Chapter Eighteen

              The Supreme Goal of Divine Freedom

                                   Moksa-yoga

 

1) Arjuna said: O Mahabaho, Hrsikesa, Kesinisudana, I wish to
know the distinction between the principle of renunciation of
action and the principle of renunciation of the fruits of action.

2) The Supreme Lord said: According to the learned, the
abandonment of all materially desirable actions is called
renunciation (sannyasa), and the abandonment of the fruits of all
kinds of action (whether daily, incidental, or based on material
desire) is called detachment (tyaga).

3) Some scholars (of the Sankhya school) hold that action (on
account of its faults such as violence) should be renounced. Others
(of the Mimaμsaka school) hold that (scripturally enjoined) duties
based on sacrifice, charity, and austerity should never be
abandoned.

4) O Best of the Bharatas, now hear My perfect conclusion
regarding renunciation. O foremost among men, it has been
clearly defined that renunciation is of three types.

5) Duties based on sacrifice, charity, and austerity should never be
abandoned. Such duties must be performed, because they serve to
purify the hearts of the intelligent.

6) Moreover, O Partha, all these actions are to be performed as a
matter of duty, abandoning attachment and fruitive desire. Know
this to be My irrevocable, perfect, supreme conclusion.

7) Renunciation of one's daily duties is never desirable. To
abandon routine duties out of delusion is false renunciation, or
renunciation of the nature of ignorance.

8) One who abandon his routine duties out of fear of bodily
discomfort, considering them a cause of inconvenience, performs
renunciation of the nature of passion. Thus, he does not attain
(knowledge, which is) the fruit of genuine detachment.

9) O Arjuna, one who performs routine works as a matter of duty,
and abandons attachment and fruitive desire such a person
performs renunciation of the nature of goodness. This is My
opinion.

10) A sharply intelligent, renounced person who is endowed with
the nature of goodness, and who is free from all doubts, neither
resent troublesome duties, nor is he attached to those works which
bestow happiness.

11) Actually, it is impossible for the embodied soul to utterly
renounce all action. Therefore, one who is truly renounced is he
who renounces the fruits of his actions.

12) Persons who aspire for the fruits of their actions acquire three
types of rewards after death good, bad, and mixed. But a true
renunciate (sannyasi) never touches such fruits of action.

13) O mighty hero, in the scripture known as Sankhya, or
Vedanta, these five causes of the accomplishment of all actions
have been described, and you may now learn of these from Me.

14) (With the help of these five factors, all actions are effected:)
The body, ego (in the form of the knot of spirit and matter), the
separate senses, the different endeavors, and destiny, or the
intervention of the Supreme Universal Controller.

15) Whatever lawful or unlawful action a man performs with his
body, mind, or speech, is caused by these five elements.

16) Therefore, a wicked fellow who considers himself to be the
only performer of action can never perceive the actual situation,
due to his irrational conception.

17) He who is free from egotism (arising from aversion to the
Absolute), and whose intelligence is not implicated (in worldly
activities) even if he kills every living being in the whole world, he
does not kill at all, and neither does he suffer a murderer's
consequences.

18) Knowledge, the knowable, and the knower these three are the
impetus for action. The attempt, the work, and the performer
these three form the basis of action.

19) In the Sankhya scripture, knowledge, action, and the
performer have each been classified according to their (good,
passionate, or ignorant) natures. Now hear of these categories
from Me.

20) That knowledge by which one imperishable and undivided
divine principle (My superior divine potency) is seen to be present
in all the diverse living beings, is known as knowledge of the
nature of goodness.

21) In the world of the living beings, that knowledge by which one
experiences multifarious separate attempts (of conflicting nature,
due to individual separate interests) and many separate
(independent) conceptions of the truth such knowledge is known
to be of the nature of passion.

22) And that knowledge by which one becomes attracted to
trivialities (insignificant matters), considering them to be all in all
(ultimate), and which is irrational, devoid of scriptural
deliberation, and bigoted (like an animal's) that knowledge is
known to be of the nature of ignorance.

23) That action which is constantly executed by a detached person
who is indifferent to obsession and repulsion, is certainly action of
the nature of goodness.

24) And that action which is performed with tremendous
endeavor by an ambitious or egotistical person, is known as action
of the nature of passion.

25) And action of the nature of ignorance is that which, out of
illusion, is undertaken without consideration of its consequences,
its injurious effects, mischieviousness, and one ́s capability to
perform it.

26) A worker of the nature of goodness is one who is fully
detached, non-egotistic yet patient and enthusiastic, and
unaffected in the face of success or failure.

27) A worker of the nature of passion is said to be one obsessed, a
fruit-hunter, greedy, violent, engaged in unscriptural or
abominable practices, and dominated by elation and lamentation.

28) A worker of the nature of ignorance is one who is fickle-
minded, of gross mentality, pretentious, fraudulent, given to
insulting others, lazy, morose, and a proscrastinator.

29) O Dhananjaya, hear Me attentively, I shall clearly describe the
three different types of intelligence and de- termination, classified
according to the modes of nature.

30) O Partha, good intelligence is that by which the intrinsic
nature of (religious) inclination and (irreligious) disinclination,
duty and nonduty, fear and courage, as well as bondage and
liberty (and all such distinctions) can be perceived in reality.

31) O Partha, passionate intelligence is that by which the intrinsic
nature of religion, irreligion, duty, and nonduty can only be partly
ascertained.

32) Intelligence spoiled by ignorance is that deluded perception by
which irreligion is taken as religion, and everything is taken as its
opposite.

33) O Partha, determination of the nature of goodness is that one-
pointed determination which continuously controls the mind, the
vital life forces, the senses, and all their activities.

34) O Partha, O Arjuna, determination of the nature of passion is
that which, out of fruitive desire, always resorts to ritualistic
religion for the purpose of amassing wealth in the attempt to
fulfill mundane desires.

35) Determination of the nature of ignorance is that by which an
unintelligent person does not give up sleep, fear, lamentation,
dejection, and pride.

36-37) O Bharatarsabha, now hear from Me about three kinds of
happiness. That which by cultivation gives birth to delight while
causing the death of all miseries, which in the beginning troubles
one like poison but subsequently pleases one like nectar, and
which arises from pure self-knowledge that happiness is said to be
of the nature of goodness.

38) Happiness of the nature of passion is said to be that which is
born from the contact of the senses with their objects, and which
in the beginning is perceived as nectar, but subsequently realized
to be just like poison.

39) Happiness of the nature of ignorance is that which from
beginning to end produces delusion of the soul, and arises from
sleep, laziness, and negligence.

40) Either on Earth (among all life-forms, headed by the humans)
or in the heavenly plane among the celestial gods, no one and
nothing is liberated from these three modes which are born of
material nature.

41) O Parantapa, according to the modes (of goodness, passion,
and ignorance) which are born of their natures, all the duties of
the brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya, and sudra sections are divided in
a projected manner (in graded classification).

42) Internal and external sense control, austerity, purity,
forbearance, straightforwardness, knowledge, realization, and
theism certainly these are all the natural duties of the brahmana
section.

43) Valor, zeal, endurance, expertise, courage in battle, charitable
disposition, and leadership certainly these are all the
characteristic actions of the ksatriya section.

44) Agriculture, tending to the cows, and trade are the natural
work for the vaisya section; and natural to the sudras is the
rendering of service to the brahmana, ksatriya, and vaisya
sections (giving assistance to their various works).

45) Self-knowledge is attained by a person who dedicates himself
to the appropriate action prescribed for his natural qualification.
Now hear from Me how he attains perfection in this way.

46) A man achieves perfection by the performance of the
appropriate duties prescribed for him according to his
qualification. By the execution of his duties, he worships the
Supreme Lord from whom the generation and impetus of all
beings arises, and who permeates and pervades this entire
universe (exercising His Supreme qualification of Lordship over
one and all).

47) Although there may be imperfections in their execution, it is
better to remain faithful to one's natural prescribed duties than to
perform another's duties immaculately. Sin is never incurred by a
man conforming to his natural duties.

48) O Kaunteya, despite imperfections in their execution, duties
prescribed according to one ́s nature should not be abandoned.
Verily, all action (karma) is (more or less) covered by
imperfections, as fire is covered by smoke.

49) His intelligence detached from all mundane objects, the self-
controlled and desireless person attains to the ultimate perfection
of cessation of reactionary work by abandoning the fruits of all his
actions.

50) O Kaunteya, now hear from Me in brief how the person who
has attained the perfection of cessation of all reactionary work
attains to the divine plane of the Absolute, the attainment of which
is the supreme goal of (divine self-perceptive) knowledge.

51-53) Endowed with intelligence of the nature of goodness,
mentally controlled with determination of the nature of goodness,
detached from the sense objects of sound, touch, form, taste, and
smell, free from obsession and repulsion, aloof to the association
of materialistic persons, a temperate eater, a controller of the
body, mind, and speech, constantly absorbed in thought of the
Supreme Lord, thoroughly detached from the mundane world;
non-egotistic, devoid of despotism, vanity, lust, anger, and the
acceptance of service from others such a person, devoid of all
sense of possessiveness and absorbed in divine tranquillity, is
certainly qualified to achieve divine self-perception.

54) The spotlessly purehearted and self-satisfied soul who has
attained to his conscious divine nature neither grieves nor craves
for anything. Seeing all beings equally (in the conception of My
supreme energy), he gradually achieves supreme devotion (prema-
bhakti) unto Me.

55) By the potency of that supreme devotion, he is able to
completely know My nature of Almighty Lordship and majesty
(aisvaryamaya-svarupa). Thereafter, acquiring the perception of
his divine relationship with Me, he enters into a group of My
intimate personal associates, whose nature is nondifferent from
Mine.

56) Although always active in the performance of all kinds of
duties, those who have taken exclusive refuge in Me attain to the
eternal plane of flourishing service, by My grace.

57) By the art of service connection, offering all your actions unto
Me with the understanding that I alone am the supreme goal, take
refuge in linking your intelligence with Me (becoming detached
from general duties) and thus be loyally devoted to Me always.

58) When you have devoted your heart to Me, you will be able to
surpass all kinds of formidable obstacles and adversities by My
grace. And if out of pride you do not hear My words, you will
surely reap ruination.

59) Out of pride you are thinking, 'I shall not fight', but such a
decision will surely be in vain because your nature (befitting a
ksatriya) will certainly compel you to engage in battle.

60) O Kaunteya, being compelled by the tendency of your nature,
that very duty which out of delusion you are now avoiding will be
(soon) inevitably executed by you.

61) O Arjuna, the indwelling Supreme Lord, by the potency of His
deluding energy, causes the living beings to wander hither and
thither (in many postures), as though each were merely a puppet
on strings, riding on a carousel. Verily, that Lord is dwelling
within the heart of all living beings.

62) O Bharata, surrender unto Him in all respects. By His grace
you will attain the supreme peace and the eternal abode.

63) I have now disclosed more and more hidden treasures to you.
Remember all this, and then do as you wish.

64) Now again hear My supreme teaching, the most hidden of all
hidden treasures. You are extremely dear to Me, and really, this is
why I am explaining this for your true benefit.

Commentary
65) Think of Me, serve Me, worship Me, offer your very self unto
Me, and surely you will reach Me. Sincerely, this is My promise to
you because you are My dear friend.

66) Totally abandoning all kinds of religion, surrender exclusively
unto Me. I will liberate you from all kinds of sins, so do not
despair. Commentary

67) You should never disclose this hidden treasure to the ease-
lover, the faithless, those who are averse to My service, or those
malicious persons who are envious of Me.

68) One who recounts the glories of this most hidden of all hidden
treasures to My devotees such a person, attaining supreme
devotion for Me, will reach Me without a doubt.

69) In human society there is no one who pleases Me by his actions
as does he (who preaches the glories of this Bhagavad-gita: the
Hidden Treasure of the Sweet Absolute), and (in the future) there
will never be one more dear to Me in the whole world than he.

70) And one who regularly reads, contemplates, or sings with a
devoted heart this holy conversation between us, will thereby
effect My worship through the sacrifice of wisdom. Certainly this
is My opinion.

71) And the faithful and devout who simply hear this without
jealously will become liberated, and will attain to the auspicious
abodes befitting those endowed with the merit of supreme virtue
(sukrti).

72) O Partha, have you heard all this with singular alertness? O
Dhananjaya, has your darkness of delusion been dispelled?

73) Arjuna said: O infallible one, by Your grace my delusion has
been dispelled. I can now remember who I am, all my doubts have
gone, and I have become reposed in surrender unto You. Now I
shall follow Your order.

74) Sanjaya said: In this way I heard this amazing, ecstatic
conversation between the Supreme Soul Vasudeva and Arjuna.

75) By the mercy of Srila Vyasadeva I heard this most hidden
treasure which emanated directly from the holy lotus mouth of the
Supreme Lord of all mystic power, Lord Sri Krsna Himself.

76) O King, repeatedly remembering this incredible divine
conversation of Lord Sri Krsna and Arjuna, my heart rejoices,
over and over again.

77) O King, and now I repeatedly remember I marvel at that
amazing, tremendous universal form of the Supreme Lord Hari,
and my whole being thrills with emotion.

78) Wherever there is the Supreme Lord of all mystic power, Lord
Sri Krsna Himself, and wherever there is the conqueror of wealth
who carries the bow, Arjuna himself at that very place the
goddess of good fortune, at that very place the goddess of victory,
at that very place flourishing prosperity, and at that very place
supreme virtue prevails. Certainly that is my firm resolution.


 INDEX