Bhagavad Gita Chapter 3 Verse 8 — Karma Yoga
Sanskrit
नियतं कुरु कर्म त्वं कर्म ज्यायो ह्यकर्मणः | शरीरयात्रापि च ते न प्रसिद्ध्येदकर्मणः ||३-८||
Transliteration
niyataṃ kuru karma tvaṃ karma jyāyo hyakarmaṇaḥ . śarīrayātrāpi ca te na prasiddhyedakarmaṇaḥ ||3-8||
Hindi Meaning
।।3.8।। तुम (अपने) नियत (कर्तव्य) कर्म करो क्योंकि अकर्म से श्रेष्ठ कर्म है। तुम्हारे अकर्म होने से (तुम्हारा) शरीर निर्वाह भी नहीं सिद्ध होगा।।
English Meaning
Perform your prescribed duty, for doing so is better than not working. One cannot even maintain one’s physical body without work.
Commentary
There are many pseudo meditators who misrepresent themselves as belonging to high parentage, and great professional men who falsely pose that they have sacrificed everything for the sake of advancement in spiritual life. Lord Kṛṣṇa did not want Arjuna to become a pretender. Rather, the Lord desired that Arjuna perform his prescribed duties as set forth for kṣatriyas. Arjuna was a householder and a military general, and therefore it was better for him to remain as such and perform his religious duties as prescribed for the householder kṣatriya. Such activities gradually cleanse the heart of a mundane man and free him from material contamination. So-called renunciation for the purpose of maintenance is never approved by the Lord, nor by any religious scripture. After all, one has to maintain one’s body and soul together by some work. Work should not be given up capriciously, without purification of materialistic propensities. Anyone who is in the material world is certainly possessed of the impure propensity for lording it over material nature, or, in other words, for sense gratification. Such polluted propensities have to be cleared. Without doing so, through prescribed duties, one should never attempt to become a so-called transcendentalist, renouncing work and living at the cost of others.
Hinglish Commentary
Bahut saare pseudo meditators hain jo khud ko uchh vansh se belong karne waale ya bade professionals ki tarah dikhate hain, aur yeh jhoot bolte hain ki unhone apni spiritual life ke liye sab kuch sacrifice kar diya hai. Lekin Bhagwan Kṛṣṇa nahi chahte the ki Arjuna ek pretender ban jaye. Unhone chaha ki Arjuna apne kṣatriya dharm ko nibhaye. Arjuna ek ghar grihasti aur ek military general tha, isliye uske liye yeh behtar tha ki woh apne dharm ko samajhkar apne kṣatriya kartavya ko kare. Aise karm dhirhe-dhirhe ek aam insaan ke dil ko saaf karte hain aur use material contamination se azaad karte hain. Jo log sirf maintenance ke liye renunciation ka bahana karte hain, unhe na toh Bhagwan manzoor karte hain, na kisi dharmik scripture mein yeh sahi mana jata hai. Aakhir mein, har kisi ko apne sharir aur aatma ko sath mein rakhne ke liye kuch na kuch kaam karna hi padta hai. Kaam ko bina kisi materialistic tendencies ko saaf kiye bina chhodna sahi nahi hai. Jo bhi material world mein hai, usmein zaroor koi na koi impurity hoti hai jo material nature par raj karne ki yaani sense gratification ki hoti hai. In polluted tendencies ko saaf karna zaroori hai. Bina aise karm kiye, kisi ko bhi so-called transcendentalist banne ki koshish nahi karni chahiye, kaam ko chhod kar aur dusron ki cost par jeene ki.
Chinmaya Commentary
अपने व्यावहारिक जीवन में नियत कर्म से हमको वे सब कर्तव्य कर्म समझने चाहिये जो परिवार कार्यालय समाज एवं राष्ट्र के व्यक्ति होने के नाते हमें करने पड़ते हैं। इस दृष्टि से अकर्म का अर्थ होगा अपने इन कर्तव्यों को कुशलता से न करना। निष्क्रियता से तो शरीर निर्वाह भी असम्भव होता है। इस प्रकार के अकर्म से राष्ट्र समाज और परिवार का नाश होता है साथ ही वह व्यक्ति स्वयं अपनी अकर्मण्यता का शिकार होकर शारीरिक अक्षमता और बौद्धिक ह्रास से कष्ट पाता है।यह धारणा गलत है कि कर्म बन्धन का कारण होते हैं इसलिये उनको नहीं करना चाहिये। क्यों