Yog of Knowledge and Action
Chapter 4, Verse 20
tyaktvā karma phalā-saṅgaṁ
nitya tṛpto nirāśrayaḥ
karmaṇy-abhi-pravṛtto’pi
naiva kiñcit karoti saḥ
Having abandoned all attachment to the fruits of his works, ever satisfied without any kind of dependence, he does nothing, though (through his nature) he engages in action.
After renouncing attachment to the actions and their fruits, the bhakta should give up the feeling of ‘I’ and ‘mine’, “I am doing this” and “I am doing that”, because this ‘I’ and this ‘mine’ always refer to the mind and the body. When one surrenders, all this ‘I’ and ‘mine’ have to be removed from the mind. If one has fully surrendered the body, mind and intellect, one should stop thinking that one needs this or that. One should trust and not depend on the world. Having reached this state, having realised this supreme bliss, one doesn’t long for anything from this world. Whatever one needs will be automatically provided. You don’t need to bother about it. You don’t even need to long for Realisation – Realisation will be offered to you on a golden plate! He will say, “Take!” You don’t really need to do much. That’s how sweet it is! That’s what the Bible says. Christ gave His life for the sake of mankind – to give liberation, to give salvation to the people who surrender to Him. He became a doorway to salvation for whoever surrenders to Him and takes His Word. The ones who are completely surrendered to God don’t need to worry about anything, because everything will be taken care of. Doesn’t it happen in your daily life that in the morning you think of something and then during the day, you get it?
This power of attraction has fulfilled it. Isn’t it true? God, seated inside of you, is taking care of every need. He says, “Here, take this, my child! You don’t need to worry about anything. The only thing that you need to do, is to give yourself completely to the Divine. Realise your Self.” That’s what the Bible also says, “Give to Caesar, what belongs to Caesar.” This means give what belongs to this world, back to this world. And give what belongs to God, back to God, with full love and surrender.
When you have achieved this state of complete surrender, He takes care of you. The hermits sitting in the desert or the sages sitting in caves are not scared about whether they will eat tomorrow or not: the Divine takes care of them. The story of St. Paul, the First Hermit, is very beautiful. St Paul was always sitting in a cave in the desert
of Egypt. He didn’t bother about what he would eat or what he would drink. He was always absorbed in the Divine Consciousness. He was always absorbed in the Love of God inside of him. Every day, a bird would drop a half loaf of bread to him. So the Father in Heaven looks after everything. For the one who is surrendered, there should not be any worry about anything.
Have you ever heard about Rabia, the Sufi saint and poet? She was so surrendered that whatever she thought about, ‘Ping!’ – it would happen. She did not say, “Oh I want this,” or “I want that.” No. She would say, “It would be nice if…” But she was not attached to any result. Like that, the merciful God takes care of everything when one
surrenders.
For the yogis, it is like this. They perform all actions, but they are not bound by karma. They are ever free. They don’t need anything for themselves. And as God is not bound by the scriptures, the true yogi is also not bound by any Yam or Niyam, any dos or don’ts, mentioned in the scriptures.
Bhagavad Gita
