Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 2, Verse 49

दूरेण ह्यवरं कर्म बुद्धियोगाद्धनञ्जय |
बुद्धौ शरणमन्विच्छ कृपणा: फलहेतव: || 49||

dūreṇa hy-avaraṁ karma buddhi-yogād dhanañjaya
buddhau śharaṇam anvichchha kṛipaṇāḥ phala-hetavaḥ

dūreṇa—(discrad) from far away; hi—certainly; avaram—inferior; karma—reward-seeking actions; buddhi-yogāt—with the intellect established in Divine knowledge; dhanañjaya—Arjun; buddhau—divine knowledge and insight; śharaṇam—refuge; anvichchha—seek; kṛipaṇāḥ—miserly; phala-hetavaḥ—those seeking fruits of their work

Translation:

O Arjuna! Work with attachment is far inferior to nishkama karma. Therefore seek refuge in desireless action with equanimity of mind. Those who work for fruits and rewards are wrecked.

Commentary:

We find that Arjuna is addressed as Dhanamjaya in this and the previous verse. The Lord exhorts him not to be content with worldly wealth and dominion which are perishable stuff but seek and strive for spiritual treasure which is eternal.

In the Gita, the term buddhi yoga is many times used as an equivalent to jnana yoga. Here the term is used in the sense of the discriminative intellect which makes nishkama karma possible. Buddhi is nischyatmaka (i.e.) the determining faculty of the pure intellect by which Atma is realised, and freedom from samsara is attained. The mind is polluted by various tendencies (vasanas) which bind man to the pleasures of the objective world and carry him on from birth to birth. The discriminative intellect has the power to order the mind and determine what is right from the spiritual point of view. Therefore take refuge in buddhi is the Lord’s advice. When a man brings into direct operation this faculty of the intellect, the dust and heat of passions raging through the material world are cleared up and the perception of Reality becomes possible. The impure tendencies (vasanas) of the mind create a hundred desires, and the man goes on acting for the fulfillment of these desires. Consequently, the cycle of birth and death continues endlessly for the ignorant man.

Desireless work is the open gateway to knowledge and liberation. The two types of work -work with desire for enjoyment and work without desire – are at the opposite poles. Two persons may be engaged in the same work. One does it for personal enjoyment and fame, and he misses the true end. Another does it without any personal thought or feeling. He achieves the true aim and becomes free. So the attitude to work is most important whatever may be the actual value of the work. The ignorant people who cannot see this difference in mental attitude are confused because they find the wise and the ignorant doing the same work externally. The Lord condemns the poor souls who are always seeking small rewards for their little work. They are meanspirited and wretched men (Kripanah). They are carried away helplessly and painfully. Those who work only to enjoy the fruits of their labor are unhappy because one has no control over the results. Why should man make himself a wretched play-thing in the hands of nature? Why should he become a toy in the hands of fate to be turned in a whirl of worthless pleasures and bitter sorrows? The Lord wants Arjuna to be a real man and not merely a show-boy in the hands of nature. Being born as men endowed with intellect and discrimination, it is shameful that people should make themselves slaves and bondmen to nature, forgetting the glory and blessedness of their real Self.

`Seek refuge in the equanimity born of knowledge’. That is the clarion call of the Lord. Through the purified buddhi man attains the supreme.

Sri Ramakrishna Says —

Narendra and many other devotees were seated on the floor. Girish entered the room and joined them.

MASTER (to Girish): “I look on Narendra as Atman. I obey him.”

GIRISH: “Is there anyone you don’t obey?”

MASTER (smiling): “He has a manly nature and I have the nature of a woman. He is a noble soul and belongs to the realm of the Indivisible Brahman.”

Girish went out to have a smoke.

NARENDRA (to the Master): “I had a talk with Girish Ghosh. He is indeed a great man. We talked about you.”

MASTER: “What did you say about me?”

NARENDRA: “That you are illiterate and we are scholars. Oh, we talked in that vein!” (Laughter.)

MANI MALLICK (to the Master): “You have become a pundit without reading a book.”

MASTER (to Narendra and the others): “Let me tell you this: really and truly I don’t feel sorry in the least that I haven’t read the Vedanta or the other scriptures. I know that the essence of the Vedanta is that Brahman alone is real and the world illusory. And what is the essence of the Gita? It is what you get by repeating the word ten times. Then it is reversed into ‘tagi’, which refers to renunciation. The pupil should hear the essence of the scriptures from the guru; then he should practise austerity and devotions. A man needs the letter he has received from home as long as he has not learnt its contents. After reading it, however, he sets out to get the things he has been asked to send. Likewise, what need is there of the scriptures if you know their essence? The next thing is the practice of spiritual discipline.”

Girish entered the room.

MASTER (to Girish): “Hello! What were you saying about me? I eat, drink, and make merry.”

GIRISH: “What should we have been saying about you? Are you a holy man?”

MASTER: “No, nothing of the sort. Truly I do not feel I am a holy man.”

GIRISH: “I am not your equal even in joking.”

MASTER: “I once went to Jaygopal Sen’s garden house wearing a red-bordered cloth. Keshab was there. Looking at the red borders Keshab said: ‘What’s this? Such a flash of colour today! Such a display of red borders!’ I said, ‘I have to cast a spell on Keshab; hence this display.'”

Narendra was going to sing again. Sri Ramakrishna asked M. to take down the tanpura from the wall. Narendra was a long time tuning it. The Master and the devotees became impatient. Binode said, “He will tune it today and sing another day.” (Laughter.)

Sri Ramakrishna laughed. He said: “I feel like breaking the tanpura to pieces! What is this? Only Tong — tong’! Then he will practise: ‘Tana-nana-nere-num’!” (The sound of a stringed instrument.)

BHAVANATH: “Everybody feels annoyed like this before a musical performance begins.”

NARENDRA (still tuning): “If you don’t understand it.”

MASTER (smiling): “There! He explains away our complaints!” (Source: Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna)

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Translation:

Commentary:

Sri Ramakrishna Says —

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