Summary:
Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 3, Verse 16: Krishna warns that those who refuse to participate in the cosmic wheel (cakra) of mutual benefit and instead live solely for sensory pleasures (indriyārāma) in dishonest, selfish ways (aghāyu) are living wastefully (mogham). The verse calls for a shift from victim-mode to taking accountability, recognizing that you influence the cosmic wheel and must contribute to universal benefit. Throughout nature, mutual benefit mechanisms exist – from bees and flowers to mentorship relationships – demonstrating the interconnected responsibility. The parable of the milk tank illustrates how individual negligence collectively harms everyone, creating papam (demerit) and reinforcing limiting narratives of incapability that carry over into self-knowledge.
Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 3, Verse 17: For the jñānī who has realized their true nature, there is nothing to be done because knowledge destroys doership completely. Krishna describes this accomplished being with three characteristics: ātma-rati (delighting in the self), ātma-tṛpta (satisfied with the self), and ātmani eva santuṣṭa (contented in the self alone). Unlike the bhogī who manipulates the world or the yogī who manipulates the mind, the jñānī recognizes themselves as already accomplished Brahman – the effortless “I am” and the “is-ness” in all objects. Creation becomes “heaven on Earth” as Īśvara's presence, not saṃsāra. Jnani's actions arise from satisfaction rather than dissatisfaction, free from the endless cycle of becoming.
Revision:
The Cosmic Web of Gratitude (Verses 12-15)
Recognizing Our Support System
These verses call us to acknowledge the countless forces (deities) supporting our existence. Because of their immense contribution to our being here. For instance, the air we breathe, our memory, even our ancestors who survived wars and hardships. Consider the extraordinary chain of sacrifice that brought you to this moment of receiving the highest knowledge. Would you change anything, knowing it led you here rather than to some other spiritual organization operating under distortions?
The Sixth Sense: Vedic Knowledge
Beyond the Five Senses
The five senses, no matter how refined, cannot perceive Ishwara or Brahman. You'll never touch God (you can only touch objects), never feel Ishwara through emotions (feelings are time-bound while Ishwara is limitless), never see consciousness as light or smell it as fragrance. But you can still recognize Ishvara/Brahman through the Vedas which serve as our sixth sense, using methods like neti-neti prakriya and implied meaning (lakṣyārtha).
Implied Meanings
The Vedas communicate through deeper meanings beyond dictionary definitions. When we say consciousness has the nature of “existence” (sat), we don't mean temporal objects but the truth of time itself. Consider how ten minutes with a beloved feels instant while ten minutes waiting for a late bus feels eternal. Time changes based on perception, but the conscious presence witnessing both experiences remains unchanged. This is the methodology through which Vedas reveal true meanings of limited words which point to a limitless reality.
Two Types of Knowledge
Apara Vidya: Additive Knowledge
This represents conventional learning — knowledge we've mostly forgotten from school like calculus or the periodic table. It's additive because it deals with parts: knowing part one doesn't give you part two. This creates endless pursuit since there's always more to know. It's ultimately called avidya (ignorance) because the more you know, the more you discover you don't know.
Para Vidya: Subtractive Knowledge
This removes false notions rather than adding information. Like recognizing that all wooden furniture — chairs, cups, statues — is essentially wood regardless of form and name. The cup doesn't need to meditate to “find” the wood; wherever the form exists, the substance completely abides. Similarly, you don't need to attain consciousness — you need to recognize you already are that awareness.
The Five Koshas: Systematic Self-Inquiry
The neti neti (not this, not this) practice systematically removes false identifications:
- Annamaya Kosha (Physical Body): If you were the body, you'd be less aware when tired. But awareness remains constant regardless of physical activity.
- Pranamaya Kosha (Energy): If you were energy levels, you'd be unconscious when exhausted and super-aware when energized. But awareness stays equally present.
- Manomaya Kosha (Mind): If you were thoughts, stopping thinking should make you unconscious. Even in samadhi, awareness continues.
- Vijnanamaya Kosha (Intellect): The witness of intellectual activity remains unchanged regardless of mental processing.
- Anandamaya Kosha (Happiness): If you were happiness, its absence should end your existence. But you remain whether happiness comes or goes.
Anandamaya Versus Satchitananda
Anandamaya Kosha offers temporary glimpses of happiness that come and go. Whereas “ananda” word in “Sat-chit-ananda” represents limitless, constant fullness. Like a still lake perfectly reflecting the sun versus a rippled lake where the same sun becomes agitating, these experiences are tastes of your true nature.
Fear as Spiritual Catalyst
Pleasant dreams keep you asleep; nightmares wake you up. Similarly, being comfortable rarely motivates deep spiritual seeking. Fear, disappointment, and life's challenges often provide the greatest catalysts for growth, making us more discerning and motivating the search for ultimate solutions. Even Arjuna's fear of Krishna's cosmic form, which he wanted removed, was exactly what he needed for transformation.
NEXT VERSE: Without Vedas which point out the rules of the game, without yajna (harmonious actions) — one risks being an aghāyu (one whose actions are injurious to oneself)…
Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 3, Verse 16:
Without Moral Direction, It's Wasteful Living
एवं प्रवर्तितम् चक्रम् न अनुवर्तयति इह यः ।
अघायुः इन्द्रिय-आरामः मोघम् पार्थ सः जीवति ॥ ३-१६॥
evaṃ pravartitam cakram na anuvartayati iha yaḥ ।
aghāyuḥ indriya-ārāmaḥ mogham pārtha saḥ jīvati ॥ 3-16॥
A person who does not follow here in this life, this cosmic wheel that is already set in motion, in this manner, and lives in sin given only to the pleasures of the senses, lives wastefully, Pārtha (Arjuna)!
Purpose of Verse:
Verse calls to make a shift from victim-mode (coping by finding escapes) – to taking accountability for everything that happens to you.
Instead of dwelling on, “I’m a victim of others’ past actions” – to asking what are your lessons, and what will change about you to become more refined.
Knowing you influence the cosmic wheel (cakra), what contribution are you going to make to the universe? How will you consistently show your gratitude for already being given the essentials? How will you benefit existence?
The mutual benefit mechanism is seen throughout the cosmic wheel…
- Bees and flowers: Bees collect nectar as food, while accidentally carrying pollen between flowers, allowing plants to reproduce. Neither could survive without the other.
- Gut bacteria and humans: Trillions of tiny bacteria live in your intestines where they get food and shelter, while helping you digest certain foods and fighting off harmful germs.
- Fungi networks and trees: Underground fungi attach to tree roots, extending their reach to collect water and minerals for the trees, while the trees provide sugars the fungi can't make themselves.
- Mentorship: An experienced professional shares knowledge and guidance with a younger colleague, helping them develop skills and avoid common mistakes. Meanwhile, the mentor gains fresh perspectives, stays connected to new ideas, and experiences the satisfaction of contributing.
- Family: A grandmother teaches her grandchild family recipes, shares stories of the past, and offers wisdom gained through decades of experience. This also brings renewed purpose and energy to grandmother’s life, filling her days with laughter.
Krishna's Warning
Verse warns that if you choose to life-freely in the chakra wheel without contributing, living solely for sensory pleasures (indriyārāma), and persist in dishonest/selfish living (aghāyu) — life is wasteful (mogham).
Parable of the Milk Tank Illustrating How Not Doing Your Part, Hurts You in the Long Run…
A king believed all his citizens were excellent people, but his minister disagreed. To prove his point, the minister built a huge tank with a ladder and decreed that every citizen must deposit one ounce of milk. When all had completed this duty, they discovered the tank contained only water — not a trace of milk!
Each person had reasoned: “My water will make no difference among so much milk,” and chose to give water instead. This demonstrates an important reality…
If everything before you thought, “my contribution won't matter because others will fulfill their duties”, you would've not been here today, enjoying and learning. But you are here. Thus, you have a moral obligation to future generations, by doing your part. Because if you don't, or try to cheat the system by getting something for nothing — it incurs papam (demerit) onto you. For instance, laziness reinforces narrative “I’m incapable” and “me vs. them” mentality. That narrative carries over into self-knowledge, “I’m not capable of relinquishing my individuality”.
NEXT VERSE: Krishna reveals one who aligned to the comic order, eventually gets moksha, and from thereon, there is nothing else to be done…
Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 3, Verse 17:
There is nothing to be done for a jnani…
यः तु आत्म-रतिः एव स्यात् आत्म-तृप्तः च मानवः ।
आत्मनि एव च सन्तुष्टः तस्य कार्यम् न विद्यते ॥ ३-१७॥
yaḥ tu ātma-ratiḥ eva syāt ātma-tṛptaḥ ca mānavaḥ ।
ātmani eva ca santuṣṭaḥ tasya kāryam na vidyate ॥ 3-17॥
Whereas, for the person who is delighted in the self, who is satisfied with the self, contented in the self alone, (for him) there is nothing to be done.
Krishna uses 3 words to describe a person alive to Ishvara’s presence:
1) Atma-rati (delights in the self – as the self):
Unlike the bhogī who manipulates the world or the yogī who manipulates the mind to feel delighted. Jnani is already enjoying the supreme reality. You require nothing outside yourself to be delighted. You delight in the unceasing knowledge that “I am already accomplished”.
The final reality (Brahman) is always known to you as effortless am-ness, the as self-evident “I am” — and always recognized in objects as the “is-ness”.
Creation is no longer an illusion, or samsara. World is nothing but Ishvara. It’s now “heaven on Earth”.
The Vedas lose meaning and fascination when you are already immersed in self-knowledge; they’re no longer speaking to the jnani, as the jnani (brahman) is the cause of the Vedas. The Vedas speak to the ajnani only.
2) Atma-trpta (satisfied with the self – as the self):
While others continually seek situations that will satisfy them, you continuously recognize self is already full, complete, and maximumly accomplished.
The pressure of becoming someone is gone. Nothing in the world can give you more contentment then knowing “I am full in this very moment”.
3) Atmani eva santusta (contented in the self – as the self):
One who is free from longing for security or happiness through external means.
Your contentment doesn't depend on gaining desirable objects or favorable circumstances, or fixing the world. Unlike those caught in the endless cycle of “becoming” something else, you rest in the knowledge that your essential nature is already perfect and complete.
If clouds (mind) cover the sun (self) — jnani remains cheerful owing to knowledge that self is still shining, never gone.
“For him, there is nothing to be done”:
Knowledge destroys doership completely. Thus a jñānī is a sarva-karma-sannyāsī (renouncer of all actions) because they recognize self as consciousness, not a doer or enjoyer. No action is ever done by self, only by the incidental body-mind instrument.
Jnani’s body-mind continues to perform actions, knowing “it’s not Me who’s doing, I am merely illumining this body-mind doing”.
Jnani is no longer caught in the cycle where before becoming there are problems, during becoming there is pain, and after becoming you must become something else again.
Bases of jnani's actions is from satisfaction — whereas for ajnani, bases is from dissatisfaction.
NEXT VERSE: What is jnani’s svadharma and how does he deal with conflicts in various roles…
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Course was based on Swami Dayananda (Arsha Vidya) home study course.
Recorded 22 June, 2025