Verse 19
Yasya sarve samaarambhaah
Kaamasankalpa varjitaah;
Jnaanaagni dagdhakarmaanam
Tam aahuh panditam budhaah.
He whose undertakings are all devoid of
desires and (selfish) purposes, and whose actions have been burnt by the fire
of knowledge — him the wise call a sage.
Basically, actions are desired because of
hankering for rewards and these actions are not properly consummated. One who
is free from desire and hankering is considered to be intelligent and wise.
This is because all actions of such a person turn into inaction by the fire of
knowledge that is kindled within the purified mind that is free from all
desires and hankerings.
A pandita sage is one who
acts renouncing kama desire which comes from the past
and sankalpa expectation of fruit in the future. Past worry
and future anxiety drain you of energy and vitality. They interfere with
present action.
The craving to perform action and anxiety for
the fruit of action needs to be renounced, not action. Give up kartrtva
bhavana and bhoktrtva bhavana – the sense of
doer-ship and enjoyer-ship.
One who continues to act giving up desire and
expectation is freed. His actions get burnt by the fire of Knowledge. Action
means desire, vasana. Knowledge sublimates all desires.
The wise call such a person a sage. Ordinary
people do not recognize the greatness of the person. You have to be spiritually
evolved to spot an Enlightened person. Only a musician can appreciate an
outstanding musical performance. As the saying goes – you need a Milton to
understand Milton!! Only a Jnani can describe the state of another Jnani!!
Chinmaya writes,
The instruction to act "WITHOUT PLANNING
AND DESIRE" does not mean that a man-of-Equilibrium, in his inspired
activity, should not make use of his better intelligence and plan his
activities to gain a desired result. It only means that, WHILE HE IS AT WORK,
he should not allow his abilities and capacities to run to waste, with his
mental preoccupations and sentimental fears regarding the results-of-his-work.
Vedanta does not in any way ignore man's intellect. The way of life as advised in the Gita provides only a more efficient means to act and achieve, to live and to enjoy, cultivating and applying our own potentialities more intelligently.
An individual, who has thus come to live intelligently and act diligently, becomes fully wedded to the piece of work in hand and gets so entirely drunk with the joy of his own inspiration, that the action cannot leave upon him even a trace of its reaction.
Our mind and intellect will venture forth to worry over the unknown possibilities and dangers, unless they can find a more secure hold upon something nobler and diviner. "
A perfect Sage is one whose mind is ever
hitched on to the cognition of the Divine, so that, even when he functions in
the world outside, he is reveling in his own Consciousness within.
Love.
PS - Posts under the theme Manas Buddhi Chitta Ahankara deal entirely with the process of how ego leads to desires, such desires leads to actions and such actions to Karma and Karmas bind a human being in the cycle of births and deaths.
Also, in the same theme, solution to come out of this vicious cycle is also clearly explained.
Love.
