Karma Sanyasa Yoga

अर्जुन उवाच |

Arjuna said: O Krishna, you praise renunciation of actions and also yoga. Tell me definitively which of these two is better.

श्रीभगवानुवाच |

The Supreme Lord said: Both renunciation of action and yoga of action lead to liberation. But of these two, karma yoga is superior to renunciation of action.

ज्ञेयः स नित्यसन्न्यासी यो न द्वेष्टि न काङ्क्षति |

Know that one to be an ever-renouncer who neither hates nor desires. Free from dualities, O mighty-armed, such a person is easily liberated from bondage.

सांख्ययोगौ पृथग्बालाः प्रवदन्ति न पण्डिताः |

Only the childish say that Sankhya and yoga are different — not the learned. One who is perfectly established in even one of them obtains the fruits of both.

यत्सांख्यैः प्राप्यते स्थानं तद्योगैरपि गम्यते |

The state reached by the followers of Sankhya is also reached by the practitioners of yoga. One who sees Sankhya and yoga as one truly sees.

सन्न्यासस्तु महाबाहो दुःखमाप्तुमयोगतः |

But renunciation, O mighty-armed, is difficult to attain without yoga. The sage endowed with yoga quickly attains Brahman.

योगयुक्तो विशुद्धात्मा विजितात्मा जितेन्द्रियः |

The one endowed with yoga, pure of soul, self-controlled, with senses conquered, whose self has become the self of all beings — though acting, is not tainted.

नैव किञ्चित्करोमीति युक्तो मन्येत तत्त्ववित् |

The knower of truth, absorbed in divine consciousness, thinks 'I do nothing at all' — even while seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, moving, sleeping, breathing, speaking, releasing, holding, opening and closing the eyes — always knowing 'the senses are moving among sense objects.'

प्रलपन्विसृजन्गृह्णन्नुन्मिषन्निमिषन्नपि |

Speaking, releasing, accepting, opening and closing the eyes — one who knows the truth holds firmly that the senses are merely moving among sense objects, and that he himself does nothing at all.

ब्रह्मण्याधाय कर्माणि सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा करोति यः |

One who performs all actions by dedicating them to Brahman and abandoning attachment is not tainted by sin — just as a lotus leaf is not wetted by water.

कायेन मनसा बुद्ध्या केवलैरिन्द्रियैरपि |

The yogis, abandoning attachment, act with the body, mind, intelligence, and even the senses — solely for the purpose of self-purification.

युक्तः कर्मफलं त्यक्त्वा शान्तिमाप्नोति नैष्ठिकीम् |

The steadfast one, abandoning the fruits of action, attains the peace born of unwavering devotion. The unsteady one, driven by desire and attached to results, becomes bound.

सर्वकर्माणि मनसा संन्यस्यास्ते सुखं वशी |

The self-controlled embodied being, having mentally renounced all actions, dwells happily in the nine-gated city — neither acting nor causing others to act.

न कर्तृत्वं न कर्माणि लोकस्य सृजति प्रभुः |

The Lord of the body creates neither the sense of doership nor the actions of people, nor the union with the fruits of action — it is one's own nature that acts.

नादत्ते कस्यचित्पापं न चैव सुकृतं विभुः |

The all-pervading Lord accepts neither the sin nor the merit of anyone. Knowledge is covered by ignorance — and by that, all living beings are deluded.

ज्ञानेन तु तदज्ञानं येषां नाशितमात्मनः |

But for those whose ignorance of the Self is destroyed by knowledge, that knowledge illumines the Supreme — like the sun illumines everything at dawn.

तद्बुद्धयस्तदात्मानस्तन्निष्ठास्तत्परायणाः |

Those whose intellect is fixed in the Supreme, whose very self is absorbed in the Supreme, whose faith is rooted in the Supreme, who have taken refuge in the Supreme — their sins washed away by knowledge, they go to the state of no return.

विद्याविनयसम्पन्ने ब्राह्मणे गवि हस्तिनि |

The truly learned, with equal vision, see the same Self in a learned and humble brahmin, in a cow, in an elephant, in a dog, and in an outcast who eats dogs.

इहैव तैर्जितः सर्गो येषां साम्ये स्थितं मनः |

Even here in this life, creation is conquered by those whose mind is established in equanimity. Brahman is flawless and equal — therefore they are established in Brahman.

न प्रहृष्येत्प्रियं प्राप्य नोद्विजेत्प्राप्य चाप्रियम् |

One who neither rejoices upon receiving the pleasant nor grieves upon receiving the unpleasant — with steady intellect, undeluded, knowing Brahman — is established in Brahman.

बाह्यस्पर्शेष्वसक्तात्मा विन्दत्यात्मनि यत्सुखम् |

One who is unattached to external sense pleasures finds happiness within the Self. Such a person, with the self united in Brahman through yoga, attains imperishable happiness.

ये हि संस्पर्शजा भोगाः दुःखयोनय एव ते |

The enjoyments born of sense contacts are only sources of pain; they have a beginning and an end, O son of Kunti. The wise person does not rejoice in them.

शक्नोतीहैव यः सोढुं प्राक्शरीरविमोक्षणात् |

One who can withstand the force of desire and anger even here in this body, before leaving it — that person is a yogi, that person is happy.

योऽन्तःसुखोऽन्तरारामस्तथान्तर्ज्योतिरेव यः |

One who finds happiness within, joy within, and likewise light within — that yogi, having become Brahman, attains Brahman-nirvana.

लभन्ते ब्रह्मनिर्वाणमृषयः क्षीणकल्मषाः |

Brahman-nirvana is attained by the sages whose sins are destroyed, whose doubts are cut asunder, who are self-controlled, and who rejoice in the welfare of all beings.

कामक्रोधविमुक्तानां यतीनां यतचेतसाम् |

Brahman-nirvana is ever present on all sides for those who have renounced desire and anger, who have subdued their minds, and who are knowers of the Self.

स्पर्शान्कृत्वा बहिर्बाह्यांश्चक्षुश्चैवान्तरे भ्रुवोः |

Shutting out all external sense contacts, fixing the gaze between the eyebrows, equalizing the in-breath and out-breath moving within the nostrils — with senses, mind, and intellect restrained, the sage devoted to liberation, from whom desire, fear, and anger have departed — is ever freed.

यतेन्द्रियमनोबुद्धिर्मुनिर्मोक्षपरायणः |

The sage whose senses, mind, and intellect are controlled, who is devoted to liberation, from whom desire, fear, and anger have departed — that one is ever liberated.

भोक्तारं यज्ञतपसां सर्वलोकमहेश्वरम् |

Knowing Me as the enjoyer of all sacrifices and austerities, as the great Lord of all worlds, and as the friend of all beings — one attains peace.