_{Bhagavad Gita:}

_{Chapter 3 continued, Karma Yoga}

_{After listening to the Lord Krishna about the importance of knowledge of Brahman or Paramatma he was very confused.}

_{Arjuna asks Krishna}

_{Krishna, If you consider knowledge of Brahman superior to any sort of action, why are you telling me to do these horrible deeds? Your statements seem to contradict each other. They confuse my mind. Tell me one definite way of reaching the highest good.}

_{Krishna replies}

_{I have already told you that, in this world,aspirants may find enlightenment by two different paths.For the contemplative it is the path of knowledge:for the active it is the path of selfless action.}

_{Freedom from activity is never achieved by obstaining from action. Nobody can become perfect by merely ceasing to act.In fact nobody can rest from activity even for a moment.All are helplessly forced act by gunas.}

_{A man who renounces certain physical actions but still lets his mind dwell on objects of his sensual desire, is deceiving himself. He can only be called a hypocrite. The truly admirable man controls his senses by the power of his will.All are directed along the path to union with brahman.}

_{Activity is better than inertia. Act, but with self control.If you are lazy, you can not even sustain your own body.}

_{The world is imprisoned in its own activity, except when actions are performed as worship of God.Therefore you must perform every action sacramentally and be free from all attachments to results.}

_{But when a man has found delight and satisfaction in the Atman, then he is no longer obliged to perform any kind of action. He has nothing to gain in this world by action and nothing to lose by refraining from action. He is independent of everything. Do your duty always but without attachment. This is how a man reaches the ultimate truth, by working without anxiety about results. The great royal sage Janaka and many others reached enlightenment by doing their duty in this spirit.}

_{Your motive in working should be to set others by your example on the path of duty.Whatever a great man does, ordinary people will follow his example. Consider Me: There is nothing in all the worlds which I already do not own. But I go on working tirelessly to set an example to mankind}

                                                        _…Continued

_{Comments from Swami Prabhavananda:}

_{Mankind almost always acts with attachment, in otherwords with fear and desire.Desire for a certain result and fear that this result will not be obtained.But there is another way of performing action and this is without fear and desire. The Christians call it “holy indifference” and Hindus call it ‘ non attachment’.Both names are slightly misleading.They suggest coldness and lack of enthusiasm. This is why often people confuse non attachment with fatalism. But they are totally opposites. The fatalist simply does not care. He will get what is coming to him. But the doer of non attached action is the most conscientious of men. Freed from fear and desire he offers everything he does as a devotion to his duty. Lord krishna says when action is done in this spirit it will lead us to knowledge of what is behind the action and ultimate reality. And with growth of this knowledge the need for further action will slowly fall away from us. We shall realize our true nature which is God.}

_{References : Bhagvad-Gita translated by swami Prabavananda and Christopher Isherwood. Introduction by Aldous Huxley.}