Summary:

Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 3, Verse 28: The knower of truth is free of prakriti's gunas that constitute both subject and object. Like entity in bed unaffected by dream or clay never taking on pot's attributes, the wise person recognizes Awareness as the unchanging material cause of prakriti. Understanding that actions, desires, decisions are all prakriti while consciousness remains the knower of all experiences, they realize they were never attached to body-mind or its consequences. 

Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 3, Verse 29: The wise person doesn't disturb those deluded by prakriti. Understanding each person is at their level, the wise customizes guidance: resolving psychological issues, prayer, karma-yoga, values, mind purification, etc. They help seekers purify minds first before revealing the sattvic mind is like changing pot-forms while consciousness is like clay – the invariable substance in every thought. 

Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 3, Verse 30: The karma-yogi acts with discriminating mind that assesses appropriate action rather than defaulting to comfort zones. Understanding body-mind as Ishvara's instrument, one becomes trustee rather than owner – like CEO managing without owning. Renouncing actions means acknowledging nothing was ever yours, shifting from “I am doing” to “appropriate action is being done.” Karma-yogi sees each situation as opportunity for growth, thus reduces chance for anger or disappointment. 

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Revision:

Individual existence consists of puruṣa (consciousness) and prakṛti (the creative principle from which manifestations emerge / also understood as 3 gunas).

Prakrti creates insentient materials like space-time, elements. But also sentient-breathing-thinking instruments.  So Prakrti is the cause, while sentient/insentient is the effect.

When all-pervading purusha (which always knows itself as an existent-awareful being) pervades the breathing-thinking instrument, a sense of individual I (ahamkara) is born — which you (purusha) take yourself to be.

Then that sentient-awareful being (called jiva) adds subjective opinions what it means to be an individual-I. That's when healthy ahamkara develops inferiority/superiority complexes.

To shift identity back to all-pervading purusha…

Step 1: Reduce subjective opinions.

Step 2: Discern the Object from the Subject (Drk-Drsya Viveka)

The “I” is always the subject, the knower. Everything else is an object known in your presence.

Your body (heart beat) is an object known in your Awareful presence. The body is perceived, so it cannot be the perceiver. The body is known, so it can’t be the knower. The knower of the body is the mind. For instance, when mind is day-dreaming, the sensations of the body aren't known, as the knower-mind is elsewhere. Who or what is the knower of the mind? It can't be the mind, because mind constitutes of ever changing thoughts/emotions. To know changes, there has to exist an unchanging principle – in which case it's Awareness. You (the awareful being) are aware of the changing mind.

The health of senses (short/long eyesight) known in your Conscious presence. And the constantly changing data senses report, are known to you, the ever-available Conscious witness.

Thoughts and emotions generated by the breathing-thinking instrument, are objects known in your Awareful presence. Anger arises, you witness it. A thought pops up, you are aware of it. Doubt and insights are modifying, but you remain to notice their coming and going.

SUMMARY: Anything that is experienced, observed, intuited, felt – cannot be the true “I.”

NEXT VERSE: Wise person isn't bound, knowing his body-mind and karma-phala are products of prakrti, and not purusha…

Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 3, Verse 28:
Wise isn't bound, knowing Self is free of Prakrti

तत्त्ववित् तु महाबाहो गुण-कर्म-विभागयोः ।
गुणाः गुणेषु वर्तन्ते इति मत्वा न सज्जते ॥ ३-२८॥
tattvavit tu mahābāho guṇa-karma-vibhāgayoḥ ।
guṇāḥ guṇeṣu vartante iti matvā na sajjate ॥ 3-28॥

Whereas, Arjuna, the mighty armed! the knower of the truth of guṇas and actions is not bound, knowing that the guṇas express themselves in guṇas (body-mind-sense-complex).

“Knower of the truth…“

Due to mūlāvidya, one starts out thinking of self as the changing body-mind, missing out on Awareness.

The wise person used the mind to advanced it out of tamasic state to rajasic to sattvic state, to finally understand my truth is guna-tītaḥ.

Who is a guna-tita?

Guna-tita means one who is free of the gunas (prakriti) which makes up the subject (in this case doesn't refer to Awareness as discussed in the revision, but to the individual-I) and the object.

Guna-tita, or the knower of the truth, is free just how the entity in bed doesn’t take on the subject nor the objects in the dream. Or the clay (guna-tita) never taken on attributes of the pot (gunas).

“Knower of the truth of gunas and actions, is not bound”.

Actions are effects of mind’s constant activity (such as decisions, desires, limbs). They're all prakrti, including the objects acted upon.

The total activity produced by actions, desires, limbs, decisions, conclusions — is called “experience”, which is always known to you (consciousness / purusha). This is why it's useless looking for Awareness in any one particular experience, because Awareness is equally available in all experiences.

The material cause of prakriti is Awareness (purusha), which in CH2.20 was described as: ajah (unborn), nityaḥ (eternal), śāśvataḥ (everlasting), and purāṇaḥ (always itself).

Conclusion: In all cases, you need not become detached or uninvolved, just recognize you were never attached to the body-mind, thus not attached to the consequences generated by body-mind’s participation in situations.

Until you are guna-tita, no need to say it

Until reality is clearly understood, there’s no point reaffirming “I’m actionless”, because the individual is saying that, and it’ll create confusion when you go to work, where action is required.

Moksha isn’t attained by affirmation, but by consistent inquiry. Otherwise the person will try to put actionless-ness onto the body-mind, yet action is needed to expose the mind to situations and clean up it’s unconscious sabotagers, or rajasic/tamasic tendencies.

NEXT VERSE: Wise person doesn’t give uniform messages because those who are bound, have different personalities, thus need different guidance…

Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 3, Verse 29:
Wise doesn't disturb those giving reality to Prakriti

प्रकृतेः गुण-सम्मूढाः सज्जन्ते गुण-कर्मसु ।
तान् अकृत्स्नविदः मन्दान् कृत्स्नवित् न विचालयेत् ॥ ३-२९॥
prakṛteḥ guṇa-sammūḍhāḥ sajjante guṇa-karmasu ।
tān akṛtsnavidaḥ mandān kṛtsnavit na vicālayet ॥ 3-29॥

Those who are deluded by the modifications of the prakṛti become bound in terms of the body-mind-sense-complex (guṇas) and actions. One who knows (the self) should not disturb those who do not know (the self), who are not discriminative.

“One who knows (the self) should not disturb those who do not know (the self); not discriminative”

Definitions of wise/unwise in BG Context:

“Wise” generally means, someone who is emotionally/intellectually mature, reaching out, etc. And “unwise” is generally a self-centered, emotionally immature person. However Krishna’s definition is different. He says, you’re “wise” when you know nature of atma, and “unwise” when you don’t. This was demonstrated in CH2.11, “You grieve for those who are not to be grieved for, yet you speak words of wisdom”.

What do you stand when you're on your way to being “wise”? 

Suppose you hear about Atma as Arjuna did, and you’re told, “I am free, eternal, actionless” — does that make you “wise”? No – it puts you between wise and unwise category.

You can’t say you’re “wise” because on one hand you’ve heard the nature of self, but on the other hand still asking “Why does anything matter? Why should I have a relationship to Ishvara; isn’t that duality?”, or grabbing and complaining.

And you can't say you’re “unwise” because you’ve heard the knowledge and had enough maturity to come to it.

One could say you're in stage of honesty. Neither in state of self-deception, pretending to have gotten it — nor acting from helplessness. 

Knowing there are many stages a seeker is in…

Krishna would never say to everyone, “You have to meditate 2 hours daily, else moksha is impossible”. A wise person doesn’t have rigid rules, knowing each person is helplessly at his/her level.

The wise person attempts to understand where you’re coming from, and speaks at your level.

Example of various solutions wise person may suggest:

1. 1. Resolving Psychological Issues: Real life story: Older sister was given more attention by parents in childhood. The younger sister developed a story in her head “…therefore I'm not loved”. This story becomes a habit. So in adulthood, when someone gets close to her (like guru or Ishvara), she pushes them away through unconscious behaviours (eg: by being overly needy because she’s desperately seeking that love/validation, through insecurity manifesting as awkward behaviour, suspicion the significant other is becoming disinterested, etc). These behaviors push the other person away, which reinforces her narrative “I'm not loved, I'm unworthy”.  Always finding external circumstances to blame. This lead her to becoming a compulsive liar, calculating an answer that'll elicit most favourable response, that’ll make her feel validated/embraced/acknowledged. She’s winning love by misrepresenting facts – thus feeling fearful/guilty. The woman was instructed to FIRST take care of this, instead of telling her “it's all just prakriti”.
   2. Prayer: Acknowledges your helplessness.
   3. Karma-Yoga: Focusing on finding joy in what you’re doing right now, recognizing obsession over results robs your happiness/peace, and seeing every event in life as chance to learn something from it.
   4. Jnana-Yoga.
   5. Values from BG CH16, such as sattva-samshuddhi — establishing a sattvic mind by asking end of the day what went well, what did you learn, what didn’t go so well and how can it be improved.
   6. Being comfortable with yourself in alone time.
   7. Adding social time to learn from others.
   8. Etc…

Why is customizing wisdom important? Because….

“Those who are deluded by modifications of the prakrti, become bound in terms of the body-mind complex (gunas) and actions”.

Who are “those” that take modifications of prakrti as the absolute reality? According to the verse, there are 3 types…

1. 1. Manda: represents someone with significant mental fog. One hears the words, but doesn’t move them. It’s like talking politics to a child. Most things going over the head. Per “Thinking Fast and Slow”, they default to System 1 – mechanical, habitual, simple. While System 2 (analysis) remains offline for most of the time.
   2. Akṛtsnavit: understand that the body, mind and senses perform actions, but they think of ātmā as something separate from themselves, something unknown. Produces more suffering then “manda”, because manda is ignorantly blissful, while akṛtsnavit is bothered by incomplete understanding.
   3. Kṛtsnavit: possesses complete knowledge of ātmā and anātmā.

Knowing there are many types of spiritual seekers — the wise person doesn't outright tell them, “You’re not a doer”, or “Action is bondage” – but helps them purify their minds first, helps get their thinking processes in order. For example, you tell them money itself isn't evil, it's Lakṣmī, a resource that shouldn't be abused.

After the mind is sattvic, then the they're ready to hear that very sattvic mind is like a pot. It always has some form or another. While consciousness is like the clay – the substance of the formed-thought, while remaining free of the form, just as no pot is forever stuck onto the clay. 

If you tell the same thing to a rajasic mind, he'll attempt to make his mind into a fancy thought, and hold it long as possible — because rajasic mind is still in mode of “how can I use things to benefit Me”.  So Vedanta becomes an escape, rather then using the teaching to recognize the value is not in the thought or modification of the mind, but in recognizing the invariable substance available in every thought (whether ugly or beautiful).

If you've understood the teaching properly, then you've understood that this isn't about attempting to do anything with the mind (like silence it) —  but understanding awareness is always pervading the changing mind. No thought displaces awareness.

NEXT VERSE: How a karma-yogi (Akṛtsnavit / Kṛtsnavit) navigates life…

Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 3, Verse 30:
How karma-yogi approaches life

मयि सर्वाणि कर्माणि संन्यस्य अध्यात्म-चेतसा ।
निराशीः निर्ममः भूत्वा युध्यस्व विगत-ज्वरः ॥ ३-३०॥
mayi sarvāṇi karmāṇi saṃnyasya adhyātma-cetasā ।
nirāśīḥ nirmamaḥ bhūtvā yudhyasva vigata-jvaraḥ ॥ 3-30॥

Renouncing all actions unto Me, with a mind that is discriminating, devoid of expectations with reference to the future and any sense of ‘mine-ness,’ without any anger or frustration whatsoever, fight (act).

“With a Mind That Is Discriminating”:

Adhyātma-cetasā means a mind that’s capable of assessing what is an appropriate action in each situation, and is healthy for all parties involved.

Whereas a non-discriminative defaults to under pressure, “For my sake, I am doing this”. In other words, comfort zone has higher priority over dharma.

Non-discriminating mind creates two situations:

• 1. Fight/do – because it’s comfortable
  2. Don't fight/do – because it makes me uncomfortable.

Krishna advises neither. Instead he says, “Fight (act in the world) – but from a certain understanding”. 

That understanding is: WHY are you fighting? What is the intention behind the action? Is it coming from revenge, or from accounting the larger whole? What is the ultimate aim? Are you aware of the consequences?

First figure out what is nature of the world and the order, then figure out what is your place in it, and act from that understanding.

Thus the karma-yogi, using one’s discretion, switches to whatever method situation calls for, rather then doing things one way all the time.

Behind Krishna’s words to Arjuna of “Fight”, he’s actually saying, “In this given situation, fighting is appropriate because an unrighteous king can't rule and corrupt future generations.”

“Renouncing All Actions Unto Me”:

Your body-mind is sculpted and sustained by Ishvara's infallible and impartial laws. Thus it's seen as an instrument serving the cosmic order, rather than a means to indulge in personal desires.

To renounce all actions to Ishvara means recognizing yourself as a trustee rather than an owner. Just as a CEO manages a company without owning it, you manage this body-mind complex while understanding it belongs to the total order.

Every action becomes an offering, not because you're giving up something that's yours, but because you're acknowledging it was never yours to begin with.

When you renounce in this way, you shift from “I am doing” to “Through this body-mind, the appropriate action is being done.” The pressure dissolves because you're no longer carrying the weight of being the sole doer. You become like a skilled musician in an orchestra – playing your part fully while knowing the music belongs to the whole.

The karma yogi understands: renunciation isn't about giving up action or becoming passive. It's about giving up the false claim of ownership while remaining fully engaged. You act with total commitment but without the burden of “mine-ness,” like a doctor performing surgery – completely focused yet understanding the healing belongs to the natural order, not to personal will.

“Renouncing all actions to Me” = “Do without attachment to results” = performing actions with understanding that:

• 1. You are not the doer. Your body-mind is. Your truth is awareness.  What is attached to the results? In reality it's the body-mind, but the person says “I am”. So each time there's attachment to results, it reinforces that I am as good as the body-mind.
  2. Results aren’t in your control. Plant seed and water. But no control over rains, weather, soil.
  3. Perform action as offering to the Creator who is the karma-phala-data. Meaning actions are done with care and mindfulness.

“Devoid of Expectations and Mine-ness”:

Devoid of Expectations:

When your mind is obsessed with future, plotting everything to answer “what’s in it for me”, that thinking subtracts from quality of your present actions, which will produce poor results.

Devoid of Mine-ness:

Karma-yogi has reduced “this is mine, this is not mine” thinking because he understands:

1. 1. Everything belongs to Īśvara alone. 
   2. You are merely a trustee temporarily managing what has been entrusted to you.
   3. Anything you hold onto, won’t be yours for long.
   4. Self is a mere witness to actions performed by body-mind (a modification of prakrti).
   5. Fruits of actions are impersonal – they’re distributed according to laws of karma. So no point saying “My success!”

“Without Anger or Frustration Whatsoever”:

There’s a possibility to think, “Īśvara has placed me in the wrong situation”. This leads to complaining and anger.

Karma-Yogi recognizes each situation offers an opportunity for spiritual growth.

 

NEXT VERSE: The Karma-yogi who follows the teaching – gains mokṣa…

 

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Course was based on Swami Dayananda (Arsha Vidya) home study course.

Recorded 24 Aug, 2025