Whatever action a man man Mind. One of the four antah-karans, with the function of (pronounced mun) generating thoughts and desires, and governing all of the indriyas. Tap to open in glossary → Whatever good or bad action a man man Mind. One of the four antah-karans, with the function of (pronounced mun) generating thoughts and desires, and governing all of the indriyas. Tap to open in glossary → By body, speech, and mind. Man Man Mind. One of the four antah-karans, with the function of (pronounced mun) generating thoughts and desires, and governing all of the indriyas. Tap to open in glossary → All actions are performed only through these three: body, speech, and mind. The actions performed through these are designated as physical, vocal, and mental actions. Bondage occurs only when these three become impure. Therefore, for the purification of these three—body, speech, and mind—the 14th, 15th, and 16th verses of the 17th chapter describe physical, vocal, and mental austerity respectively. The meaning is that if no action forbidden by the scriptures is performed with the body, speech, and mind, and only actions prescribed by the scriptures are performed, then that austerity will happen easily. In the 17th verse of the 17th chapter, by using the term 'aphalākāṅkṣibhiḥ' (by those desiring no fruit), it is shown that austerity performed with a selfless attitude is Sattvik. Mental effort. When one performs action with the mind, does mental effort come into play? What is mental action? When we perform Mahapuja, or rather Mansi Puja, do we not make any effort in it? We offer food to God, offer water, perform Mansi Puja, wake Him up, put Him to sleep, so that is indeed called effort. It is called mental effort. Effort does happen even with the mind. The mind goes out of the door from here, comes back inside, all such things keep happening. What is the difference between effort (chesta) and endeavor (prayatna)? When one endeavors, effort is generated. That is, the root is endeavor, and the result that comes is effort. And endeavor is an extraordinary attribute of consciousness. Is there endeavor anywhere other than in consciousness? No, there is not. The meaning is that if no action forbidden by the scriptures is performed with the body, speech, and mind, and only actions prescribed by the scriptures are performed, then that austerity will happen easily. In the 17th verse of the 17th chapter, by using the term 'aphalākāṅkṣibhiḥ' (by those desiring no fruit), it is shown that austerity performed with a selfless attitude is Sattvik. Sattvik austerity is not binding but liberating, whereas Rajasik and Tamasik austerities are binding. It is by considering this body, speech, and mind, etc., as one's own and performing actions for oneself that impurity enters into them. Therefore, without purifying them, merely through thought and intellect, the concepts of the Sankhya philosophy can be understood, but the realization that 'I have not the slightest relation with actions' does not occur. Maharaj said the same in the Vachanamrut, didn't He, that 'no action is performed for ourselves, we cannot do it. Whatever we do, whatever effort we make, is for the service of the devotees of God.' So that is called extreme purity. If one can never do it for the devotee of God and can only do it for oneself, then that is called impurity. It is by considering this body, speech, and mind, etc., as one's own and performing actions for oneself that impurity enters into them. Therefore, without purifying them, merely through thought and intellect, the concepts of the Sankhya philosophy can be understood, but the clear realization that 'I have not the slightest relation with actions' does not occur. In such a state, if the seeker does not consider the body, etc., as his own and does not perform any action for himself, but performs actions to please the Supreme Lord and for the benefit of His devotees, then that body, etc., become purified very quickly. That is, the jivatma does not achieve as much purification through Jnana Yoga as quickly as it does through Karma Karma Action. Deed. Any thought, word, or deed that will sooner or later reap its consequences. Karmas of a person are linked to their rewards (cause and effect). Bhagvãn is the giver of the rewards of the karmas; good deeds reap pleasant rewards, and bad deeds reap painful fruits. Karmas remain with a jeev until it has received its rewards. Tap to open in glossary → Therefore, whether one purifies them through the method of Karma Karma Action. Deed. Any thought, word, or deed that will sooner or later reap its consequences. Karmas of a person are linked to their rewards (cause and effect). Bhagvãn is the giver of the rewards of the karmas; good deeds reap pleasant rewards, and bad deeds reap painful fruits. Karmas remain with a jeev until it has received its rewards. Tap to open in glossary → It is not that it does not happen through that, it is not like that. But it is difficult, takes a long time, and there is no ease in it. Performing action is natural to the jiva. Generally, action or Karma Karma Action. Deed. Any thought, word, or deed that will sooner or later reap its consequences. Karmas of a person are linked to their rewards (cause and effect). Bhagvãn is the giver of the rewards of the karmas; good deeds reap pleasant rewards, and bad deeds reap painful fruits. Karmas remain with a jeev until it has received its rewards. Tap to open in glossary → The jiva has an beginningless habit of performing action. And God destroyed the seed of that action. What is the seed of action? The desire for the fruit. The jiva has a beginningless habit of performing action, and being greedy, it does not perform action without a fruit. God said that you have to perform action without desiring the fruit. Perform action without selfishness. Even more than the fruit, selfishness. It performs action only by embedding its selfishness in it. When its intention arises within, when there is an uprising (utthan), Maharaj said a sadhu should perform action by recognizing the uprising. What does recognizing the uprising mean? One has to ask oneself, 'What is my selfishness in this? Is nothing left behind?' So if there is selfishness, remove it. That is called performing action by recognizing the uprising. Thus, this jiva has a beginningless nature of performing action, and there is ease in it. So it does it by embedding selfishness, that is its mistake. Therefore, if it removes selfishness, performing action is its nature. To stop action, one has to make a lot of effort. Do we have to make more effort on Ekadashi or every day? On Ekadashi, one has to make a lot of effort to keep it closed. So a lot of effort is required in that, one has to make an effort, and in this, one does not have to make so much effort. There is ease. In that way, knowledge is the nature of the jivatma, or rather, its nature is its extraordinary attribute, so since that is its original form, it should be easier for it, shouldn't it? Knowledge is indeed the nature of the jivatma. But all these above-mentioned instruments that have been given, God has given them to perform action, not to acquire knowledge. 'The Lord created the intellect, senses, mind, and life-force of living beings.' All these intellect and senses that God has given, He has given them to perform action. And knowledge has become polluted, due to body-consciousness. To purify it, one has to perform these very actions. And to attain liberation, one also has to perform actions, so there is no other way besides it. If one keeps sitting alone and thinking 'I am this, I am this,' still his bodily sustenance is not accomplished without performing action. And bodily sustenance is such that it pollutes knowledge. Eating, drinking, all this—even if one has believed all day that 'I am not the body, I am the jivatma; I am not the body, I am the jivatma,' still he gets up in the afternoon and starts moving, so all that contemplation is shattered to pieces. That is how it happens. Therefore, the process of knowledge is not so easy. Still, if there are capable persons who do it, God has not forbidden them. But the royal path shown for everyone is this one. From the small to the great, everyone—and in that, if great personages also do this, their influence increases even more, much more. That is why God said, 'I should perform action vigilantly.' I have nothing to gain, yet I perform action. The Upanishads and all others agree on one point: give first choice to selfless service, selfless Karma Karma Action. Deed. Any thought, word, or deed that will sooner or later reap its consequences. Karmas of a person are linked to their rewards (cause and effect). Bhagvãn is the giver of the rewards of the karmas; good deeds reap pleasant rewards, and bad deeds reap painful fruits. Karmas remain with a jeev until it has received its rewards. Tap to open in glossary → It is by considering this body, speech, and mind, etc., as one's own and performing actions for oneself that impurity enters into them. Therefore, without purifying them, merely through thought and intellect, the concepts of the Sankhya philosophy can be understood, AI translation of the Gujarati transcript above, produced in the same pass that transcribed the audio, one English segment per Gujarati segment. Devotional and technical terms with no precise English equivalent (kirtan, satsang, vasana, samskara, and similar) are kept as their plain transliteration rather than force-translated. Not human-proofread., AI-translated, unverified · Source details