PATH OF RENUNCIATION

[gokulkr 1]

PATH OF RENUNCIATION

 

Arjuna said: O Krishna, You praise transcendental knowledge (the

Saamkhya or Karma-Samnyasa) and also performance of unattached

action, Karma-yoga. Tell me, definitely, which one is better of the

two. (See also 5.05) (5.01)

 

Karma-Samnyasa means renunciation of doership, ownership, and

selfish motive behind an action, and not the renunciation of work,

or the worldly objects. Karma-Samnyasa comes only after the dawn of

Self-knowledge. Therefore, words Jnana, Saamkhya, Samnyasa, and

Karma-Samnyasa are used interchangeably throughout the Gita.

Renunciation is considered the goal of life, and Karma and Jnana

are the necessary means to achieve the goal.

 

The Supreme Lord said: Karma-Samnyasa, and Karma-yoga both lead to

the Supreme. But, of the two, Karma-yoga is superior to

Karma-Samnyasa. (5.02)

 

A person should be considered a true Samnyasi or renunciant who

neither likes nor dislikes. Because, free from the dualities, O

Arjuna, one is easily liberated from bondage. (5.03)

 

The ignorant, not the wise, consider Karma-Samnyasa and Karma-yoga

as different from each other. The person who has truly mastered

one, gets the benefits of both. (5.04)

 

Whatever goal a Samnyasi reaches, a Karma-yogi also reaches the

same goal. One who sees the path of renunciation and the path of

work as the same, really sees. (See also 6.01 and 6.02) (5.05)

 

But Samnyasa, O Arjuna, is difficult to attain without Karma-yoga.

A Karma-yogi sage quickly attains Brahman. (See also 4.31, and

4.38) (5.06)

 

A Karma-yogi whose mind is pure, whose mind and senses are under

control, and who sees one and the same Self in all beings, is not

bound (by Karma) though engaged in work. (5.07)

 

A Samnyasi who knows the truth thinks: I do nothing at all. For in

seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, walking, sleeping,

breathing; and (5.08)

 

Speaking, giving, taking, opening and closing the eyes, a Samnyasi

believes that only the senses are operating upon their sense

objects. (See also 3.27, 13.29, and 14.19) (5.09)

 

One who does all work as an offering to the Lord, abandoning

attachment to the results, is as untouched by sin (or Karmic

reaction) as a lotus leaf is untouched by water. (5.10)

 

A Karma-yogi performs action by body, mind, intellect, and senses,

without attachment (or ego), only for self-purification. (5.11)

 

A Karma-yogi, abandoning the fruit of work, attains Supreme Bliss

while others, who are attached to the fruits of work, become bound

by selfish work. (5.12)

 

A person who has subdued the senses and completely renounced (the

fruits of) all works, dwells happily in the City of Nine Gates,

neither performing nor directing action. (5.13)

 

The Lord neither creates the urge for action nor the feeling of

doership nor the attachment to the results of action in people. All

these are done by the (Gunas of) nature. (5.14)

 

The Lord does not take the (responsibility for) good or evil deeds

of anybody. The knowledge is covered by (the veil of) ignorance,

thereby people are deluded. (5.15)

 

But their knowledge, whose ignorance is destroyed by the

Self-knowledge, reveals the Supreme like the sun (reveals the

beauty of objects of the world). (5.16)

 

They, whose mind and intellect are absorbed in the Self, who remain

firmly attached with the Self, who have Self as their supreme goal,

whose sins (or impurities) have been destroyed by the knowledge, do

not take birth again. (5.17)

 

An enlightened person looks at a learned and humble Braahmana, an

outcast, even a cow, an elephant, or a dog with an equal eye.

(5.18)

 

Everything has been accomplished in this very life by those whose

mind is set in equality. Such a person has realized Brahman because

Brahman is flawless and impartial. (See also 18.55) (5.19)

 

One who neither rejoices on obtaining what is pleasant nor grieves

on obtaining the unpleasant, who is undeluded, who has a steady

mind, and who is a knower of Brahman; such a person abides in

Brahman. (5.20)

 

A person whose mind is unattached to sensual pleasures, who

discovers the joy of the Self, and whose mind is in union with

Brahman through meditation, enjoys eternal bliss. (5.21)

 

Pleasures derived from the contact of senses with their objects (or

the sensual pleasures) are verily the source of misery, and have a

beginning and an end. The wise, O Arjuna, do not rejoice in sensual

pleasures. (See also 18.38) (5.22)

 

One who is able to withstand the impulse of lust and anger before

death is a yogi, and a happy person. (5.23)

 

One who finds happiness with the Self, who rejoices the Self

within, and who is illuminated by the Self-knowledge; such a yogi

becomes one with Brahman and attains supreme nirvana. (5.24)

 

Seers whose sins (or imperfections) are destroyed, whose doubts

have been dispelled by knowledge, whose disciplined minds are

attached with the Self, and who are engaged in the welfare of all

beings attain Supreme Brahman. (5.25)

 

A Self-realized person who is free from lust and anger, and who has

subdued the mind and senses easily attains nirvana. (5.26)

 

Renouncing sense enjoyments; fixing the eyes and mind at the

midbrows; equalizing the breath moving through the nostrils (by

Kriya techniques); (See also 4.29, 6.13 and 8.10) (5.27)

 

With senses, mind, and intellect under control; having liberation

as the prime goal; free from lust, anger, and fear; such a sage is

verily liberated. (5.28)

 

The one who knows Me as the enjoyer of sacrifices and austerities,

as the great Lord of all the worlds, and as the friend of all

beings, attains peace. (5.29)