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Bhagavad Geeta · Krishna

Chapter 5

कर्मसंन्यासयोग

Path of Renunciation

Verses

  1. Verse 1

    arjuna uvāca saṃnyāsaṃ karmaṇāṃ kṛṣṇa punaryogaṃ ca śaṃsasi| yacchreya etayorekaṃ tanme brūhi suniścitam||5.1||

    Meaning

    Arjuna said: My Lord! At one moment, You praise renunciation of action; at another, You praise right action. Tell me truly, I pray, which of these is more conducive to my highest welfare?

  2. Verse 2

    śrī bhagavānuvāca saṃnyāsaḥ karmayogaśca niḥśreyasakarāvubhau| tayostu karmasaṃnyāsātkarmayogo viśiṣyate||5.2||

    Meaning

    Lord Shri Krishna replied: Both renunciation of action and the path of right action lead to the highest; however, right action is the better of the two.

  3. Verse 3

    jñeyaḥ sa nityasaṃnyāsī yo na dveṣṭi na kāṅkṣati| nirdvandvo hi mahābāho sukhaṃ bandhātpramucyate||5.3||

    Meaning

    He is a true ascetic who never desires nor dislikes, who is unaffected by the opposites and is easily freed from bondage.

  4. Verse 4

    sāṃkhyayogau pṛthagbālāḥ pravadanti na paṇḍitāḥ| ekamapyāsthitaḥ samyagubhayorvindate phalam||5.4||

    Meaning

    Only the unenlightened speak of wisdom and right action as separate; the wise do not. If anyone knows one, they enjoy the fruit of both.

  5. Verse 5

    yatsāṃkhyaiḥ prāpyate sthānaṃ tadyogairapi gamyate| ekaṃ sāṃkhyaṃ ca yogaṃ ca yaḥ paśyati sa paśyati||5.5||

    Meaning

    The level which is attained through wisdom is also reached through right action. He who perceives that the two are one, knows the truth.

  6. Verse 6

    saṃnyāsastu mahābāho duḥkhamāptumayogataḥ| yogayukto munirbrahma nacireṇādhigacchati||5.6||

    Meaning

    Without concentration, O Mighty One, renunciation is difficult. But the sage who is always meditating on the Divine, shall soon attain the Absolute.

  7. Verse 7

    yogayukto viśuddhātmā vijitātmā jitendriyaḥ| sarvabhūtātmabhūtātmā kurvannapi na lipyate||5.7||

    Meaning

    He who is spiritual, pure, has overcome his senses and his personal self, and has realized his highest Self as the Self of all—even though he acts, he is not bound by his actions.

  8. Verse 8

    naiva kiṃcitkaromīti yukto manyeta tattvavit| paśyan śṛṇavanspṛśañjighrannaśnangacchansvapan śvasan||5.8||

    Meaning

    Though the saint sees, hears, touches, smells, eats, moves, sleeps, and breathes, yet he knows the truth and knows that it is not he who acts.

  9. Verse 9

    pralapanvisṛjangṛhṇannunmiṣannimiṣannapi| indriyāṇīndriyārtheṣu vartanta iti dhārayan||5.9||

    Meaning

    Though he talks, gives, receives, opens his eyes, and shuts them, he still knows that his senses are merely disporting themselves among the objects of perception.

  10. Verse 10

    brahmaṇyādhāya karmāṇi saṅgaṃ tyaktvā karoti yaḥ| lipyate na sa pāpena padmapatramivāmbhasā||5.10||

    Meaning

    He who dedicates his actions to the Spirit, without any personal attachment to them, is no more tainted by sin than the water lily is wetted by water.

  11. Verse 11

    kāyena manasā buddhyā kevalairindriyairapi| yoginaḥ karma kurvanti saṅgaṃ tyaktvā''tmaśuddhaye||5.11||

    Meaning

    The sage performs his action dispassionately, using his body, mind, intellect, and even his senses, always as a means for purification.

  12. Verse 12

    yuktaḥ karmaphalaṃ tyaktvā śāntimāpnoti naiṣṭhikīm| ayuktaḥ kāmakāreṇa phale sakto nibadhyate||5.12||

    Meaning

    Having abandoned the fruit of action, he wins eternal peace. Others, unacquainted with spirituality, led by desire and clinging to the benefit they think will follow their actions, become entangled in them.

  13. Verse 13

    sarvakarmāṇi manasā saṃnyasyāste sukhaṃ vaśī| navadvāre pure dehī naiva kurvanna kārayan||5.13||

    Meaning

    Mentally renouncing all actions, the self-controlled soul enjoys bliss in this body, the city of the nine gates, neither doing anything themselves nor causing anything to be done.

  14. Verse 14

    na kartṛtvaṃ na karmāṇi lokasya sṛjati prabhuḥ| na karmaphalasaṃyogaṃ svabhāvastu pravartate||5.14||

    Meaning

    The Lord of this universe has not ordained activity, nor any incentive thereto, nor any relation between an act and its consequences; all this is the work of Nature.

  15. Verse 15

    nādatte kasyacitpāpaṃ na caiva sukṛtaṃ vibhuḥ| ajñānenāvṛtaṃ jñānaṃ tena muhyanti jantavaḥ||5.15||

    Meaning

    The Lord does not accept responsibility for any person's sin or merit; they are deluded, for wisdom is submerged in ignorance within them.

  16. Verse 16

    jñānena tu tadajñānaṃ yeṣāṃ nāśitamātmanaḥ| teṣāmādityavajjñānaṃ prakāśayati tatparam||5.16||

    Meaning

    Surely, wisdom is like the sun, revealing the supreme truth to those whose ignorance has been dispelled by the wisdom of the Self.

  17. Verse 17

    tadbuddhayastadātmānastanniṣṭhāstatparāyaṇāḥ| gacchantyapunarāvṛttiṃ jñānanirdhūtakalmaṣāḥ||5.17||

    Meaning

    Meditating on the divine, having faith in the divine, concentrating on the divine, and losing themselves in the divine, their sins dissolve in wisdom, and they go from whence there is no return.

  18. Verse 18

    vidyāvinayasaṃpanne brāhmaṇe gavi hastini| śuni caiva śvapāke ca paṇḍitāḥ samadarśinaḥ||5.18||

    Meaning

    Sages look upon all equally, whether they be a minister of learning and humility, an infidel, a cow, an elephant, or a dog.

  19. Verse 19

    ihaiva tairjitaḥ sargo yeṣāṃ sāmye sthitaṃ manaḥ| nirdoṣaṃ hi samaṃ brahma tasmādbrahmaṇi te sthitāḥ||5.19||

    Meaning

    Even in this world, those whose minds remain always balanced, fixed on the Supreme, conquer their earthly life; for the Supreme has neither blemish nor bias.

  20. Verse 20

    na prahṛṣyetpriyaṃ prāpya nodvijetprāpya cāpriyam| sthirabuddhirasammūḍho brahmavidbrahmaṇi sthitaḥ||5.20||

    Meaning

    He who knows and lives in the Absolute remains unmoved and unperturbed; he is not elated by pleasure nor depressed by pain.

  21. Verse 21

    bāhyasparśeṣvasaktātmā vindatyātmani yatsukham| sa brahmayogayuktātmā sukhamakṣayamaśnute||5.21||

    Meaning

    He finds happiness in his own Self and enjoys eternal bliss, whose heart does not yearn for the contacts of the earth and whose Self is one with the Everlasting.

  22. Verse 22

    ye hi saṃsparśajā bhogā duḥkhayonaya eva te| ādyantavantaḥ kaunteya na teṣu ramate budhaḥ||5.22||

    Meaning

    The joys that spring from external associations bring pain; they have their beginnings and their endings. The wise person does not rejoice in them.

  23. Verse 23

    śaknotīhaiva yaḥ soḍhuṃ prākśarīravimokṣaṇāt| kāmakrodhodbhavaṃ vegaṃ sa yuktaḥ sa sukhī naraḥ||5.23||

    Meaning

    He who, before leaving his body, learns to overcome the promptings of desire and anger, is a saint and is happy.

  24. Verse 24

    yo'ntaḥsukho'ntarārāmastathāntarjyotireva yaḥ| sa yogī brahmanirvāṇaṃ brahmabhūto'dhigacchati||5.24||

    Meaning

    He who is happy within himself and has found its peace, and in whom the inner light shines, that sage attains eternal bliss and becomes one with the spirit.

  25. Verse 25

    labhante brahmanirvāṇamṛṣayaḥ kṣīṇakalmaṣāḥ| chinnadvaidhā yatātmānaḥ sarvabhūtahite ratāḥ||5.25||

    Meaning

    Sages whose sins have been washed away, whose sense of separateness has dissipated, who have subdued themselves, and seek only the welfare of all, come to the Eternal Spirit.

  26. Verse 26

    kāmakrodhaviyuktānāṃ yatīnāṃ yatacetasām| abhito brahmanirvāṇaṃ vartate viditātmanām||5.26||

    Meaning

    Saints who know themselves, who control their minds, and feel neither desire nor anger, find eternal bliss everywhere.

  27. Verse 27

    sparśānkṛtvā bahirbāhyāṃścakṣuścaivāntare bhruvoḥ| prāṇāpānau samau kṛtvā nāsābhyantaracāriṇau||5.27||

    Meaning

    Excluding external objects, with his gaze fixed between the eyebrows, and the inward and outward breathings passing equally through his nostrils;

  28. Verse 28

    yatendriyamanobuddhirmunirmokṣaparāyaṇaḥ| vigatecchābhayakrodho yaḥ sadā mukta eva saḥ||5.28||

    Meaning

    Governing sense, mind, and intellect, intent on liberation, free from desire, fear, and anger, the sage is eternally free.

  29. Verse 29

    bhoktāraṃ yajñatapasāṃ sarvalokamaheśvaram| suhṛdaṃ sarvabhūtānāṃ jñātvā māṃ śāntimṛcchati||5.29||

    Meaning

    Knowing Me as the One who gladly receives all offerings of austerity and sacrifice, as the Mighty Ruler of all the Worlds and the Friend of all beings, he passes to Eternal Peace.

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