Bhagavad Gita – Chapter 5 – Karma Sanyāsa Yoga

Main Points of the Discourse:

1. Declaration about Sankhya Yoga and Karma Yoga. (1-6)
2. The characteristics of the Sankhyayogi and Karmayogi, and their respective merit. (7-12)
3. Explanation of Jnana yoga. (13-26)
4. The Yoga of Meditation(Dhyanayoga) accompanied with devotion(Bhakti yoga). 27-29)

Verses 1 to 29

• Arjuna Said: O Krishna! You praise renunciation of actions and again the yoga of action. Of these two which is s better? That one, tell me conclusively. (5.1)
• Renunciation and Yoga of Action, both lead to the highest bliss. But of these two, Yoga of Action is superior to the renunciation of action. (5.2)
• O Arjuna! He who neither hates nor desires should be known as of eternal renunciation; He who is not subject to the pairs of opposites is easily set free from bondage. (5.3)
• Children, not the wise, say that Jnana yoga and karma yoga are distinct: He who is truly established in either of them obtains the fruit of both. (5.4)
• That state (Moksha) reached by men of Knowledge is also reached by men of Action (Karma yogis). He who sees the oneness of Jnana and Karma, really sees. (5.5)
• O Arjuna! But renunciation is difficult to attain without the yoga of action. The sage who is harmonised in Yoga quickly goes to Brahman. (5.6)
• He who is devoted to the yoga of action, with heart purified, with mind-controlled and senses subdued, though acting, is not tainted. (5.7)
• The harmonised yogi who knows the essence of things, thinks “I do nothing”, seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, moving, sleeping, breathing, speaking, giving, grasping, opening, and closing the eyelids even. He is convinced that the senses move among the objects of the senses. (5.8 & 5.9)
• He who acts placing all actions in the eternal Brahman, giving up attachment, is unaffected by sin like the lotus by water. (5.10)
• The devotees of karma yoga act for self-purification with body, mind, intellect and also senses, abandoning all attachment. (5.11)
• The harmonised yogi, abandoning the fruits of action attains final peace, while the non-united one impelled by desire for the fruits of action is bound. (5.12)
• Mentally renouncing all actions and self-controlled, the embodied being, rests happily in the nine-gated city (body) neither acting nor causing others to act. (5.13)
• The Lord (Atma) does not create agency, nor action, nor the union of action and its fruit; but Nature leads to action. (5.14)
• The Lord does not receive either the evil or good of anyone. Knowledge is enveloped by ignorance, and by it, beings are deluded. (5.15)
• But for those whose ignorance is destroyed by the knowledge of Atma that Knowledge, like the sun, reveals the Supreme Brahman. (5.16)
• With their intellect absorbed in That, their Self being That, established in that, they go from whence there is no return and their sins are dispelled by knowledge. (5.17)
• The sages look with equal eye on a Brahmana endowed with knowledge and humility, on a cow, on an elephant, on a dog and on the outcaste who feeds on dog’s flesh. (5.18)
• Even here (while living in this body) birth and death (samsara) are overcome by those whose mind is established in equality; Brahman is untainted and is the same in all; therefore in brahman, they rest.(5.19)
• The man of steady intellect, undeluded, knower of Brahman, established in Brahman, should not be elated having obtained the pleasant and should not be troubled having got the unpleasant. (5.20)
• With mind unattached to external contacts he finds happiness in Atma and with mind united with Brahman (Atma) in meditation, he enjoys imperishable happiness. (5.21)
• Those enjoyments born of external contacts are themselves indeed the source of pain only; they have a beginning and end; the wise do not rejoice in them. (5.22)
• He who is able to endure the impulse of desire and anger even in this world before the fall of the body, is the harmonised, and he is the happy man. (5.23)
• He who finds happiness within, delights within, and illumined within, that sage becoming Brahman attains absolute perfection. (5.24)
• Sages whose sins are destroyed, whose dualities are torn asunder, who are self-controlled, who rejoice in the well-being of others, attain union with Brahman (Moksha). (5.25)
• To the self-controlled sages who are free from desire and wrath, who have controlled their thoughts, who have realised the Self, absolute freedom exists on all sides. (5.26)
• The sage who has turned away all external impressions, fixing his gaze in the centre of the brows, controlling the incoming and outgoing breath rhythmically, keeping the senses, the mind and the intellect controlled, free from desire, fear and hatred, aspiring for the highest freedom indeed enjoys freedom always. (5.27 &5.28)
• Knowing Me as the enjoyer of all sacrifices and austerities, the Lord and controller of all the words, friend of all beings, man attains peace. (5.29)