[Advaita-l] Nitya Karma question

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan]

>  
> Will you like to see what the fifth Veda says. 
>  
> Lord Vishnu tells Manu  in Matsya purana (52.6) "Jnana arises from Karma and that is why it (karma) is parampada. Realization of Brahma comes from Karma-Jnana and Jnana cannot arise from Akarma." Therefore the Lord asked Manu to become Yuktma in 
> karma in order to understand the principles of spirituality. 
>  
> The transliterated Sanskrit verses are as follows:
> 
> ////
> 
> KarmayogodbhavaM JnanaM tasmattat paramaM padam
> KarmajnanodbhavaM Brahma na cha JnanakarmaNah
>  
> //

I don't have an edition of the Matsya Purana with me, but I suspect the last quarter
of the verse quoted above should be "na cha jnAnam akarmaNaH". This verse says
that jnAna arises from karma-yoga (not from karmA directly; there is indeed a vast
difference between being a karmI and being a karma-yogI) and that jnAna does not
arise merely from the non-performance of karmA. This is all quite in keeping with
gItA 4.18 teaching of the karmA that is there in inaction and the freedom from karmA
that can be there in action.
 
Regards,
Vidyasankar