Chapter Five

                     The Path of Divine Harmony

                         Karma-sannyasa-yoga

1) Arjuna said: O Krsna, after instructing me in renunciation of
action. You are again advocating the path of selfless action.
Therefore, please give me a clear understanding which of the two
is most beneficial for me.

2) The Supreme Lord said: Both renunciation of action and the
path of selfless action are greatly beneficial. Yet, of the two, you
will have to understand that the application of selfless action is
superior.

3) It should be known that one who is free from the duality of
attraction and hatred, and who neither desires nor abhors the
fruits of action, remains a renunciate even though he engages in
activities. Because, O mighty-armed Arjuna, such a person very
easily attains liberation from this mundane plane of bondage.

4) The learned do not support the opinion of the childishly foolish
mundane rationalists (known as karma-mimamsakas) who hold
that the path of renunciation (sankhya-yoga) and the path of
action (karma-yoga) are separate. One who carefully follows
either of these paths will achieve the same result.

5) The goal achieved by the renunciation of action is also reached
by the performance of selfless action. One who by careful analysis
knows both these paths to be one and the same, certainly knows
their true meaning.

6) O mighty hero, to the exclusion of selfless action, mere
renunciation of action is the cause of sorrow. But the wise man
who engages in selfless action attains to the Absolute very swiftly.

7) Engaged in yoga in this way are three types of learned
householders (jnani-grhastha): one of pure intelligence, one of
controlled mind, and one of controlled senses. By their
comparative practices, the former should be known as superior to
the latter. All are the embodiment of goodwill for every living
being. Although fully active, they are never implicated by action.

8-9) Although such a karma-yogi who is a knower of intrinsic
truth performs all the activities of seeing, hearing, touching,
smelling, eating, moving, sleeping, breathing, speaking, expelling
waste matter, accepting things, blinking the eyes, and so on, he
realizes: "My sense organs eyes, ears, skin, nose, and tongue are
engaged with their respective objects of form, sound, touch, scent,
and taste." In this way he constantly perceives, "I do not perform
any action at all."

10) As a lotus leaf is not moistened although it remains on the
water, one who selflessly offers all his actions to the Supreme
Lord, remains unaffected by sinful or pious reactions.

11) For the sake of purification of the mind, karma-yogis give up
all attachment to the fruits of action and perform their activities
with body, mind, and intelligence. Otherwise, they may act
through their senses only, with an attitude of disinterest.

12) The pure, materially unmotivated (niskama) karma-yogi,
giving up attachment to the fruits of his action, attains constant
peace, or liberation from reactionary work. But the ambitious
(sakama) karmi, the fruit-hunter, is obsessed with the result of his
action, and he becomes implicated by his endeavors.

13) Mentally renouncing all actions in the aforesaid manner, the
sense-controlled soul resides happily within the bodily abode of
nine gates free from the false ego of considering himself a doer,
although he externally performs all activities and free from the
false ego of considering himself an inaugurator of action, although
he engages others.

14) Due to their tendency towards ignorance since immeasurable
time, the living beings act, considering themselves the doers or
inaugurators of action. The Supreme Lord does not generate their
misconception of considering themselves doers, nor does He
generate their actions or their attachment to the fruits of those
actions.

15) The fully self-satisfied Supreme Lord accepts neither the sin
nor piety of anyone. Cognizance is the intrinsic nature of the
living beings, but they are infatuated by the material body,
thinking it to be themselves, on account of their original nature
being enveloped by the deluding potency of the Lord.

16) Knowledge is of two types prakrta, mundane, and aprakrta,
divine. Mundane knowledge is concerned with material nature,
and is only the nescience of the living beings, whereas divine
knowledge is genuine science. For persons whose divine
knowledge has awakened, the mundane conception is vanquished
and their supreme knowledge, like a mighty risen sun, reveals the
Supreme Reality.

17) Those whose illusion has been previously dispelled by
knowledge begin to relish within their hearts the hearing and
singing of My unending glories, having devoted their thoughts to
Me, meditated on Me, and developed continuous devotion for Me,
the Supreme Lord. Then they completely transcend this world.

18) The intelligent souls who have attained divine qualities and
abandoned all mundane prejudice, perceive the absolute
transcendence within all living beings the humble and learned
brahmaa, the cow, the elephant, the dog, or the outcast eater of
dog-flesh. Therefore, they are known as 'pannita' men of true
wisdom.

19) Those whose minds are equipoised have conquered this world
while present within it, because by their spiritual equilibrium they
are free from attraction and repulsion. Therefore, although
remaining in this world, they are eternally situated in
transcendence.

20) Fully situated in transcendence, endowed with steady
intelligence, and free from the delusion of thinking of his body and
associated paraphernalia as 'me' and 'mine', the knower of the
Absolute neither becomes elated by obtaining something desirable
nor dejected by obtaining something objectionable.

21) Such a knower of the Absolute Truth, his mind detached from
sensual pleasure, initially attains the happiness of self-realization.
Thereafter, linking himself with the Absolute, he attains
inexhaustible joy.

22) O son of Kunti, all pleasures that arise from the contact of the
senses with their objects are the sole cause of distress, and they
are subject to creation and destruction they are all temporary. A
judicious person is never fond of such pleasures.

23) Know that one who, as long as he lives in this body, is able, by
means of the yoga path of selfless action, to check the urges of
desire and anger at the root such a person is actually situated in
union with the Supreme, and he knows true happiness.

24) Such a follower of the yoga path of selfless action, who enjoys
internal bliss, whose mind is constantly absorbed within, and who
experiences self-realization attaining perception of his pure
identity, he gains entry into the plane of the Absolute.

25) Sinless, free from doubt of controlled mind, and always
engaged in activities for the welfare of all living beings, the seers
of truth attain such liberation.

26) Those persons of renounced order who are free from desire
and anger, and who have achieved knowledge of the original
nature of the soul, unconditionally attain liberation in either life
or death. Such liberation occurs when one's mentally-incited
subtle body expires.

27-28) Expelling from the mind all external sense objects of sound,
touch, form, taste, and smell, locking the eyesight at the point
midway between the eyebrows, and practicing the discipline of
equilibrium by suspending inhalation and exhalation, subjugating
the senses, mind, and intelligence, one dedicates himself to
liberation. Having overcome desire, fear, and anger, such a
contemplative seeker of the soul is always liberated, even before
the death of the body.

29) I am the enjoyer of the results of sacrifice performed by the
fruit-hunter, as well as the results of austerity performed by the
liberation-seeker I am their only worshipable object; I am
Narayana, the indwelling monitor of all planes of life, and the
Supreme Worshipable Personality who awards liberation. And I
am the well-wisher of all I am Krsna, the devotees' most adorable
friend. The soul who thus knows My true identity attains the
ecstasy of knowing his own original divine identity.

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