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GĪTĀ, TRANSLATION & COMMENTARY, CHAP. III 911
न कर्मणामनारम्भान्नैष्कर्म्यं पुरुषोऽश्नुते । न च संन्यसनादेव सिद्धिं समधिगच्छति ॥ ४ ॥ न हि कश्चित्क्षणमपि जातु तिष्ठत्यकर्मकृत् । कार्यते ह्यवश : कर्म सर्वः प्रकृतिजैर्गुणैः ॥ ५ ॥
(4) (But) It is not that a man attains naiskarmya (that is, performing Action after destroying its binding force-Trans.) by not commencing Action; nor does one attain Perfection by merely making a Renunciation (tyāga) of Action; (5) because, whoever he may be, he does not remain even for a moment without performing (some or other) Action. The constituents of Prakṛti compel every being, that has become dependent, to (always) perform (some or other) Action.
[Commentators, who support the Path of Renunciation, have interpreted the word 'naiskarmyu' occurring in the first part of this stanza, as meaning 'Jñana '; and in order to support their own doctrine, they have interpreted the stanza as meaning, "Knowledge is not acquired by not starting Action, that is to say, Knowledge can be acquired only by performing Action, in as much as Action is the instrument by means of which Knowledge can be acquired". But this interpretation is neither straightforward nor correct. The word naiskarmya' occurs any number of times both in the Vedanta and the Mimāmsā philosophies, and Sureśvarācārya has even written a book entitled Naiskarmya-siddhi. But these principles of Naiskarmya are not new, but have been in vogue from before the time not only of Sureśvarācārya but even of the Sūtras on the Mimāmsā and the Vedanta. It need not be said that Karma (Action) is necessarily binding. Therefore, it is necessary to devise some means whereby the bindingforce or faults of Karma or Action can be destroyed, in the same way as Doctors purify mercury by 'killing' it before it is used; and the state of performing Action by this device is known as 'Naiskarmya'. As Action, thus crippled. does not become an obstruction to Release, how to acquire this state is an important question in the science of Release. The Mimamsa school answers
