Sep 04, 2012, 14:00 IST

BG 18-16 – Ignorant thinks that body is everything

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Commentary by Sant Shri Dnyaneshwar :

Thus, oh Arjuna, karma has five causes and objectives; then tell me, is the soul a cause for karma? Like the sun is not itself interested in sense pleasures, but it manifests the sense pleasures through the five sense organs. Likewise, the soul, without becoming karmas, manifests karmas through the doer. Look, oh Arjuna, the seer does not become the mirror or the reflection, but he manifests the two. Or, sun is the cause for day and night but is separate from them; similarly, even though karma happens under the auspices of the soul, the soul is not the doer. But one who is under the illusion of a false identity with the body, does not know his real self. One who regards that everything is body only, believes firmly that the soul is the doer. In fact, he believes that the body is the doer of karma. He never listens to the statement that the soul is beyond karmas and is a passive witness to all the karmas. Hence he believes that soul is nothing but the body only. Doesn’t an owl close its eyes during the day and regard it as night? One who has never seen the real sun in the sky, regards the sun’s reflection in a pond as the real sun. When water collects in the puddle, he thinks that the sun has been born; and when that water shakes due to breeze, he says that the sun is trembling; and when the puddle dries up, he thinks that the sun is destroyed. So long as man is asleep and does not wake up, he thinks that the dream is real. One who believes a rope to be a snake, feels scared of it. If one is afflicted by jaundice, he sees the moon to be yellow. The desert animal are bound to get attracted to a mirage. Likewise, an ignorant person does not bother about scriptures and guru because his life is based on foolishness. When clouds are moving In the sky, the moon appears to be moving and jackals believe it. Likewise, ignorant people see the body as the soul. Then, oh Arjuna, such a person gets bound tightly in the prison of the body by means of karma. Look, a parrot is sitting on a tube, and believes that it is tied to the tube; and hence even if it is capable of releasing the tube, it does not do so. So, one who believes that the soul is the doer of the karmas performed by the body, remains entangled in karmas for eons. Now, there is kind of a person who performs karmas in a detached manner, like the “vadavanal” (mythical undersea fire), and I will tell you how you can recognise such a person. When one starts searching for such a person, one himself gets liberated. Like when one starts searching for an object in the light of a lamp, he finds it. Or, when we start cleaning the mirror, we can see our image in it; or, when salt is put into water, it becomes water only. Likewise, when w contemplate on the saintly people, we get back our own real self. So, we should always praise and listen to the qualities of saints. But now I will tell you clearly the signs of a person who does not get afflicted by the good or bad effects of karma; and who has transcended karma.


Footnote :







Bhagawad Geeta verse 18:16

तत्रैवं सति कर्तारमात्- मानं केवलं तु य: ।

पश्यत्यकृ- तबुद्धित्व- ान्न स पश्यति दुर्मति: ॥


Literal Meaning :              -               -            

Thus, all karmas have these five objectives. The man who regards only the soul as the doer, is ignorant and does not know Vedanta and hence does not understand anything.

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