BHAGVAD GITA CHAPTER-5

BHAGVAD GITA

Chapter 5: Path of Samnyasa

Arjuna said: O Krishna, You praise transcendental knowledge (the Samkhya or Karma-Samnyasa) and also performance of unattached action, Karma-yoga. Tell me, definitely, which one is better of the two.(5.01)

Lord Krishna said: Karma-Samnyasa, and Karma-yoga both lead to the Supreme goal. But, of the two, Karma-yoga is superior to Karma-Samnyasa for most people. (5.02)

A person should be considered a true Samnyasi  who has no like or dislike for anything. One is easily liberated from Karmic bondage by becoming free from desire-born likes and dislikes. (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 samnyasa and the path of work as the same, really understands (5.05)

But true Samnyasa, O Arjuna, is difficult to attain without Karma-yoga. A Karma-yogi sage quickly attains Brahman.  (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; (5.08)

speaking, giving, taking, opening and closing the eyes, a Samnyasi believes that only the senses are operating upon their sense objects. (5.09)

One who does all work as an offering to God — abandoning attachment to results — remains untouched by Karmic reaction or sin, just as a lotus leaf never gets wet by water. (5.10)

A Karma-yogi performs action by body, mind, intellect, and senses, without attachment and feeling of doership, only for sense-purification. (5.11)

A Karma-yogi attains Supreme peace by abandoning attachment to the fruits of work, while others, who are attached to the fruits of work become bound by selfish work. (5.12)

A person, who has given up the attachment to the fruits of all work from his mind, dwells happily in this world, neither performing nor directing any 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. When Self-knowledge gets covered by the curtain of ignorance, people are misled to do evil deeds. (5.15)

Transcendental knowledge destroys the ignorance of the Self and reveals the Supreme Being like the sun reveals the beauty of objects of the world. (5.16)

Persons whose mind and intellect are totally merged in the Eternal Being, who are firmly devoted to the Supreme, who have God as their supreme goal, and whose impurities are destroyed by the knowledge of the Self, do not take birth again. (5.17)

An enlightened person looks at a learned and humble Brahmana, an outcast, even a cow, an elephant, or a dog with an equal eye, because he sees God in all. (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 perfect and impartial to all.  (5.19)

One who neither rejoices on obtaining what is pleasant nor grieves on obtaining the unpleasant, who is not confused, 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 and contemplation, enjoys permanent bliss. (5.21)

Material and sensual pleasures become the source of misery and have a beginning and an end. The wise, O Arjuna, do not rejoice in such pleasures. (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 purified by the Self-knowledge, attains nirvana. (5.24)

Seers whose imperfections and doubts are destroyed by the fire Self-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)

One is liberated by renouncing all sense enjoyments, focusing the eyes and the mind between the eye-brows, equalizing the breath moving through the nostrils by using yogic techniques; (5.27)

Keeping the senses, mind, and intellect under control, having liberation as the prime goal, and by becoming free from lust, anger, and fear. (5.28)

One attains permanent peace by knowing Me, the Supreme Being, only as the enjoyer of all your services and Sadhana, as the great Lord of the entire universe, and as the friend of all beings. (5.29)