Chapter Eighteen: Yog
through the Perfection of Renunciation and Surrender (Mokṣha Sanyās Yog)
All The Best Ways To Be.
Welcome to the next instalment of An Atheist Explores
Sacred Texts (Bhagavad Gita).
In this series I work my way chapter-by-chapter through
the Bhagavad Gita, commenting on it from the point of view of the text as
literature and mythology.
For more detail, see the introductory post https://bit.ly/2XAch2A
For the online Bhagavad Gita that I use, see here https://www.holy-bhagavad-gita.org/
And now:
Mokṣha Sanyās Yog
“The Supreme Divine
Personality said: Giving up of actions motivated by desire is what the wise
understand as sanyās. Relinquishing the fruits of all actions is
what the learned declare to be tyāg.”
This is a long chapter, and something of a summary of
what has gone before. It’s also broken up into several topics, all ultimately
related to the way of thinking and acting that will both lead to a virtuous
life (in the sattva mode) and also
lead a person to Krishna.
First, Krishna expounds on what should and shouldn’t be
renounced. It’s not renouncing actions
per se that is good, because one
should not renounce actions such as sacrifice, charity and penance, as these
are “purifying even for those who are
wise”. What matters more is to become detached from the outcomes of the actions, not the
actions themselves. Good, bad or indifferent, one shouldn’t worry or be concerned
with how actions turn out, just that one should be sure to act in wisdom (sattva) and not passion (rajas) or, worse, ignorance (tamas). After all, as Krishna points
out, “For the embodied being, it is
impossible to give up activities entirely”.
There’s a brief digression about the “factors” involved in any action. With an
action, and with knowledge, it basically comes down to subject, object and
action, e.g. the observer, the thing observed, and the act of observation. We
also get mention of five factors,
which are “The body, the doer, the
various senses, the many kinds of efforts, and Divine Providence” but,
oddly, these aren’t really expounded on much more. Instead the text takes the
three factors and looks at how they can be divided between the three modes.
Time, perhaps, for another table:
|
|
Modes
|
|
Factor
|
Sattva
(Goodness)
|
Rajas
(Passion)
|
Tamas
(Ignorance)
|
|
Knowledge
|
A person sees one undivided imperishable reality within
all diverse living beings.
|
One sees the manifold living entities in diverse bodies
as individual and unconnected.
|
One is engrossed in a fragmental concept as if it
encompasses the whole, and which is neither grounded in reason nor based on
the truth.
|
|
Action
|
Free from attachment and aversion, and which is done
without desire for rewards, is in the mode of goodness.
|
Prompted by selfish desire, enacted with pride, and
full of stress.
|
Begun out of delusion, without thought to one’s own
ability, and disregarding consequences, loss, and injury to others.
|
|
Performer
|
Free from egotism and attachment, endowed with
enthusiasm and determination, and equipoised in success and failure.
|
Craves the fruits of the work, is covetous,
violent-natured, impure, and moved by joy and sorrow.
|
Undisciplined, vulgar, stubborn, deceitful, slothful,
despondent, and procrastinating.
|
|
Intellect
|
Understands what is proper action and what is improper
action, what is duty and what is non-duty, what is to be feared and what is
not to be feared, what is binding and what is liberating.
|
Confused between righteousness and unrighteousness, and
cannot distinguish between right and wrong conduct.
|
Shrouded in darkness, imagining irreligion to be
religion, and perceiving untruth to be the truth.
|
|
Determination
|
The steadfast will that is developed through Yog, and which
sustains the activities of the mind, the life-airs, and the senses.
|
The steadfast will by which one holds to duty,
pleasures, and wealth, out of attachment and desire for rewards.
|
One does not give up dreaming, fearing, grieving,
despair, and conceit.
|
|
Happiness
|
That which seems like poison at first, but tastes like
nectar in the end. It is generated by the pure intellect that is
situated in self-knowledge.
|
Derived from the contact of the senses with their
objects. Such happiness is like nectar at first but poison at the end.
|
Covers the nature of the self from beginning to end,
and which is derived from sleep, indolence, and negligence.
|
The next section sets up the Hindu caste system, with
four castes; the Brahmin (Priestly
caste), Kshatriyas (Warrior caste), Vaishyas (Farmer and Merchant caste),
and Shudras (the Worker caste).
Notably absent are the casteless, the Dalit;
either Krishna considers them unworthy of mention of they were a later addition
born of necessity.
To be a member of a caste is inherent to one’s nature
(it’s implied here that this isn’t a matter of being born into a caste, but of
finding where one belongs in society), and each caste has a set of actions that
brings to doer closer to true happiness and closer to Krishna. That’s handy, isn’t
it? Trying to be somebody you’re not brings unhappiness – “It is better to do one’s own dharma, even though imperfectly, than to do
another’s dharma, even though perfectly. By doing one’s
innate duties, a person does not incur sin”.
Krishna points out to Arjun that, as a member of the Kshatriya caste, it is his sacred duty
to fight – “If, motivated by pride, you
think, “I shall not fight,” your decision will be in vain. Your own material (Kshatriya) nature will compel you to fight”. A
person cannot go against their caste nature. I’m guessing, though, that you
still need to do everything in the sattva
mode, even when you have no choice as to whether your correct actions are
praying, fighting or dairy farming. Arjun’s doubts about fighting in the
upcoming battle are removed – “O
infallible one, by your grace my illusion has been dispelled, and I am situated
in knowledge. I am now free from doubts, and I shall act according to your
instructions”.
We then return to Sanjay, who’s hair is standing on end
from the revelations that he’s seen. I questioned before if he’s got a sneak
view of God through his magical spying, and it sounds like he definitely did –
“remembering that most astonishing and
wonderful cosmic form of Lord Krishna, great is my astonishment, and I am
thrilled with joy over and over again”. I wonder, though, because Krishna
ought to be aware that they were being spied on, so were these revelations as
much for Sanjay’s benefit (and King Dhritarashtra), and while Arjun didn’t know
about the eavesdropping, the god certainly did.
“Wherever there is
Shree Krishna, the Lord of all Yog, and wherever there is Arjun, the supreme
archer, there will also certainly be unending opulence, victory, prosperity,
and righteousness. Of this, I am certain,” he says as a closing verse.
And so that’s where we leave the Bhagavad Gita.
Mercifully short compared to the Abrahamic texts, and also pretty succinct in
terms of giving a good idea of what it considers to be the right way to live.
More thoughts coming in the next post, where I look back
on the text as a whole.
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