यदहङ्कारमाश्रित्य न योत्स्य इति मन्यसे |
मिथ्यैष व्यवसायस्ते प्रकृतिस्त्वां नियोक्ष्यति || 59||
yad ahankāram āśhritya na yotsya iti manyase
mithyaiṣha vyavasāyas te prakṛitis tvāṁ niyokṣhyati
yat—if; ahankāram—motivated by pride; āśhritya—taking shelter; na yotsye—I shall not fight; iti—thus; manyase—you think; mithyā eṣhaḥ—this is all false; vyavasāyaḥ—determination; te—your; prakṛitiḥ—material nature; tvām—you; niyokṣhyati—will engage
Translation:
If prompted by egoism you think ‘I will not fight’, vain is your resolve. Your nature will compel you to fight.
Commentary:
In his former teaching, the Lord advised Arjuna to give up the idea of doership and fight the righteous war. Now the Lord points out that even if Arjuna resolves to give up action, he cannot do so, for reason that his own nature will compel him to fight against his own resolve not to do so. The great secret behind all action is the sense of non-doership (i.e.) the absence of agency, in the doer. Man must act some way or other by the force of his nature and habit. How then can he be free from the binding effects of his action? The answer is this-By giving up the sense of doership, and renouncing the fruits of action he can be free. This is the essential secret behind all action. One who has attained this feeling of detachment is not bound by anything that he does.
No one can live even for a moment without doing work. Everyone without his will is made to do work by the qualities born of Prakriti. (BG 3.5)
By the qualities of nature, actions are performed in all cases, but one whose mind is deluded by egoism thinks “I am the doer”. (BG 3.27)
Even a wise man acts according to his own nature. Beings follow nature; what can restraint do? (BG 3.33)
Swami Vivekananda Says —
First form character, first earn spirituality and results will come of themselves.[Source]
”Each man’s character is determined by the sum total of these impressions. If good impressions prevail, the character becomes good; if bad, it becomes bad. If a man continuously hears bad words, thinks bad thoughts, does bad actions, his mind will be full of bad impressions; and they will influence his thought and work without his being conscious of the fact. In fact, these bad impressions are always working, and their resultant must be evil, and that man will be a bad man; he cannot help it. The sum total of these impressions in him will create the strong motive power for doing bad actions. He will be like a machine in the hands of his impressions, and they will force him to do evil. Similarly, if a man thinks good thoughts and does good works, the sum total of these impressions will be good; and they, in a similar manner, will force him to do good even in spite of himself. When a man has done so much good work and thought so many good thoughts that there is an irresistible tendency in him to do good in spite of himself and even if he wishes to do evil, his mind, as the sum total of his tendencies, will not allow him to do so; the tendencies will turn him back; he is completely under the influence of the good tendencies. When such is the case, a man’s good character is said to be established.[Source]
One day Sri Ramakrishna wrote on a piece of paper, “Naren will teach people.” When Narendra(Swami Vivekananda) expressed opposition the Master said: “But you must. Your very bones will do it.”
The scripture says: Vāsanā pushyati vapuh, desires preserve the body. Human beings have innumerable desires and they force people to move forward. Most people are satisfied when they have fulfilled their worldly desires, and only a rare one among millions seeks God. Chandra Mohan Datta, a young man from Dhaka, came to Calcutta for a job. He heard about the Ramakrishna Mission and came to Udbodhan House, where he met Holy Mother. She listened to him describe his family background and appointed him to do marketing for her household. Saradananda also engaged him to pack books in the publication department. The Mother was very fond of him, because of his simplicity, honesty, and guilelessness. He lived with the monks on the ground floor of the house. He was very fond of eating, and the Mother loved to feed him. Whenever he came to her, he got something to eat.
Sometimes we wonder: if God were to appear to us this moment and offer us a single boon, what would we ask for? Undoubtedly, most people would ask for money, considering that money can fulfill all of their needs. Among millions, perhaps, one would ask for liberation. Chandra Datta once faced this test. He recalled:
Once I was about to go for a bath in the Ganges from Udbodhan House. Swamis Shuddhananda and Prajnananda were with me. Suddenly Swami Shuddhananda said to me: “Chandra, you have free access to Holy Mother and she is also very fond of you. Could you go to the Mother and ask something that I tell you?”
“Of course, I can. Tell me what I have to ask from her.”
“Nothing much. It is a trivial thing. Just tell her, ‘Mother, I want liberation.’”
“I shall tell her right now.”
Immediately I ran to the Mother’s room upstairs and found her worshipping the Master. I had come to her room so many times before, but on that day I was a little scared to see her performing worship. My body began to tremble. I was thinking I should leave the room but I did not have that strength. My legs were shaking, my throat became parched, and my body began to perspire. Suddenly the Mother turned towards me and asked, “Do you want to say something?” My voice choked. Again she asked with a sign, “Did you come to say something?” Quite involuntarily I blurted out one word, “prasad.” The Mother pointed to the prasad kept on a plate under the bed. Then she resumed the worship. Shivering and perspiring profusely, I ran downstairs with the prasad and found that both swamis were waiting for me anxiously. Swami Shuddhananda asked: “Well, Chandra, could you ask for liberation? What did the Mother say?” I told them what happened. I could not go to the Ganges that day and it took many hours to calm down.
Unable to find a permanent solution to the financial problems of his family, Narendra(Swami Vivekananda) went to the Master one day and asked him to pray to the Divine Mother on his behalf, as Narendra had faith that She listened to the Master’s prayers. The Master told him to go to the temple and pray to Her himself for help, assuring him that his request would be granted. Narendra went to the temple with great anticipation. But as soon as he came before the image of the Divine Mother, he saw Her as living and conscious; he forgot the world and the pitiable condition of his mother, sisters, and brothers. In ecstatic joy he prostrated before Her and prayed: “Mother, give me discrimination! Give me renunciation! Give me knowledge and devotion! Grant that I may have an uninterrupted vision of Thee!” He went back to the Master and told him what had happened.The Master sent Narendra to the temple to pray again, but the same thing happened. The third time he remembered his intention, but he felt ashamed to ask for something so small from the Mother of the Universe. At last, at Narendra’s request, the Master blessed him, saying, “All right, your people at home will never be in want of plain food and clothing.”
NAVADVIP: “But how can we persuade our minds to renounce?”
Sri Ramakrishna: “You are a goswami. It is your duty to officiate as priest in the temple. You cannot renounce the world; otherwise, who would look after the temple and its services? You have to renounce mentally.
“It is God Himself who has kept you in the world to set an example to men. You may resolve in your mind a thousand times to renounce the world, but you will not succeed. God has given you such a nature that you must perform your worldly duties.
“Krishna said to Arjuna: ‘What do you mean, you will not fight? By your mere will you cannot desist from fighting. Your very nature will make you fight.'”
At the mere mention of Krishna and Arjuna the Master went into samadhi. In the twinkling of an eye his body became motionless and his eyeballs transfixed, while his breathing could scarcely be noticed. At this sudden transformation Navadvip and his son and the other devotees looked at the Master in mute wonder.
Regaining partial consciousness, he said to Navadvip: “Yoga and bhoga. You goswamis have both. Now your only duty is to call on God and pray to Him sincerely: ‘O God, I don’t want the glories or Thy world-bewitching maya. I want Thee alone!’ God dwells in all beings, undoubtedly. That being the case, who may be called His devotee? He who dwells in God, he who has merged his mind and life and innermost soul in God.”
(Source: Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna)
Related Articles:
- Swami Vivekananda’s Quotes On Character
- How to Change our Character?
- Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 3, Verse 5
- Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 3, Verse 27
- Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 3, Verse 33