WHAT TO DO AND WHAT TO REFRAIN FROM — The men of Asuric nature know not either ‘action’ or ‘inaction.’ Here ‘action’ means any intelligent piece of work undertaken and pursued with a right motive so as to gain for ourselves a better inner satisfaction.
Religious acts, selfless work and dedicated service are all examples of right actions whereby the individual gains not only immediate profits, but also the ultimate inner heightening of culture; for he will then be working without losing sight of his Higher Goal. ‘Inaction’ here means forbidding ourselves from striving in the right channels, and that can bring about only restlessness for ourselves and for others. The list enumerating the negative tendencies of the ‘fallen’ starts with the idea of ‘ignorance.’ This is very significant. If any one commits a crime in ‘ignorance,’ though justice may not accept it as an excuse, the heart of the society will readily discover a tender forgiveness for the erring soul.
NEITHER PURITY NOR RIGHT CONDUCT NOR TRUTH IS FOUND IN THEM — Outer cleanliness is, to a large measure, a reflection of the inner condition. A disciplined man with education and culture alone can, in fact, maintain a systematic order and cleanliness around him.
One who is incapable of deciding the actions to be pursued as well as those to be avoided by him, has no harmony within; and therefore, there is no inner purity, or outer cleanliness (shaucha), for such an individual. If the mind is indisciplined there cannot be a decent, and well-regulated life, since outward behaviour (Achara) is nothing but an expression of the mind. Therefore, Krishna indicates that in them good conduct is conspicuous by its absence.
He who is confused about ‘action’ and ‘inaction,’ who has no purity, or external cleanliness, and who fails in good conduct, cannot maintain TRUTHFULNESS in his words. All through, if you read these terms very carefully in the spirit in which the Divine Charioteer has given them out you will find in them a divine tenderness for such ‘Diabolically Fallen’ folks. There is no revengefulness for the sinner anywhere, even hinted at, in the entire length of the Geeta. It is a logical conclusion that such a man must necessarily be untruthful in words, not because he is deliberately pursuing dishonesty, but because by temperament he is incapacitated to be honest.
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