3:6: One who seeks to control the sense organs with the mind and yet who ponders sense objects as desirable things is known as a fool and a hypocrite. 3:7: But one who regulates the sensory organs with the intellect, O Arjuna, and who practices karma yoga without attachment is a superior person.
It is foolish to believe that one can successfully renounce a thing while the mind is craving it and yet the mind is always craving. Such renunciation only produces more negative karma and a false sense of pseudo-holiness. True renunciation is to turn away from a thing completely, both mentally and physically. This however is generally easier said than done! Therefore those who seek to appear holy due to the things they do not allow while secretly obsessing and dwelling on those things are certainly hypocrites. On the other hand, by controlling ones desires and by consciously surrendering all fruitive results to the Lord one is freed because when ones desire is to please the Lord one is no longer seeking to please and serve the self. Even when one fails at this attempts one is successful by the Grace and Mercy of the Lord:
"One who sees Me everywhere and sees everything in Me, from such a one I do not disappear nor is that person ever lost from Me" (Gita 6:30).
This is the secret to successfully practicing Jnana Yoga and karma Yoga: devoting ones knowledge and actions to the Lord in humble service. The Lord will have much to say on this later on.
This is not, as some suppose, a call to apathy nor to a lack of concern but rather to full conscious living service in which every act, every thought, every breath becomes a living sacrifice to God. This is true spiritual living.
3:8: Perform your obligatory actions. Indeed action is better than inaction because even your bodily maintenance would not be possible without action.
There are those who believe it is best to renounce all attachments and responsibilities, to become hermits, ascetics, and to spend ones days absorbed in Self-directed dhyana (meditation) and Tapasya (strict austerities). Sri Krsna however advocates a life affirming Path wherein one actively engages in life to the fullest. Arjuna's duty as a Kshatriya was to engage the enemy. Our duties may include going to work, caring for our families and so many other things. We are encouraged to perform our responsibilities to the very best of our abilities, but to devote the fruitive results of those actions to God understanding our true natures as His eternal servitors.
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