The Melancholy Korean

Man is not at peace with himself till he has become like unto God. The endeavor to reach this state is supreme, the only ambition worth having. And this is self-realization. This self-realization is the subject of the Gita, as it is of all scriptures. But its author surely did not write it to establish that doctrine. The object of the Gita appears to me to be that of showing the most excellent way to attain self-realization. That which is to be found, more or less clearly, spread out here and there in Hindu religious books, has been brought out in the clearest possible language in the Gita even at the risk of repetition.

That matchless remedy is renunciation of the fruits of action.

This is the center round which the Gita is woven. This renunciation is the central sun around which devotion, knowledge, and the rest revolve like planets. The body has been likened to a prison. There must be action where there is body. And yet all religions proclaim that it is possible for man, by treating the body as the temple of God, to attain freedom. Every action is tainted, be it ever so trivial. How can the body be made the temple of God? In other words how can one be free from action, i.e., from the taint of sin?

The Gita has answered the question in decisive language: By desireless action; by renouncing fruits of action; by dedicating all activities to God, i.e., surrendering oneself to Him body and soul.

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श्रीभगवानुवाच |

अनाश्रितः कर्मफलं कार्यं कर्म करोति यः |

स संन्यासी च योगी च न निरग्निर्न चाक्रियः ||६-१||

यं संन्यासमिति प्राहुर्योगं तं विद्धि पाण्डव |

न ह्यसंन्यस्तसङ्कल्पो योगी भवति कश्चन ||६-२||

आरुरुक्षोर्मुनेर्योगं कर्म कारणमुच्यते |

योगारूढस्य तस्यैव शमः कारणमुच्यते ||६-३||

यदा हि नेन्द्रियार्थेषु न कर्मस्वनुषज्जते

सर्वसङ्कल्पसंन्यासी योगारूढस्तदोच्यते ||६-४||

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The Lord said:

He who performs all obligatory action, without depending on the fruit thereof, is a sannyasi and a yogi—not the man who neglects the sacrificial fire nor he who neglects action.

What is called sannyasa, know thou to be yoga, O Pandava; for none can become a yogi who has not renounced selfish purposes.

For the man who seeks to scale the heights of yoga, action is said to be the means. For the same man, when he has scaled those heights, repose is said to be the means.

When a man is not attached either to the objects of sense or to actions and sheds all selfish purpose, then he is said to have scaled the heights of yoga.