BG-18.3 — The Dispute Over Whether Action Itself Is to Be Abandoned

BG-18.3

त्याज्यं दोषवदित्येके कर्म प्राहुर्मनीषिणः । यज्ञदानतपःकर्म न त्याज्यमिति चापरे ॥३॥

"Some wise men declare that action should be abandoned as an evil; others, that acts of sacrifice, gift, and austerity should never be abandoned."

This is the second verse of the Gītā's final chapter (BG-18.1-6), where Krishna takes up Arjuna's opening question about renunciation. Rather than pronouncing immediately, Krishna first lays out the disagreement he is about to settle: one school says drop all action as inherently defective; another says the sacrifice-gift-austerity triad must never be dropped. The verse is deliberately unresolved — the verdict comes at BG-18.4-6 (the triad is to be purified and done, not abandoned: pāvanāni manīṣiṇām, "these purify even the wise"). Jñāneśvar, across ten ovis, does not stay neutral: he diagnoses the renounce-all party as fruit-craving weaklings who misdiagnose the defect — like a naked man cursing the world, a sick man blaming his food — and he marshals three luminous images (gold in fire, dust on a mirror, soap on cloth) to argue that action is not the impurity but the very thing that removes it.

Ovi 18.135

Original (Marathi): एकां फळाभिलाष न ठके । ते कर्मांते म्हणती बंधकें । जैसें आपण नग्न भांडकें । जगातें म्हणे ॥१३५॥ Voice: jnaneshvar-teacher (expounding Krishna's BG-18.3 to his audience; the embedded "some say" renders एके)

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
एकां फळाभिलाष न ठके	for some, the craving-for-fruit (phala-abhilāṣa) does not cease
ते कर्मांते म्हणती बंधकें	they call action (karma) bondage
जैसें आपण नग्न	just as one who is himself naked
भांडकें जगातें म्हणे	rails / quarrels, blaming the world

Literal translation

English: For some, the craving for fruit never lets go — and they are the ones who call action itself bondage; just like a man who is himself naked, yet rails at the world (as though the world stripped him).

मराठी (आधुनिक): काहींची फळाची हाव सुटतच नाही — आणि तेच कर्मालाच बंधन म्हणतात; जसा स्वतःच नागडा असलेला माणूस उलट जगालाच दोष देत भांडतो.

Sanskrit-root note

phala-abhilāṣa = phala (fruit/result) + abhilāṣa (longing, from abhi-√laṣ "to crave") — the fruit-craving that BG-2.47 (mā phaleṣu kadācana) had already named as the thing to drop; here its persistence is what produces the false verdict against action.

Metaphor-unfold

Literal image	Philosophical referent	Modern equivalent
A man who is himself naked, railing at the world as if it stripped him	The fruit-craver who cannot let go of desire, then blames action for the bondage that is actually his own craving	The person who has not done the inner work, declaring the practice itself useless — locating the flaw outside himself
"Cursing the world" (जगातें म्हणे)	Blame projected outward onto an external object (karma) when the defect is internal (the ungoverned desire)	"This whole system is broken" — said by the one who never examined his own part in it

Metaphor-family: misdirected-blame (continued in 18.136's sick-man-blaming-food). The argument: the defect is in the craver, not in action.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. This is doxographical-ethical diagnosis (fruit-craving vs. action), with no cakra/kuṇḍalinī frame.

Cross-references

Internal: Ring-companion to 18.144 — the discord this ovi opens (the renounce-all party's misdiagnosis) is the very विसंवाद whose resolution 18.144 promises. Pairs with 18.136 as the misdirected-blame image-set.
Tukaram parallel: Abhang 56 (corpus/0056.md) — the spite-cascade तेलनीशीं रुसला वेडा — रागें कोरडें खातो ("the fool gets cross with the oil-seller and so eats dry food"), under the refrain आपुलें हित आपण पाही ("look after your own benefit"). The identical move: blame misdirected at an external target while the loss lands on the self. The fruit-craver declaring karma defective is the naked man cursing the world is the fool eating dry food in spite.
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 18.3 — एके... कर्म प्राहुः त्याज्यं दोषवत् ("some declare action to-be-abandoned as a defect"); rendered with the diagnostic addition that these "some" are those whose फळाभिलाष never ceased.

Modern application

When you quit the practice instead of fixing your relationship to it. The person who abandons meditation, journaling, or exercise declaring it "doesn't work" — when what hasn't shifted is their own restless craving for an immediate result. The naked man cursing the world.
When "this is all pointless" is really "I couldn't get what I wanted from it." Watch for the verdict against an activity that arrives precisely when the reward didn't. The judgment on the action is the disappointed desire wearing a philosopher's robe.
When you call a thing "bondage" to avoid examining your grip on it. "Work is a trap." "Commitment is a cage." Sometimes true — and sometimes the cage is the wanting, not the work, and naming the work as the captor lets the wanting off the hook.

Sādhanā

Today, find one thing you've recently declared "broken," "pointless," or "a trap." On a slip of paper, write the thing on the left and your actual unmet want on the right. Look at which side the defect is really on. Don't fix it; just see whether you are the naked man.

Arc

18.135 opens the diagnosis of the renounce-all party with the naked-man image; 18.136 stacks a second image of the same kind — the sick glutton who blames the food.

Ovi 18.136

Original (Marathi): कां जिव्हालंपट रोगिया । अन्नें दूषी धनंजया । आंगा न रुसे कोढिया । मासियां कोपे ॥१३६॥ Voice: jnaneshvar-teacher (the धनंजया vocative voices the embedded Krishna-to-Arjuna address inside the teaching)

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
कां जिव्हालंपट रोगिया	or, the tongue-greedy sick man (jihvā-lampaṭa rogī)
अन्नें दूषी धनंजया	faults the food, O Dhanañjaya (Arjuna)
आंगा न रुसे कोढिया	the leper does not resent his own body
मासियां कोपे	(but) rages at the flies

Literal translation

English: Or take the tongue-greedy sick man, O Dhanañjaya, who blames the food (for the harm his own appetite and illness cause); the leper does not resent his own body — he rages at the flies instead.

मराठी (आधुनिक): किंवा जिभेचा लंपट असलेला रोगी, धनंजया, अन्नालाच दोष देतो; कुष्ठरोगी स्वतःच्या शरीरावर रागवत नाही — उलट माशांवर चिडतो.

Metaphor-unfold

Literal image	Philosophical referent	Modern equivalent
The tongue-greedy invalid blaming the food	The fruit-craver blaming karma for harm that his own desire/disease produces	The dieter who blames the menu, never the appetite
The leper raging at the flies, not at his own diseased body	Anger directed at an incidental external (action) while the real condition (craving) goes unaccused	Blaming the symptom's bystander instead of treating the disease

Metaphor-family: misdirected-blame (paired with 18.135's naked man). Two clinical images sharpen the same point: the accusation lands on the wrong object.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: Image-partner to 18.135 (naked man) — together the two ovis form the cluster's misdirected-blame diptych applied to the renounce-all faction.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi — the misdirected-blame parallel to Tukaram 56 is anchored at 18.135)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 18.3 — त्याज्यं दोषवत् ("to be abandoned as a defect"), amplified into the food-blamer and fly-blamer images; the धनंजया vocative places the diagnosis as Krishna's address to Arjuna.

Modern application

When you blame the thing you consumed instead of the consuming. "That food made me sick" — said by the one who ate three helpings. The judgment on the food is the unexamined appetite.
When you rage at the small visible irritant and spare the real condition. The leper raging at flies: snapping at the slow email, the noisy room, the minor inconvenience, while the chronic thing — overwork, an unfaced grief — goes unnamed because it is yours.
When you fault the circumstance to avoid faulting the craving. "This job is toxic" may be true; it may also be the fly you can rage at because the real disease (a hunger nothing external can fill) cannot be shouted down.

Sādhanā

Today, catch one moment of irritation at a small external thing (a delay, a noise, a person's tone). Before reacting, ask one question: Is this the food, or is this my appetite? Is this the fly, or is this my own condition? Just locate the real source once.

Arc

18.136 completes the misdirected-blame pair; 18.137 names the patient outright — the फळकाम दुर्बळ, fruit-craving weaklings — and states their verdict.

Ovi 18.137

Original (Marathi): तैसे फळकाम दुर्बळ । म्हणती कर्मचि किडाळ । मग निर्णयो देती केवळ । त्यजावें ऐसा ॥१३७॥ Voice: jnaneshvar-teacher (the embedded "they declare" renders Krishna's एके... प्राहुः)

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
तैसे फळकाम दुर्बळ	just so, the fruit-craving weaklings (phala-kāma durbala)
म्हणती कर्मचि किडाळ	declare action itself to be base / adulterated (kiḍāḷa)
मग निर्णयो देती केवळ	then they pronounce the bare verdict
त्यजावें ऐसा	"it is to be abandoned"

Literal translation

English: In just that way, the fruit-craving weaklings declare action itself to be base coin — and then deliver their flat verdict: "abandon it."

मराठी (आधुनिक): त्याचप्रमाणे फळाची हाव असलेले हे दुर्बळ लोक कर्मालाच हीन, भेसळयुक्त म्हणतात — आणि मग सरळ निर्णय देऊन टाकतात: "त्याग करा."

Sanskrit-root note

kiḍāḷa (Marathi, from a base meaning "adulterated, debased") precisely renders दोषवत् ("having a defect") — the image is of debased/counterfeit coin. durbala = dur (bad/hard) + bala (strength) — "weak," Jñāneśvar's pointed undercut of the Sanskrit's dignifying मनीषिणः ("the wise").

Metaphor-unfold

No extended metaphor in this ovi. किडाळ ("base coin") is a single diagnostic epithet, not a developed image; the "तैसे" ("in just that way") points back to the unfolded images of 18.135-136.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: Closes the 3-ovi portrait of the first faction (18.135-137); the किडाळ verdict is what 18.140-142's purification-images directly refute.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 18.3 — एके कर्म प्राहुः त्याज्यं दोषवत् इति मनीषिणः ("some thinkers declare action to-be-abandoned as a defect"); किडाळ renders दोषवत्, and the दुर्बळ tag is Jñāneśvar's deliberate downgrade of मनीषिणः — these are not sages, but the weak.

Modern application

When a personal incapacity hardens into a doctrine. "I've decided that ambition is corrupt." Examine whether the decision is wisdom or whether it is a failure to handle ambition, promoted to a principle to make the failure dignified.
When you issue a flat verdict to end an internal struggle. निर्णयो देती केवळ — "they just pronounce: abandon it." The clean, total ruling ("I'm done with X forever") that is less a conclusion than a way to stop feeling the pull.
When you call something "base" to license walking away from it. Labeling the work, the relationship, the obligation as किडाळ — debased — so that abandoning it reads as discernment rather than depletion.

Sādhanā

Today, take one sweeping verdict you hold — "X is always corrupt / pointless / beneath me." Ask honestly: Is this a conclusion I reasoned to, or a verdict I issued to stop a struggle? Write the one word that names the struggle underneath the verdict.

Arc

18.137 closes the first faction's flawed ruling; 18.138 turns to the second faction — those who say the sacrifice-triad must be done, for nothing else purifies.

Ovi 18.138

Original (Marathi): एक म्हणती यागादिक । करावेंचि आवश्यक । जे यावांचूनि शोधक । आन नसे ॥१३८॥ Voice: jnaneshvar-teacher (the embedded "others say" renders अपरे)

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
एक म्हणती यागादिक	others say: sacrifice and the rest (yāga-ādika)
करावेंचि आवश्यक	must necessarily be done
जे यावांचूनि शोधक	for apart from these, a purifier (śodhaka)
आन नसे	there is none other

Literal translation

English: Others say: the sacrifice-triad and the rest must be done — for apart from these there is no other purifier at all.

मराठी (आधुनिक): दुसरे म्हणतात: यज्ञादी कर्मे अवश्य केलीच पाहिजेत — कारण यांच्याशिवाय दुसरा कोणताही शुद्धी करणारा (शोधक) नाही.

Sanskrit-root note

śodhaka = from √śudh "to purify" — "that which purifies / refines"; it introduces the purification-frame that BG-18.5's pāvanāni ("purifiers") confirms, and that the next four ovis image as gold, mirror, cloth, and cooking.

Metaphor-unfold

No extended metaphor in this ovi. शोधक ("purifier") names the doctrine plainly; the images that unfold it come in 18.140-142.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: Thesis-statement of the second faction; 18.139 gives its first corollary (don't be slothful), 18.140-142 its three purification-images.
Tukaram parallel: Abhang 2589 (corpus/2589.md) — बोलावे म्हुण हे बोलतों उपाय — प्रवाहें हें जाय गंगाजळ ("I speak BECAUSE speech is the prescribed means; the Ganges-water flows by its own current"). One acts because acting is the duty, irrespective of fruit or reception — the same करावेंचि आवश्यक ("it must simply be done") stance as the second faction here, the niṣkāma face of "do not abandon the prescribed act."
Source citation:
Bhagavad Gītā 18.3 — यज्ञदानतपःकर्म न त्याज्यम् इति चापरे ("acts of sacrifice-gift-austerity not-to-be-abandoned, say others"); यागादिक compresses the triad, शोधक introduces the purifier-register.
Bhagavad Gītā 18.5 — yajña-dāna-tapaḥ-karma na tyājyam kāryam eva tat... pāvanāni manīṣiṇām ("...it must indeed be done; these purify even the wise"). 18.138's करावेंचि आवश्यक... शोधक आन नसे anticipates BG-18.5's verdict two verses on — a different śloka, marked as the resolution this faction's position foreshadows.

Modern application

When a thing must be done not for its payoff but because it is what purifies you. The hard conversation, the daily discipline, the act of service whose value is not the result but what doing it makes of you. करावेंचि आवश्यक — it is simply to be done.
When you look for a shortcut around the only thing that actually refines you. "Is there a faster way?" Sometimes the honest answer is शोधक आन नसे — there is no other purifier; the slow, effortful practice is the path, and no hack substitutes.
When duty is the reason, and reception is irrelevant. Like Tukaram speaking because speech is the means whether or not anyone drinks: you teach, you parent, you create because it is yours to do — not because the audience deserves it or rewards it.

Sādhanā

Today, name one practice you keep doing not for its visible reward but because doing it shapes who you are. Do that one thing today, deliberately, telling yourself once: this is not for the fruit; this is the purifier.

Arc

18.138 states the second faction's thesis (the triad is the sole purifier, must be done); 18.139 draws its first practical edge — do not be slothful toward the action that purifies the mind.

Ovi 18.139

Original (Marathi): मनशुद्धीच्या मार्गीं । जैं विजयी व्हावें वेगीं । तैं कर्म सबळालागीं । आळसु न कीजे ॥१३९॥ Voice: jnaneshvar-teacher

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
मनशुद्धीच्या मार्गीं	on the road of mind-purification (mana-śuddhi)
जैं विजयी व्हावें वेगीं	if one would be swiftly victorious
तैं कर्म सबळालागीं	then toward the potent (sabaḷa) action
आळसु न कीजे	do not practice sloth

Literal translation

English: On the road of mind-purification, if you would win quickly, then toward the action that is potent enough to do it — do not be slothful.

मराठी (आधुनिक): मनःशुद्धीच्या मार्गावर जर लवकर विजय मिळवायचा असेल, तर जे कर्म ते साधण्यास समर्थ आहे त्याबाबत आळस करू नका.

Sanskrit-root note

mana-śuddhi = manas (mind) + śuddhi (purification) — citta-śuddhi, the inner-cleansing that is karma's purpose in the karma-yoga frame; the goal that makes action a means rather than an evil.

Metaphor-unfold

No extended metaphor in this ovi. मार्ग ("road") and विजयी ("victorious") are conventional idiom for a path and its goal, not a developed image.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. मनशुद्धि here is mind-purification in the plain Vedāntic-ethical sense (karma's fruit), not a kuṇḍalinī/cakra technicality — reading suṣumnā-cleansing into it would be a fabrication.

Cross-references

Internal: First corollary of 18.138's thesis; the सबळ ("potent") action whose sloth is forbidden is exactly the शोधक ("purifier") of 18.138, soon imaged as gold-fire/mirror/cloth.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 18.3 — न त्याज्यम् ("not to be abandoned"), amplified into a positive injunction (do not be slothful toward purifying action) with मनशुद्धि naming the purpose the Sanskrit leaves implicit until BG-18.5's पावनानि.

Modern application

When the thing that would actually change you is the thing you keep postponing. आळसु न कीजे — "do not be slothful." The practice you know purifies (the honest review, the daily sit, the difficult skill) is precisely the one inertia targets. Sloth attacks the potent action first.
When you want the result fast but won't do the slow potent thing. विजयी व्हावें वेगीं — "win quickly." The wish for swift change and the avoidance of the one effortful means are usually the same person; the ovi joins them and removes the excuse.
When "purifying the mind" stays a concept instead of a calendar. This ovi makes inner work a road with potent actions on it, not a mood. The corrective is to put the purifier on today's list, not in the abstract future.

Sādhanā

Today, identify the single most potent action available to your own clarity (the one you've been postponing precisely because it would work). Do not complete it — just do the first five minutes of it today, refusing sloth toward exactly that.

Arc

18.139 forbids sloth toward purifying action in the abstract; 18.140 makes it vivid — gold must not shun the fire, the mirror must not hoard its dust.

Ovi 18.140

Original (Marathi): भांगार आथी शोधावें । तरी आगी जेवी नुबगावें । कां दर्पणालागीं सांचावें । अधिक रज ॥१४०॥ Voice: jnaneshvar-teacher

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
भांगार आथी शोधावें	if gold (bhāngāra) is to be refined
तरी आगी जेवी नुबगावें	then, just as one is not disgusted with the fire
कां दर्पणालागीं सांचावें	or, would one hoard / collect for the mirror's sake
अधिक रज	extra dust (raja)?

Literal translation

English: If gold is to be refined, one does not recoil in disgust from the fire (that refines it). Or — would anyone pile up extra dust for the mirror's sake? (Of course not; one removes it.)

मराठी (आधुनिक): सोने शुद्ध करायचे असेल, तर ज्या अग्नीने ते शुद्ध होते त्या अग्नीचा कंटाळा करत नाही. किंवा आरशासाठी कोणी जास्तीची धूळ साठवून ठेवतो का? (नाही — ती दूर करतो.)

Sanskrit-root note

śodhāvē (refine/purify) is the verbal cousin of 18.138's शोधक ("purifier") — the gold-image literally enacts the purifier-doctrine. raja = "dust" (also the guṇa rajas), here plain dust dimming a mirror.

Metaphor-unfold

Literal image	Philosophical referent	Modern equivalent
Gold refined by fire; one does not recoil from the fire	Action (yajña-dāna-tapas) is the refining fire of the seeker; one does not shun it as evil	The hard, hot process (training, therapy, discipline) that burns off impurity — embraced because it refines, not fled because it is uncomfortable
One does not hoard extra dust for the mirror; one clears it	The "defect" the first faction sees in action is the dust being removed, not added; action is the dust-clearing	You don't keep the grime on the lens to spare it the wipe — you clean it; effort that removes obscuration is not an impurity

Metaphor-family: gold-and-fire + mirror-and-dust purification (continued by 18.141's cloth-and-soap, sealed by 18.142's cooking). Three classical purification images refute कर्मचि किडाळ.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. The mirror-and-dust image here is the ethical purification trope (action clears the mind's dust), not the cakra-mirror or the kuṇḍalinī-polished-consciousness of the yogic chapters; importing that would over-claim.

Cross-references

Internal: First two of the three purification-images; directly answers 18.137's किडाळ verdict by showing the purifier is not the impurity. Image-set with 18.141, 18.142.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation:
Bhagavad Gītā 18.3 — न त्याज्यम् ("not to be abandoned"), imaged as gold-and-fire + mirror-and-dust to argue action is the refiner, not the flaw.
Bhagavad Gītā 18.5 — pāvanāni manīṣiṇām ("these purify even the wise"). The gold-refined-by-fire image concretizes पावन: action is the fire, the seeker the gold. A different śloka than this cluster's BG-18.3; the image anticipates 18.5's verdict.

Modern application

When the discomfort of a process is exactly what's working. The fire feels like damage; it is refinement. The hard feedback, the strenuous training, the uncomfortable honesty — recoiling from the heat means recoiling from the purification.
When you mistake the cleaning for the dirt. What looks like the practice "stirring things up" (old grief surfacing in therapy, weakness exposed in training) is the dust being lifted out, not put in. Don't quit the wipe because the lens looks worse mid-clean.
When you'd rather keep the grime than endure the polish. The mirror with extra hoarded dust is the life that avoids every clarifying effort to stay comfortable. The ovi's question — would you collect dust for the mirror? — exposes the absurdity of treating the cleaner as the contaminant.

Sādhanā

Today, locate one "uncomfortable" process in your life that you've been resenting as if it were the problem (a review, a conversation, a workout, a practice). Say of it once: this is the fire, not the flaw. Then do the next step of it without recoiling.

Arc

18.140 gives gold-fire and mirror-dust; 18.141 adds the third image — cloth made clean by a wash that itself looks soiled.

Ovi 18.141

Original (Marathi): नाना वस्त्रें चोख होआवीं । ऐसें आथी जरी जीवीं । तरी संवदणी न मनावी । मलिन जैसी ॥१४१॥ Voice: jnaneshvar-teacher

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
नाना वस्त्रें चोख होआवीं	various cloths are to become spotless (cokha)
ऐसें आथी जरी जीवीं	if such is the wish in your heart
तरी संवदणी न मनावी	then do not regard the washing/soaping (samvadaṇī)
मलिन जैसी	as if it were defiling / dirty

Literal translation

English: If your heart wishes the cloths to come out spotless, then do not regard the soap-washing — which looks soiled in process — as itself a defilement.

मराठी (आधुनिक): जर मनात असेल की वस्त्रे स्वच्छ व्हावीत, तर साबण लावून धुण्याची क्रिया (जी प्रक्रियेत मळकट दिसते) तीच मळ आहे असे मानू नका.

Metaphor-unfold

Literal image	Philosophical referent	Modern equivalent
Cloth made spotless by a soap-wash that itself looks dirty mid-process	Action is the cleansing whose mid-process appearance of "trouble" is not its defect but its working	The messy middle of any real cleanup — the wash looks dirtier than the stain for a moment, then comes out clean
"Do not regard the washing as defiling" (संवदणी न मनावी मलिन)	Refusing to mistake the purifying-process for the impurity it is removing	Not abandoning the therapy/audit/repair because it churns up mess before it resolves

Metaphor-family: cloth-washed-clean, completing the gold-fire (18.140) and mirror-dust (18.140) purification triad; sealed by 18.142's cooking.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: Third purification-image, completing the set begun at 18.140; together they refute 18.137's किडाळ.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation:
Bhagavad Gītā 18.3 — न त्याज्यम्, imaged as cloth-and-soap: the wash that looks soiled is the means of cleanness, not a defilement to be abandoned.
Bhagavad Gītā 18.5 — pāvanāni manīṣiṇām ("the purifiers of the wise"). The cloth-and-soap image is the third concretization of पावन alongside 18.140's gold and mirror. A different śloka than this cluster's BG-18.3; anticipates the 18.5 resolution.

Modern application

When the cleanup looks messier than the mess for a while. The audit that surfaces more problems before it fixes them; the honest relationship conversation that gets harder before it gets clearer. The soap looks dirty mid-wash — don't read that as proof the washing is wrong.
When you abandon a repair because the middle is ugly. संवदणी न मनावी मलिन — "don't call the washing a defilement." The renovation half-done, the recovery in its rawest week, the reorg mid-churn: judging the process by its worst moment and quitting.
When the discomfort of doing-the-right-thing gets mistaken for doing-the-wrong-thing. A difficult-but-correct action often feels like a violation in the moment (saying the hard truth feels unkind). The ovi separates how the process looks from what it is.

Sādhanā

Today, find one "in-progress" thing that currently looks worse than when you started (a hard conversation underway, a project torn apart to rebuild, a habit being broken). Resist the urge to abandon it today. Tell yourself once: this is the wash, not the stain.

Arc

18.141 completes the three purification-images; 18.142 draws the conclusion — therefore toilsome action must not be cast off in contempt.

Ovi 18.142

Original (Marathi): तैसीं कर्में क्लेशकारें । म्हणौनि न न्यावीं अव्हेरें । कां अन्नलाभें अरुवारें । रांधितिये उणें ॥१४२॥ Voice: jnaneshvar-teacher

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
तैसीं कर्में क्लेशकारें	just so, actions (that are) toil-causing (kleśa-kāra)
म्हणौनि न न्यावीं अव्हेरें	for that reason are not to be carried off into contempt (avhera)
कां अन्नलाभें अरुवारें	or, for the gain of delicate (aruvāra) food
रांधितिये उणें	(does one count) the cooking a fault / lacking?

Literal translation

English: In just that way, actions — because they cause toil — are not therefore to be cast aside in contempt; just as, for the sake of the fine food it yields, one does not count the cooking a flaw.

मराठी (आधुनिक): त्याचप्रमाणे कर्मे श्रमदायक आहेत म्हणून त्यांचा तिरस्काराने त्याग करू नये; जसे चांगल्या अन्नाच्या प्राप्तीसाठी स्वयंपाक करणे कमीपणाचे मानत नाहीत.

Sanskrit-root note

kleśa-kāra = kleśa (affliction/toil) + kāra (causing); the toil is real — and is precisely not the defect. avhera (Marathi) = contemptuous rejection, the disdainful casting-off the first faction commits.

Metaphor-unfold

Literal image	Philosophical referent	Modern equivalent
One does not count the cooking a fault for the sake of the fine meal it yields	The toil (kleśa) of action is the price of its purifying fruit, not a defect that justifies abandoning it	You don't refuse to cook because cooking is work — you cook for the meal; effort is the cost of the good it produces

Metaphor-family: cooking-for-the-meal (means-justified-by-fruit), sealing the gold/mirror/cloth purification set. The toil is not the किडाळ.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: Conclusion of the purification-image block (18.140-142); directly overturns 18.137's किडाळ + त्यजावें. Developed-further into 18.143's naming of the discord.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 18.3 — न त्याज्यम् ("not to be abandoned"), made explicit: तैसीं कर्में क्लेशकारें म्हणौनि न न्यावीं अव्हेरें ("toilsome actions are not for that reason to be cast off in contempt") restates न त्याज्यम् directly; the cooking-for-food image seals the means-by-fruit argument.

Modern application

When you mistake effort for evidence that something is wrong. "This is so much work — it must not be for me." The cooking is work because a meal is coming. क्लेशकारें — toil-causing — does not mean defective; it means costly. Don't read difficulty as a verdict.
When you'd abandon a worthwhile thing to escape its labor. अव्हेर — contemptuous casting-off — is the move of dropping the demanding project, relationship, or discipline and dressing the escape as discernment. The ovi names it as contempt, not wisdom.
When the payoff and the toil are the same package. You cannot have the fine meal without the cooking. Wanting the fruit of a practice while resenting its effort is wanting the meal while despising the stove.

Sādhanā

Today, pick one toilsome-but-worthwhile thing you've been tempted to drop because it's hard. Instead of dropping it, do one concrete step of it today, naming the meal it cooks: this toil is the price of ___. Fill the blank honestly.

Arc

18.142 closes the second faction's purification-case; 18.143 steps back to name the larger situation — by these very words, renunciation has fallen into discord.

Ovi 18.143

Original (Marathi): इहीं इहीं गा शब्दीं । एक कर्मीं बांधिती बुद्धी । ऐसा त्यागु विसंवादीं । पडोनि ठेला ॥१४३॥ Voice: jnaneshvar-teacher (the गा vocative voices the embedded Krishna-to-Arjuna address)

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
इहीं इहीं गा शब्दीं	by these very words, O (Arjuna)
एक कर्मीं बांधिती बुद्धी	one party binds the intellect (buddhi) to action
ऐसा त्यागु विसंवादीं	thus renunciation (tyāga), into discord (visamvāda)
पडोनि ठेला	has fallen and remained

Literal translation

English: By these very words, O Arjuna, one party binds the intellect to action (while the other unbinds it) — and so the whole matter of renunciation has fallen into discord and stuck there.

मराठी (आधुनिक): अशा या वचनांनी, हे अर्जुना, एक पक्ष बुद्धीला कर्माशी बांधतो — आणि त्यामुळे त्यागाचा हा प्रश्न विसंवादात (मतभेदात) पडून राहिला आहे.

Sanskrit-root note

visamvāda = vi (apart) + samvāda (concord/dialogue) — "discord, disagreement"; it precisely names the एके...अपरे ("some...others") split of BG-18.3, reading the verse as a stated dispute, not a settled doctrine.

Metaphor-unfold

No extended metaphor in this ovi. बांधिती बुद्धी ("binds the intellect") is conceptual idiom, not a developed image.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: Names the discord that the whole cluster has dramatized (18.135-142); developed-further into 18.144's promise of resolution. The गा vocative matches 18.136's धनंजया as the embedded Krishna-to-Arjuna address.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 18.3 — the verse's own एके...अपरे ("some...others") structure, named by 18.143 as विसंवाद ("discord"); Jñāneśvar reads BG-18.3 as the explicit statement of an unresolved dispute, the गा confirming Krishna's address to Arjuna.

Modern application

When you notice you're holding a question that two voices in you answer oppositely. The internal विसंवाद: "drop it entirely" vs. "you must keep doing it." Naming that you are in a discord — not yet at a conclusion — is itself clarifying; you stop mistaking a stuck dispute for a settled stance.
When a real disagreement is being treated as if it were already resolved. Both factions sound certain; the verse insists the matter is unsettled (पडोनि ठेला, "fallen and stuck"). Honesty begins with admitting the question is open, not picking the louder side.
When "should I quit or persist?" has frozen you. That exact paralysis is the विसंवाद of this ovi — the renounce/retain split applied to your own commitment. The ovi's gift is to name the frozen state precisely before reaching for the answer.

Sādhanā

Today, take one "should I quit or keep going?" question you're carrying. Write the two voices side by side as a stated discord — "Part of me says abandon it because ; part of me says it must be done because ." Don't resolve it yet; just see clearly that you are in a विसंवाद.

Arc

18.143 names the discord; 18.144 promises it will be cleared — the settled conclusion about renunciation will be met, so attend.

Ovi 18.144

Original (Marathi): तरी विसंवादु तो फिटे । त्यागाचा निश्चयो भेटे । तैसें बोलों गोमटें । अवधान देईं ॥१४४॥ Voice: jnaneshvar-teacher (the अवधान देईं attention-summons addresses the listener/Arjuna)

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
तरी विसंवादु तो फिटे	so that that discord (visamvāda) may be dissolved
त्यागाचा निश्चयो भेटे	the settled conclusion (niścaya) about renunciation may be met
तैसें बोलों गोमटें	so let me speak something excellent (gomaṭē)
अवधान देईं	give (your) attention (avadhāna)

Literal translation

English: So that the discord may be dissolved and the settled conclusion about renunciation may be reached, let me now speak something fine — give me your attention.

मराठी (आधुनिक): तो विसंवाद मिटावा आणि त्यागाचा नक्की निर्णय भेटावा, म्हणून आता मी काहीतरी उत्तम सांगतो — लक्ष द्या.

Sanskrit-root note

niścaya = nis (definitely) + √ci (determine) — "settled conclusion, certainty"; it directly renders Krishna's निश्चयं of BG-18.4 (niścayam śṛṇu me — "hear my settled conclusion"), the verdict that resolves BG-18.3's dispute. avadhāna = "attention," the standard Jñāneśvarī summons opening a teaching.

Metaphor-unfold

No extended metaphor in this ovi. विसंवादु फिटे ("discord dissolves") is plain idiom, not a developed image.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: Ring-closes the cluster opened at 18.135 — moving the 10-ovi arc from stating the discord (18.135-143) to promising its resolution (18.144). Frames BG-18.3 as the problem, BG-18.4-6 as the answer.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 18.4 — niścayam śṛṇu me tatra tyāge bharata-sattama ("hear my settled conclusion regarding renunciation, best of Bharatas"); 18.144's त्यागाचा निश्चयो भेटे directly renders Krishna's निश्चयं, previewing the verdict that resolves this cluster's BG-18.3 doxography.

Modern application

When you commit to ending a paralysis by actually reaching a verdict. निश्चयो भेटे — "let the settled conclusion be met." After honestly naming a discord (18.143), there comes the moment to decide — not to stay forever in the even-handed survey. The ovi turns from naming the problem to summoning resolution.
When you need to gather your attention before the thing that will actually clarify. अवधान देईं — "give your attention." Real resolution asks for focus, not idle weighing. The clearing of a long-stuck question usually waits on a moment you genuinely sit down and attend.
When the answer is coming and you must stop rehearsing the dispute. The temptation is to keep restating both sides. This ovi says: the discord will dissolve — now listen for the conclusion, rather than re-litigating the split.

Sādhanā

Today, take the discord you named in 18.143's sādhanā, set a single 10-minute block, remove distractions, and give it your full अवधान with one question only: what would a settled conclusion (निश्चय) here actually be? Don't force the answer; just attend to it undividedly once.

Arc

18.144 ring-closes the cluster by promising the resolution; the next śloka (BG-18.4) delivers it — niścayam śṛṇu me tatra tyāge — Krishna announcing his own verdict and opening the threefold-tyāga analysis (sāttvika/rājasa/tāmasa) that settles whether and how action is to be relinquished.

Cluster summary

Core teaching: BG-18.3 states the dispute the final chapter will adjudicate: some hold that all action should be abandoned as defective, others that the sacrifice-gift-austerity triad must never be abandoned. Across ten ovis Jñāneśvar refuses neutrality. He diagnoses the renounce-all party as fruit-craving weaklings (फळकाम दुर्बळ) who, unable to drop their own desire, slander action itself as base coin (कर्मचि किडाळ) — the move of a naked man cursing the world, a sick glutton blaming his food, a leper raging at flies. Against them he sets three luminous purification-images — gold refined by fire, a mirror cleared of dust, cloth washed clean (and the cooking that earns the meal) — to argue that action is not the impurity but the very instrument that removes it. The cluster ends by naming the resulting discord (विसंवाद) and promising its settlement (निश्चय), handing the reader directly to Krishna's verdict.

Chapter arc position: This is the second verse of adhyāya-18's opening tyāga-sannyāsa inquiry (BG-18.1-6). After Arjuna's BG-18.1 question separating sannyāsa (renouncing action) from tyāga (renouncing fruit), Krishna lays out the doxographical disagreement here, and resolves it at BG-18.4-6 — the yajña-dāna-tapas triad is to be purified and performed, not abandoned (kāryam eva tat... pāvanāni manīṣiṇām, "it must be done; these purify even the wise"). Jñāneśvar's gold/mirror/cloth purification-images directly anticipate that 18.5 resolution.

Connects to BG-18.4: निश्चयं शृणु मे तत्र त्यागे भरतसत्तम — "Hear MY settled conclusion regarding renunciation, best of Bharatas." Krishna takes up the discord just stated and announces his own निश्चय (the very word 18.144 used), beginning the threefold analysis of tyāga (sāttvika, rājasa, tāmasa) that resolves whether and how action is to be relinquished.