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The intellect comes into the picture here. We have seen in an earlier section that the intellect is "our discerning power, our ability to distinguish and discriminate between what is good and what is bad, between what is right and what is wrong, between truth and untruth, between the important and the unimportant, between the relevant and the irrelevant, between what is short-term gain, long-term pain and what is short-term pain, long-term gain."

We said in the previous section that "Doing the right actions because it is right to do them and leaving the results to God brings tremendous freedom in your spirit" and that’s the right spirit to act in, in this world. But then the big question sooner or later arises, "What is right? And what is wrong?" And we are not even talking about ethical/ moral issues! When it comes to ethical/ moral issues, things are clear-cut: God wants you to do what is ethically, morally right. The vast majority of the people are still struggling with ethical/ moral issues such as "Is it right to give a bribe or not?" and "Is it right to tell a harmless lie?" and "Is it right to have a quick, little fling on the side, a "thodisi bewafai" to spice up a boring life? After all, my wife won’t even know, and it’s not going to harm my marriage in any way!"

We are talking about people like Arjuna, who are done with such issues, who have a keenly developed intellect about ethical/ moral rights and wrongs, who are now faced not with a choice between a right and a wrong, but with a choice between to wrongs (or to put it alternatively, a choice between two rights!) It would be wrong for Arjuna to kill his relatives, his near and dear ones, his teachers and respected elders for the sake of enjoying a kingdom. It would be also be wrong for him to run away from an unsought battle, to run away from the duty that has come his way. Alternatively put, it would be right for Arjuna not to kill his relatives, his near and dear ones, his teachers and respected elders and give up his own desire of enjoying a kingdom. It would be equally right for him to perform the duty that has come his way unsought. What is he to do? No wonder he says in verse 7, "Overpowered by miserly faults, I ask you the way of life, in bewildered consciousness. Tell me definitely what is better for me. I am your disciple. Please instruct me, I am surrendered to you."

Arjuna has lost his sense of freedom. He feels that whatever he would be doing now would be wrong! Damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t! He feels caught between the devil and the deep sea. Note that we are not even talking about people of poorly-developed intellects, who are still struggling with ethical/ moral issues, who have still not developed through constant use and practice, their ability to distinguish and discriminate between what is good and what is bad, between what is right and what is wrong, between truth and untruth, between the important and the unimportant, between the relevant and the irrelevant, between what is short-term gain, long-term pain and what is short-term pain, long-term gain. We are talking about a person who has a well-developed intellect, well developed by constant use and practice. Even such people can be trapped between two rights/ two wrongs. What are you to do then?

Answer: Do what God wants you to do, and leave the results to him! It is the "intellect in yoga" (verse 49a) i.e. "discriminative power united with God" that comes to your help here. It is "He whose intellect is united (with God), gets rid in this life itself, of the results of good and wrong actions (in this world)" (verse 50a). It is "By action born of a united intellect, abandoning the fruit of actions, the sages and the devotees get liberated from the bondage of birth and reach a position devoid of suffering" (verse 51a). A "united intellect" i.e. an intellect that is united with God, has learnt not only what is right and wrong, what is good and bad, but also what God wants him to do when faced with two wrongs/ two rights or two goods/ two bads. He has gone one step further and has learnt to sense what God wants him to do in such situations. He has developed his relationship with God so much, and his connection with God is so clean and strong, that when faced with such situations, the knowledge of what to do flows naturally and easily to him from God, and he no longer gets bewildered. A "united intellect" i.e. an "intellect united with God" is the further development of a "well-developed intellect." A "well-developed intellect" is operative even in purely worldly issues, and a person with such an intellect finds decisions regarding worldly matters coming to him easily and naturally. But an "intellect united with God" is so well-connected with God, that it finds decisions regarding spiritual matters coming to him easily and naturally.

Arjuna’s intellect was not yet in this state. It was a "well-developed" intellect, but it was not an "intellect united with God." He had a well-developed and keen sense of "good and bad, right and wrong, the important and the unimportant, the relevant and the irrelevant, short-term-gain-long-term-pain and short-term-pain-long-term-gain" as is clear from the dilemma he finds himself in, as compared to Duryodhana who did not have even such a well-developed intellect. People with well-developed intellects will find themselves in such dilemmas! They are bound to! Hardened fellows won’t! Hardened fellows will simply do what their base desires want them to do, rather than what is good, or what is right, or what is short-term-pain-but-long-term-gain.

And so Krishna wants Arjuna to move from the stage of "well-developed intellect" to the stage of an "intellect united with God." "Therefore engage in yoga" he says in verse 50b. "Yoga" as we have seen before, is "Union with God." So "engage in yoga" means "get into a state where you are united with God." Why? Because "yoga is skill in action" (verse 50b). Arjuna was showing no "skill in action." He was sitting there confused, immobilized by his emotions, tossed this way and that. In the words of chapter 1, verses 29 and 30, "the limbs of his body were quivering and his mouth was drying up. His whole body was trembling, and his hair was standing on end. His bow was slipping from his hands and his skin was burning. He was unable to remain in one state, and his mind was whirling." And in verse 47, "he sat down on the seat in his chariot, putting aside his bow and arrow, his mind distressed with sorrow." This is no state of being from which he could perform any action skillfully, let alone fight a war!

"Yoga is skill in action" (verse 50b). If Arjuna was to get back into a state where he would be skillful in action, he had to attain "Yoga" i.e. "Union with God." He had to develop his relationship with God so that the knowledge of what he has to do in such situations flows naturally and easily to him out of that relationship.

So how is Arjuna to reach that state? Answer: "Surrender in the intellect" (verse 49b). Do what God wants him to do. And not bother about the consequences. Leave the consequences to God. Not act out of one’s own desires, for the fruit of action. "Those who desire for the fruits of action are pitiable" (verse 49b). Not only so, surrendering to God is the only way you can develop your relationship with God. God is the boss. The absolute boss. You don’t dictate to him. You obey him, you do what he wants you to do. This is the primary burden of all religions. "Islam" means "surrender" and "Muslim" means "surrendered." Jesus’ own life was so surrendered that even in his most difficult moment, he could say, "Not my will, but yours be done." (Luke 22:42) In Buddhism, it’s "Buddham-sharanam-gacchha-me" or "I surrender to Buddha."

And what is the result of this surrendering? Freedom! It is strange but true, the greatest ironies of life, that being surrendered to God brings you the greatest freedom, and being free of God brings you the greatest bondage! And being surrendered to God brings you not only the greatest freedom in the here and now, but also liberation (moksha) in the hereafter (according to the belief of reincarnation). "By action born of a united intellect, abandoning the fruit of actions, the sages and the devotees get liberated from the bondage of birth and reach a position devoid of suffering" (verse 51). Since a "united intellect" is an intellect united with God, that has learnt to discriminate between what God wants one to do and what not, "By action born of a united intellect" means "by doing the actions arising out of a knowledge of what God wants one to do, that itself arises out of a close and well-developed relationship with God." Doing what God wants you to do and not what your fancies want you to do. Such action leads you to freedom. You are no longer tossed around by thoughts of what you have to do and what you don’t. The only thing you have to do is what God wants you to do! There is nothing else left in this world for you to do! No point to prove to anyone, no need for any more achievements to be had against your name, nothing that you need to do! What bliss! What freedom! The only thing that you have to do is what God wants you to do! If God wants you to conquer new lands, then conquer new lands. Knowing fully well that you are going to leave them behind anyway. And if God wants you to sit back and watch the world running around madly, then sit back and watch the world running around madly, chasing after the wind! You are free of the big burden of having to decide what you want to do with your life.

To quote from the book "The Gita according to Gandhi" (page 114):

It is indeed the greatest ironies of life, that being surrendered to God brings you the greatest freedom, and being free of God brings you the greatest bondage.

Having looked at the passage in general and got the overall sense of the passage, let’s look at each of the verses specifically, in detail. But before we do that, note that this passage makes mention of how to achieve moksha, the goal and purpose of life according to Hinduism. Says verse 51, "By action born of a united intellect, abandoning the fruit of actions, the sages and the devotees get liberated from the bondage of birth and reach a position devoid of suffering."

"Moksha" or "Mukti", "Freedom" or "Liberation", is the goal and purpose of life according to Hinduism. And there is so much misunderstanding about how it is achieved. Many a times we hear of people "leaving everything" (or to make it sound more spiritual "renouncing everything"), and going off to the Himalayas to find "moksha." Whereas according to the Geeta, true moksha is to be found and developed right in the middle of your daily activities itself. True moksha is not liberation from daily duties or family life. God has not put us in the middle of the world so that we can run away from it. If that is what God wanted us to do, he could have very well placed each one of us on different planets, separate from each other. Indeed true moksha can be perfected only while remaining in the middle of this world. Perfection comes only by practice. You can read all books on cricket but unless you pick up the bat and ball, you will never know cricket. You can gather all information about swimming but unless you jump into the water and get your body wet you will never perfect swimming. You can read all books on gardening but unless you pick up the shovel and get your hands dirty, you will never learn gardening. Similarly you cannot perfect moksha by running away from life. Just as cricket can be perfected only on the cricket field, just as swimming can be perfected only in the water, true moksha can be perfected only in the middle of life. As you develop this true liberation in your day-to-day life, it will lead to the final liberation, or release from the cycle of birth-and-death according to the Geeta. Look at some of the other passages in the Geeta in which Krishna speaks about moksha, and notice the same thing being said. It is a person who does actions without attachment, without desire for fruit, in unity with God/ supersoul, who attains liberation from the cycle of births and deaths, not somebody who takes a dip in some river at some particular time at a particular place:

So it is the day-to-day experiencing of mukti or liberation, that finally leads to moksha, a liberation from the cycle of birth-and-death. Let’s look at some day-to-day examples to make the concept of true mukti clearer. When we were children we all played certain games – Snakes and Ladders, Ludo etc., and we were highly interested in winning in them. We got happy and even elated when we won, and got sad or even depressed when we lost. Winning the game was important to us, and we made all efforts at winning them. However, when we grew up, we are no longer interested in such games. As more important things took over, we naturally lost interest in those games. But far more important, we lost interest in winning or losing those games. If we won a game of Snakes-and-Ladders, we no longer got happy or elated; when we lost we no longer got sad or depressed. We became "equanimous" in victory and defeat. We became the "same" in victory and defeat. Why? Because now there were far more important things than winning-or-losing a game of Snakes-and-Ladders. What difference does it make now if we lost a game of Snakes-and-ladders? Nothing! We are now "free" or "liberated" from having to win at those games. And it is only in this state of freedom that we can really "enjoy" that game. If your child comes to you and asks you to play a game of Snakes-and-Ladders with him, you gladly and joyfully oblige. You are no longer playing for the sake of winning; you are playing for the sheer joy of playing with your children. You may not artificially lose, but when you do lose, you are genuinely more happy to see the joy and the laughter on your child’s face than you would be if you would have won.

Now extend that understanding to the entire game of life and you get a sense of what is being said in the Geeta. The Geeta wants us to come to a state of being where we look at life itself as a big game set up by God for the enjoyment of his children. God’s "Leela." True freedom, true liberation, true mukti comes when we see that life itself is a game. Most of people’s problems stem from the fact that they consider whatever they are doing in this world (their jobs, careers, businesses etc.) too important. As if whatever they are doing is going to make any difference to the universe! How can it? The universe has been here for thousands of years and is likely to be around for thousands of more years. What difference does your miniscule job or career make to the universe? Nothing! Go out to the countryside to an unpolluted place and look at the heavens on a starry night. Does whatever you are doing make any difference to the stars? Sit on the mountain top and feel the breeze. Does whatever you are doing make any difference to the breeze? Observe the beauty of a wild flower which no-one else would have seen. Would God have made it less beautiful if no-one would have seen it? There are two beautiful passages in the Bible that I love and which are perfect for getting our perspective right. One is from Jesus’ lips and is found in Matthew 6:25-34. It goes thus:

The second is found at the end of the book of Job, chapters 38 to 41. Job has finished arguing with his friends about his terrible and undeserved suffering, and in chapters 26 and 31 accuses God himself of unfairness (Job 33:8-11 and Job 34:5-6). It is here that God breaks through and shows his majesty in the magnificent chapters 38 to 41. The passage is too long to be quoted here, and is highly worth reading, especially for those undergoing terrible unjust suffering, as Job was. All these are perfect for getting your perspective right – to see that whatever it is that you consider so important, is not at all important as compared with God himself. When you get that right, you become free of the world. And indeed you can carry out your worldly responsibilities with greater freedom and greater skill, and enjoy it more.

Let’s now look at the verses in detail. Here actually it’s more of summarizing the passage as we have covered most of the matter.

Verse 49 starts off by saying, "Far away from the intellect in yoga, certainly, is abominable work." We have seen what the intellect in yoga means. It is the intellect that has gone one step further than the stage of "well-developed intellect." The well-developed intellect is that intellect which through constant use and practice, has learnt to distinguish and discriminate between what is good and what is bad, between what is right and what is wrong, between truth and untruth, between the important and the unimportant, between the relevant and the irrelevant, between what is short-term gain, long-term pain and what is short-term pain, long-term gain. The intellect in yoga has already done all this, it knows that God always wants us to choose the good, the right, the truth, the important, the relevant, and the short-term-pain-long-term-gain. But all this is available to the "well-developed intellect" also. The "intellect in yoga" has gone beyond the "well-developed intellect" and has also learnt to discern in situations what God wants one to do.

The way to move from the stage of "well-developed intellect" to the stage of "intellect in yoga" is to surrender in the intellect to God, as the second part of verse 49 says. Only by surrendering to God can you get into yoga. God is the boss and he will always be the boss. He will not play second fiddle to your fancy desires.

Once you have surrendered to God, your actions are no longer for desire for the fruits of action. If fruits come fine, if they don’t, that’s fine too. In so many cases the fruits of the good actions of the persons come only after they have died. If they were working only to see the fruits of their actions, they would have been pitiable, as the last part of verse 49 says. But they worked only because they knew in their hearts that God wanted them to do that work. Their dependence was on God, their strength came from God, their joy came from God. Their work was done "for His eyes only". And that’s really the only worthwhile reason to do any work. (In his book "The Gita according to Gandhi", there is a nice quote of Spinoza on page 163: "Those are far astray from a true estimate of right conduct who expect for it a great reward; as if right conduct and serving God were not happiness itself and the greatest liberty.")

Verse 50 says, "He whose intellect is united, gets rid in this life itself, of the results of good and wrong actions." Note an important thing here: It’s not just the results of bad actions that lead to bondage, even good actions can lead to bondage if not done in the right spirit, if done for men’s eyes to see or for wanting some fruit in this life. "Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." (Matthew 6:1-4) "Therefore engage in yoga, for yoga is skill in action," says the last part of verse 50.

Verse 51 says, "By action born of a united intellect, abandoning the fruit of actions, the sages and the devotees get liberated from the bondage of birth and reach a position devoid of suffering." That’s the way to attain moksha (if you believe in reincarnation) – do actions in a state of yoga i.e. unity with God, for His eyes only, because he wants you to do them and not for any other reason, abandoning the desire for the fruit of actions. If you are a Christian or a Muslim and you don’t believe in reincarnation, that’s still the way to act. It is in line with your Scriptures, and it brings tremendous freedom in your spirit in the here and now.