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56
Law of Karma
Dr. S. Radhakrishnan also states in his book Bhagavadgītā that it is not possible for us to abstain from action. Nature is always at work and we are deluded if we fancy that its process can be held up. Moreover, he says that cessation from action is not desirable. The binding quality of an action does not lie in its mere performance but in the motive or desire that prompts it.
Swami Vivekananda also accepts the views of Gita that psychologically, one cannot exist without performing action. So long as we lead embodied lives, we cannot escape from actions. Without work, the life cannot be sustained.
The eye cannot choose but see,
we cannot bidthe ear be still, Our bodies feel where'er they be Against or with Our Will.26
One cannot attain perfection by mere renunciation of action. What is necessary is the renunciation of the fruits of action. Selfish desire or motive must be avoided. Thinking is an act, willing is an act, living is an act and these acts cause many effects. To be free from desires, from the illusion of personal interest is the true non-action and the physical abstention from activity. When it is said that works cease for a man who is liberated, all that is meant is that he has no further personal necessity for works. It does not mean that he flees from action and takes refuge in blissful inaction. He works as God works without any binding necessity. Free from desire and attachment, one with all beings, he acts out of the profoundest depth of his inner being, governed by his immortal divine, highest self.
Yogasthan Kuru Karmaņi
Sangam tyaktvā dhananjaya Siddhyasiddhyoh Samo bhūtvā Samatvam yoga uchyate.27
Just as a dancing girl fixes her attention on the water pot, she bears on her head, even when she is dancing in various poses, so also a truly pious man does not give up his attention to the blissful feet of the supreme Lord even when he attends to his many concerns.
