NISHKAMA KARMA-DISINTERESTED ACTION

By Dr. Satyavrat Siddhantalankar

Vedic Culture

WE HAVE already observed that the way of life prescribed by Vedic culture was one of ‘Enjoyment-Renunciation.’ What does this phrase ‘Enjoyment-Renunciation’ means? It means that as the worldof beauty and attraction is palpable, real, and actually exists, we should enjoy it; but as all this gradually fades into unreality and slips out of our hands there should come a  time in our lives when we should voluntarily renounce it. We should be of the world but not be ‘too much of it, we may live at life of attachment but live it in a detached, dispassionate, and unconcerned manner.

There is a great difference between living with some longings, desires, and cravings always haunting us day and night, thus making our lives restless and miserable, and living free from them in a serene mood and performing our duties for the sake oi‘ performing them. “This difference has been stressed in Vedic literature in which the Gita occupies the first and foremost place. The Gita is the biggest diamond in the entire mound of Vedic gems, placed as it were on its very top, whose facets will ever shine and continue to attract the hearts of men through the lights, the mists, and the darknesses of all eternity. The Gita which is based on the Upanishads has influenced indian  thought for centuries and moulded the lives of our people.

Time was when the teachings of selfless action contained in the Upanishuds were misinterpreted and bracketed with inaction and thus the quintessence of spiritualism was narrowed clown to the renunciation of the world, the wearing of saffron robes, and sitting idle at home. This development naturally can caused concern among the philosophers and thinkers of the day. And it was thus that the Gita was written to present the philosophy enunciated in the Upanishnds, the Vedanta, and other religious scriptures in its true perspective, and to emphasize that what was required was the renunciation of the desire for the fruits of our actions and not the acts themselves. Hence it came about that the Gita. replaced the prevailing theory of inaction by a dynamically novel theory of disinterested action or Nishkam Karma. The Gita presented to the world the central thought of Indian culture at a time when it had almost fallen into oblivion. .

The central thought of the Upanishads, of the Vedanta, of all that is pure and noble in Vedic culture, is that in the world of matter Brahma or God is the ultimate reality, and that Atma is the reality as well as the truth in our bodily existence and life. Although the existence of this world of matter and the body cannot be denied. Yet the truth is that behind this body there is the spirit or the soul, and that behind the physical world lurks the Spirit Supreme. The body and the physical world are beyond 21 reasonable doubt real but it is also true that the spirit and the Spirit Supreme are far more real, and it is for the latter that the Former exist.

T he Gita upholds: the body is a reality, so make use of it and enjoy it with the help of the senses, but remember that the ultimate reality is not the body but the spirit, so do not be too much involved with the senses. The world of matter is also a reality, so indulge in the pleasures that it offers, but remember that the ultimate reality is not the material world but the Spirit Supreme that animates it, so prepare yourself also to renounce the world. It is at mistake to think that the Upanishads and the Vedanta teach the philosophy of inaction. Vedic culture as propounded in the Gita imparts to the world the philosophy of disinterested action, selfless action, in place of inaction or selfish action. The Gita. thus dispelled the clouds of misconception which had darkened the outlook and paralysed the social machinery for centuries.

Arjuna’s Stand of Inaction or Renunciation

The conception of selfless disinterested action is the rock on which the edifice of Vedic culture stands, and since this ideal no where finds better expression than in the Gita, we shall devote this entire chapter to its discussion and also give copious quotations from the text.

The Gita begins with Dhritarashtra’s address to Sanjaya: ‘Sanjaya, assembled on the holy field of Kurukshetra, eager to light, what did my children and the children of Pandu do?“

In the course of an answer giving an eye-witness account of the battlefield, Sanjay says: ‘O Lord, when the fight was about to start, Arjuna asked Shri Krishna to place his chariot between the two armies confronting each other and keep it there till he observed those with whom he had to fight. Shri Krishna acceded to his request. When Arjuna turned his eyes all around he saw his own kith and kin assembled to fight against him. At the sight of these kinsmen thus arrayed and longing for battle his limbs gave way, his frame shook, and his hair stood on end. He confided to Shri Krishna saying’:

‘The bow, Gandiva, drops from my hand and my skin burns all over. My mind is reeling as it were, and I am not able even to stand. l covet not victory, nor kingdoms, nor pleasures. Govinda, of what use will kingdom. or luxuries, or even life be to me if l gain the whole world and lose my own kith and kin?

On seeing Arjuna thus giving way to despondency, Shri Krishna said: ‘Arjuna, how hast this infatuation overtaken thee at this odd hour? Such a mental state is shunned by noble souls; neither will it bring heaven nor lame to thee. ‘Yield not to unmanliness, Arjuna; ill does it become thee‘ Shaking oil‘ this paltry faint-heartedness arise, O scorcher of thy enemies.’-“

Shri Krishna’s Stand of Disinterestedness

Who would not have begun to consider the world as false and treacherous, a place full of Maya, after seeing close relations who had played and laughed with one another in their infancy as well as aged together now arrayed on the battlefield for power and pelf, each thirsting For the other’s blood? Centuries ago this made Arjuna disgusted with earthly existence. Even today if one were to view life in a background one would find oneself in a similar frame of mind. .t was Shri Krishna’s teachings as contained in the Gita that infused new life into the despondent Arjuna and brought him back to the battlefield after he had decided to renounce the world.

What did Shri Krishna teach? Did  he tell Arjuna that this world was a place of enjoyment and therefore he should kill his kith and kin and indulge himself in worldly pleasures? No. What he taught was entirely different.  “The arguments he put forward to convince Arjuna to stick to the battlefield were not materialistic. In fact, they were as much spiritual in nature as were the arguments advanced by Arjuna for not fighting. Shri Krishna  also, like Arjuna, spoke of the body as being perishable; he said that death was nothing but a casting aside of the body like the change of worn-out clothes, and that it was only the Anna which is eternal and everlasting While the body is perishable and Short-lived. But wherein, then, lay the difference between the outlook of Arjuna and Shri Krishna?

 The protagonists of stark spiritualism regard the world as unreal, as a sort of a show or a fair, only to be shunned, and hence run away from it. Arjuna had also for the time being fallen in tune with this strain. However, Shri Krishna as an exponent of Vedie culture never asks us to run away from the realities of life. According to the teachings of Shri Krishna, this world of matter is unsubstantial and transitory, but there is no suggestion in his gospel for renunciation; it no doubt regards the body as perishable, but it does not talk of idleness or inaction. The doctrine that Shri Krishna taught Arjuna was only the old Vedic idea of treating the World of matter and sense objects as solid and real, and thus to face rather than to run away from the problems of life, simultaneously stressing that the reality of the world beyond was also undisputed.

Krishna’s Stand was an Explanation of the Spiritual Secret

It is indeed a novel thought to regard this world as unsubstantial, and yet to live in it and enjoy it in all its fullness. It is a new ideology revealed to the world by Shri Krishna in his dialogue with Arjuna as set forth in the Gita and it is thus that he calls it a secret.

 This World, for the materialists is both sovereign and supreme, and therefore, it is but natural and reasonable that they should cling on to this earthly existence. it is also fair and reasonable for the spiritualists to try to escape from the world because they always think of it as untrue, transitory, and unsubstantial.

 But the novel idea propounded by Shri Krishna in his Gita is to regard this world as false, unsubstantial, and transitory and yet to face its problems, to dive deep into worldly matters, and not to run away from them. And  it is this which should be the only true and  correct approach despite its apparent contradiction.

Shri Krishna realized that persons with less intelligence would find this idea to be both confusing as well as self-contradictory. And it was for this reason that he described it as a secret, and regarded it as a conception of immortal Yoga which could not be understood without the guidance of a spiritual teacher. He says: ‘I taught this immortal Yoga to Vivaswan (Sun~god); Vivaswan conveyed it to Mann (his son); and Manu imparted it to his son Ikswaku.

‘Thus handed down from father to son, Arjuna, this Yoga remained known to the Rajarshis (royal sages). With a long lapse of time, however, it has more or less disappeared. ‘The same ancient Yoga has this day been imparted to you by Me, because you are My devotee and friend and also because this is a supreme secret.

It is clear from this part of the Gita that this novel proposition of regarding the world of matter s being ultimately ephemeral, and yet to live in it and enjoy it in all its fullness, though seemingly contradictory had been attempted to be reconciled by a series of mystic teachers from Vivaswan downwards.”It is the reconciliation of this contradiction which has been called a secret, a Yoga a mystic method traditionally revealed by the teacher to his disciple, and handed down from sire to son. Shri Krishna says that the secret of reconciling the reality with the unreality, taught by the saints and sages of Vedic culture, had been lost and therefore contradictory ideologies of materialism and spiritualism had sprung up which pulled one against the other. This was the secret revealed by Shri Krishna to Arjuna in the course of his teachings enshrined in the  Gita, and described therein as a path of Karma Yoga or Nishkam Karma. Shri Krishna, however, made it abundantly clear that he was not evolving some new principle, but was merely revealing an old secret by letting it fly out of the box wherein it had laid hidden for centuries and was thus covered with the dust of misconception. This was the secret message of Vedic culture which the people had been receiving from time to time, sometime through Vivaswan, sometime through Manu, sometime through Ikswaku, and it was the same secret which was delivered, for the last time, by Shri Krishna to Arjuna during the frustrated condition of his mind.

The Path of Yoga and the Path of Sankhya Philosophy Compared This secret teaching of the Gita can only be clearly understood through a comparative study and knowledge of the path of Yoga and the path of Sankhya. The Gita contains a clear out distinction between these two paths, because at the time the Gita was written these two approaches were considered as diametrically opposite to each other. The name given to the path of Yoga was the path of action (Karma Yoga or Karma Marga), whereas the synonym for the path of Sankhya was the path of inaction (Karma Sanyasa) or the path of knowledge (Jnyana Marga or Jnyana Yoga). The Gita states: ‘Arjuna, there are only two disciplines in the world-— the path of  action and the path of knowledge. The path of action is called the path of Yoga and the path of knowledge is called thepath of Sankhya.’

It was not only during Krishna’s period that there existed these two disciplines. Nachiketa also referred to these two paths in Katha Upanishad and even today these two disciplines are at the root of the entire social structure. According to the Gita, the path of Yoga is superior to the path of Sankhya, the path of action is superior to the path of knowledge, Karma Yoga is superior to Jnyana Yoga. The exponents of the Sankhya philosophy who thought that they had delved deeply into the realms of knowledge taught inaction. They held the view that this world was unsubstantial, that work only generated miseries in life, and hence it should be renounced. Their philosophy was that if we do not work, wherefrom would the miseries come? Arjuna who was being persuaded to fight and win an empire  to rule over, naturally asked himself: Why, why, when all the things of the world are fleeting‘? This world is unsubstantial; the one who is our brother today fights with us as our enemy tomorrow. What shall we do with the achievements of  this world? It is far better to renounce than to be entangled in sense objects and to experience the resultant misery and sorrow.

Arjuna had started following the path of Sankhya or the path of inaction. On seeing this, Shri Krishna exhorted him not to speak the language of frustration He said that nothing could be achieved in this world, even the simple everyday dealings would be impossible if we try to escape from action. He stated: ‘Surely none can remain inactive even for a moment; every one is helplessly driven to action by nature, he may will it or not.

The Problem

Whatever the world may be, true or false, substantial or hollow, real or illusory, we have nevertheless been thrown into it; and hence it is impossible not to work, or to remain inactive, as advocated by the Sankhya exponents. But if we work, the consequent miseries would be inevitable. How can one get rid of or avoid them? This was the problem of Arjuna and this was the problem not of Arjuna alone, it is the universal problem that Faces each and every one of us.

Not the Renunciation of Action but the Renunciation of the Fruits of our Actions is the Solution to the Problem

The solution to this problem, given by Shri Krishna, is the essence of Vedic culture. The Gita poses the questions: why should we give up work or action? Why should we renounce /the World as demanded by the Sankhya school of philosophy? It is it because we are afraid that we might get attached to this world, and that this attachment might sweep us off our feet into the quicksands of entanglements in life? The Gita condemns this, and says that this attitude is neither befitting us with regard to this World nor will it win us heaven in the next. Why should we not try to evolve some way which might enable us to work uninterrupted and yet not be bound up into its meshes of entanglement? Since it is an impossibility for us to live without doing work, why should we not devise a method which would enable us to lead a life of action and yet not be chained by it. We could then kill two birds with one stone. Is this not possible. The Gita holds out a positive answer which may be considered to be the beams of a. candle shining forth from the dark and dingy corners of entanglement. The Gita, the repository of Vedic wisdom, enunciates the theory of action but the highlight of this theory is that one should not be affected by the results of one‘s actions. It is advises us to remain in the world because once we are born there is no escape from it, but at the same time not to be lost in the world, to enjoy the world of senses without being led astray by the senses, to spin the yarn of Karma on the spinning wheel of life but not to lot at knot in it despoil the yarn. This advice of the Gita is called Karma Yoga or the Yoga of action or Nishkama Karma.

But it can one live in the world and still remain unattached? ls it possible to live a life of action and yet be free from its clutches? Whilst describing this advocated path of life whereby One lives in the world, acts, and yet is free from the Fruits of the act, the Gita says: ‘Your control can be only over the actions you perform, not over their results. Inactive by nature you cannot remain; while acting you cannot order the results to your liking. Perform therefore whatever actions you have to, O Arjuna, with a sense of non-attachment to the results thereof. You should keep yourself in balance in success or failure. This is called the action of one who has settled down in Yoga mind.’ in a word, the Yoga school of philosophy, accepted by the Gita, decries all inaction propounded by the Sankhya school and urges us to live a life of action, but to act with a feeling of non-attachment to the result. Thus we shade the path of action with the pines of mental balance and equilibrium as well as with the roses of calmness and unperturbedness in the event of rains or sunshine.

But the Sankhya philosophy solves this problem in a different Way. The followers of the marga of Sankhya or the path oi‘ inaction question: Work? Why should we work? For whom should We work?

This world is ephemeral, untrue, and unsubstantial. It is better for us to do no work at all if we want to avoid the miseries attendant on our work. Thus if we want to live happily we must rally under the banner of Sankhya and avoid all work. This philosophy may be compared to Tennyson’s view when he states that ‘We only toil, who are the first of things, And make perpetual moan’ and further  questions ‘Why should we only toil, the roof and crown of things?’ Tennyson also concludes that we should not work if we want to avoid the miseries of life.

The Followers of the path of Yoga or action hold out the following reply: even if we admit that this world is ephemeral, untrue, unreal, and unsubstantial, does it not For all practical purposes exist? Can you disprove its factual existence? How, then, can you altogether renounce work and action, or prevent yourself from being caughtup in the unending stream of activity? Hence, the true course available to us, in order to avoid the miseries ensuing from work and action, is not to try to escape from the world or to renounce the work or the action itself. But ‘we should renounce the desire, the craving, the longing for the result, the attachment with its consequences, the Feeling that ‘because I did this, I must get that or I must be rewarded.’

Both the paths of Sankhya as well as Yoga aim at a common objective, both want to avoid the miseries resulting from action. But whereas the former achieves this end by renouncing the work itself, the latter suggests renunciation only of the desire for its result.

The Gita accepts and upholds the path of Yoga, the path of desireless, disinterested action. Shri Krishna points out that this is the art of living, this is the secret handed down from Vivaswan  to Manu, the secret now being revealed by him to Arjuna. Krishna accepts the contention of the Sankhya school that action entails us into the miseries resulting therefront,” but questions at the same time the advisability of refraining from the performance of an act. He asks: how is it possible to renounce action? If this be an impossibility, why then should one propagate a doctrine which is impracticable? we must, it is inherent in our nature.”‘But at the same time it is equally true that we must try to avoid the miseries which result from our actions. Shri Krishna states that these miseries result not from the action itself, but from the attachment, from a feeling of frustration, from I-ness and my-ness, which is engrafted into any action performed with the lamp of expectations burning in front of us. When an act cannot be avoided even if We so desire, does it not logically follow that the only alternative available to us is to act and not to think of the result because this is never within our power?

lt is probable that at man when asked to give up the desire for the fruit of his action might give up the action itself‘. Shri Krishna clearly saw such a possibility. He visualized that people might become lethargic and work with no enthusiasm if they were told to treat success and failure alike. To dispel such a despondency he exhorts: ‘Arjuna! as the unwise act with attachment, so should the wise men, seeking maintenance of the world order, act but act without attachment.

The feeling of un-attachment should not result in any slackness or laxity in the tempo of our actions, otherwise what difference-would there be between the path of Yoga and the path of Sankhya’!

According to Shri Krishna. it tempoless action is no action, it is inaction. The consciousness that, howsoever one may wish, one cannot avoid the action should only goad a man onto act with double the enthusiasm. Desirelessness and unattachment are solely meant to eliminate the fever and the fret involved in an action.

Selfless Action is Not Impossible

It is often stated that the ideal of working without the desire for the fruit ‘thereof is one of the many things which are easier said than done Everyone is motivated to act with one aim or another in view. Is there , then, any way whereby we can overlook or ignore ye consequences of our actions and develop a detached outlook‘? According to Shri Krishna, this is possible if we begin to consider this life as a Yajnya or a sacrifice. He speaks out thus: ‘Man is bound by shackles of Karma only when engaged in actions other than the work performed for the sake of Yajnya (sacrifice). Therefore, O Arjuna! do you efficiently perform your duty, free from attachment, for the sake of sacrifice alone.Krishna further states: ‘The virtuous, who partake of what is left after their sacrifice, are absolved of all sins. Those sinful ones, who cook for the sake of nourishing their body alone, eat only sin.’

The Gita cxhorts us to treat life as a Yajnya or a sacrifice, a life free from all attachment and selfishness. Whistle  performing a sacrifice a man surrenders himself to the care of the Power Supreme.  The feeling at self surrender is: ‘I am nothing, Thou art everything; nothing is mine, everything is thine.’ This feeling of self-surrender is the essence of Yajnyn and when it envelops life, life becomes a living’”.Yajnya.

A ll the years from the cradle to the grave should be lived as a Yajnya, in a spirit of calm and tranquillity, making Brahma, Brahma, and only Brahma as both the subject and the object of all our doings. The prelude to any piece of work which is undertaken, be it a business venture, or a family duty, or a service to humanity, should be : ‘Acts are mine, but Lord, fruits are thine.’ Every action should be looked upon as an offering and the holy Brahma as the sacrificial fire into Whose unquenchable flames the seething oil of all our actions should be continuously poured. The thought provoking words of Krishna are: ‘Whatever you do, whatever you cat, whatever you oifer as oblation to the sacred fire, whatever you bestow as a gift, whatever you do by way of penance, offer it all to Me.’ 1

A man who leads such it life of self-surrender has been described in the Gita by the Words Atma-rata (Atma means self, rat means satisfied), Atma-tripta and Atma-santushta (self-satisfied, self-contented and self-possessed). A man leading quite the opposite type of life, that is, a life of licentiousness and indulgence, has been described as Indriyarata (Indriya means the senses, and rata means satisfied) or the one who seeks satisfaction in the enjoyment ofthe senses.

It is not something unusual or strange to consider life as a sacrifice and thus to live in an unattached way. Every  person has had such an experience at some time or the other in life. take the case of a doctor. He treats his patients with all the knowledge and experience at his command, and though many are cured none the less some die. But have you ever seen a doctor cry or weep for any of his unsucccssful cases? He is always unconcerned and unattached. He does his best to save the life of his patient and there his duty ends. He  acts and acts with the fullness of spirit but does not let the result over- power him. One would, however, see the same doctor unnerved and undone if his own child were to pass away. Of course, at that time the whole world would change for him. He would be filled  with grief, and would neither eat nor drink. He would lose total control over himself. He would now be weeping and wailing at the loss of his child, whereas he never shed at single tear when other children died under his treatment, Therefore, the question that arises is: why cannot he develop the same detached outlook for his own kith and kin which he has towards others?

Let us take another example. The husband of a lady dies. Friends and relatives come to console her and tell her that death must one day overtake us all, and that all this weeping and wailing will not avail in the least, nor will it bring back the dead to life again. But, heaven forbid, if any one of these visitors perehance meets the same title. she would not be able to Face up to the tragedy and there would he no consolation For her. She would find the loss of her husband in- tolerable and unendurable. When this very lady had expected a detached outlook in her friend, how is it that the some outlook could not be developed new by her own self?

If a businessman is robbed or loses his all, we try to console him. But when we ourselves are robbed, we cannot be soothed. What do all this mean’?

It  means, in simple words, that when our outlook is detached, we are serene, self-composed, and cheerful, but when this outlook is clouded with attachment and passions we tend to become restless,

anxious, and worried. The message of the Gila and the essence of Vedic culture is that one should live in the world and yet remain untouched by its soil‘,”one should work with a vigour but do so  in a spirit of self surrender  as if  nothing had been done, one should dip in the water and still keep one’s self undrenched and crisp like a lotus leaf, one should be enmeshed in the world of Maya but should be able to come out of it as the caterpillar’ sheds oft‘ and Worms its way out from its skin.

It is precisely with this idea of creating the inner calm well as peaceful surrounding for  all to live in and work that Krishna tells Arjuna that the greatest is he who ‘regards well-wishers, friends, foes, neutrals, mediators, the objects of hatred, relatives, virtuous and the sinful alike.“ If We try to follow this precept of detached outlook not only to the letter but also in spirit what an immense spiritual reservoir of perennial spring will be opened up for humanity  to quench its thirst for equality of treatment. Will it not lead to the establishment of a better moral order and will it not make world outlook analogous to that of Shri Krishna when he said, ‘I am equally present in all beings; there is none hateful or dear to Me. And think of the immense peace of mind the individual will capture when ‘he is alike to friend and Foe, and likewise to honour and ignominy, is alike to heat and cold, pleasure and pain and is free from attachment. This is the bliss promised by Krishna who loved Arjuna (all mankind) clearly, if only Arjuna would carry out the very core of his teachings»—Oh, son of Kunti, he thou equal unto all.

This outlook is one of treating life as a great Yajnya or a sacrifice.It is not attained by a life of selfishness, indulgence, and pining for the fruits of one’s actions. Shri Krishna whilst stressing on Arjuna to sacrifice all his actions to Him said: ‘Therefore always efficiently do your duty without attachment, doing work without attachment man attains the Supreme,’ “ and further continues, ‘Therefore, dedicating all actions to Me with your mind fixed on Me, the Self of all, freed from hope and feeling of attachment, cured of mental fever  fight.’

 Any work done with desire for its fruits is indeed a mental fever. When the result of some action does not turn out to be what we had desired, or worse still, when it turns out to he quite contrary to all expectations, we become restless, sad, and worried. The only way out is to work without desire. This is the secret teaching that Shri Krishna imparted to the bewildered Arjuna at the very moment he was turning his back to the world.

Why Should We Not I-lope for the Result?

Why should we not hope for the results of our actions? is it because we are afraid that  it does not turn out to be favourable we will be disappointed? And hence is this theory advocated merely to enable us to escape or to overcome this disappointment? There must be some philosophical ground, besides the practical   considerations, for the ideal of the renunciation of the desire for the results of your actions. What is this philosophical ground?

Renunciation of  desire does not mean that our actions will bear no fruit. Result must ensue from every act, though it may sometimes be favorable and at other times unfavorable. That is all. However, our happiness depends on the favourable and unhappiness on the unfavorable result of our notion. ‘But can we not realize that whereas we can exercise control over our actions, the results are obviously beyond the circumferences of the exercise of our powers‘? Here we cannot but recall Matthew Arnold’s lines, ‘success sways with the breath of Heaven. And though thou thinkest that thou knowest sure Thy victory, yet thou surely canst not know.’ Matthew Arnold further compares ourselves to swimmers in the sea, poised on the top of  huge Wave of fate, which he says, hangs uncertain which side to full. And whether it will heave us up to land or Whether it will roll us out to sea, we know not and no search can make us know; it is only the event which will teach us in its hour. Why then should we fret and fume over something which is beyonnd our control.

How vast is this universe ! A number of causes are responsible For a resultant effect. We can only know a few causes, we cannot and do not know all because our vision is limited. There is, however, some Supreme Power, operating in the universe, which keeps all these causes and effects in view and strikes a balance among them all. This power may be described as the Synthetic Power. It is this power alone that knows the reasons for, as well as the extent to which, something that may be good for us may be bud for others and vice versa, and hence constantly operates to adjust the good and the bad of each. one of us in the context of the larger interests of humanity.

When we do not know as to whether the fulfilment of our particular desire will be good or bad in the context of the divine purpose,we are left only with the sole alternative to act with the best of our intentions and dedicate the results to the Will Supreme. We should try to learn to see things in the larger context and not think from the narrow personal angle. It was to express this truth that Shri Krishna revealed to Arjuna what is known as the Divine Form.

Revelation of the Divine Form

The Gita states that Shri Krishna assumed a Divine Form to enable  Arjuna to behold Bhishma, Drona, and Kama with the principal warriors on their sides rushing headlong into His fearful mouth which was set with terrible teeth, and getting caught between them (teeth) with their heads crushed. All this had a symbolic meaning. The revelation of the Divine Form by Shri Krishna aimed at showing, in operation, the Synthetic Power which works in the world to reconcile all the contradictions that perturb the doubting mind. The manifestation of Shri Krishna’s universal form in which the operation of the law of cause and effect was unfolded to the mental eye of Arjuna set all his vacillations at rest.

Shri Krishna said about this form: ‘Arjuna! behold presently in hundreds and thousands My multifarious divine forms, of diverse colours and different shadesl“ Who can consider himself alone to be the centre of the universe after knowing that thousands of causes are operating in the determination of an effect without our being aware of them? Arjuna also realized, on seeing the Divine Form, that even the mighty men like Bhishma and Drona were not free from the dispensation of Divine justice; even they were being ground like grist under His teeth. The narrow vision of Arjuna turned into a wide perspective. His apprehensions about the sin of killing his kith and kin disappeared in a moment. He now realized that those, whom he was called upon to fight with, had already been slain by their Karmas in the scheme of the Divine, and that he was only being made an instrument of that Will; he was only the chisel that would cut the rock, as the Sculptor would direct it. It was thus that Shri Krishna said: ‘I am the inflamed Kala (time), the destroyer of the worlds. My purpose here is to destroy these people. Even without you all those warriors arrayed in the enemy’s camp will not survive.”

This was the teaching that turned the cowardice of Arjuna into valour, this was the lesson which made him face the world instead of turning his back to it. He began to feel that though he was Working, it was as if no work was being done by him. The Gita states whilst describing this state of the mind: ‘He Whose under- takings are all free from desire and thoughts of the world, and whose actions are burnt up by the fire  of wisdom, him even the wise call a sage.“ Thus did Mahatma Gandhi say: ‘Thoughts accrue automatically to him who duly performs his duties. In fact, the right to perform one’s duties is the only right that is worth living for and dying for. It covers all legitimate rights.’

Shri Krishna was not a mere charioteer, he was a spiritual guide. We all face problems similar to those of Arjuna. The very idea of war disturbed and agitated Arjuna. What will be the result of this war? Shall I lose or shall I win? Should I fight with those whom I called my own? These were the questions Arjuna had to solve. He found his answers through the immortal secret of disinterested, desireless action.Even today the teachings of Shri Krishna, which infused new life into Arjuna, hold good for us though centuries have rolled by. And for all time to come, Shri Krishna seems to be exhorting the Arjunas of all generations to enlarge their vision, to give up all the doubts and hesitations in the performance of their duties and to do everything in a spirit of sacrifice, for Nishkama Karma or disinterested action is only another name for sacrifice and self-surrender to the Will Divine. The teachings of the Gita, proclaiming to the world the secret gospel of disinterested action, will survive till the sun and the moon continue to shed their lights on the globe and will never die.