38. Having motivated Arjun from the mundane level, Shree Krishna now moves deeper into the science of work. Arjun had expressed his fear that by killing his enemies he would incur sin. Shree Krishna addresses this apprehension. He advises Arjun to do his duty, without attachment to the fruits of his actions. Such an attitude to work will release him from any sinful reactions.
When we work with selfish motives, we create karmas, which bring about their subsequent karmic reactions. The Māṭhar Śhruti states:
"If you do good deeds, you will go to the celestial abodes; if you do bad deeds, you will go to the nether regions; if you do a mixture of both, you will come back to the planet Earth." In either case, we get bound by the reactions of our karmas. Thus, mundane good deeds are also binding. They result in material rewards, which add to the stockpile of our karmas and thicken the illusion that there is happiness in the world.
However, if we give up selfish motives, then our actions no longer create any karmic reactions. For example, murder is a sin, and the judicial law of every country of the world declares it to be a punishable offence. But if a policeman in the discharge of his duty kills the leader of a gang of bandits, he is not punished for it. If a soldier kills an enemy soldier in battle, he is not punished for it. In fact, he can even be awarded a medal for bravery. The reason for apparent lack of punishment is that these actions are not motivated by any ill-will or personal motive; they are performed as a matter of duty to the country. God's law is quite similar. If one gives up all selfish motives and works merely for the sake of duty toward the Supreme, such work does not create any karmic reactions.
So Shree Krishna advises Arjun to become detached from outcomes and simply focus on doing his duty. When he fights with the attitude of equanimity, treating victory and defeat, pleasure and pain as the same, then despite killing his enemies, he will never incur sin. This subject is also repeated later in the Bhagavad Gita, in verse 5.10: "Just as a lotus leaf is untouched by water, those who dedicate all their actions to God, abandoning all attachment, remain untouched by sin."
Having declared a profound conclusion about work without attachment, Shree Krishna now says that he will explain the science of work in detail, to reveal the logic behind what he has said.
39.The word Sānkhya comes from the roots Sāṅ, meaning "complete," and khyā, meaning "to know." So Sānkhya means the "complete analytical knowledge of something." The Sankhya Darshan, which is one of the six philosophical treatises in Indian philosophy, makes an analytical enumeration of the entities in cosmos. It lists twenty-four entities: pañch-mahābhūta (earth, water, fire, air, and sky), pañch tanmātrā (the five abstract qualities of matter—taste, touch, smell, sound, and sight), pañch karmendriya (five working senses), pañch jñānendriya (five knowledge senses), mind, ahankār (the entity created by the evolution of mahān), mahān (the entity created by evolution of prakṛiti), prakṛiti (the primordial form of the material energy). Apart from these is puruṣh or the soul, which tries to enjoy prakṛiti, and gets bound in it.
Shree Krishna has just explained to Arjun another form of Sānkhya, which is the analytical knowledge of the immortal soul. He now says that he is going to reveal the science of working without desire for rewards. This requires detachment from the fruits of actions. Such detachment comes by practicing discrimination with the intellect. Hence, Shree Krishna has interestingly called it buddhi yog, or "Yog of the Intellect." In subsequent, he goes on to explain how the intellect plays an important role in bringing the mind to a state of detachment.
40. The great danger we face is that we may not get the human form in the next life, and instead go into the lower species of life, such as animals, birds, the nether regions, etc. We cannot be complacent that the human form will remain reserved for us, for the next birth will be determined by our karmas and level of consciousness in this life.
There are 8.4 million species of life in existence. The species below human beings—animals, birds, fishes, insects, birds, etc.—do not have an evolved intellect as we humans do. Yet, they also perform commonplace activities such as eating, sleeping, defending, and mating. Human beings have been endowed with the faculty of knowledge, for a higher purpose, so that they may utilize it to elevate themselves. If humans utilize their intellects merely for doing the animalistic activities of eating, sleeping, mating, and defending, in a deluxe way, it is a misuse of the human form. For example, if someone makes eating as the primary pleasure of life, then the body of a pig becomes more suitable for such a person, and thus, that individual receives a pig's body in the next life. If someone makes sleeping the goal of life, then God deems that the body of a polar bear is more suitable for such activity and allots it in the succeeding life. So the great danger before us is that we may not get a human birth in the next life. The Vedas state:
"O human being, the human birth is a rare opportunity. If you do not utilize it to achieve your goal, you will suffer great ruin." Again, they state:
"If you do not strive for God-realization in this life, you will continue to rotate in the 8.4 million species of life for many births."
However, once we commence on the journey of spiritual practice then even if we do not complete the path in this life, God sees that our intention to do so existed. Therefore, he grants us the human birth again, to enable us to continue from where we had left off. In this way, we avert the great danger.
Also, Shree Krishna says that no loss ever comes from endeavor made on this path. This is because whatever material assets we accumulate in the present life have to be left behind at the time of death. But if we make any spiritual advancement on the path of Yog, God preserves it, and gives us the fruits in the next life, enabling us to start off from where we had left. Thus, having informed Arjun about its benefits, Shree Krishna now begins instructing him about the science of working without attachment.
41. Attachment is a function of the mind. Its manifestation is that the mind repeatedly runs toward the object of its attachment, which could be persons, sensual objects, prestige, bodily comfort, situations, and so on. So if thoughts of some person or object repeatedly come to the mind, it is a possible indication of the mind being attached to it. However, if it is the mind that gets attached, then why is Shree Krishna bringing the intellect into the topic of attachment? Is there any role of the intellect in eliminating attachment?
Within our body is the subtle antaḥ karaṇ, which we also colloquially refer to as the heart. It consists of the mind, the intellect, and the ego. In this subtle machine, the intellect is superior to the mind. It makes decisions while the mind creates desires and gets attached to the object of affection as determined by the intellect. For instance, if the intellect decides that money is the source of happiness, the mind hankers for wealth. If the intellect decides that prestige is the most important thing in life, the mind craves for reputation and fame. In other words, the mind develops desires in accordance with the knowledge of the intellect.
Throughout the day, we humans control our mind with the intellect. While sitting at home, we adopt informal postures in which the mind finds comfort. Yet, we adopt appropriate formal postures while sitting in the office. It is not that the mind enjoys the formality of the office—given its way, it would rather embrace the informality of home. However, the intellect decides that formal behavior is necessary in the office. So the intellect controls the mind, and people sit formally all day long, following the decorum of the workplace, against the nature of the mind. Similarly, the mind does not enjoy doing office work—if it had its way, it would rather sit at home and watch television. But the intellect rules that working in office is necessary to earn a living. Therefore, the intellect again reins in the natural tendency of the mind, and people work eight hours a day, or longer.
The above examples illustrate that as human beings our intellect possesses the ability to control the mind. Thus, we must cultivate the intellect with proper knowledge and use it to guide the mind in the proper direction. Buddhi yog is the art of detaching the mind from the fruits of actions, by developing a resolute decision of the intellect that all work is meant for the pleasure of God. Such a person of resolute intellect cultivates single-minded focus on the goal, and traverses the path like an arrow released from the bow. This resolve becomes so strong in higher stages of sādhanā that nothing can deter the sādhak from treading the path. He or she thinks, "Even if there are millions of obstacles on my path, even if the whole world condemns me, even if I have to lay down my life, I will still not give up my sādhanā." But those whose intellect is many-branched find their mind running in various directions. They are unable to develop the focus of mind that is required to tread the path to God.