Chapter
5 - The Yoga of Action and Knowledge
Arjun
said:
O
Krsn, You extol Sankhya Yoga (the Yoga
renunciation of action of knowledge) and
then also again their unselfish
performance (Karma Yoga). Tell me, for
certain which one is better of the two.
(5.01)
The
Blessed Sri Krsn said:
Renunciation
of actions and their unselfish performance
both lead to salvation. But of the two the
unselfish performance of actions is better
than their renunciation. (5.02)
The
Karma Yogi, who neither hates nor desires,
should be ever considered a Sannyasi (renouncer).
For, Arjun, he who has transcended the
pairs of opposites, is easily freed from
bondage. (5.03)
It
is the ignorant, not the wise, who say
that Sankhya Yoga and Karma Yoga are
productive of divergent results. For one,
who is firmly established in either, gets
the fruit of both (viz. God Realization).
(5.04)
The
supreme state, which is reached by the
Sankya Yogi, is attained also by the Karma
Yogi. Therefore, he who sees Sankya Yoga
and Karma Yoga as one, so far as their
results goes, really sees. (5.05)
Without
Karma Yoga, however, Sankya Yoga (or
renunciation of doership in relation to
all activities of the mind, senses and
body) is difficult to attain; whereas the
Karmayogi, who keeps his mind fixed on
God, reaches Brahma in no time, Arjun.
(5.06)
He
who neither hates nor desires should be
known as a Sannyasi (renouncer); for, free
from dualities (pairs of opposites) he is
released from bondage, O mighty armed,
Arjun. (5.07)
The
man who is united with the Divine and
knows the truth believes, even though
seeing, hearing, touching, smelling,
eating, walking, sleeping, breathing,
speaking, emitting, grasping, opening and
closing of the eyes, that he does
nothing;he holds that the senses move
among the sense objects. (5.08 - 09)
He,
who acts, offering all actions to God, and
shaking off attachment, remains untouched
by sin, as the lotus leaf by water. (5.10)
A
Karma-yogi performs action only with their
senses, mind, intellect, and body as well,
withdrawing the feeling or merely with the
senses, for the purification of the self
(heart). (5.11)
The
soul earnest (devoted) attains to
everlasting peace (God Realization), by
abandoning attachment to the fruit of
action; whereas he who works with a
selfish motive, being attached to the
fruit of action through desire, is bound.
(5.12)
The
self-controlled Sankhya Yogi doing nothing
himself and getting nothing done by
others, rests happily in God, mentally
relegating all actions to the city of nine
gates (the body with nine holes). (5.13)
The
Lord determines not the doership nor the
doing of beings, nor even their contact
with the fruits of actions. It is Nature
that functions (deriving its motive power
from God). (5.14)
The
All-pervading Lord takes neither the sin
nor the virtue of any; knowledge is
enveloped by ignorance therefore, beings
are deluded. (5.15)
But
those whose ignorance is destroyed by the
knowledge of the self, knowledge lights up
the supreme self like the sun. (5.16)
Those
whose mind and intellect are wholly merged
in Him, who remain constantly established
in indentity with Him, and have finally
become one with Him, their sins being
wiped out by wisdom, reach the state from
which there is no return. (5.17)
Sages
see with an equal eye a learned an humble
Brahman, a cow, an elephant or even a dog
or a pariah (out caste) and have a vision
of God in all of them. (5.18)
Even
here is the mortal plane conquered by
those whose mind is established in
equanimity; since the absolute is free
from blemish and equanimous, hence they
are established in the Eternal. (5.19)
He
who, with reason firm and free from doubt,
rejoices not on obtaining what is
agreeable, and does not feel perturbed on
meeting with the unpleasant, that knower
of Brahma lives eternally in identity with
it. (5.20)
He
whose, mind remains unattached to external
enjoyments, derives through meditation the
unmixed joy, which is inherent in the
soul; then that Yogi having completely
identified himself through meditation with
Brahma, enjoys eternal Bliss. (5.21)
The
pleasures that are born of contacts (with
objects) are only source of pain, they
have a beginning and an end, O son of
Kunti (Arjun), no wise man delights in
them. (5.22)
He
who is able to resist the impulse (rush)
born out of desire and anger, even here
before he gives up his body, is a yogi and
he is a happy man. (5.23)
He
who is happy within himself (God), who
rejoices within himself and who is
illumined within himself, that yogi (Sankhya
Yogi) identified with Brahman attains the
beatitude of God (Brahma Nirvana). (5.24)
The
Seers whose sins have been washed away,
whose doubts have been dispelled by
knowledge, whose mind is firmly
established in God and who are actively in
promoting the welfare of all beings,
attain Brahma, who is all peace. (5.25)
To
those wise men, who are free from lust and
anger, who have subdued their mind and
have realized God, Brahma, the abode of
eternal peace, is present all round.
(5.26)
Shutting
out all external objects, fixing the
vision between the eye brows, making the
inward and the outward breaths moving
within the nostrils, the sage, who has
controlled the senses, mind and intellect,
who is intent on liberation, who has cast
away desire, fear and anger, is ever
liberated. (5.27 - 28)
He
having known Me, as the enjoyer of all
sacrifices and austerities, the Great Lord
of all the worlds and the disinterested
Friend of all beings, attains peace.
(5.29)
Thus
with the utterance of Om, Tat, Sat, the
names of the Lord, in the Upanisad of the
Bhagawad Gita, the knowledge of Brahman,
the Supreme, the science of yoga and the
dialogue between Sri Krsn and Arjun, this
is the fifth discourse designated:
"The Yoga of Action and
Knowledge"
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