Cluster 0598 — BG-18.6 — *etāny api tu karmāṇi sangam tyaktvā phalāni ca — kartavyānīti me pārtha niścitam matam uttamam*
BG-18.6
एतान्यपि तु कर्माणि सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा फलानि च । कर्तव्यानीति मे पार्थ निश्चितं मतमुत्तमम् ॥६॥
"But even these actions (sacrifice, charity, austerity) are TO BE DONE — having abandoned attachment and the fruits. This, O Pārtha, is My settled and supreme conviction."
This is the prescriptive climax of the chapter's opening discrimination between sannyāsa (renouncing action) and tyāga (renouncing the fruit). Having just insisted (BG-18.5) that the purifying acts — sacrifice, charity, austerity — must NOT be thrown away, Kṛṣṇa here delivers the precise surgery: keep the action, cut the two ego-hooks. Not the deed is renounced but the sanga (the "I am the doer" attachment) and the phala (the craving for the result). Jñāneśvar unfolds this across twelve ovis in two clean movements — five on dropping doership, seven on dropping fruit — and pours into them six of his most concrete folk-similes: the wage-pilgrim, the seal-bearing courtier, the rescued swimmer and the priest who does not parade his giving (doership-side); then the wet-nurse, the un-watered pīpal, and the cowherd herding a cow that gives him no milk (fruit-side). The whole prescription is sealed with Kṛṣṇa's most personal authority-stamp: निरोपु माझा — "this is My own command."
Ovi 18.166
Original (Marathi): तरी महायागप्रमुखें । कर्मे निफजतांही अचुकें । कर्तेपणाचें न ठाके । फुंजणें आंगीं ॥१६६॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna (the Gita-verse spoken in the chariot-frame; the prescriptive command continues from BG-18.5)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| तरी महायागप्रमुखें | even in the great-sacrifices and the foremost (prescribed acts) |
| कर्मे निफजतांही अचुकें | even when the actions are accomplished flawlessly |
| कर्तेपणाचें न ठाके | let the doership not remain / not take its stand |
| फुंजणें आंगीं | the puffing-up / swelling — in the body |
Literal translation
English: Even when the great sacrifices and foremost acts are carried out flawlessly, let the puffing-up of doership not lodge in the body.
मराठी (आधुनिक): महायागासारखी श्रेष्ठ कर्मं अगदी निर्दोषपणे पार पडली, तरीही "मी केलं" या कर्तेपणाचा फुगा अंगात राहू देऊ नये.
Sanskrit-root note
sanga (the verse's word, rendered फुंजणें here) = √sañj, "to cling/stick" — the mind sticking to the doing as "mine"; Jñāneśvar's फुंजणें (a swelling, a puff) names the somatic feel of that clinging.
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi. फुंजणें ("puffing-up") is a single vivid noun for the doership-swell, not a developed image.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. महायाग is the Vedic great-sacrifice (a prescribed karma), not a yogic inner-rite; no cakra/suṣumnā frame is active.
Cross-references
- Internal: Opens the twin-renunciation that 18.177 closes — the sanga-drop here, the phala-drop-as-sole-path there, bracket the single BG-18.6 prescription.
- Tukaram parallel: Abhang 3913 — मानसाची देव चालवी अहंता । मी चि एक कर्त्ता म्हणों नये ("Deva moves even the I-am-ness of the mind — don't say I alone am the doer"). The same kartṛtva-dissolution: the action stands, the doership-claim is voided. Where Jñāneśvar says let the puff of doership not lodge, Tukaram says don't even say "I am the doer."
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 18.6 — सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा ("having abandoned attachment"); महायाग renders the etāni karmāṇi (the yajña-dāna-tapas of BG-18.5), and फुंजणें precisely names the sanga as the inner swelling of doership.
Modern application
- When you do a job flawlessly and then can't stop narrating yourself as its hero. The deck lands, the launch ships, the dinner is perfect — and the फुंजणें rises: the silent (or spoken) "I did this." The work was clean; the swell is the leak.
- When competence becomes a costume for ego. The more flawless the execution (निफजतांही अचुकें), the more tempting the doership-claim. High skill is exactly where this verse aims — pride hides best behind real excellence.
- When religious or "good" acts feed the self most. महायाग — the most prescribed, most praiseworthy act — is named first precisely because that's where the doership-puff is hardest to see. The volunteer, the donor, the disciplined practitioner: the better the deed, the subtler the swell.
Sādhanā
Today, complete one task you do well — and deliberately do NOT tell anyone you did it, and do not silently rehearse "I did that" afterward. Just let the deed be done and pass. Notice the pull to claim it; let it not lodge.
Arc
18.166 states the principle (drop the doership-puff even in flawless sacrifice); 18.167 develops it through the first folk-simile — the paid-pilgrim who feels no pride-of-praise.
Ovi 18.167
Original (Marathi): जो मोलें तीर्था जाये । तया मी यात्रा करितु आहे । ऐसिये श्लाघ्यतेचा नोहे । तोषु जेवीं ॥१६७॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna (the Gita-verse's argument continuing in the chariot-frame)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| जो मोलें तीर्था जाये | one who goes to the sacred-ford for a wage / on hire |
| तया मी यात्रा करितु आहे | for him, "I am making the pilgrimage" |
| ऐसिये श्लाघ्यतेचा नोहे | of such praiseworthiness there is not |
| तोषु जेवीं | the satisfaction — just as |
Literal translation
English: Just as the man who goes to a sacred ford for hire feels no glow of the praiseworthy thought "I am making the pilgrimage" —
मराठी (आधुनिक): ज्याप्रमाणे मोलमजुरी म्हणून तीर्थयात्रेला जाणाऱ्याला "मी यात्रा करतोय" असा प्रशंसेचा अभिमानाचा आनंद होत नाही —
Metaphor-unfold
| Literal image | Philosophical referent | Modern equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| The man hired to walk to the tīrtha for another's sake | The doer who performs the full act but owns no doership (sanga) | The proxy / employee who completes a task on someone else's behalf and feels no personal pride-of-authorship |
| He feels no तोष (satisfaction) of श्लाघ्यता (praiseworthiness) | The absence of the "I am the doer" reward-feeling — sanga severed | Doing the thing without harvesting the ego-glow of having done it |
Metaphor-family: paid-pilgrim — first of the three doership-renunciation folk-similes (18.167-18.169). The जेवीं ("just as") simile-frame is explicit.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. तीर्थ here is the literal pilgrimage-ford of the simile, not a yogic inner-tīrtha.
Cross-references
- Internal: First of the doership-simile triad continued at 18.168 (seal-bearer) and 18.169 (swimmer/priest).
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 18.6 — सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा, unfolded as the wage-pilgrim who performs the act fully but owns no doership-pride.
Modern application
- When you do something on commission and feel none of the authorship. The ghostwriter, the contractor, the stand-in — you did the work, but because it was "for hire," the I-am-the-doer glow never fires. The verse asks you to bring that same neutrality to your own "important" acts.
- When you notice the difference between doing a thing and being praised for it. The wage-pilgrim still walks every mile. The action is undiminished; only the श्लाघ्यता (the reach for praise) is absent. Detachment is not doing less — it's doing fully without the praise-hunger.
- When you catch yourself doing good partly for the credit. Strip the credit experimentally: would you still do it if it were "for hire," nameless? The wage-pilgrim is the test.
Sādhanā
Today, do one good or useful act as if you were hired to do it anonymously — no one will know it was you, you get no credit. Watch whether your motivation wavers when the praise is removed.
Arc
18.167 gives the first doership-simile (paid-pilgrim, no pride-of-praise); 18.168 adds the second — the courtier bearing the king's seal who claims no victory as his own.
Ovi 18.168
Original (Marathi): कां मुद्रा समर्थाचिया । जो एकवटु झोंबे राया । तो मी जिणता ऐसिया । न येचि गर्वा ॥१६८॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| कां मुद्रा समर्थाचिया | or, by the signet/seal of a powerful lord |
| जो एकवटु झोंबे राया | one who single-handedly grapples / seizes a king |
| तो मी जिणता ऐसिया | he, "I am the conqueror," in such (a thought) |
| न येचि गर्वा | does not at all come to pride |
Literal translation
English: — or just as one who, holding a powerful lord's signet, single-handedly seizes a king, does not fall into the pride "I am the conqueror" —
मराठी (आधुनिक): किंवा ज्याप्रमाणे एखाद्या समर्थ धन्याची मुद्रा बाळगून जो एकट्यानेच राजाला पकडतो, त्याला "मीच जिंकलं" असा गर्व होत नाही —
Metaphor-unfold
| Literal image | Philosophical referent | Modern equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| The agent who subdues a king by the seal of his powerful master | The deed accomplished through a borrowed power, so no personal doership accrues | The officer acting under a warrant, the agent with power-of-attorney — the authority is the principal's, not theirs |
| "I am the conqueror" — the pride that does NOT come | The doer who knows the power was never his own — sanga has no soil to grow in | Refusing to mistake delegated authority for personal greatness |
Metaphor-family: seal-bearing courtier — second of the three doership-renunciation folk-similes. The kā ("or") chains it to 18.167's simile.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. मुद्रा here is the royal signet-seal, not the yogic mudrā (the bodily lock); reading khecarī/yogic-mudrā into this courtier-simile would be a fabrication.
Cross-references
- Internal: Second of the doership-simile triad (18.167-18.169).
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi — the kartṛtva-dissolution parallel sits at 18.166 and 18.170)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 18.6 — सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा, unfolded as the seal-bearer whose deed runs on a power not his own, so no victor's-pride accrues.
Modern application
- When a "win" was actually carried by borrowed authority. You closed it because of the brand, the budget, the mandate behind you — the मुद्रा. The seal-bearer simile asks you to see the borrowed power clearly and not pocket the victory as personal greatness.
- When you act in a role and confuse the role's power with your own. The manager, the official, the moderator — the chair carries authority you've started to feel as yours. Take off the seal in your mind: who actually conquered?
- When status accomplishes what you then credit to skill. Doors open because of position; you tell yourself it was talent. तो मी जिणता — "I won" — is the misattribution this simile dissolves.
Sādhanā
Today, take one recent success and name out loud (or on paper) the borrowed power that actually carried it — the brand, the boss, the budget, the mandate. Say: "the seal did this; I held it." Sit with how much was never yours.
Arc
18.168 gives the second doership-simile (seal-bearer, no victor's-pride); 18.169 closes the simile-triad with the rescued-swimmer and the priest who does not parade his giving.
Ovi 18.169
Original (Marathi): जो कासें लागोनि तरे । तया पोहती ऊर्मी नुरे । पुरोहितु नाविष्करे । दातेपणें ॥१६९॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| जो कासें लागोनि तरे | one who crosses (the water) by clutching a float/support |
| तया पोहती ऊर्मी नुरे | for him, no surge/wave of swimmer's(-pride) remains |
| पुरोहितु नाविष्करे | the officiating priest does not display/make-manifest |
| दातेपणें | his giver-hood / donor-ship |
Literal translation
English: — just as for one who crosses the water by clutching a float, no swelling swimmer's-pride remains; and the officiating priest does not parade his giver-hood.
मराठी (आधुनिक): ज्याप्रमाणे कासेला (आधाराला) धरून पाणी ओलांडणाऱ्याला "मी पोहलो" अशी पोहण्याची लाट उरत नाही; आणि याज्ञिक पुरोहित आपल्या दातेपणाचा डांगोरा पिटत नाही.
Metaphor-unfold
| Literal image | Philosophical referent | Modern equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Crossing the water by clutching a float (कास), so no "I swam" surge arises | The deed done with help / not by one's own unaided power — doership-surge has no ground | Getting across with a tool/team and not claiming a solo triumph |
| The priest who performs the rite but does not parade his दातेपण (giver-hood) | The prescribed act (dāna) performed with the donor-ego dropped | Giving without making the giving visible — anonymous, un-announced charity |
Metaphor-family: rescued-swimmer + un-parading-priest — third (a paired image) of the doership-renunciation similes. The दातेपण (giver-hood) foreshadows the fruit-side and the dāna-with-ego that the whole niṣkāma teaching targets.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. कास (float/support) and पोहणें (swimming) are the literal river-crossing of the simile; no taraṇa-as-mokṣa esoteric pun is being worked here beyond the plain image.
Cross-references
- Internal: Closes the doership-simile triad (18.167-18.169); the दातेपण giver-ego it drops is the same ego BG-18.5's dāna-defense presupposes purifying.
- Tukaram parallel: Abhang 90 — तप करूनि तीर्थाटन । वाढविला अभिमान ("having done tapas and pilgrimage, only swelled the ahankāra") and वांटिलें तें धन । केली अहंता जतन ("wealth was distributed — the I-am-the-giver was preserved"), verdict केला अवघा चि अधर्म ("made it all adharma"). 18.169's priest who does NOT parade his दातेपण is the positive inverse of Tukaram's giver who preserves the अहंता — same dāna-with-ego target, opposite outcome.
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 18.6 — सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा, unfolded as the helped-crosser and the un-parading priest — action and giving performed with the doer-/giver-ego dropped.
Modern application
- When you crossed with help but tell it as a solo swim. The float was the mentor, the inheritance, the lucky break, the team — and the पोहती ऊर्मी, the "I made it on my own" surge, quietly erases them. Name the float.
- When generosity becomes a performance. The donor whose name must go on the wall, the helper who needs the help seen — दातेपणें नाविष्करे, parading the giver-hood. The verse's ideal is the priest who gives and does not display it.
- When you announce your sacrifices. "After everything I've given..." is the दातेपण made manifest. The un-parading priest gives and lets it disappear.
Sādhanā
Today, give something — money, time, help, credit — and tell no one. Let it be completely un-witnessed. If you feel the urge to mention it, that urge is the दातेपण this ovi asks you to drop.
Arc
18.169 closes the three-simile illustration of doership-without-pride; 18.170 states the doctrinal summary the similes served — perform actions without taking up doership through ego.
Ovi 18.170
Original (Marathi): तैसें कर्तृत्व अहंकारें । नेघोनि यथा अवसरें । कृत्यजातांचें मोहरें । सारीजती ॥१७०॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| तैसें कर्तृत्व अहंकारें | just so, doership — through ego |
| नेघोनि यथा अवसरें | not taking (it) up — at the fitting occasion |
| कृत्यजातांचें मोहरें | the whole class of actions-to-be-done — toward (their front) |
| सारीजती | are driven forward / set in motion |
Literal translation
English: Just so — not taking up doership through ego — at the fitting occasion the whole array of actions-to-be-done is driven forward.
मराठी (आधुनिक): त्याचप्रमाणे अहंकारानं कर्तेपण न घेता, योग्य त्या प्रसंगी जी जी कर्मं करायची ती सगळी पुढं रेटून पार पाडावीत.
Sanskrit-root note
kartṛtva (कर्तृत्व) = √kṛ + the abstract-suffix -tva — literally "doer-ness," the abstract claim of being-the-agent; the precise term for the sanga of BG-18.6's sangam tyaktvā.
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi. तैसें ("just so") closes the preceding similes; this ovi is the plain doctrinal summary they served, stated directly.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal: Closes the sanga-abandonment movement (18.166-18.170); 18.171 opens the phala-abandonment movement.
- Tukaram parallel: Abhang 3913 — वृक्षाचीं हीं पानें हाले त्याची सत्ता । राहिली अहंता मग कोठें ("these leaves of the tree stir by His power — where then does the I-doership remain?") and मी चि एक कर्त्ता म्हणों नये ("don't say I-alone-am-the-doer"). Exactly 18.170's कर्तृत्व अहंकारें नेघोनि — the action proceeds (the leaves stir, the deeds are driven forward) while the doership-claim is dissolved.
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 18.6 — सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा, summarized as कर्तृत्व अहंकारें नेघोनि — the doer acts at the right moment but does not appropriate the doership.
Modern application
- When the choice is "claim it" or "drop it" — but the work still has to get done. This ovi's balance is the hard part: do not take up the ego-doership, and drive the actions fully forward (सारीजती). Detachment that becomes passivity has missed it.
- When "egolessness" tempts you into doing nothing. The verse forbids that read: यथा अवसरें — at the fitting occasion — the actions are pushed through. Drop the doer, not the doing.
- When you want to act without the constant inner commentary of "me, me, me." कर्तृत्व अहंकारें नेघोनि — operating in a clean executional flow where the action is foregrounded and the self-claim is simply not picked up.
Sādhanā
Today, pick one task and do it at full effort while silently watching for the moment your mind reaches to take up "I am doing this." Each time it does, don't suppress the action — just decline the claim, and keep driving the task forward.
Arc
18.170 closes the doership-renunciation movement; 18.171 opens the second movement — fruit-renunciation — by forbidding the mind to turn toward the arrival of the fruit.
Ovi 18.171
Original (Marathi): केल्या कर्मा पांडवा । जो आथी फळाचा यावा । तया मोहरा हों नेदावा । मनोरथु ॥१७१॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna (the पांडवा vocative confirms Kṛṣṇa addressing Arjuna)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| केल्या कर्मा पांडवा | for the action (already) done, O Pāṇḍava |
| जो आथी फळाचा यावा | whatever arrival of fruit there is |
| तया मोहरा हों नेदावा | do not let (the mind) turn toward it / face it |
| मनोरथु | the mind's longing / desire |
Literal translation
English: For the action you have done, O Pāṇḍava — whatever arrival of fruit there may be, do not let the mind's longing turn its face toward it.
मराठी (आधुनिक): हे पांडवा, केलेल्या कर्माचं जे काही फळ यायचं असेल, त्याच्याकडे मनाची ओढ — मनोरथ — वळू देऊ नये.
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi. मोहरा हों नेदावा ("don't let it face toward") is a directional idiom for the mind's tilt, not a sustained image — the images arrive at 18.172.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal: Opens the phala-abandonment movement (18.171-18.177) that balances the sanga-movement (18.166-18.170).
- Tukaram parallel: Abhang 64 — कर्मफळ म्हणुनी इच्छूं नये काम ("don't take up the action because of its expected karma-fruit"). The same niṣkāma rule: where Tukaram forbids desiring the action for its fruit, Jñāneśvar forbids the mind's longing turning toward the fruit's arrival — मोहरा हों नेदावा मनोरथु.
- Source citations:
- Bhagavad Gītā 18.6 — फलानि च (त्यक्त्वा) ("having abandoned the fruits too"), rendered directly as तया मोहरा हों नेदावा मनोरथु.
- Bhagavad Gītā 2.47 — मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूः ("never be the cause-of-the-fruit") — the canonical niṣkāma-karma verse this restates, a different śloka from this cluster's own 18.6. (Verified on holy-bhagavad-gita.org.)
Modern application
- When you finish the work and immediately start refreshing for the result. You sent the application, shipped the feature, made the ask — and the मनोरथ instantly turns toward the outcome. The verse: do the action, then don't let the mind tilt to the fruit.
- When anticipation of the reward poisons the doing. Already imagining the praise, the promotion, the reply — फळाचा यावा. The longing for the fruit arrives before the fruit and spoils the present act.
- When detachment-after-acting is the realistic goal. Note the verse doesn't say don't act — it says, having acted (केल्या कर्मा), don't let the longing face the result. The renunciation is of the tilt of mind, not of the work.
Sādhanā
Today, after you complete one effortful action (send, submit, ask, ship), set a 30-minute rule: do not check for the result, refresh, or seek the outcome. Just notice the pull of the मनोरथ toward the fruit, and let the 30 minutes pass without feeding it.
Arc
18.171 states the phala-rule (don't let longing turn to the fruit); 18.172 develops it — begin actions with the fruit-hope already severed, like the wet-nurse who nurses another's child.
Ovi 18.172
Original (Marathi): आधींचि फळीं आस तुटिया । कर्मे आरंभावीं धनंजया । परावें बाळ धाया । पाहिजे जैसें ॥१७२॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna (the धनंजया vocative confirms Kṛṣṇa addressing Arjuna)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| आधींचि फळीं आस तुटिया | with the hope in the fruit severed beforehand |
| कर्मे आरंभावीं धनंजया | actions should be begun, O Dhanañjaya |
| परावें बाळ धाया | another's child — to nurse |
| पाहिजे जैसें | (one) must, just as |
Literal translation
English: With the hope-in-the-fruit cut off before you even begin, set about your actions, O Dhanañjaya — just as one must nurse a child that is not one's own.
मराठी (आधुनिक): हे धनंजया, फळाची आशा आधीच तोडून टाकून मग कर्मांना सुरुवात करावी — जसं दुसऱ्याचं मूल (दाई) मायेनं पाजावं लागतं तसं.
Metaphor-unfold
| Literal image | Philosophical referent | Modern equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| The wet-nurse (धाय) nursing परावें बाळ (a child not her own) | Full, loving action performed with no claim on the fruit — she gives the milk, the child is another's | The foster-carer / surrogate / NICU nurse who gives complete devoted care to a child they will not keep |
| She must nurse fully (पाहिजे), yet the maternal fruit is not hers | Action begun with fruit-hope severed beforehand (आधींचि आस तुटिया) — the renunciation precedes the deed | Pouring full effort into something whose payoff belongs to someone else |
Metaphor-family: wet-nurse-and-another's-child (mother-and-child / nurture-without-extraction) — first of the three fruit-renunciation similes. The जैसें ("just as") simile-frame is explicit.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal: First of the fruit-simile triad continued at 18.173 (un-watered pīpal) and 18.174 (yieldless village-cow).
- Tukaram parallel: Abhang 64 — खाऊं नये मूल आवडतें ("don't consume the very child you love") — the same loved-child / nurture register as 18.172's परावें बाळ धाया (nursing another's child). Both teach through child-care that the care is given without extracting a fruit from it — the love is the act, not a means to a yield.
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 18.6 — फलानि च त्यक्त्वा, unfolded as the wet-nurse who gives full nourishment to a child that is परावें (another's) — full action, zero fruit-claim, the renunciation set before the action begins.
Modern application
- When the payoff of your work belongs to someone else and you still have to give it everything. The teacher whose students graduate and leave, the founder building value that vests in others, the carer raising a child not their own — परावें बाळ धाया. The verse: nurse it fully anyway, fruit-hope severed beforehand.
- When you want to "cut the hope" before starting, not after. आधींचि आस तुटिया — pre-emptive renunciation. Decide at the outset that the fruit is not yours, so the whole action runs clean from the first minute rather than being retro-detached.
- When devotion and non-possession have to coexist. The wet-nurse loves and tends without owning. This is the precise opposite of doing-the-minimum: maximum care, zero claim.
Sādhanā
Today, choose one task whose benefit will go to someone else (a handover, a gift of help, training a successor). Before you start, say once: "the fruit of this is not mine." Then do it with full care — nurse the child that is not yours.
Arc
18.172 gives the wet-nurse fruit-renunciation simile; 18.173 adds the second — the pīpal tended for itself, not watered for its (inedible) figs.
Ovi 18.173
Original (Marathi): पिंपरुवांचिया आशा । न शिंपिजे पिंपळु जैसा । तैसिया फळनिराशा । कीजती कर्में ॥१७३॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| पिंपरुवांचिया आशा | in the hope of the (pīpal's) little figs |
| न शिंपिजे पिंपळु जैसा | as the pīpal is not watered |
| तैसिया फळनिराशा | so, with fruit-non-expectation (phala-nirāśā) |
| कीजती कर्में | let actions be done |
Literal translation
English: Just as one does not water the pīpal-tree in the hope of its little figs, so — in fruit-hopelessness — let actions be done.
मराठी (आधुनिक): पिंपळाला त्याच्या पिंपरांच्या (फळांच्या) आशेनं कोणी पाणी घालत नाही; त्याचप्रमाणे फळाची अपेक्षा न ठेवता कर्मं करावीत.
Sanskrit-root note
phala-nirāśā (फळनिराशा) = phala (fruit) + nir- (without) + āśā (hope/expectation) — "fruit-without-expectation," the exact Marathi compound for BG-18.6's phalāni... tyaktvā.
Metaphor-unfold
| Literal image | Philosophical referent | Modern equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| The pīpal, watered/tended but NOT for its tiny inedible figs (पिंपरुवें) | Action sustained without aiming at a usable fruit — the tending is right in itself | Caring for something valuable-in-itself (a forest, a craft, a tradition) that yields no extractable product |
| One waters it for shade, sanctity, life — not for a harvest | फळनिराशा — the fruit is simply not the reason for the act | Doing the work because it is right to do, not because of what you'll get from it |
Metaphor-family: un-watered-pīpal (tree / nurture-without-extraction) — second of the three fruit-renunciation similes. The जैसा...तैसिया ("as...so") frame is explicit.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. The pīpal is the literal sacred fig-tree of the agrarian simile; no aśvattha-as-cosmic-tree (BG-15.1) esoteric layer is being invoked here — that would be over-reading a plain horticultural image.
Cross-references
- Internal: Second of the fruit-simile triad (18.172-18.174); the फळनिराशा here is the doctrinal core the three similes share.
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 18.6 — फलानि च त्यक्त्वा, unfolded as the pīpal nourished without expecting an edible fruit — फळनिराशा renders phala-tyaktvā exactly.
Modern application
- When the thing you tend yields nothing you can cash in. The open-source maintainer, the parent of an adult child, the keeper of a tradition — पिंपळ, watered with no fig to harvest. The verse says that's the model, not a frustration.
- When "what do I get out of this?" is the wrong question for this act. Some things are watered for shade and sanctity, not yield. Asking the pīpal for figs is a category error — and so is demanding a fruit from every action.
- When you can do work that is right but unrewarded. फळनिराशा is not pessimism; it's the freedom of acting from rightness rather than return.
Sādhanā
Today, do one small act of upkeep for something you value-in-itself that gives you no return — water a plant, fix a public thing, maintain a record no one reads. As you do it, notice: "I am not doing this for a fruit." Feel the difference in the doing.
Arc
18.173 gives the un-watered-pīpal simile; 18.174 closes the fruit-renunciation simile-triad with the cowherd who herds the village-cow having let go his own milk-yielding one.
Ovi 18.174
Original (Marathi): सांडूनि दुधाची टकळी । गोंवारी गांवधेनु वेंटाळी । किंबहुना कर्मफळीं । तैसें कीजे ॥१७४॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| सांडूनि दुधाची टकळी | having let go his own milk-spout / milk-yielding (cow) |
| गोंवारी गांवधेनु वेंटाळी | the cowherd rounds up / herds the village-cow (the common cow) |
| किंबहुना कर्मफळीं | in short, in the matter of the fruit-of-action |
| तैसें कीजे | so let it be done |
Literal translation
English: Just as the cowherd, having let go his own milk-yielding cow, rounds up and tends the common village-cow (that gives him no milk) — in short, with the fruit of action, do exactly so.
मराठी (आधुनिक): आपली दूध देणारी गाय सोडून गुराखी जसा गावची (सामायिक) धेनू सांभाळतो — थोडक्यात, कर्मफळाच्या बाबतीत तसंच करावं.
Metaphor-unfold
| Literal image | Philosophical referent | Modern equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| The cowherd who lets go his own milk-cow (दुधाची टकळी) and herds the village-cow | Performing the service fully while relinquishing the personal yield — he tends, but the milk is not his | The professional who manages a shared/public asset they draw no private profit from |
| गांवधेनु — the common cow yields him nothing personally, yet he herds it well | किंबहुना कर्मफळीं — "in short, this is how to be with the fruit" — full service, no personal harvest | Stewardship: full diligence over what yields you nothing |
Metaphor-family: cowherd-and-the-village-cow (herding / service-without-yield) — third of the three fruit-renunciation similes; the किंबहुना ("in short") explicitly names this as the summarizing image, and तैसें ("so") closes the frame.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. दूध/धेनु (milk/cow) here is the literal pastoral image; the milk-and-curd metaphor-family appears elsewhere in the Dnyāneśvarī for non-duality, but this ovi works the plain herding-without-personal-yield sense, not a kṣīra-esoteric one.
Cross-references
- Internal: Closes the fruit-simile triad (18.172-18.174); किंबहुना marks it as the summarizing image of the three.
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 18.6 — फलानि च त्यक्त्वा, unfolded as the cowherd's full tending of a cow that yields him no milk; कर्मफळीं explicitly names the phala the simile relinquishes.
Modern application
- When you steward something whose benefit isn't yours. Managing the commons — a team's shared resource, a public budget, a community asset — गांवधेनु. Full diligence, no private milk. The verse makes that the ideal, not a sacrifice to resent.
- When you must give your own yield up to serve the larger thing. सांडूनि दुधाची टकळी — letting go the cow that fed you to herd the one that feeds everyone. The shift from private fruit to common service.
- When professionalism means caring fully for what you don't own. The fiduciary, the trustee, the caretaker — the cow gives them no milk and they tend it perfectly anyway.
Sādhanā
Today, find one responsibility you hold that benefits others more than you (a shared doc, a community role, a family duty) and do it with deliberate full care — the same care you'd give your "own milk-cow." Notice the part of you that wants a personal yield, and herd the village-cow anyway.
Arc
18.174 closes the three fruit-renunciation similes; 18.175 names the payoff — one who takes up action with this knack (हातवटी) attains his own true self.
Ovi 18.175
Original (Marathi): ऐसी हे हातवटी । घेऊनि जे क्रिया उठी । आपणा आपुलिया गांठी । लाहेची तो ॥१७५॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ऐसी हे हातवटी | this knack / this skilled grip |
| घेऊनि जे क्रिया उठी | having taken up, whoever rises to action |
| आपणा आपुलिया गांठी | his own self / his own treasure-knot (the bundle that is truly his) |
| लाहेची तो | he indeed attains |
Literal translation
English: Whoever rises to action having taken up this knack — he indeed attains his very own self, his own true treasure.
मराठी (आधुनिक): अशी ही (निष्काम कर्माची) हातोटी अंगी बाणवून जो कर्माला उभा राहतो, तो आपलं आपलंच — आपल्या खऱ्या स्वरूपाचं गाठोडं — मिळवतोच.
Sanskrit-root note
hātavaṭī (हातवटी) is colloquial Marathi — "knack, skilled hand-grip, the way of holding a thing rightly"; it casts niṣkāma-karma not as a doctrine to believe but as a skill to acquire (cf. BG-2.50 yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam, yoga as skill-in-action).
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi. हातवटी ("knack") and गांठी ("treasure-knot/bundle") are compressed idioms, not unfolded images.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. आपणा आपुलिया गांठी लाहे ("attains his own self") is the ātma-prāpti of niṣkāma-karma in plain Vedāntic-bhakti register, not a kuṇḍalinī/brahmarandhra attainment.
Cross-references
- Internal: Names the payoff that 18.176 then stamps with Kṛṣṇa's authority.
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 18.6 — the prescription completed with its paradoxical reward: relinquishing the fruit, one gains one's own self — Jñāneśvar's amplification of the bare Sanskrit command (amplification, not direct-paraphrase).
Modern application
- When you discover that letting go of the payoff is what frees you. The paradox of 18.175: drop the fruit, and you gain yourself (आपणा आपुलिया गांठी). The reward of fruitless action is not nothing — it is self-possession.
- When detachment is a skill you're building, not a mood you wait for. हातवटी — a knack, trained by repetition. You don't feel your way into niṣkāma-karma; you practice the grip until it's in the hand.
- When you notice the un-grasping people are the most themselves. The ones who act fully without clutching outcomes seem to own themselves in a way the fruit-chasers don't. This ovi names why.
Sādhanā
Today, treat detachment as a skill drill, not a feeling: pick one action, do it with full effort and zero fruit-grasping, and afterward note in one line "I practiced the हातवटी once." Build the knack by reps, not by mood.
Arc
18.175 names the payoff (gain your own self); 18.176 stamps the whole teaching with Kṛṣṇa's personal authority — drop fruit-clinging and body-attachment and act: this is My good counsel.
Ovi 18.176
Original (Marathi): म्हणौनि फळीं लागु । सांडोनि देहसंगु । कर्में करावीं हा चांगु । निरोपु माझा ॥१७६॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna (निरोपु माझा — "this command of MINE" — fixes the speaker as Kṛṣṇa)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| म्हणौनि फळीं लागु | therefore, the clinging-to-fruit |
| सांडोनि देहसंगु | dropping (it), and the body-attachment (deha-sanga) |
| कर्में करावीं हा चांगु | let actions be done — this is the good (counsel) |
| निरोपु माझा | my command / my message |
Literal translation
English: Therefore — dropping the clinging-to-fruit and the body-attachment — let actions be done: this is My good command.
मराठी (आधुनिक): म्हणून फळाची आसक्ती आणि देहाची आसक्ती सोडून कर्मं करावीत — हाच माझा हितकारक निरोप आहे.
Sanskrit-root note
niścitam matam uttamam (the verse's stamp — "settled, supreme view") is rendered निरोपु माझा ("MY command") — Jñāneśvar collapses the genitive me and the certainty-superlative into the warm Marathi of a personal parting-instruction (निरोप).
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi. देहसंगु ("body-attachment") is a doctrinal term, not an image; this is the authority-stamp ovi.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. देहसंगु (body-attachment) is the ordinary Vedāntic deha-abhimāna to be dropped, not a deha-as-yantra yogic referent.
Cross-references
- Internal: Gathers both movements — फळीं लागु (the phala-side, 18.171-175) and देहसंगु (the sanga-side, 18.166-170) — into one authority-stamped command.
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citations:
- Bhagavad Gītā 18.6 — मे... निश्चितं मतमुत्तमम् ("My settled, supreme view"), rendered निरोपु माझा; देहसंगु renders the sanga-side and फळीं लागु the phala-side — the twin-renunciation in a single line.
- Bhagavad Gītā 3.19 — असक्तः सततं कार्यं कर्म समाचर ("ever-unattached, perform the prescribed action") — paraphrased here as फळीं लागु सांडोनि... कर्में करावीं; a different śloka from this cluster's own 18.6. (Verified on holy-bhagavad-gita.org.)
Modern application
- When you need the teaching reduced to one carry-able command. Two drops, one act: drop the fruit-clinging, drop the body-clinging, do the work. हा चांगु निरोपु — "this is the good instruction." A maxim you can actually hold mid-task.
- When body-attachment (comfort, image, self-preservation) is the real brake. देहसंगु — the body's "but what about me, my comfort, my safety, my appearance" — is named alongside fruit-clinging as the thing to set down so the action can run clean.
- When you want the weight of conviction behind a practice. Kṛṣṇa doesn't offer this as an option but as His निश्चितं मतमुत्तमम् — settled, supreme. Some practices you adopt tentatively; this one is offered as a verdict.
Sādhanā
Today, write Kṛṣṇa's command on one line and keep it visible: "Drop the fruit-clinging. Drop the body-clinging. Do the work." Before one task today, read it once, then act on it for that single task.
Arc
18.176 delivers Kṛṣṇa's authority-stamped command; 18.177 closes the cluster with the gateway-warning — the soul wearied by the bondage-of-embodiment, seeking its own release, must never let this teaching go.
Ovi 18.177
Original (Marathi): जो जीवबंधेएं शिणला । सुटके जाचे आपला । तेणें पुढतपुढतीं या बोला । आन न कीजे ॥१७७॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| जो जीवबंधेएं शिणला | one who is wearied by the bondage-of-embodied-life (jīva-bandha) |
| सुटके जाचे आपला | who longs for / presses toward his own release |
| तेणें पुढतपुढतीं या बोला | by him, again and again, from this word/teaching |
| आन न कीजे | let nothing-other be done |
Literal translation
English: The one wearied by the bondage of embodied life, who longs for his own release — let him, again and again, do nothing other than this word.
मराठी (आधुनिक): जो जीवाच्या बंधनानं थकलाय, ज्याला आपली सुटका हवीय — त्यानं पुन्हा पुन्हा या वचनाशिवाय दुसरं काहीही करू नये.
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi. जीवबंध ("bondage-of-embodiment") is a doctrinal term, not a developed image.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. जीवबंध / सुटका (bondage / release) is the general mokṣa-soteriology of the sannyāsa-chapter, not a specific kuṇḍalinī-granthi (knot) referent; reading the three-granthi yogic untying into जीवबंध here would over-claim.
Cross-references
- Internal: Closes the cluster, ring-pairing with 18.166 — the sanga-drop (opening) and now this twin-renunciation-as-sole-path (closing) bracket the single BG-18.6 prescription.
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 18.6 — निश्चितं मतमुत्तमम् ("the settled supreme view"), amplified into the seeker's gateway-imperative: for whoever seeks release, this niṣkāma-karma teaching is to be done आन न कीजे — to the exclusion of all else (amplification of the certainty-stamp).
Modern application
- When you are genuinely tired of being driven by craving and outcome. जीवबंधेएं शिणला — "wearied by the bondage." The verse speaks to the moment the fruit-chasing itself has become exhausting, and offers the niṣkāma grip as the one thing to keep returning to.
- When you want a single non-negotiable practice rather than a buffet. आन न कीजे — "do nothing other than this." For the release-seeker, the verse narrows the field: not many techniques, but this one, again and again (पुढतपुढतीं).
- When repetition, not novelty, is the path. पुढतपुढतीं — "again and again." The teaching is not learned once but re-applied to every action, indefinitely. The gateway is held open only by repeated walking through it.
Sādhanā
Today, if you recognize the weariness of the bondage in yourself, name one craving-driven action you keep repeating, and commit — just for the next 24 hours — to meeting it only with this one move: do the act, drop the fruit. Return to that single response each time the craving recurs, "again and again."
Arc
18.177 closes the cluster by ring-completing 18.166's sanga-drop with the twin-renunciation-as-sole-path for the release-seeker; the next śloka (BG-18.7) takes up exactly the wrong renunciation this cluster ruled out — abandoning the obligatory action rather than the attachment-and-fruit — opening the three-guṇa taxonomy of tyāga (tāmasa / rājasa / sāttvika).
Cluster summary
Core teaching: BG-18.6 is the precise prescription at the heart of the chapter's sannyāsa-vs-tyāga discrimination: even the purifying acts (sacrifice, charity, austerity) must be done, not dropped — but performed with the two ego-hooks surgically severed. Jñāneśvar renders this in two clean movements. First, the sanga-drop (18.166-18.170): drop the "I-am-the-doer" puff even in flawless great-sacrifice, illustrated by three folk-similes — the wage-pilgrim who feels no pride-of-praise, the seal-bearer whose victory runs on borrowed authority, the rescued-swimmer and the priest who does not parade his giving. Second, the phala-drop (18.171-18.177): don't let the mind tilt toward the fruit, illustrated by three more similes — the wet-nurse nursing another's child, the pīpal watered for itself and not for figs, the cowherd herding the common cow that yields him no milk. The paradoxical payoff is self-possession (18.175 — "he attains his own self"); the whole is sealed with Kṛṣṇa's most personal authority-stamp, निरोपु माझा / निश्चितं मतमुत्तमम् (18.176), and pressed on the release-seeker as the one thing to do "again and again" (18.177).
Chapter arc position: This is the prescriptive climax of the opening discrimination of adhyāya 18 (mokṣa-sannyāsa-yoga). After BG-18.1-4 separates sannyāsa (renouncing action) from tyāga (renouncing fruit), and BG-18.5 defends yajña-dāna-tapas as purifying-and-not-to-be-abandoned, BG-18.6 delivers the exact how — keep the action, cut the attachment and the fruit — with the maximum authority-formula. The cluster restates the canonical niṣkāma-karma of BG-2.47 and BG-3.19 in the sannyāsa-chapter's summative register, and stands just before the three-guṇa taxonomy of renunciation (BG-18.7-9).
Connects to BG-18.7: नियतस्य तु संन्यासः कर्मणो नोपपद्यते — "the renunciation of obligatory action is not fitting; to abandon it from delusion is declared tāmasa." BG-18.7 picks up precisely the wrong renunciation BG-18.6 just excluded — dropping the action itself rather than the sanga-and-phala — and opens the three-guṇa grading of tyāga (tāmasa / rājasa / sāttvika), which classifies renunciation by the inner quality that drives it.