Chapter 5

In this chapter, Shree Krishna compares karm sanyās yog (the path of renunciation of actions) with karm yog (the path of work in devotion). He says: we can choose either of the two paths, as both lead to the same destination. However, he explains that the renunciation of actions is rather challenging and can only be performed flawlessly by those whose minds are adequately pure. Purification of the mind can be achieved only by working in devotion. Therefore, karm yog is a more appropriate path for the majority of humankind. The karm yogis with a purified intellect perform their worldly duties without any attachment to its fruit. They dedicate all their works and its results to God. Just as a lotus leaf that floats on water does not get wet, the karm yogis also remain unaffected by sin. They are aware that the soul resides within the body that is like a city with nine gates. Therefore, they do not consider themselves to be the doer nor the enjoyer of their actions. Endowed with the vision of equality, they look equally upon a Brahmin, a cow, an elephant, a dog, and a dog-eater. Seated in the Absolute Truth, such truly learned people develop flawless qualities similar to God. The ignorant worldly people do not realize that the pleasures they strive to relish from their sense objects are the very source of their misery. However, the karm yogis do not get any joy from such worldly pleasures. Instead, they enjoy the bliss of God, who resides inside them. Lord Shree Krishna then describes karm sanyās yog or the path of renunciation. He says that the karm sanyāsīs control their mind, intellect, and senses by performing several austerities. By shutting out all their thoughts of external pleasures, they become free from fear, desire, and anger. And by including devotion to God in all their austerities, they attain long-lasting peace.

Verse 1

Arjuna said, "O Krishna, you praise renunciation of actions and also yoga. Please tell me conclusively which is better of the two."

Verse 2

The Blessed Lord said, "Renunciation and the Yoga of action both lead to the highest bliss; but of the two, the Yoga of action is superior to the renunciation of action."

Verse 3

He should be known as a perpetual Sannyasi who neither hates nor desires; for, free from the pairs of opposites, O mighty-armed Arjuna, he is easily freed from bondage.

Verse 4

Children, not the wise, speak of knowledge and the Yoga of action, or the performance of action, as though they are distinct and different; he who is truly established in one, obtains the fruits of both.

Verse 5

That place which is reached by the Sankhyas or the Jnanis is also reached by the Yogis (Karma Yogis). He who sees knowledge and the performance of action (Karma Yoga) as one, sees truly.

Verse 6

But, O mighty-armed Arjuna, renunciation is hard to attain without Yoga; the sage who is in harmony with Yoga quickly goes to Brahman.

Verse 7

He who is devoted to the path of action, whose mind is pure, who has conquered the self, who has subdued his senses, and who realizes his Self as the Self in all beings, though acting, is not tainted.

Verse 8-9

I do nothing at all," thus would the harmonized knower of Truth think, seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, going, sleeping, and breathing. Speaking, letting go, seizing, opening, and closing the eyes, one should be convinced that the senses move among the sense-objects.

Verse 10

He who does actions, offering them to Brahman and abandoning attachment, is not tainted by sin, just as a lotus leaf is not tainted by water.

Verse 11

Yogis, having abandoned attachment, perform actions only through the body, mind, intellect, and even the senses, for the purification of the self.

Verse 12

The one who is united (the well-poised or harmonized) having abandoned the fruit of action attains eternal peace; whereas the one who is not united (the unsteady or unbalanced), impelled by desire and attached to the fruit, is bound.

Verse 13

Mentally renouncing all actions and being self-controlled, the embodied one happily rests in the nine-gated city, neither acting nor causing others (body and senses) to act.

Verse 14

Neither does the Lord create agency nor actions for the world, nor union with the fruits of actions; rather, it is Nature that acts.

Verse 15

The Lord takes neither the demerit nor the merit of any; knowledge is enveloped by ignorance, and beings are deluded.

Verse 16

But to those whose ignorance is destroyed by knowledge of the Self, like the sun, knowledge reveals the Supreme Brahman.

Verse 17

Their intellect absorbed in That, their self being That, established in That, with That as their supreme goal, they go whence there is no return, their sins dispelled by knowledge.

Verse 18

Sages look with an equal eye on a Brahmana endowed with learning and humility, on a cow, an elephant, a dog, and even an outcaste.

Verse 19

Even here in this world, those whose minds rest in reality overcome birth; Brahman is indeed spotless and real; therefore they are established in Brahman.

Verse 20

Resting in Brahman, with a steady intellect and undeluded, the knower of Brahman neither rejoices upon obtaining what is pleasant nor grieves upon obtaining what is unpleasant.

Verse 21

With the self unattached to external contacts, he finds happiness in the Self; with the self engaged in the meditation of Brahman, he attains endless happiness.

Verse 22

The enjoyments that arise from contact are only sources of pain, for they have a beginning and an end, O Arjuna; the wise do not rejoice in them.

Verse 23

He who is able, while still here in this world, to withstand the impulse born out of desire and anger before the liberation from the body, he is a Yogi, and he is a happy man.

Verse 24

He who is happy within, who rejoices within, and who is illuminated within, that Yogi attains absolute freedom, or Moksha, becoming Brahman himself.

Verse 25

The sages obtain absolute freedom or Moksha when their sins have been destroyed, their dualities have been torn asunder, they are self-controlled, and they are intent on the welfare of all beings.

Verse 26

Absolute freedom exists on all sides for those self-controlled ascetics who are free from desire and anger, who have controlled their thoughts, and who have realized the Self.

Verse 27-28

Shutting out all external contacts and fixing the gaze between the eyebrows, realizing the outgoing and incoming breaths moving within the nostrils. With the senses, mind, and intellect ever controlled, having liberation as their supreme goal, free from desire, fear, and anger, the sage is truly liberated forever.

Verse 29

He who knows Me as the enjoyer of sacrifices and austerities, the great Lord of all the worlds, and the friend of all beings, attains peace.