novelraw Arc 2 - Bhagavad Gītā Parva - Chapter 10 - The Yoga of Renunciation and Action (Bhagavad Gītā V)
Arc 2 - Bhagavad Gītā Parva - Chapter 10 - The Yoga of Renunciation and Action (Bhagavad Gītā V)
Vaiśampāyana said:
When the Lord of all beings had spoken of knowledge joined with work, Arjuna, still seeking the surest path to freedom, bowed once more before the radiant One, his brow touched with doubt yet illumined by devotion.
The Question of Renunciation
Arjuna said:
“Thou praisest, O Śrī Bhagavān,
The renunciation of all works,
Yet again Thou urgest action—
Tell me truly which is best.”
The Two Paths Are One
Śrī Bhagavān said:
“Both renunciation of action and action in Yoga
Lead to the soul’s deliverance;
But of the two, O mighty-armed,
Action in devotion is superior.
“He should be known as a true ascetic
Who neither hates nor desires;
Free from the pairs of opposites,
He is easily released from bondage.”
Vaiśampāyana said, “The Lord declares that not withdrawal, but purity within action, is the nobler way. He who acts without craving or aversion attains the peace sought by renouncers.”
On the Unity of Sāṅkhya and Yoga
Śrī Bhagavān said:
“The ignorant say that Sāṅkhya and Yoga are different,
But the wise know them to be one.
He who abides firmly in either
Reaps the fruit of both.
“The state attained by Sāṅkhya’s seers
Is reached as well by the Yogin in action;
He sees truly who perceives
Sāṅkhya and Yoga as one.”
Knowledge and discipline are not two roads but two steps of the same ascent. Wisdom without action is incomplete; action without wisdom is blind. Together they form the ladder to liberation.
Renunciation Through Action
Śrī Bhagavān said:
“Renunciation without Yoga is hard to attain;
But the sage who follows the path of action,
Pure in heart and master of self,
Soon reaches the Supreme.
“He who works with mind subdued,
Seeing all beings as his own Self,
Though acting, is never bound.”
Renunciation does not mean flight from life but freedom within it. The true renouncer acts, yet remains untouched by the fruits of labor, as the sky by passing clouds.
Seeing Action as Non-Action
Śrī Bhagavān said:
“He whose heart knows truth thinks, ‘I do nothing at all,’
Though seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating,
Walking, sleeping, breathing,
Speaking, opening, closing the eyes.
“He knows that the senses move among their objects;
He himself acts not, nor is acted upon.”
The illumined soul is witness, not doer. His actions are nature’s play upon the screen of consciousness, and he abides serene behind it all.
The Purity of Offering
Śrī Bhagavān said:
“He who performs his deeds
Renouncing attachment and surrendering them to Brahman,
Is untouched by sin,
As a lotus leaf by water.
“Casting off attachment,
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The devoted work with body, mind, and intellect—
All purified by selflessness.”
When action is offered to the Supreme without self-interest, karma becomes yajña—sacred sacrifice. Purity arises not from ritual but from surrender.
Freedom from the Fruits of Work
Śrī Bhagavān said:
“He who renounces the fruit of action
Gains the peace of perfect stillness;
But he who clings to reward
Is bound by his own desire.”
Desire is the chain that binds; renunciation of result is the key that breaks it. In selfless work lies repose.
The Inner Renouncer
Śrī Bhagavān said:
“The self-controlled one,
Renouncing all actions by the mind,
Dwells happily in the city of nine gates—
Acting not, nor causing others to act.”
The “city of nine gates” is the body. The indwelling Self is ruler within it but neither the laborer nor the enjoyer. In that stillness abides true asceticism.
The Lord and Nature
Śrī Bhagavān said:
“The Lord causes not the acts of men,
Nor their power to act, nor their fruits;
Nature performs all work—
The Self remains the silent witness.
“The Lord accepts no sin nor virtue;
But ignorance veils true knowledge,
And thus delusion binds creatures.”
The Eternal is pure awareness, untouched by deeds. It is ignorance (avidyā
) that makes the soul imagine itself the doer and suffer the harvest of its own illusion.The Light of Knowledge
Śrī Bhagavān said:
“But when ignorance is destroyed
By the knowledge of the Self,
That knowledge, shining like the sun,
Reveals the Supreme within.
“Those whose minds dwell in Him,
Whose souls are one with Him,
Whose goal is only Him—
Their sins are burnt in wisdom’s fire.”
Knowledge is dawn after long night. When the Self knows itself as Brahman, all darkness vanishes, and every past shadow becomes light.
The Vision of Equality
Śrī Bhagavān said:
“The wise behold with equal eye
A learned Brāhmaṇa gentle and humble,
A cow, an elephant, a dog,
And even an outcaste.
“Even here on earth they conquer birth
Whose minds are balanced in equality;
For Brahman is spotless, equable,
And they abide in Brahman.”
When vision is purified, distinctions fall away. The same Spirit shines through all forms—seeing it everywhere, the sage becomes free from rebirth.
The Steady Mind in Joy and Sorrow
Śrī Bhagavān said:
“He whose mind is firm and undeluded,
Who knows Brahman and rests in Brahman,
Rejoices not in the pleasant,
Nor grieves for the unpleasant.”
Joy and grief belong to the senses; the seer rests in the Self beyond them. His peace is unbroken because it is founded upon Eternity.
The Inner Happiness
Śrī Bhagavān said:
“He whose mind is not drawn to outward things
Finds joy in the Self within;
Concentrating on Brahman,
He attains imperishable bliss.
“The pleasures born of contact
Are wombs of sorrow, O son of Kuntī;
They have a beginning and an end—
The wise seek them not.”
Worldly joys are transient shadows of the real. The yogin turns inward and discovers the fountain of delight that never dries.
Mastery of Desire and Wrath
Śrī Bhagavān said:
“He who can endure, while yet in this body,
The turmoil born of desire and anger,
Is a yogin, a happy man,
Even here he is free.”
Freedom begins not after death but in life itself. Endurance and insight transform passion into peace.
The Bliss of the Self-Luminous One
Śrī Bhagavān said:
“He who finds happiness within,
Who rejoices within,
Whose light is from within—
That yogin, becoming one with Brahman,
Attains Brahma-nirvāṇa.”
The Lord describes the liberated sage: radiant without outward lamp, content without outward cause, merged in the Infinite.
The Condition of the Liberated
Śrī Bhagavān said:
“Those whose sins are destroyed,
Whose doubts are ended,
Who are self-restrained
And ever intent on the good of all beings—
They reach Brahma-nirvāṇa.
“Freed from desire and wrath,
With mind controlled and Self-realized,
They dwell in Brahman here and hereafter.”
Liberation is not escape from the world but union with its divine core. Compassion and restraint mark the saints who live already in Brahman’s peace.
The Path of Meditation
Śrī Bhagavān said:
“Shutting out all objects of sense,
Fixing the gaze between the brows,
Equalizing the breaths of life,
Mastering mind and senses,
Free from desire, fear, and wrath—
He is forever free.”
Through the stilling of the inner winds—the upward (prāṇa) and downward (apāna) currents—the yogin unites them in balance and enters serenity beyond motion.
The Lord of All Sacrifices
Śrī Bhagavān said:
“Know Me to be the enjoyer
Of all sacrifices and austerities,
The great Lord of all the worlds,
The friend of all beings—
And thus shall peace be thine.”
Vaiśampāyana said, “So spoke Śrī Bhagavān, revealing Himself as both the goal and the companion of every soul. To know Him as friend, lord, and witness is to find the stillness beyond all striving.”
Thus ends the Fifth Chapter of the Bhagavad Gītā, the Sannyāsa-Yoga, spoken by Śrī Bhagavān to Arjuna upon the sacred field of Kurukṣetra.