2.48. O Dhananjaya (Arjuna)! Having abandoned attachment, and becoming even-minded in success and failure, perform action established in Yoga; for evenness of mind is called Yoga.
Commentary: 'Having abandoned attachment' – You should have no attachment to any action, to the fruit of any action, or to any object of Prakriti such as place, time, event, circumstance, the inner instrument (mind, intellect, ego), the outer instruments (senses) etc. Only then can you perform action without clinging. If you cling to action, its fruit, or anything else, how can there be non-clinging? And without non-clinging, how can that action lead to liberation?
'Becoming even-minded in success and failure' – What will be the result of abandoning attachment? Evenness of mind towards success and failure will arise. One should remain even-minded in all that constitutes success and failure: the completion or non-completion of an action; its fruit being favorable or unfavorable from a worldly perspective; receiving respect or disrespect, praise or blame due to performing that action; the purification or non-purification of the inner instrument (heart), etc. (See note p. 86). The evenness, i.e., the desireless state, of a Karmayogi should be such that whether actions are completed or not, whether the fruit is attained or not, whether one's own liberation happens or not – "I must only perform my duty-bound action." Even if a seeker has not experienced non-attachment, even if evenness has not yet arisen in him, his very aim should be to become non-attached, to become even-minded. That which becomes the aim is ultimately attained. Therefore, through the evenness which is the means (sadhana), i.e., the evenness of the inner instrument, the evenness which is the goal (sadhya) comes of itself – 'Then you will attain Yoga' (2.53).
'Established in Yoga, perform actions' – After becoming even-minded in success and failure, to remain steadfastly and continuously established in that evenness is to be 'established in Yoga'. Just as when we worship Lord Ganesha at the beginning of a task, we do not keep that worship constantly with us while performing the task, similarly, one should not think that having become even-minded in success and failure once at the beginning, one need not maintain that evenness constantly thereafter and can continue with likes and dislikes. Therefore, the Lord says that one should perform duty-bound action while remaining constantly established in evenness.
'Evenness of mind is called Yoga' – Evenness itself is Yoga, meaning evenness is the very nature of the Supreme Self. That evenness should remain constant within the inner instrument. Later, in the nineteenth verse of the fifth chapter, the Lord will say: 'Those whose minds are established in evenness have conquered the world even while living; because Brahman is flawless and even; therefore, they are established in Brahman alone.'
'Evenness is named Yoga' – This is the definition of Yoga. This very point will be stated later in the twenty-third verse of the sixth chapter: 'That which is disunion from union with sorrow is called Yoga.' These two definitions are essentially one and the same. Just as in the disease of ringworm, there is the pleasure of itching and the pain of burning, yet both are forms of suffering because they are a disease; similarly, the happiness and sorrow arising from connection with the world – both are truly forms of sorrow. Disconnection from such connection with the world is itself called 'disunion from union with sorrow'. Therefore, whether you call it disunion from union with sorrow, i.e., being free from happiness and sorrow; or call it being even-minded in success and failure, i.e., in happiness and sorrow – it is the same thing.
The essence of this verse is this: Actions performed merely through the gross, subtle, and causal bodies are to be done only as service to the world, not for oneself. Only by doing so will evenness arise.
'Special Points Regarding Intellect and Evenness'
The intellect is of two kinds – the irresolute (avyavasāyātmikā) and the resolute (vyavasāyātmikā). That intellect which has the aim of attaining worldly pleasures, enjoyments, comforts, honor, prestige, etc., is the 'irresolute' intellect (Gita 2.44). That intellect which has the sole purpose of attaining evenness, of accomplishing one's own welfare, is the 'resolute' intellect (Gita 2.41). The irresolute intellect is manifold, and the resolute intellect is one. One whose intellect is irresolute is himself irresolute (avyavasita) – 'the intellects of the irresolute' (2.41) – and he is worldly. One whose intellect is resolute is himself resolute (vyavasita) – 'for he is resolute' (9.30) – and he is a seeker.
Evenness is also of two kinds – evenness as the means (sādhana) and evenness as the goal (sādhya). The evenness as the means pertains to the inner instrument, and the evenness as the goal pertains to the nature of the Supreme Self. To remain even in success and failure, favorability and adversity, etc., i.e., the absence of attraction and aversion in the inner instrument, is the evenness as the means, which is described extensively in the Gita. Through this evenness as the means, the spontaneously attained evenness that is gained is the evenness as the goal, which is described in the fifty-third verse of this very chapter by the words 'Then you will attain Yoga'.
Now, understand these four distinctions thus: There is one who is worldly and one who is a seeker; there is the means and there is the goal. One whose aim is to enjoy pleasures and accumulate possessions is worldly. He does not have a single resolute intellect; rather, he has innumerable intellects full of the branches of desires.
One who is determined – "I must attain evenness alone, come what may" – has a resolute intellect. When such a seeker comes into the field of worldly dealings, and situations of success and failure, gain and loss, favorable and adverse circumstances, etc., arise before him, he remains even-minded in them, he does not engage in attraction and aversion. Through this evenness as the means, he rises above the world – 'Here itself, birth is conquered by those whose minds are established in evenness' (first half of Gita 5.19). Through the evenness as the means, the spontaneously even Supreme Self is attained – 'For Brahman is flawless and even; therefore, they are established in Brahman' (second half of Gita 5.19).
Connection: Having described that even-minded intellect from the thirty-ninth to the forty-eighth verse, the superiority of that even-minded intellect compared to desire-prompted action is explained in the following verse.
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