ईशोपनिषदध्ययनम् - द्वितीयो मन्त्र: कुर्वन्नेवेह कर्माणि

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 नमो नम: 

ईशोपनिषदध्ययनम् - द्वितीयो मन्त्र: कुर्वन्नेवेह कर्माणि   

 Study by S. L. Abhyankar 

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कुर्वन्नेवेह कर्माणि  जिजीविषेच्छतं समाः । एवं त्वयि नान्यथेतोऽस्ति  न कर्म लिप्यते नरे ॥ २ ॥

कुर्वन् एव इह कर्माणि जिजीविषेत् शतम् समाः । एवम् त्वयि (तु अयि) न अन्यथा इतः अस्ति न कर्म लिप्यते नरे ॥ २ ॥

(2) वाक्यांशशः विश्लेषणम् 

अनुक्र.	अव्यया:	अन्ये सुबन्ताः	कर्तृपदीयाः	कर्मपदीयाः	तिङन्ताः	कृदन्ताः
1-अ	इह		(नरः)	कर्माणि		कुर्वन् (एव)
1-आ				शतम् समाः	जिजीविषेत्
2	अयि		(एवम् तु)		(विद्यते)
2*		त्वयि	(एवम्)		(विद्यते)
3	इतः अन्यथा				(न) अस्ति
4		नरे	कर्म		(न) लिप्यते

कुर्वन् एव इह कर्माणि जिजीविषेत् शतम् समाः । This can be better paraphrased as (नरः) इह शतम् समाः जिजीविषेत् (चेत्) कर्माणि कुर्वन् एव (जिजीविषेत्) 

इह Here (चेत्) if (नरः) one जिजीविषेत् wishes to live शतम् समाः for hundred years कर्माणि कुर्वन् doing KarmaaNi एव only  

एवम् तु अयि It is like this only (you see) 

OR एवम् त्वयि It is like this for you too. 

इतः अन्यथा different from this न अस्ति is not there.

न कर्म लिप्यते नरे Karma does not get anointed on the person. 

This seems substantially straightforward. 

Just a couple of points to be noted. 

In कुर्वन् एव इह कर्माणि जिजीविषेत् शतम् समाः 

• कुर्वन् is पुं. 1/1 of कुर्वत् शतृ-वि. of धातुः कृ 

• कृ कृञ् करणे (to do, to make) भ्वादिः, ०१.१०४८ उभयपदी, सकर्मकः, अनिट् 

• कृ कृञ् हिंसायाम् (to kill, to destroy, to irritate) स्वादिः, ०५.०००७ उभयपदी, सकर्मकः, अनिट् 

• कृ डुकृञ् करणे (to do, to act, to make) तनादिः, ०८.००१० उभयपदी, सकर्मकः, अनिट् 

• Though कुर्वन् is पुं. 1/1 it can be put as कर्तृपदीय However since it has कर्माणि as कर्मपदीयम् the phrase कर्माणि कुर्वन् is a वाक्यांशः. So I thought it good to put कुर्वन् as कृदन्तम्.

• जिजीविषेत् is विधिलिङ् प्र.पु. एक. of जिजीविष् सन्नन्तातिदेशिकधातुः desiderative from जीव् जीवँ प्राणधारणे (to live, to revive, to live upon, to survive) भ्वादिः, ०१.०६४३ परस्मैपदी, अकर्मकः, सेट्  

• In शतम् समाः the word शतम् is numerical adjective of समाः. Note the cardinal number शतम् has only plural forms that are common in all genders. समाः is समा a year स्त्री. 2/3 

• आचार्य विनोबा भावे details in his ईशावास्यवृत्ति that in छान्दोग्य 1-13 घोर-अङ्गिरसऋषिः advocates शतं समाः of human life to be of 116 years comprising 24 years of studentship, next 44 years of कर्मयोगः next 48 years of thoughtfulness and meditation. 

• He also quotes अदीनाः स्याम शरदः शतम् from शुक्लयजुर्वेदः 36/24, meaning जिजीविषा the will to live should be अदीना without handicaps and without dependency on others.  

The phrase एवम् त्वयि can also be split up as (एवम् तु अयि). One can take विद्यते (or अस्ति/भवति/वर्तते) as the implicit verb. With that एवम् though an अव्ययम् has the sense of कर्तृपदीयम् a subject word. 

स्वाध्यायाः Notes of self-study 

(१) One has to live कर्माणि कुर्वन्नेव. एवम् तु अयि It is like this only. इतः अन्यथा different from this न अस्ति is not there. In गीता also 

न हि कश्चित्क्षणमपि जातु तिष्ठत्यकर्मकृत् ।

कार्यते ह्यवशः कर्म सर्वः प्रकृतिजैर्गुणैः ॥ ३-५॥

No one even for a moment can stay not doing anything.

न हि देहभृता शक्यं त्यक्तुं कर्माण्यशेषतः ।

यस्तु कर्मफलत्यागी स त्यागीत्यभिधीयते ॥ १८-११॥

Whosoever, whatsoever has a body cannot forsake कर्माणि totally. 

(२) What I have not understood is न कर्म लिप्यते नरे Karma does not get anointed on the person. 

In गीता 

करणं कर्म कर्तेति त्रिविधः कर्मसङ्ग्रहः ॥ १८-१८॥

This line can be interpreted in two ways due to two meanings of the word सङ्ग्रहः - constituent, repository. 

1. करणं कर्म कर्ता is the triad of constituents of कर्म. 

2. करणं कर्म कर्ता is the triad of repositories of कर्म.

The second meaning is akin to कर्म लिप्यते नरे Karma does get anointed on the person. 

For the first meaning i.e. in respect of constituents of कर्म, in 18-13 and 18-14, there are already five constituents of कर्म, not just three detailed → 

पञ्चैतानि महाबाहो कारणानि निबोध मे ।

साङ्ख्ये कृतान्ते प्रोक्तानि सिद्धये सर्वकर्मणाम् ॥ १८-१३॥

पञ्चैतानि कारणानि सिद्धये सर्वकर्मणाम् five essentials for fulfillment of any कर्म

अधिष्ठानं तथा कर्ता करणं च पृथग्विधम् ।

विविधाश्च पृथक्चेष्टा दैवं चैवात्र पञ्चमम् ॥ १८-१४॥

Among the five essentials are enumerated अधिष्ठानम् कर्ता करणम्. The fourth one विविधाश्च पृथक्चेष्टा is nothing but कर्म and the fifth one is दैवम्. 

Hence meaning of 18-18 should be करणं कर्म कर्ता is the triad of repositories of कर्म. This then contradicts न कर्म लिप्यते नरे in ईशोपनिषत्. 

(३) The statement न कर्म लिप्यते नरे seems to have been better endorsed in गीता in 

ब्रह्मण्याधाय कर्माणि सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा करोति यः ।

लिप्यते न स पापेन पद्मपत्रमिवाम्भसा ॥ ५-१०॥

Here the phrase लिप्यते न is very much there. Here it is qualified by the condition सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा. 

पद्मपत्रमिवाम्भसा is a very picturesque simile for न लिप्यते.

Actually the worry should not be for कर्म लिप्यते or न लिप्यते. The worry should be whether पापेन लिप्यते. 

आचार्य विनोबा भावे in his ईशावास्यवृत्ति adds an interesting shade of meaning of the word नरे = नेतरि (नेतृ leader, one having leadership qualities पुं. 7/1). In गीता श्रीकृष्णभगवान् is नेता the leader, leading अर्जुनः to right action. See 

न मां कर्माणि लिम्पन्ति न मे कर्मफले स्पृहा ।

इति मां योऽभिजानाति कर्मभिर्न स बध्यते ॥ ४-१४॥

कर्माणि do not anoint Him, because He is a नेता, नरः. Live life as a नेता, नरः and proceed to become नारायणः 

(४) Grammatically the sentence न कर्म लिप्यते नरे is in passive voice. There is significance in that also. A natural question in the instance of passive voice is “by whom ?” The answer is normally the subject word in active voice, which in passive voice is with the preposition “by”. In Sanskrit the word is in तृतीया विभक्तिः. But here there is no such word. Absence of such word means that the action कर्म लिप्यते, न लिप्यते वा is not predetermined. Isn’t that grammatical smartness of employing passive voice, when the prerogative of an action is not to be vested with anyone, not with anyone else ? 

(५) Taking clue from this we should rather read न कर्म लिप्यते नरे in ईशोपनिषत् as सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा कृतं कर्म नरे न लिप्यते i.e. any कर्म if it is done सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा with detachment of ego, then such कर्म नरे न लिप्यते.  

Actually सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा is not just with detachment of ego but also with total disinterest in results of कर्म i.e. disinterest in कर्मफलम्. This advice to be disinterested in कर्मफलम् is there in गीता very emphatically and repeatedly. 

(६) Study of गीता comes handy to get proper interpretation of उपनिषद:. In the समापनवाक्यम् of every अध्यायः of गीता there is the word उपनिषत्सु, suggesting that every अध्यायः of गीता is an उपनिषत्. Rather गीता is the later edition of all उपनिषद: together. Does it mean that there is no need to study उपनिषद: if one has studied गीता ? Maybe, that is so. But no study is wasteful. Rather the study should be of गीता and उपनिषद: together. 

(७) The important advice in this मन्त्रः is कर्माणि कुर्वन्नेव जिजीविषेत्. It comes to mind that Lokamanya Tilak engaged himself and his time in the Mandalay jail to write his commentary on गीता to exactly emphasize this point. That is why the complete title of his commentary is गीतारहस्य तथा कर्मयोगशास्त्र. According to him most of the previous commentaries emphasized too much on meditation, self-realisation, etc. That made the intelligentsia to be oblivious of the rampant looting, the Britishers were doing and were subjugating the subjects in all colonies, treating them as second class citizens of the world. “Freedom is my birth-right” he roared. What freedom he implied was freedom, first of thought and then by corollary, freedom of action कर्माणि कुर्वन्नेव, in the service of the society, for upliftment and betterment of the society, which also is endorsed in श्चिकीर्षुर्लोकसङ्ग्रहम् ॥गीता ३-२५॥ See here, the word लोकसङ्ग्रहः does not mean just ‘constitution’ of the society, but ‘reposition’ of the society. 

(८) Interestingly, कर्म कृतं for लोकसङ्ग्रहः does not anoint the person नरे न लिप्यते. 

कर्म लिप्यते or न लिप्यते depends on what the कर्म is, whether कर्म is for लोकसङ्ग्रहः or not, whether सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा or not. 

 शुभमस्तु !

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