250. Freedom From Karma

Krishna says, "Those whose intellect (buddhi) is not attached everywhere (sarvatra), have conquered the self, and are free from desires through renunciation attain the perfection of 'freedom from karma' (naishkarmya-siddhi)" (18.49). Earlier, it was made clear that every karma (action) carries a blemish (18.48). At the same time, there is no escape from karma as our survival becomes impossible without performing karmas (3.8). In these perplexing scenarios, this verse gives three paths to attain freedom from karma-bandhan (bondage of action). The first path is the non-attachment of intellect everywhere. Our intellect is habitual of getting attached to multiple things, people and situations. We have different thought processes and yardsticks for each attachment making us poly-psychic. It is a journey of moving from multiple attachments to one attachment. The final stage is not to have any attachment or detachment as both are the same at the core. Krishna termed this as Veet Raag which is beyond Raag and Viraag (4.10); Anaasakti which is beyond Aasakti and Virakti. The second one is conquering the self. Krishna earlier called them sthita-pragna (stoic)(2.56) and also says we are our friend as well as enemy (6.5). If one conquers self, one is a friend to oneself and doesn't need any external sensual pleasures or else makes themselves their own enemies. The third one is the renunciation. So much is said about renunciation in the Bhagavad Gita. While Arjun was trying to renounce karma of participating and fighting the war, Krishna says we should renounce hatred and desires while performing karmas but not karmas (5.3). Krishna earlier cautioned that even the wise are confounded about the subtleties of karma and akarma (4.16). In this verse, he gives the path of non-attachment, conquering self and renunciation to attain freedom from karma.