कर्मजं बुद्धियुक्ता हि फलं त्यक्त्वा मनीषिण: |
जन्मबन्धविनिर्मुक्ता: पदं गच्छन्त्यनामयम् || 51||
karma-jaṁ buddhi-yuktā hi phalaṁ tyaktvā manīṣhiṇaḥ
janma-bandha-vinirmuktāḥ padaṁ gachchhanty-anāmayam
karma-jam—born of fruitive actions; buddhi-yuktāḥ—endowed with equanimity of intellect; hi—as; phalam—fruits; tyaktvā—abandoning; manīṣhiṇaḥ—the wise; janma-bandha-vinirmuktāḥ—freedom from the bondage of life and death; padam—state; gachchhanti—attain; anāmayam—devoid of sufferings
Translation:
Wise men endowed with equanimity, having abandoned the fruits of action, go to the abode beyond all sorrow and evil.
Commentary:
Manisha means knowledge. He who possesses discrimination and true knowledge has no concern or use for the fruits of work. It follows that discrimination is necessary to understand the principle of right action. The man who has properly understood the bondage arising from work done with desire and attachment, and the great good arising from doing work without attachment and desire, is alone fit to ascend to the abode of peace and blessedness beyond all evil and sorrow. And through discrimination alone can man work without attachment.
When the mind is purified by nishkama karma, knowledge of Atma dawns, by which man is permanently released from the cycle of birth and death, caused by Karma. So we understand how Karma Yoga leads to final liberation. Some people may doubt how Karma could lead to liberation. The Lord clears this doubt here. He affirms that the man who practices nishkama karma will certainly attain the pure sorrowless state of absolute freedom (i.e.) Moksha.
Released from the bonds of birth and death: Every thoughtful human being is instinctively seeking freedom from the ills of life. The Lord here points out the easiest path. He is addressing all mankind. “O ye bound souls! If you desire freedom from the bondage of samsara, if you seek for the joy and blessedness of spiritual life, do all your duties whatever they are without attachment for the fruits thereof. Surrender them to the Supreme Lord. Your mind will then become pure. Then the knowledge of Atma dawns of its own accord. The moment you experience the Atmic state, you become free and free forever.”
Whether a person is free from attachment or not is the real test of wisdom. Scholarship, power of speech, expounding the vedic texts – these are for the delight of the learned only. They are of little use unless the man is capable of discriminating the real from the unreal, and rejecting the unreal through ‘Buddhi Yoga’.
Go to the abode free from sorrow: People speak of many positions in the world. They say that an emperor holds a high position. They say that Indra is the Lord of Heaven. Though they are in very high positions still the occupants are caught in the wheel of samsara. They have birth and death, joy and sorrow pleasure and pain. There is only one state, one position, where there is not the least touch of pain or sorrow, where it is all an ocean of supreme bliss, and that position is the Atma State, the domain of Brahma Jnana. How to attain it? The Lord shows the path here. Do your duty without attachment and desire for the fruits thereof. That is the secret of Karma Yoga and its consummation is Brahmajnana.
Srimad Bhagavatam 10.14.58 —
Whoever adopts the lotus-feet of the Lord, far-famed for its sanctifying power and for its being the refuge of all virtuous men, as the boat for crossing the ocean of Samsara for them that ocean is like a puddle made by a calf‘s hoof. They attain to the Supreme State; they have no fear of downfall.
Question: What is the sign of a great man?
Answer: The ability to perform nishkama-karma is the distinguishing sign of a great man.
Question: What will he attain?
Answer: Emancipation and Moksha.
Question: What is Moksha?
Answer: It is freedom from samsara, from the cycle of birth and death.
