Bhagavagd Gita - Session 13- Track 1307
Now, is a statement about the best who has reached this highest position, which has been followed by the example of the Supreme Himself:
yad yad ācarati śreṣṭhas tad tad everato janaḥ |
sa yat pramāṇaṁ kurute lokas tad anuvartate ||21|| (III)
yad yad ācarati śreṣṭhas: “Whatever is done by the highest, by the best; tad tad everato janaḥ, that is followed by other people.” If you want to work for lokasaṁgraḥ, for the solidarity of the people, then the best one should act, so that others also act: yad yad ācarati. And act in such way that that action becomes pramāṇaṁ; sa yat pramāṇaṁ kurute: “He acts in such a way, it becomes a standard action.” sa yat pramāṇaṁ kurute lokas tad anuvartate: “That is followed; whatever standard is sets, that is followed by all the people.”
That is why, even when you reach the highest, this is the karma that has been given to you. You do action so that everybody else does action, and you set the standard, so that, that standard is followed by all the people. By that, lokasaṁgraḥ is achieved.
Sri Krishna gives his own example: the Supreme example. This is the example only of the best human being. Sri Krishna says, “Why even the best should follow this?” Because He says, “Even me, I myself, I have nothing in the world which is not mine, I have nothing in the world which is to be gained by me, and yet I constantly get engaged into action.” What for? lokasaṁgraham: for the protection, for the solidarity of the people.
na me pārthāsti kartavyaṁ triṣu lokeṣu kiñcana |
nānavāptam avāptavyaṁ varta eva ca karmaṇi ||22|| (III)
“In three worlds there is nothing which for me remains to be done, there is nothing which is not gained, there is nothing which cannot be gained, yet varta eva ca karmaṇi, and yet I get myself engaged in karmaṇi, in the action.”
yadi hy ahaṁ na varteyaṁ jātu karmaṇy atandritaḥ |
mama vartmānuvartante manuṣyāḥ pārtha sarvaśaḥ ||23|| (III)
yadi hyahaṁ na varteyaṁ: “If I do not act, jātu karmaṇy atandritaḥ, if I remain even for a moment, atandritaḥ, if I do not remain completely awake, vigilant all the time; mama vartmānuvartante manuṣyāḥ pārtha sarvaśaḥ, then my path all people will follow, and as a result everything in the world is active because of me.”
utsīdeyur ime lokā na kuryāṁ karma ced aham |
“If I do not do any action, then these people will fall in inaction.
saṁkarasya ca kartā syām upahanyām imāḥ prajāḥ ||24|| (III)
“Then, I will have created confusion, saṁkarasya ca kartā, I would have created confusion, and then, I would have upahanyām imāḥ prajāḥ, then I would have destroyed the people.” Therefore, even when you are a Karmayogi, even when nothing remains for you to do, still you act, and act in such a way…
saktāḥ karmaṇy avidvāṁso yathā kurvanti bhārata |
kuryād vidvāṁs tathāsaktaḥ cikīrṣur loka-saṁgraham ||25|| (III)
“Just as the unwise do actions by attachment, even so you act even though you have no attachment”; and how when your are attached you do everything with your heart, even then you act without attachment with the same kind of interest, simply because you don’t need anything and you are master of action, therefore don’t be negligent just as the attached people work with so much of interest, so much of giving into the action, so carefully they do so that every little thing is looked after properly because of desire, even that kind of care you take even though you have no desire: saktāḥ karmaṇy avidvāṁso yathā kurvanti bhārata,
kuryād vidvāṁs tathāsaktaḥ, “When you become unattached, and even you have become very wise, even then you kuryād, you must do, cikīrṣur lokasaṁgraham, considering the lokasaṁgraḥ, the aim of the solidarity of the people. Do not show to the people: ‘Oh, karma is tuccha’, just as those who are attached, for them Karma is not ‘tuccha’, but is very important, similarly you do your action as if it is extremely important, and do not neglect any item of your action.