4.7 · Neither White nor Black

A yogi's action is neither white nor black; for others it is of three kinds.

Word by word

karma

action

aśukla-akṛṣṇam

neither white nor black

yoginaḥ

of the yogi

trividham

of three kinds

itareṣām

for others

Where it fits

This sūtra explains 4.6. For most beings action is black, mixed or white, and so lays down karma. The yogi's action is neither, because, Vyāsa says, the yogi has given up its fruit. This recalls the store of karma of 2.12, and 4.8 turns to what karma leaves behind in the mind.

Reading

Vyāsa sorts action into four kinds. Black action is harmful. Mixed action, the ordinary life of most of us, both helps and harms. White action is inward: discipline, study (svādhyāya, the study and recitation of sacred texts) and meditation. The fourth belongs to renunciants who have given up even the fruit of good acts, and so lay down neither merit nor demerit. They still act well, with nobody standing behind the act waiting to be rewarded. As 2.14–2.15 said, even the pleasant fruit of merit is, to one who discerns, a kind of suffering.

Vyāsa

“Of these, black action belongs to the wicked. White-and-black action is achieved through outward means. … White belongs to those who practise discipline, study and meditation. … Neither-white-nor-black belongs to renunciants whose afflictions have dwindled away and who are in their last body.”

Vyāsa's Yoga-bhāṣya, the oldest commentary. New translation from the Sanskrit, with reference to Woods (1914), p. 305.

Practice

Do one kind thing today that no one will know about. Don't mention it, and don't let yourself enjoy being the kind of person who does such things. Notice how hard the second part is.

A question to sit with

What good are you doing for the reward?

Where commentators disagree

Are rites and good works 'white' karma, or always mixed?

Vyāsa

Karma is fourfold. Black is that of the wicked. Black-and-white is gained by outer means, and grows through harm or help to others. White belongs to those who practise austerity, recitation and meditation, because it is in the mind alone and harms no one. Neither-white-nor-black belongs to renunciants whose afflictions have dwindled; the yogin has only this. (Woods 1914, p. 305)

Vācaspati Miśra

Any act done with outer means harms someone: even pounding rice for an offering may kill an ant, and seeds are destroyed; it also benefits the brahmins who receive gifts. So it is mixed. (Woods 1914, pp. 305–306)

Bhoja

White karma is what bears good fruit, such as sacrifice; it belongs to the wise, who give, practise austerity and study the Veda. Black belongs to the vicious and mixed to ordinary people. The yogin's work bears no fruit because he acts without desire for it. (Tatya 1885, p. 145; Mitra 1883, wisdomlib on 4.7)

Key ideas

karma (action and its residue), vairāgya (non-attachment), kleśa (afflictions)