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Before concluding the sacred counsel, Krishna addressed Arjuna and said, "Give up all Dharmas and surrender to Me. I shall liberate you from all sin." That is to say, give up Ahamkara and Mamakara, pride in the ego and in possessions and feelings of I and mine. Destroy the identification of the self with the body, which is only its cage or prison; get firm in the belief that all this is Paramatma and nought else. So, there is nothing else to be done except bowing to His will and surrendering to His plan. Man has to give up the twin activities of commission and omission, Sankalpa and Vikalpa, resolving and refusing. He has to follow the Lord's commands; He has to accept His will, be happy wherever He has placed him, however He has shaped him. He should keep himself far from the inquiry into the appropriateness or inappropriateness of his acts, but do them as acts of worship to the Lord, acts for which no reward is expected. That is the sum of his duty.

Some dry Vedanthins decked with strings of beads take advantage of this teaching of Krishna to give up all Dharmas and, with this assurance that He will liberate them from all sin, idly stretch their legs and loll with closed eyes. They shirk their legitimate duties and eat, sleep and roam about as much as they like or can. They do not discriminate between what is good and what is bad; their excuse is that the Lord has commanded them to transcend Dharma. When elders at home or experienced seekers question their conduct, they answer, "Alas, that you too should blunder thus! Do you not know what the Lord has said in the Geetha? I have accepted as the basis of my conduct, His command, 'Sarva Dharmaan Parithyajya.' I have no need for advice from persons with lesser authority." They feel very proud of their devotion and orthodoxy. Such people select from the words of the Lord only those portions which favour their inclinations. The word before and after are conveniently ignored because they are unpleasant, though they are inseparable portions of the same injunction. They ignore the vital part of the command, in spite of the claim to be staunch votaries of the Geetha.

Giving up all Dharmas, "Maam ekam saranam vraja" says the Lord. That is "surrender to Me alone." Have they surrendered thus? No. Have they at least the deep yearning for liberation? No, for if they had it, they would not have neglected their legitimate duties. They would not have fallen a prey to the demands of food and sleep. Such men are glorious only in gossip; they are great only in glittering. They do not put the Lord's command into actual practice. They are too idle to do so. Not even an atom of spiritual endeavour can be seen in them.

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