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All actions done by us will have to be as Yajña. How to do so? Do everything but without any delusional clinging (saṅga) to the inner psycho-intellectual outcome it brings about. Every act is done aiming to achieve a certain fruition. If such fruition is had or not, the performer’s mind should feel no delusional clinging to what transpires. It is clinging that hinders Yajña. Whatever act is done without clinging verily becomes sacrifice.

Dear and blessed souls:

Harih Om Tat Sat.

Naishkarmya – inner fullness

Krishna begins his discussion on karma-niṣṭhā in a very profound yet fundamental manner (3.4). He significantly presents two concepts. One is karmaṇāmanārambhaḥ – non-commencement of activity, i.e., not taking up activity at all. The other is sannyasanād eva – abandoning or dropping the activity one has already taken up. This second one is what Arjuna was intending to pursue – avoiding war and retreating. Both options are fraught with adverse effects. This makes it clear that activity and interactions are an indispensable corollary of human life. A thoughtful person should never think of shunning activity at all, even for the sake of spiritual life and its pursuit.

By not beginning to act, or by not engaging in any activity at all, says Krishna, the goal of Naishkarmya cannot be achieved. What is Naishkarmya? It is a state wherein one feels he has nothing to do or ‘not to do’ at all. Being already and abundantly full internally, he has nothing to be gained by doing or non-doing. He has no motivation at all to be active in any particular way: ‘I have nothing to do and gain by any act. Nor do I have not to do anything and gain something thereby.’

This kind of inner fullness and profusion is the pinnacle called akartṛtva, non-actingness. Normally people are ceaselessly given to intense activity. As against this, here is a fulfilled Knower, who feels that he finds no need for any kind of action at all. As in sleep, so in wakefulness as well, he remains contented and full. Achieving this is an inner sublimation and fulfilment that follow full-fold spiritual enlightenment. As God is all-full, so also the Knower feels all-full. Will space feel like doing anything at all? Will a pitcher full of water think of having a few more drops to fill it?

Contentment does not come from activity. Being an emotion, it is mind’s quality and enrichment. For contentment, any time one has to tap his own inner mind. This is a very subtle fact and process. How will you understand the message?

To sleep, do you have to make any strenuous effort? Does not sleep settle by itself? Likewise, Naishkarmya will also grace the seeker, when the mind becomes mature and intelligence gets enlightened. It is the dawning of wisdom. It has nothing to do with one not doing any activity or doing intense activity. The whole process is a knowledge-growth and knowledge-fruition.

Be aware of inner blissful Presence

Sannyasa or relinquishment of all acts is another significant aspect. Spiritual perfection, siddhi, follows inner clarity, enlightenment. It is a fruition and fulfilment which intelligence, given to knowledge, brings about in itself. The path is completely one of knowledge and knowingness. Intelligence rationalizes the whole subject, seeks studiously, and comes to know that the ‘I’ in oneself is neither matter nor energy, but is knowledge (prajñāna). It neither seeks any object, nor has it to gain or lose anything by any means. It is luminous, contented with itself, always full and complete, as is evident from sleep.

Solely by enquiring, verifying, examining and evaluating this fact, nay truth, deeply and thoroughly, the seeker comes to know that his personality is not just the body, senses and brain. It is enlivened by the Spirit, the Soul, which, like the hot and brilliant fire, is knowledge and blissful. In experiencing and realizing this blissfulness, one attains the desired perfection of his spiritual pursuit. The means as well as the end is knowledge and knowingness alone. Doing or not doing any activity has relevance to the body and senses alone, not to the blissful ‘I’. No doubt, this is a rare, lofty note of knowledge and realization. But it is a fact, the supreme Truth.

Activity is inexorable, cardinal

In the next verse (3.5) Krishna commences his dissertation on how activity becomes indispensable in human life, and hence there is no question of dispensing with activity on any ground or plea at all. He specifically states that no one will be able to remain inactive even for a second. For, Nature, prakṛti, through its three guṇas, qualities, makes one and all active and interactive. In action, none has any option at all. It is completely governed by Nature’s qualities, which are inexorable.

We are a part of the whole creational display. Creation has its own character, qualities and traits. These do not yield to our wish or will. Instead, it is for us to conform to nature and all it triggers and imposes. We are living with a body which was shaped in the mother’s womb, all by itself. No external agency, including the mother or father, has any role in shaping the body. It is a handiwork of the foetus. Being so, where is the option for anyone to exercise his will and remain inactive?

Our heart goes on beating, the lungs go on bellowing, and blood goes on circulating. The body remains hot. As long as these are so, one will have hunger and thirst. He will appease these by nourishing food. That, in turn, will build the cells in the body, providing the energy to act and interact. As long as this process and cycle are on, where is the question of shunning activity at all?

Consumption of food, consequent nourishment and the following processes of generating energy and utilizing it for activities, all these together constitute a cyclic process, which Nature itself has set in motion, giving no option for anyone to flout or disregard. So do not speak of inactivity at all. Be active as Nature intends all of us to be. Leave, therefore, all talk of stopping or abandoning activity in life.

Attempt to flout these laws is hypocrisy

Confirming what he says, Krishna further explains (3.6) that anyone, who, restraining his senses goes on thinking about sensory objects is utterly deluded. He is at best a hypocrite. See how strongly Krishna condemns inaction on the part of a seeker! So, any thought or effort of avoiding activity and sitting seemingly inactive is absolutely wrong, baseless. It flouts the very laws of nature and will lead to total chaos and downfall.

On the other hand, what is required, says Krishna (3.7), is to regulate and moderate the senses well and take to action submitting it to Yoga-buddhi and the refinement and sublimation it brings about. Here too, the important point is that at any time the seeker should never think of shunning activity as a whole. Body can thrive only with activity and interaction. In fact, nothing in the world is still or non-active. Whether inside the microscopic atom or in the huge mountain or vast sea, everything is vibrant and active.

Even bodily sustenance needs activity

Therefore, says Krishna, (3.8) do whatever is to be done, is enjoined on you. As an individual born and grown in a family, everyone is expected to conduct himself in a certain manner. This involves activities and interactions. Do them all with love, attention and faith. For, activity is better than total inaction. Even to enable your bodily life, to maintain your body, activity is necessary. It is not enough if the body is nourished with food. One must be appropriately active as well, so that the food will be assimilated and the limbs of the body will remain healthy. Health and agility are indispensable in our life.

If you do not remain active, productive, even the upkeep of the body will be in peril. Activity means movement. Such movement is necessary to make the body pulsate healthily. Look at the birds and animals, especially those living in their own natural ways. Every living being goes out to hunt for food. Only at the end of the day it returns to its habitat. Normally we are active for 16 hours of the day. And for the remaining 8 hours, we go to sleep for the body to build cells, enabling further activity in the next wakeful hours.

Thus activity and rest are complements to sustain life and health.

Transforming effect of Yajña

Krishna brings in the next verse (3.9) the concept of Yajña, sacrifice, the most noble and holy attitude, which has ineffable power in transforming individual, societal and universal life. He emphasizes that Yajña is an indispensable part of human life, having the potential to make life vibrant, benevolent and fulfilling.

The entire creation thrives on activity and hence Yajña, the dedicational part of human life, becomes obligatory for everyone. By actions, outside the orbit of Yajña, sacrifice, this world, Krishna states, gets bound. Yajña alone makes it holy and sublime. Krishna’s words would mean every act of yours should become a sacrifice, Yajña. Or else, action will vitiate and torment your mind. There will be no peace or poise in life. This is a very important warning, which every man and woman must heed faithfully.

Saṅga – delusional clinging hinders Yajña

But what is Yajña, sacrifice in its true meaning, worth and relevance? Is it only the religious performance, where materials are offered to ceremoniously ignited, blazing fire, to the accompaniment of holy mantras? Not at all. Krishna says that all actions done by us will have to be as Yajña. How to do so becomes the important question then. His formula is very clear. Do everything but without any delusional clinging (saṅga) to the inner psycho-intellectual outcome it brings about.

Every act is done aiming to achieve a certain fruition. If such fruition is had or not, the performer’s mind should feel no delusional clinging to what transpires. It is clinging that hinders Yajña. Whatever act is done without clinging verily becomes sacrifice. The presence or absence of delusional clinging is what matters in all performances.

Actions should, no doubt, be done with all attention and application. But this does not mean that the performer should court agitation thinking about the results of whatever he does. Mind has the tendency to be bogged down to unnecessary thoughts and concerns. Activity should be a natural, easy and free flow like the blowing of wind or the flowing of water. The entire refinement is inner, subtle, and involves the mind and intelligence alone.

Freed from delusional clinging, do all your activities well, with care, attention and fondness, whereby the whole performance would assume a great magnitude, enriching the society as a whole. Thus, Yajña incorporates comprehensiveness, making it distinct, wholesome and divinizing. This Yajña-formula, let me emphasize again, is applicable to all human activities, without any kind of exception.