GITA 4.21

GITA 4.21

Imlitala Mandir

Sri Radha Gopinath

Imli tree

Today's [11th October,2007] lecture is from Imli tala (Under the shade of Tamarind tree), in Brindavan. As the name suggests, there is a tamarind tree which flowers but never yields fruit as it was cursed by a gopika. This tree is here for thousands of years. Just as Nammalwar was under a tamarind tree at Thirukkurugur, here also, Sri Krishna is blessing devotees, from under a tamarind tree. . It is said that after playing with the gopikas -rasa kreeta- the Lord will sit under the tree and mull over it. In epics, it is said that when lovers part, they lose their body hue. Here also Sri Krishna would have become paler, and by mulling over, He used to regain His black color!  Here the Gaudia mutt has established the present temple. Here Sri Krishna, Sri Radha, Chaithanya Mahaprabhu and Nrityananda grace the devotees. The Rasa kreeta and the life of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu are in sketches in the temple.

 In the last sloka Sri Krishna told Arjuna to view Gyana in Karma and Karma in Gyana. We saw it is possible practically. Now we go to the 19th sloka:

yasya sarve samarambhah
kama-sankalpa-varjitah
jnanagni-dagdha-karmanam
tam ahuh panditam budhah

One is understood to be in full knowledge whose every act is devoid of desire for sense gratification. He is said by sages to be a worker whose fruitive action is burned up by the fire of perfect knowledge.

"One is understood to be in full knowledge whose every endeavor is devoid of desire for sense gratification. He is said by sages to be a worker for whom the gyana of work has burnt away the papa and punya."

Yasya = the one, samarambha = efforts, sarve = for all nitya, naimitika and kamya karma, kama = inferior desires, sankalpa =illusion, varjita = devoid of, tam panditam = that intellectual or gyani, jnanagni = the fire of gyana in karma, dagdha = burns away, karmanam = papa and punya, ahuh = acclaim, budhah= learned persons. A person who performs all types of karma or who takes effort to perform all types of karma, ensures that they are not commenced for inferior [anything other than for pleasing Sri Krishna or God, is considered inferior] objectives, or not done with a sankalpa, is considered as Gyani. Here, sankalpa means the confusion or illusion that body and soul are same. Kama not merely the male-female sex desire, but anything for worldly desires. So, he does all karmas but without the illusion of body and soul are same, and without the objective of the karmas for inferior desires. Tam panditham = Sri Krishna calls him as pandit or learned or gyani. Here, karmanam means the papa/punya one gathers by doing a karma or already gathered over the ages in various births. These are burnt away, by the fire like gyana in the karma he is doing. If we perform a karma with detachment, the gyana portion is the fire. Such a person is praised by well learned persons as Gyani, and has destroyed all papa and punya. So practicing Karma yoga in the right way, gets papa/ punya destroyed, which means he does not have likes and dislikes and so he is unaffected by happiness or sorrow. The mind becomes serene and is in a position to have atman sakshatkaram. So we have to understand that even our daily routines can become Karma yoga, provided we do not desire worldly rewards nor we mistake soul and body are same. Then our karma or all actions are uplifted and we get the same status as a person practicing Gyana yoga. Arjuna could fight as usual and at the same time reap the rewards of a Gyani practicing Gyana yoga.

                                                                                             (continued)