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The third chapter of Gita can be broadly divided into
four sections:
1.
The importance of karma in life.
2.
When does karma bind & when does it help
us to door to real freedom.
3.
The exact nature of Karma Yoga.
4.
Understanding & handling desires.
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The third chapter of Gita is called ‘Karma Yoga’ - the
Yoga of action. From this chapter starts the elaboration of what had been
revealed in brief by Lord in the second chapter. This chapter begins with a
question of Arjuna in which he says that ‘O Lord! While on one hand you say
that knowledge of Self alone liberates us from all sense of limitations
& problems, you are personally motivating me to continue doing karma?
Why is this so? He implies that if someone has to intensely & seriously
pursue the knowledge of Self, then he or she will have to ‘look within’ for
sometime rather than ‘look outside’ at the worldly goals. He confesses that
he is yet not clear about the right means, and requests the Lord to
elaborate further so that he can decide his priorities.
Lord begins his discourse by saying that action has an
extremely important role to play even in the awakening to the
transcendental dimension within. He who does not learn the right way to act
will never awake to that redeeming beauty within. Without action no one can
live at all, so we have no choice except to learn about the various aspects
of action. Lord reveals various other positive roles which karma plays in
our lives. As long as we have inclination to attain or enjoy something we
must resort to karma, otherwise such a person is a hypocrite, who digs his
own grave.
Lord goes about revealing the right art of karma,
which has been indicated by the word ‘Yagna’. In this specific way, we are
inspired by some great conscious beings, of which Ishwara – the eternal
consciousness, is of course the greatest. Consciousness manifesting through
some great equipments are called Devatas, who bless our lives in various
ways. We are constant recipients of their love & order. They are
already blessing us, so the most intelligent proposition is to work for
them, so that we live in harmony with the existing order, and then they ‘bless
us’ to fulfill our dreams. That is the way of the world, so pour out your
best with such an attitude of love. This way man learns to enjoy every
karma, and while there may be some desire in him he is not bothered about
it, but takes the results in strides as a prasad from his beloved devata or
God. This Yagna-spirit is the right way to act, and it paves the way for
spiritual unfoldment too.
In the end Lord mentions things about how long a
person should act, what is the ideal field of a persons work, and what are
the subjective obstacles, which a person faces if he resolves to tread this
way of life. Desire & anger, which are revealed as the only obstacles,
have to be slowly overcome so that we live like their masters rather than
their helpless slaves.
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