Upadesa Saram Verse 3: Comments by Dr. Suryanarayana Raju

Verse 3: ishvara-arpitam na ichaya kritam , chitta shodakam mukti sadhakam.

ishvararpitam: Dedicated to God.
na ichaya kritam: not desiring.
Chitta shodakam: purifies the mind
mukti sadanam: is an aid to liberation.

Dedicating the results of action to God and not desiring leads to purification of mind and this practise is an aid to liberation.

Verse 3:

“When work is done without doership or desire and fruit of work is devoted to God mind is purified to the state of suddha Manas which helps us to get liberated from the apparent imprisonment in the ego which is a creation of thought.”

Comment:

There is relation between work and the ego. Our attitude (Bhavana) towards the result of action is very important. By birth any human being is born with tendencies and desires. When work is born out of desire there is always an eye on the fruit of work. When there is an eye on fruit of action, “doer” is born. Doer is not an existential entity. Because we do work with an eye on the fruit of work “doer appears to exist” because of continuous flow of thought that he is the doer. Suppose if an electrical bulb is rotated circularly with certain velocity the bulb appears as a circle of fire which in reality does not exist. Similarly continuous thought doer-ship make us to believe that it is an existential entity.

Doership is just an idea born only when work is done with desire with an eye to enjoy the fruit of action (Kartrutva, Bhoktrutva Bhranthi) so when we devote the fruit of work to God the idea of doer and doership will not be there, and once there is no doership there is no ego. In this way impersonal activity purifies the mind by getting rid of idea of doership which prepares the mind to reflect Pure consciousness thus paving the way for liberation.

Dispassion must be there before doing the action, during the action, and after the action when fruit of action is conferred. If there is no dispassion action is contaminated with the idea of doership. So impersonal action is a great aid for liberation. We should not renounce doing action but we should renounce idea of doer-ship and an eye on the fruit of action.

Lord Krishna stressed in Bhagavat Gita about this attitude towards the work and the fruit of work. Work done with desire and doership binds and limits our consciousness (kinchigna), where as impersonal work helps us to get liberated from the shackles of ego.