Chapter 3 Sloka 3 – Karma Yoga
Sloka
Sri Bhagavaan Uvaacha:
Loke’smin dwividhaa nishthaa puraa proktaa mayaanagha;
Jnaanayogena saankhyaanaam karmayogena yoginaam.
Translation
The Blessed Lord said:
In this world there is a two fold path, as I said before, O sinless one,
—the path of knowledge of the Samkhyas and the path of action of the Yogis!
Interpretation
After listening to Arjuna’s questions in the first two verses, Lord Krishna gets ready to answer them in this shloka. He says that this world has a path that has two folds. One has to understand that the path is not different, but it is singular and has two sides to it. The first side of the path is the knowledge of Samkhyas. Here Samkhaya talks about the existence of two bodies. The first is temporal body which is mortal and second the body of subtle matter called self or atman. The knowledge about both is called the knowledge of samkhyas. The other side of this path is the path of action or karma which is the characteristic of a yogi.
Extending the interpretation to Mankind’s Life!
This is a very important shloka of Karma yoga that we read till now. This talks about the existence of two different things in the same path. Normally in our lives we see two things which are different from each other and think that they are different. But the basic question is, are they different? Confusing is it? Let me explain with bit more clarity as many of our basic understanding of things are hidden in it.
Two things cannot be different, just because they are different. They are different because their nature, composition and purpose are different. For example, to become an expert in a subject of stock markets, one has to be a knowledge seeker as well as a man of action. These are two folds of the same path. When he acquires the knowledge about the markets by reading books, by talking to people, by listening to lectures, by watch TV and reading papers his knowledge is complete about the markets. All this is one fold. The other important fold is when he performs the action of investing in the market and doing trading. When action is done, he realises that many things he learnt through knowledge needs to be improved because the actions of investing in markets give him practical exposure of where he stands. So, Lord Krishna says that these two are two different folds of the same goal.
