Bhagavagd Gita - Session 2- Track 209
If you see the argument of Arjuna, you will see there is no reference to ‘immobility’ at all. His all argument is based upon action: action-consequences; action-consequences. There is no reference to immobility at all! Therefore, if Arjuna has to find an answer, he could find answer only with a new element coming into his data: he had no answer because the present data, in which he was working, were the data is only of Prakriti: the data of Purusha were not available before him. Sri Krishna says that, ‘unless you develop your Buddhi, and not only you develop it but apply it…Yoga, Buddhiyoga, you apply it in the search of that which lies beyond mobility, in the steadiness of Buddhi, and the Buddhi is completely stilled, then you will see very clearly, it will reflect very clearly the luminosity of the immobility. Because ‘Immobile’ by nature is luminous, it is Prakasha: svayaṁprakāśa. ‘You will see that there, it stands behind you, an ‘Immobile’ Purusha, eternal, infinite, illimitable, unbound, that you will see’. This is what has been said so far.
Sri Krishna says: ‘you apply this Buddhiyoga on another line. What is this? Try to understand what is‘mobility’: what is Prakriti itself. Just as you distinguish between Purusha and Prakriti, now you see the details of this Prakriti’s movement in connection with work itself. Fighting is an activity, is an act, and your problem is whether you should fight or not, whether you should do it or not: therefore it is a question of Prakriti; so unless you have the full knowledge of Prakriti, how will you decide what you should do?’ This Buddhiyoga is to be applied to action. What is the movement of action: ‘let me explain’, he says, ‘what is action. Apply Buddhiyoga to action, to Prakriti, and then you will come to the same kind of conclusion’.
This is what He expounds:
“In this endeavour, no effort is ever rendered void and no obstacle ever prevails. Even a small measure of this Dharma protects a person from a great fear.” (II, 40)
This refers to the movement of action. In other words, this particular chapter can be divided into two parts: by Buddhi you can perceive what is Knowledge; by the same Buddhi you perceive what is Action. By ‘Yoga’, in the Bhagavad Gita, is meant ‘Karmayoga’: now this is also another point which very often is not understood and that is why this chapter remains very ambiguous. In this chapter, the word ‘Yoga’ is used for ‘Karmayoga’. I shall explain to you latter on, in the history of Yoga, how this word came to mean Karmayoga. But at the moment I will just say very briefly, that when the word Yoga is used here, the reference is to Karmayoga. This chapter is actually a chapter on Jnanayoga and Karmayoga, and for both, the instrument is Buddhi: Buddhi applied to Knowledge, Buddhi applied to Action. First we have said: when Buddhi is applied to Knowledge, what is the Knowledge you get? You get the Knowledge of the eternal Self. When you apply Buddhi to Karma, what is the Knowledge you will get? This is what is going to be expounded.
But before saying anything, He says that, ‘if you apply this Karmayoga, whatever effort you do, be sure of one thing, that no effort will be wasted, and even little bit of the effort will protect you from any fear’.
He expounds:
“O Delighter of the Race of Kuru! The intellect that ascertains the nature of the Self is one-pointed, but the thoughts of one who desires the fruits of action are many branched and endless.” (II, 41)
Buddhi, we will see that when it is attached to action, they are multiple branches. This particular perception itself is a starting point of Karmayoga. You must know that Karmayoga is rooted in the process of Karma, and Karma normally is referred always to ‘fruits of action’: this is of normal practise. All Karma is referred to the fruits of action. And therefore Sri Krishna says that ‘whoever perceives that actions are multi-branched, he becomes involved in the multiple-branches, and he does not know how to come out of it’.
“O Son of Partha! Unwise men speak flowery words and are supposedly followers of the Vedas and are devoted to the various fruity activities for devotion to heavenly planets, saying that apart from the ritualistic sacrifice, there is nothing else.” (II, 42)