<p>Four passages in the Gnana Yoga Chapter of the Bhagavad Gita speak about a seemingly contradictory point – when a true ‘Karmayogi’ a man who does his work in a detached manner, considering it as his duty and as his offering to the Lord without any expectations acts, it is as if he is not doing any work at all and that he is not bound in any manner by his actions. What does this mean?</p>.<p>Revered Swami Chinmayananda explains it as follows. Man has to do his work with dedication while not eyeing the benefits that may accrue in the end, as if it is his offering to the divine. This is a mindset that is to be cultivated over time, with a mind that is equipoised and which is able to face the dualities of life such as success and failure, happiness and sorrow with equanimity. This requires conscious effort. The work is to be done, in the words of the Gita, as a ‘Yagna’. In common parlance, ‘Yagna’ is<br />understood to be the ritual with oblations to the sacred fire with the associated paraphernalia. But the Gita defines ‘Yagna’ as any action that is done for the welfare of humanity with a sense of humility, without any other selfish motive and most importantly, without the consciousness of ‘I’, the egoistic approach. The Gita repeatedly emphasizes this point of gradually annihilating the ego, the root of all man’s problems.</p>.<p>When the ego is destroyed, the sense of ‘doer-ship’ is also removed. This is the reason why noble souls do not take any credit for their meritorious acts and instead say that they are only a conduit for the divine decision to get that work done and that they are only an instrument in God’s hands.</p>.<p>So, such great beings continue to do their work as if nothing has happened and it is as if they have not done anything at all. When work is<br />done in this manner, no bondage in the form of disappointment, frustration and anger attaches to them, because they never had any expectations in the beginning.</p>.<p>As mentioned in the Gita elsewhere, the omnipresent Lord, ‘Brahman’ is always present in the ‘Yagna’, the well intentioned, sincerely executed task. This is the real purport of<br />these passages. For ordinary mortals, the message is clear “lessen your ego, do your duty sincerely and leave the rest to that higher power”.</p>
<p>Four passages in the Gnana Yoga Chapter of the Bhagavad Gita speak about a seemingly contradictory point – when a true ‘Karmayogi’ a man who does his work in a detached manner, considering it as his duty and as his offering to the Lord without any expectations acts, it is as if he is not doing any work at all and that he is not bound in any manner by his actions. What does this mean?</p>.<p>Revered Swami Chinmayananda explains it as follows. Man has to do his work with dedication while not eyeing the benefits that may accrue in the end, as if it is his offering to the divine. This is a mindset that is to be cultivated over time, with a mind that is equipoised and which is able to face the dualities of life such as success and failure, happiness and sorrow with equanimity. This requires conscious effort. The work is to be done, in the words of the Gita, as a ‘Yagna’. In common parlance, ‘Yagna’ is<br />understood to be the ritual with oblations to the sacred fire with the associated paraphernalia. But the Gita defines ‘Yagna’ as any action that is done for the welfare of humanity with a sense of humility, without any other selfish motive and most importantly, without the consciousness of ‘I’, the egoistic approach. The Gita repeatedly emphasizes this point of gradually annihilating the ego, the root of all man’s problems.</p>.<p>When the ego is destroyed, the sense of ‘doer-ship’ is also removed. This is the reason why noble souls do not take any credit for their meritorious acts and instead say that they are only a conduit for the divine decision to get that work done and that they are only an instrument in God’s hands.</p>.<p>So, such great beings continue to do their work as if nothing has happened and it is as if they have not done anything at all. When work is<br />done in this manner, no bondage in the form of disappointment, frustration and anger attaches to them, because they never had any expectations in the beginning.</p>.<p>As mentioned in the Gita elsewhere, the omnipresent Lord, ‘Brahman’ is always present in the ‘Yagna’, the well intentioned, sincerely executed task. This is the real purport of<br />these passages. For ordinary mortals, the message is clear “lessen your ego, do your duty sincerely and leave the rest to that higher power”.</p>