Chapter 5 · 29 verses

Karma Sanyasa Yoga: Renunciation of Action

अध्याय 5 — कर्मसंन्यासयोग

Both renunciation and selfless action lead to freedom, but acting without attachment is easier. The wise see all beings with an equal eye.

संन्यास और निष्काम कर्म दोनों मुक्ति देते हैं, पर आसक्ति छोड़कर कर्म करना सरल है। ज्ञानी सब प्राणियों को समान दृष्टि से देखते हैं।

Verse 5.1संन्यासं कर्मणां कृष्ण पुनर्योगं च शंससि …Arjuna says: Krishna, you praise giving up action, and then you also praise doing action with yoga. Tell me clearly which one of the two is better.
Verse 5.2संन्यासः कर्मयोगश्च निःश्रेयसकरावुभौ …Krishna answers that both renouncing action and selfless action lead to the highest good, but of the two, working selflessly is better than giving up work.
Verse 5.3ज्ञेयः स नित्यसंन्यासी यो न द्वेष्टि न काङ्क्षति …A true renunciate is someone who neither hates nor craves anything. Free from such opposites, that person easily breaks free from bondage.
Verse 5.4सांख्ययोगौ पृथग्बालाः प्रवदन्ति न पण्डिताः …Only the naive say the path of knowledge and the path of selfless action are different. Whoever truly follows one of them gains the fruit of both.
Verse 5.5यत्सांख्यैः प्राप्यते स्थानं तद्योगैरपि गम्यते …The goal reached by people of knowledge is also reached by people of selfless action. Whoever sees these two paths as one truly sees.
Verse 5.6संन्यासस्तु महाबाहो दुःखमाप्तुमयोगतः …Renouncing action without first practicing selfless work is hard and painful. But a sage who works with yoga soon reaches the Divine.
Verse 5.7योगयुक्तो विशुद्धात्मा विजितात्मा जितेन्द्रियः …One who is steady in yoga, pure at heart, master of mind and senses, and who sees their own self in all beings is not tainted even while acting.
Verse 5.8नैव किंचित्करोमीति युक्तो मन्येत तत्त्ववित् …A person who knows the truth, centered in yoga, feels 'I am not really doing anything' — even while seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, walking, sleeping, and breathing.
Verse 5.9प्रलपन्विसृजन्गृह्णन्नुन्मिषन्निमिषन्नपि …While speaking, letting go, grasping, or even opening and closing the eyes, such a person understands that it is only the senses moving among their objects.
Verse 5.10ब्रह्मण्याधाय कर्माणि सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा करोति यः …One who acts while offering all work to the Divine, without attachment, stays untouched by sin — like a lotus leaf untouched by water.
Verse 5.11कायेन मनसा बुद्ध्या केवलैरिन्द्रियैरपि …Yogis act with the body, mind, intellect, and even the senses alone, letting go of attachment, simply to purify themselves.
Verse 5.12युक्तः कर्मफलं त्यक्त्वा शान्तिमाप्नोति नैष्ठिकीम् …A person steady in yoga lets go of the fruits of action and finds lasting peace. But someone driven by desire, clinging to results, gets bound.
Verse 5.13सर्वकर्माणि मनसा संन्यस्यास्ते सुखं वशी …Having mentally let go of all actions, the self-controlled person lives happily in the body, the city of nine gates, neither doing nor causing anything to be done.
Verse 5.14न कर्तृत्वं न कर्माणि लोकस्य सृजति प्रभुः …The Lord does not create a sense of doership in people, nor their actions, nor the link between actions and results. All this unfolds through each being's own nature.
Verse 5.15नादत्ते कस्यचित्पापं न चैव सुकृतं विभुः …The all-pervading Lord does not take on anyone's sins or good deeds. Knowledge is covered by ignorance, and that is why people get confused.
Verse 5.16ज्ञानेन तु तदज्ञानं येषां नाशितमात्मनः …But for those whose ignorance is destroyed by knowledge of the self, that knowledge shines like the sun and reveals the Supreme.
Verse 5.17तद्बुद्धयस्तदात्मानस्तन्निष्ठास्तत्परायणाः …Those whose thinking, being, faith, and goal are all fixed on the Divine, cleansed of faults by knowledge, reach the state from which there is no return.
Verse 5.18विद्याविनयसंपन्ने ब्राह्मणे गवि हस्तिनि …The wise look with an equal eye on a learned and humble scholar, a cow, an elephant, a dog, and one whom society shuns.
Verse 5.19इहैव तैर्जितः सर्गो येषां साम्ये स्थितं मनः …Those whose minds rest in sameness have conquered the world even here in this life. The Divine is flawless and equal to all, so they live in the Divine.
Verse 5.20न प्रहृष्येत्प्रियं प्राप्य नोद्विजेत्प्राप्य चाप्रियम् …A person who knows the Divine and rests in it, with a steady mind free of confusion, does not get excited by pleasant things or shaken by unpleasant ones.
Verse 5.21बाह्यस्पर्शेष्वसक्तात्मा विन्दत्यात्मनि यत्सुखम् …One who is not attached to outside pleasures finds joy within. United with the Divine through yoga, such a person enjoys a happiness that never ends.
Verse 5.22ये हि संस्पर्शजा भोगा दुःखयोनय एव ते …Pleasures born from contact with sense objects are really sources of pain; they have a beginning and an end. The wise do not find their joy in them.
Verse 5.23शक्नोतीहैव यः सोढुं प्राक्शरीरविमोक्षणात् …Whoever can withstand the force of desire and anger here, before leaving the body, is a yogi and a truly happy person.
Verse 5.24योऽन्तःसुखोऽन्तरारामस्तथान्तर्ज्योतिरेव यः …One whose happiness, peace, and light are all within becomes one with the Divine and reaches the freedom of the Divine.
Verse 5.25लभन्ते ब्रह्मनिर्वाणमृषयः क्षीणकल्मषाः …Sages whose faults are erased, whose doubts are gone, who are self-controlled and devoted to the welfare of all beings, attain the peace of the Divine.
Verse 5.26कामक्रोधवियुक्तानां यतीनां यतचेतसाम् …For seekers free from desire and anger, who have mastered their minds and know themselves, the peace of the Divine is close on every side.
Verse 5.27स्पर्शान्कृत्वा बहिर्बाह्यांश्चक्षुश्चैवान्तरे भ्रुवोः …Shutting out outside sense objects, fixing the gaze between the eyebrows, and evening out the breath flowing in and out through the nose...
Verse 5.28यतेन्द्रियमनोबुद्धिर्मुनिर्मोक्षपरायणः …...the sage who has mastered senses, mind, and intellect, whose highest aim is freedom, and who has let go of desire, fear, and anger, is truly free forever.
Verse 5.29भोक्तारं यज्ञतपसां सर्वलोकमहेश्वरम् …Krishna says that whoever knows Him as the enjoyer of all offerings and disciplines, the great Lord of all worlds, and the friend of every being, finds peace.