One of the greatest secrets of the Bhagavad-Gita

We tend to think that renunciation means stopping work and going to the forest or some holy place to peacefully chant, but Krsna alerts us that one can do so only when one is free from desires.

One of the main topics of the Bhagavad-Gita is the discussion regarding the difference between work and renunciation. We tend to think that renunciation means stopping work and going to the forest or some holy place to peacefully chant, but Krsna alerts us that one can do so only when one is free from desires. As long as the mind is disturbed by desires, such desires will pull us back to material activity.

One who tries to externally renounce but at the same time remains attached to different plans and desires in reality just cheats himself and falls from this platform of false renunciation later. At the beginning of the Bhagavad-Gita, Arjuna wanted to become a jñani, abandoning his duties and going to the forest, but Krsna explained the danger of this approach. The senses are so strong that they can carry away the intelligence of even a great sage, what to say about someone who still has material desires? Krsna thus alerted to the dangers of artificial renunciation and explained the superiority of buddhi-yoga, which is a combination of detached work, knowledge, and devotion.

Ordinarily, the paths of karma (material work) and jñana (cultivation of knowledge, meditation, and renunciation) are recommended according to one’s level. One still attached is recommended to perform karma, while one sufficiently purified and detached may opt to renounce work and follow the path of jñana. The path to follow thus depends on one’s qualifications and purity of heart. In chapter two (2.47), Krsna says “karmany evadikaras te”, stating that Arjuna’s level on the yoga ladder was not renunciation, but action.

The word adhikara means "right" or "qualification". In Vedic culture, right comes together with qualification, since his attempt will create havoc. If one is not qualified, he has no right to perform a certain activity. Modern societies also have a similar concept in certain areas or professions (an unqualified person has no right to work as a doctor, for example). It is just that the Vedic conception is broader.

Right is also connected with duty, since in the varnasrama system, acting properly according to one's nature and qualification is not simply a right, but a duty. A brahmana who refuses to act as a brahmana, a ksatriya who refuses to act like a ksatriya, and so on are considered fallen.

Therefore, when Krsna says to Arjuna “karmany evadikaras te”, He is simultaneously saying to Arjuna that his level of qualification is to perform activities (meaning, he is not fit to be a jñani or a renunciant), that he has a right to perform his prescribed duties as a ksatriya, and that he has indeed a duty of acting as such. However, he also alerts that we should not consider ourselves the cause of the results of such activities, understanding that we are simply empowered to perform our duties by the Lord and that thus the results don't belong to us, just like a worker working in a factory can't claim to be the proprietor of the products he is producing there.

Prabhupada translates the whole verse as: "You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty."

We can see that in this verse, Krsna explains a delicate balance between two principles. One is that we should perform our duties, according to our nature and material position; we should not try to become idle artificial renunciants. At the same time, we should keep an equipoised mentality, understanding that we are being empowered by Krsna to perform a certain function and that whatever results come from these activities should be offered back to Krsna, being used in activities connected with Krsna Consciousness.

When we understand that money belongs to Krsna, we will use it well, but when we think it belongs to us we may use it frivolously. When we do that, we become involved in karma. The same applies to all our other assets, including our time, properties, thoughts, and so on. Krsna better describes this delicate balance later in the Bhagavad-Gita, as he explains the process of working without attachment (technically called niskama karma-yoga). This process allows one to externally perform his duties, but simultaneously cultivate renunciation.

As a lotus flower lives on the water without touching it, a family man can use this process to engage in different material activities in the course of performing his duties, but at the same time maintain himself on a platform of internal renunciation. Similarly, a sannyasi acting on this platform can work printing books, constructing temples, and performing other types of activities for the expansion of Krsna Consciousness while at the same time maintaining himself on a platform of renunciation. Krsna explains that this is a much better (and safer) platform than merely practicing external renunciation.

As He later describes (6.3), "For one who is a neophyte in the eightfold yoga system, work is said to be the means; and for one who is already elevated in yoga, cessation of all material activities is said to be the means."

Someone who is spiritually advanced may advance by sitting in a solitary place and just chanting (although Krsna recommends that even a genuinely advanced person should perform his duties to give an example to others), but a neophyte can only advance by performing activities connected with Krsna Consciousness. If one tries to prematurely renounce, he kicks out the very process that can help him rise above the neophyte stage. He then becomes a show bottle renunciant who just creates disturbances in society and ends up falling down later.

To renounce work before one is sufficiently purified and detached will bring neither purification nor liberation. As Srila Prabhupada mentions, without the purification of the heart, sannyasa is just a disturbance to society. If one renounces his prescribed duties before his heart is purified, he will find himself in difficulties.

Detached work (especially activities in Krsna Consciousness) is the tool one can use to become purified. They are a ladder we can climb to achieve transcendence. If one kicks out the ladder, he will not be able to advance. One may renounce only when he becomes fully detached. Even on this platform, however, he can do better by just executing his duties in a detached way (by practicing niskama karma-yoga).

Instead of becoming false renunciants, Krsna recommends we follow the path of karma-yoga, in which we can use our tendencies to act and deal with matter in a spiritually conducive way, transforming our desires into a ladder we can use to advance spiritually, instead of just a hope we use to hang ourselves. The path of karma-yoga allows us to break the teeth of the serpent, so to speak.

The mind must be fixed on something. If the mind is not fixed in Krsna through the process of buddhi-yoga, it will follow the process described in verses 61 and 62 of the second chapter: "While contemplating the objects of the senses, a person develops attachment for them, and from such attachment lust develops, and from lust anger arises. From anger, complete delusion arises, and from delusion bewilderment of memory. When memory is bewildered, intelligence is lost, and when intelligence is lost one falls down again into the material pool."

We can see that these questions are very essential to all of us. If we can properly understand these points, we can avoid many traps connected with excessive sense indulgence or premature renunciation, avoiding committing painful mistakes in life. We can see that many problems we had in our movement in the past happened precisely due to a lack of this understanding. Unfortunately, because these topics are discussed at the beginning of the Bhagavad-Gita, they are overlooked by many. Most just remember "sarva dharman parityajya", without understanding the process that leads to this conclusion, or when it should be applied.

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