April 23, 2024
yuktaḥ karmaphalaṁ tyaktvā śantim āpnoti naiṣṭhikīṁ
ayuktaḥ kāmakāreṇa phale sakto nibaghyate (V-12)
sarvakarmāṇi manasā saṁnyasyā ’ste sukhaṁ vaśī
navadvāre pure dehī nai ’va kurvan na kārayan (V-13)
V/12. The yogi, having abandoned the fruit of action,
attains to the eternal peace. The non-yogi, impelled
by desire, attached to the fruit, is bound.
V/13. Mentally renouncing all actions and self-controlled,
the embodied one rests happily in the nine-gated city,
neither acting nor causing others to act.
Swamiji's Commentary
Whether the doer of all actions is God himself, or whether it is his nature (prakṛti), it is certainly not the individual ego. The individual ego rises and falls with every action or experience; the real ego is part of God’s nature! The whole universe is the body of God in which his will prevails, guided by his consciousness. In this context, renunciation of desire for ‘fruits of actions’ is the most natural and sensible thing to do! Even the most vital organ in our body (the heart), which functions day and night, does not demand a reward! Yet we, who are little parts of a cell of the body of God do nothing unless assured of a reward! This desire is bondage. Its renunciation is liberation. When this is clearly seen, the desire does not arise at all. Even as every cell of our body receives its nourishment and life-force as long as it does its job, even so we shall receive from God what we deserve. Why beg for it?
Krishna asks us to atomize ourselves and regard our self as the citizen of this nine-gated city, the body. The body has its own king (God) and administratrix (God’s nature or prakṛti). The citizen enjoys peace, prosperity and security by merely living in obedience to the law. It is useless on his part to suffer the king’s headaches. The same analogy can be applied to us who are cells in God’s cosmic body. He is the doer or perhaps he causes his nature to do; but we neither do anything nor do we cause anything else to do. It is the motor which rotates the many wheels, not the other way round. God is the cosmic motor.