| Discourses On Gita By Acharya Vinoba Bhave |
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| Discourses On Gita |
| CONCLUSION - THE FULFILLMENT OF FRUIT - THE GRACE OF THE LORD |
| 'Om'
stands for constantly, 'tat' for detachment, and 'sat'
for the saattvik nature, for purity. In our endeavor, there
should be constancy, detachment and purity. Only then can we
surrender it to the Lord. From all this it appears that some actions
should be done and others given up. If we look at the whole message
of the Gita, we are taught in place after place that we should not
renounce action. The Gita speaks of the renunciation of the fruits
of action.
Everywhere in the Gita it is taught "Go on constantly performing action, but keep renouncing the fruits of it. This is one side of it. The other appears to be that we should perform some actions and renounce others. Therefore, in the beginning of the Eighteenth Chapter Arjuna asks the final question, "On the one hand, it is said that no matter what action we do, we should first renounce the fruit. It is said on the other that some actions must perforce be renounced and others are worth performing. How are these two statements to be reconciled?" This question is framed so that we may understand clearly the direction in which life should proceed. It seeks to understand the secret of the renunciation of fruit. In what the shastras call 'sannyaas' (renunciation) action should be renounced in its very form and nature. That is, the form of action is itself to be renounced. But in 'tyaaga' sacrifice, what is renounced is not the action, but the fruit of it. Now the question is, "For the renunciation of fruit that the Gita enjoins, is it necessary to renounce actions itself? Tested by the touchstone of the renunciation of fruit, is there any benefit to be derived from sannyaasa, the renunciation of action? Where are the limits of sannyaasa placed? Where and what are the limits of phalatyaaga and sannyaasa, renunciation of fruit and renunciation of action? This is Arjuna's question. |
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