single ovi from this adhyaya to fully discuss
its theme, namely karmayoga.
In ovi No. 1437 of 18th
adhyaya as given below, Dnyaneshwar Mauli has summerized the theme of third adhyaya of Bhagwad Geeta, stating that commencement of sadhana i.e. practice of karma yoga is the subject here.
मग अज्ञानें बांधलेयां । मोक्षपदीं
बैसावया ।
साधनारंभु तो तृतीया\- । ध्यायीं बोलिला
॥ १४३७ ॥
Meaning of the ovi is: In
third adhyaya, means
have been described by practicing which, an ignorant seeker can
get rid of ignorance and attain the goal of final beatitude i.e. moksha sought by him.
One of those means is that the aspirant should perform those karmas
which are prescribed as swadharma, by engaging his chitta i.e. mind and buddhi in his actions and after such performance, dedicate the same to the Supreme Self as advised in first ovi quoted above.
As guided in second ovi, the aspirant should
not be egoistically proud that he is the doer i.e. karta of that
particular karma. The third ovi above is
equally important, prescribing that the seeker should
be careful not to passionately indulge in sensory enjoyment. And by becoming detached, he should give away egoistic
feeling of doership before indulging into incidental enjoyments. If this practice is
followed, the aspirant gets freedom from bondage of his karmas. Otherwise,
these karmas make him revolve in the
cycle of birth and death.
There is a
wonderful expression for this exercise in the spiritual science named as सर्वार्पण-Sarwarpana or ब्रह्मार्पण Brahmarpana meaning thereby dedication of all the karmas by an aspirant to the Brahman i.e. Supreme Self.
This exercise becomes
complete and fruitful if the aspirant also seeks prior permission from the
Supreme Self for performance of the relevant karma. There is an aphorism in spiritual science that “नाशुभा वर्तते तस्मिन नित्याज्ञाrmeshwarparameshwaree
parmashwarपरमेश्वरी”. means nothing inauspicious happens when karmas are performed
by obtaining proper permission fromfrff the Lord. However, the skill and technique of seeking
such permission has to be learnt by a seeker from his Guru, who alone can guide how the yoga is skill in
action. ‘योगः कर्मसु कौशलम्’. Similar to this, there are a number of practical aspects
of yoga preached in Dnyaneshwari, which can be understood only from a competent
teacher. These skills are specially guarded as secrets by the yogis practicing
meditational traditions like Natha Sampradaya and handed down to an eligible
disciple. Let us remember that Shri Dnyaneshwar himself was an accomplished
yogi from Natha Sampradaya. However, let us not divert from our main subject.
Earlier, in 78th
ovi of this adhyaya also, Dnyaneshwar Maharaja has said that
म्हणोनि जें जें उचित । आणि अवसरेंकरून
प्राप्त ।
तें कर्म हेतुरहित । आचर तूं ॥ ७८ ॥
---It means that
without having any predetermined motives, perform all those karmas, which have
fallen to your lot and are appropriate for the given occasion. The reason for
this advice was specified in previous ovi 77 stating that due to identification of soul with the
body, it would not be possible for any individual to achieve total naishkarmya
i.e. actionlessness and hence, karmas are compulsorily required to be performed by every one. In such situation, it would
be advisable to perform the karmas without selfish motives and in a detached manner. An assured solace is given to the aspirant in the next two ovis 79 and 80 of the adhyaya by the Lord through Dnyanadeva that the karmas performed as per
swadharma would themselves liberate the aspirant from their bondage and help him to attain moksha.
Karmayoga i.e. yoga of selfless action
is a vast subject. Lokamanya Tilak wrote his famous compendium namely Geeta rahasya to establish its
importance. We have seen only a fractional aspect of karmayoga in this post. In
our second round of the adhyayas of Dnyaneshwari, we will see further aspects
of this yoga. In the next posting I propose to discuss an important ovi from
the fourth adhyaya.