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GĪTĀ, TRANSLATION & COMMENTARY, CHAP. III 923
तस्मादसक्तः सततं कार्य कर्म समाचर।
असक्तो ह्याचरन् कर्म परमाप्नोति पूरुषः॥१९॥ no purpose (as of his own) which is mixed up with all created beings; (19) tasmāt, (that is, because the Jñānin does not in this way set store by anything in this world), you too do not have any Attachment (to the Fruit), but perform (your) duty ; because, the man who performs Action, having given up Attachment, attains the highest (state).
[As commentators have very much distorted the meaning of these three stanzas (17 to 19), I will first explain their plain meaning. These three stanzas form really speaking only one sentence, in the shape of a reason and an inference. Out of these, the 17th and 18th stanzas first show the reasons generally given for the Jñānin not performing Action; and the inference drawn by the Gītā is stated in the 19th stanza, which starts with the word 'tasmāt' (that is, therefore'), which shows the inference. It has been clearly stated in the 4th and 5th stanzas in the beginning of this chapter, that the Actions of sleeping, sitting, getting up, nay, of existing itself etc., cannot be given up in this world, even if one wants to do so; and that, therefore, 'naişkarmya' is not achieved by giving up Action, nor is such Renunciation of Action any means for attaining Perfection (siddhi). But the argument advanced against this point of view by the School of Renunciation is: "It is not that we give up Action in order to obtain Perfection. Whatever anybody does in this world, he does it either for his own gain or for the gain of another. But the highest ideal of every man, namely, the Siddhāvastha (State of Perfection), or Moksa (Release), is attained by a Jñānin as a result of Knowledge; and therefore, as there does not remain any more anything else which he has to acquire (stanza 17), it is all the same to him whether he performs a particular Action or does not perform it. Very well, if it is said that he must perform such Action for the benefit of other people, then he has nothing to do with other people (stanza 18). Then, why should he perform
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