00:00Chapter 3, verse 17 and then verse 26.
00:13The man who rejoices only in the self and is satisfied with the self and is contended
00:20only in the self, for him there is no duty to perform.
00:26Then the wise man established in the self should not unsettle the mind of the ignorant
00:33one attached to action but should get them to perform all their duties while duly performing
00:42his own duties.
00:46Even here the translation is not really accurate but we will go with it.
00:52So the questioner says in verse 17, Shri Krishna says that there is no duty to perform for
01:00the one who rejoices only in the self.
01:04Yet when we look at the greats like Mahavir Buddha or Kabir Saheb, they took huge steps
01:09to dispel the darkness of man's mind as if they were performing an undeclared duty and
01:16in verse 26, Shri Krishna again refers to the wise one and says that he should get others
01:21to perform all their duties, duly performing his own two.
01:26Is there any contradiction here and what makes a Buddha or Mahavir do what they do?
01:33You see, Shri Krishna is presenting the entirety, the totality of the matter of action here.
01:44On one hand, he says that in the highest state of liberation, there is no duty, no
01:53kartavya left, no duty at all left.
01:58That is point one that you have to understand.
02:02At the same time, he says, look at me, Parth, who can bind me in duty?
02:12I have no duty at all and yet I keep doing everything.
02:16He presents his own example.
02:20You have to look at everything together to get the complete picture.
02:26One hand he indeed says that the liberated one has really no foundation upon him to do
02:32anything.
02:34The liberated one has no foundation, he has no obligation to do anything because he is
02:40now liberated and then he says, look at me, Parth, I keep on doing stuff day in and day
02:53out and he devotes a couple of verses elaborating how much he does.
02:59He says, if I do not do things, this entire world will collapse.
03:06So I do more than anybody else.
03:11People work in their limited ways.
03:13Look at me, Arjun.
03:15I work in an unlimited way.
03:17My labor knows no limits.
03:22Nobody works harder than I do.
03:25Arjun is puzzled, but sir, didn't you just say that the liberated one has no duties left
03:33to perform?
03:35Why do you act then?
03:37Shri Krishna just smiles.
03:42If you could understand that much, why would you need the Gita?
03:49So the common folk has duties because he is not liberated.
04:02And the liberated one puts duties upon himself because he is liberated.
04:12What is this?
04:13That's the way this is.
04:20The one in shackles has to bear duties as punishment.
04:36You will have to live within your duties because you are not liberated.
04:41This is your punishment.
04:46And the liberated one loads himself with duties, not because he is full of passion
05:10towards the world, but because he has compassion.
05:22Shri Krishna tells Arjun, the gyani, the realized one should work or rather works in an outwardly
05:36way, in a worldly way, just as the ignorant one does.
05:42These are very beautiful verses.
05:48All the chapters of the Gita are wonderful, but chapter 3 probably stands the tallest.
05:58He says, the ignorant ones keep working, Arjun.
06:07In a similar way, the realized one should also keep working.
06:16And he quotes himself as the foremost example of the worker.
06:22He says, look at me, here are all the ignorant ones assembled in the field of Kurukshetra
06:30to fight.
06:31They are working.
06:32No, to fight is their work.
06:35And here is me as well.
06:37What am I doing in the middle of this idiotic crowd?
06:42All fools ready to cut each other to pieces.
06:48Totally stupid people they are, right on both sides.
06:51Do they know why they are fighting?
06:54Half of them would end before the end of the day.
07:02But look at them, how they flex their muscles, how they brandish their weapons.
07:06Somebody is blowing the conch.
07:09Somebody is puffing his chest.
07:12Somebody is threatening the other one.
07:17And before the sun sets, half of them will be gone and gone for nothing, idiots.
07:27And in the middle of this crowd, who is standing as a mere charioteer, not even a warrior,
07:38a charioteer, me, doesn't it occur to you, Arjun, what am I doing here?
07:46After all, I am a realized being, am I not?
07:48No, Arjun is not quite sure about it, till Krishna displays to him what is commonly known
07:57as the Virat Roop.
08:00But Krishna is asking, what am I doing here?
08:07They are fighting because they are ignorant.
08:11And here I am fighting because I am not ignorant.
08:19They are fighting because they are ignorant.
08:22And I too am fighting because I am not ignorant.
08:26That's the way the realized one has to live.
08:28Outwardly, it will appear as if he is doing all the things that all the ignorant ones
08:34are doing.
08:36He cannot shun action.
08:38He cannot run away.
08:39That's the message.
08:40You cannot run away.
08:41They are fighting, you too fight.
08:43But they are fighting from their darkness, you fight from your light.
08:47You cannot run away.
08:48Shunning action is not possible.
08:51You have to fight.
08:52The world is the battlefield.
08:53To be born is to be born as a warrior.
08:59To be born is to be born with weapons and armor.
09:06What to do?
09:18Now you know why Buddha Mahavira Kabir worked so hard all his life.
09:29Don't you wonder?
09:33What does he have left to achieve?
09:36I mean, he is working because he wants a new car.
09:45He is working because he wants a new wife.
09:48He is working because he wants a new job.
09:55What is it that impels the sage to work so hard?
10:03That's the secret.
10:06That's what made Krishna smile.
10:08Arjun, you will never really know why I work.
10:12Because I work without a why.
10:15You work for a reason.
10:16I work for no reason.
10:19And if you have to have a reason, the reason is compassion.
10:25You are a man of words.
10:26You need some word to satisfy your shallow inquiry.
10:30So I give you a word.
10:31The word is compassion.
10:35If you go to Kabir Sahab, he will say the word is sahajita.
10:40The realized one just works.
10:42He doesn't work for a cause really, though apparently he might declare a cause.
10:48He will say, you know, I'm working for such and such a reason, for such a cause, for such
10:52a mission, such things.
10:54But really, he is just working, just working.
10:59He cannot help it.
11:02It has to happen.
11:04You cannot go to him and question, but why are you doing it?
11:09But why are you doing it?
11:10Somebody went to Krishnamurthy.
11:15And Krishnamurthy was saying one doesn't need a teacher and such things.
11:21No guru is needed and one is sufficient unto himself and such things.
11:26And there was this person.
11:28So he questioned Krishnamurthy, he said, but aren't you two teaching?
11:33You two are a de facto guru and all the time you are railing against gurus.
11:38And Krishnamurthy was almost shocked, it is said, you know, how he replied, he said, but
11:45I don't do it intentionally.
11:50He said, but you two keep teaching and guiding us all the time, aren't you my guru?
11:55And Krishnamurthy says almost as if, you know, caught or accused or convicted, but I don't
12:05do it intentionally.
12:09That's how the realized one acts.
12:11He doesn't do it intentionally.
12:14He just acts.
12:16Somewhere, if I remember correctly, Krishnamurthy also said, when the flower blooms, the fragrance
12:27spreads.
12:30The flower doesn't really intend to make your day.
12:34It just happens.
12:35The flower can't help it.
12:38The flower didn't really plan to entertain your nostrils or your mind.
12:45It just happens.
12:46He can't help it.
12:48That's the state of the realized one.
12:49He can't help it.
12:52He's helpless.
12:53Oh, bad.
12:55But we thought he's quite empowered.
12:57We thought if you are realized, then you are all in control of yourself.
13:01Oh, no, not at all.
13:03Rather, what you call as realization is about losing all self-control.
13:09You just flow.
13:10Flow, not in the way the common man flows.
13:13The common man flows in the dirty stream of his passions and desires and tendencies.
13:23The flow of the realized one is an altogether different thing.
13:31It's a different stream.
13:35A few years back, I had differentiated between the two streams, calling one stream as accidental
13:40and the other as essential.
13:49Are you getting it?
14:01But you know, some smart fellow can actually go to Kurukshetra and accost Krishna.
14:09Sir, what are you doing here?
14:17After all, you are Krishna.
14:20Your place is in the jungle.
14:25And if not in the jungle, you should be found at some other quiet, secluded place, meditating.
14:39Or perfecting your yoga.
14:43After all, you are the supreme yogi, aren't you?
14:52How does it behove a yogi to be really having the harness in his hand?
15:09Hmm?
15:12Hmm?
15:35Is there a contradiction here?
15:36What makes a Buddha or Mahavir do what they do?
15:39No, no contradiction here.
15:42And do not ask for a reason.
15:49If you are really honest, then you should know that there does not exist a reason.
15:56But as we said, if you are interested in satisfying your flimsy curiosity,
16:03then you could say the reason is the upliftment of the world.
16:08Hmm?
16:15As they say in common usage, that the sage takes birth to redeem the world.
16:26Hmm?
16:27But that's the language of the world.
16:30Hmm?
16:32In the sage's own language, such an expression does not exist.
16:39He will not say that he has come to really serve the world or redeem the world
16:45or do some favor to the world.
16:50He just does what he does.
16:54This justness is the pinnacle of all spiritual advancement.
17:06Hmm?
17:09Sahajyata.
17:12Hmm?
17:14Even Krishna does not really disclose to Arjuna
17:19why he runs the entire world or maintains the prakritic order.
17:27He does not disclose.
17:28He just says, I do that.
17:32I do that.
17:35And Arjuna is probably not...
17:38You know, insouciant enough to insist on an answer.
17:47So he lets it go at that.
17:54Acharyaji, just now you said that the liberated doesn't do intentionally.
18:03He just does it.
18:06Whereas the non-liberated does anything.
18:09There is a reason behind.
18:12There can be two reasons there.
18:15You see, if you are someone who is in bondage,
18:20then your actions could be in two directions.
18:25Hmm?
18:26The direction of the irreligious action
18:31is towards the thickening of bondages.
18:37If you are in bondages,
18:39then there is an irreligious action possible.
18:45That irreligious or non-spiritual action
18:48is the one that will lead to
18:52a thickening or deepening of your bondages.
18:57Then there is the religious action.
19:01That is the action called as kartavya.
19:07What is kartavya or dharma?
19:11Hmm?
19:12That which leads to
19:15yes, freedom from your bondages.
19:18Hmm?
19:19So these two courses of action
19:22are possible to the one who is not yet liberated.
19:26He can act this way or he can act that way.
19:29Then there is a liberated one.
19:32Right?
19:33And the liberated one really
19:35does not need to act for himself
19:38because he has no bondages left.
19:42So he does not need to further liberate himself.
19:45He is already liberated.
19:47Yet he keeps on working
19:49and that's what the wonder is.
19:53If the one in shackles acts
19:58then it can be explained
20:00he is acting for the sake of his
20:04freedom, liberation.
20:08He is in shackles.
20:10You can see the chains, the fetters.
20:14So he is working
20:16and it is obvious why he is working.
20:18He is a sincere fellow.
20:20He is a sensible fellow.
20:22He wants freedom.
20:24This is the religious man.
20:26This is the religious man.
20:28Who is the irreligious man?
20:31Who is wearing chains
20:34and is working in a way that will load him with
20:38more bondages.
20:40This is the irreligious fellow.
20:43Now you come to the liberated one.
20:45The liberated one needs no religion at all.
20:47He has gone beyond religion.
20:50In his case, religion has already served its purpose.
20:55Are you getting it?
20:56He needs no religion.
20:58Does Krishna follow a religion? No.
21:00Krishna is religion itself.
21:02He does not follow any religion.
21:04There is no dharma, no kartavya for Krishna.
21:08And yet he is found working
21:10so very diligently
21:12so very uninterruptedly.
21:15Why?
21:18That's what you need to find out.
21:21In trying to find that out
21:26the finder will get lost.
21:30That's the great thing about
21:33such an endeavor to find.
21:39No finding will really happen.
21:41But the one who set out to find
21:47will get exhausted and
21:53So Achyutji,
21:55if that liberated one
21:57will stop doing
21:59because it is not compulsion
22:01to act
22:03then will it leave
22:05no difference between liberated and non-liberated?
22:07How will he stop doing?
22:09Who will force him to stop doing?
22:19He does what he does.
22:21He is a law unto himself
22:23who can stop him from
22:25doing what he must.
22:27It's his free will
22:29and only he really has
22:31free will.
22:33You cannot stop him.
22:35You can at most physically kill him.
22:37Go ahead and do that.
22:39But still you cannot
22:41really stop him.
22:43He will express himself
22:45in some other way.
22:47The spirit will remain.
22:49One instance of the spirit
22:51one particular body
22:53can be killed
22:55but the spirit really cannot be stopped.
22:57Liberation is not
22:59something that happens to a man.
23:03It is more abstract.
23:05It is nothing personal.
23:07Therefore I keep saying
23:09that the way we usually talk about enlightenment
23:11it's all bogus.
23:13Enlightenment is a myth.
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