| Discourses On Gita By Acharya Vinoba Bhave |
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| Discourses On Gita |
| THE TWO ASPECTS OF AKARMA - YOGA AND SANNYASA |
| And yet yoga is to be preferred to sannyasa 28. Though all this is true, yet the Lord adds a qualification. He says that karma-yoga is better than sannyasa. When the two are identical, why should the Lord prefer one? Is this a joke? When the Lord says that karma-yoga is better, he speaks from the standpoint of the sadhaka, the seeker after perfection. To do nothing and yet to do all things, is possible for the siddha, the perfected one, not for the sadhaka, the seeker. But even he can practice in some measure the method of doing all things and yet doing nothing. The one rule is impossible for the seeker, it is appropriate only to the siddha; but the other is practicable to a certain extent, even for the seeker. Action through inaction is a riddle beyond the understanding of the sadhaka. Karma-yoga is both the way and the goal, but sannyasa is only the goal. From the point of view of the sadhaka, karma-yoga is preferable to sannyasa. 29. On the same principle, the Lord, in the Twelfth Chapter, stresses, the saguna (God with form) rather than the nirguna (God without form). The saguna engages the mind and the senses, while the nirguna does not. The nirguna has no use for, the devotee's hands, feet or eyes - all his senses remain inactive. The sadhaka, is not able to use them aright for their own fulfillment. But in saguna, the hands can see the Lord's form, the ears can hear His praises, the hands can offer worship to Him and serve human beings, the feet can take him on pilgrimage - thus all the organs are assigned appropriate work, and gradually given over to Hari, the Lord. |
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