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.

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          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.