Chapter 3, Verse 17
yastvātma-ratir-eva syād
ātma tṛptaśca mānavaḥ
ātmanyeva ca santuṣṭaḥ
tasya kāryaṁ na vidyate
But the man whose delight is in the Self and who is satisfied with the enjoyment of the Self and is content in the Self, for him there exists no work that needs to be done.
“But the man whose delight is in the Self”, the one who, through yoga has self-discipline, the one who has a single-pointed mind, the one who is dedicated to one’s path, the God-realised soul “who is satisfied with the enjoyment of the Self and is content in the Self, for him there exists no work that needs to be done.” Very nice, right? Here Lord Krishna says that for a realised soul, the duty is to serve the Lord; and the Lord is the One who is doing everything. If one has reached that state, there is no need to do anything because there is no ‘I’. There is no separation. There is no duality. If one has attained the Ultimate, Narayana Himself, and one has perceived the Supreme in everything that one is doing, one is awake. One is removed from the dreaming state, the state of ignorance; one is fully established in the true identity, which is Narayana Tattva, Vishnu Tattva inside of oneself. One’s identity is God alone, Narayana alone. Tukaram was always chanting, “Who is Tuka? Tuka doesn’t exist. Only you, Lord Vitthala, exist, nothing else.”
For the one who is fully surrendered in body, mind and spirit, who sees God inside himself, who sees that it is only Him who is doing everything, there is no effect of karma. There is nothing that he has to do. This realised soul is continuously absorbed in the Divine Self. This doesn’t mean that he has to sit around not doing anything. But the attitude of – ‘I must not do’ or ‘I must do’ – will not be there. There is no pressure like ‘how am I doing’ or ‘what am I doing’! The realised soul is free from that.
Bhagavad Gita
