अथ पञ्चमोऽध्यायः🔗

अर्जुन उवाच ।

arjuna uvāca

5.1 Arjuna says: Oh Kṛṣṇa, you asked me to renounce work first and then you asked me to work with devotion. Will you now please tell me, definetely, which of the two will be more beneficial to me?

श्री भगवानुवाच ।

śrībhagavānuvāca

5.2 Bhagavān says: The renunciation of work [sannyāsa] and work in devotion [karmayoga] are both good for liberation. But, of the two, work in devotional service is better than re-nunciation of work.

5.3 He who neither hates nor desires the fruits of his activities has renounced. Such a person, free from all dualities, easily overcomes material bondage and is completely liberated, Oh Arjuna!

5.4 Only the ignorant, not the wise, speaks of the path of action [karma-yoga] to be different from the path of renuncia-tion [sāṅkhya yoga]. Those who are actually learned say that one who is firmly established in either of the paths, achieves the fruit of both.

5.5 He who knows, knows that the state reached by renuncia-tion [sāṅkhya] and action [karma] are one and the same. State reached by renunciation can also be achieved by action, know them to be at same level and see them as they are.

5.6 Renunciation without devotional service afflicts one with misery, Oh mighty-armed one. The wise person engaged in devotional service attains the Supreme without delay.

sarva-bhūtātma-bhūtātmā kurvannapi na lipyate // 5.7

5.7 The person engaged in devoted service, beyond concepts pure and impure, self-controlled and who has conquered the senses is compassionate and loves everyone, although engaged in work, he is never entangled.

naiva kiñcitkaromīti yukto manyeta tattvavit / paśyan śṛṇvan spṛśañ jighrann aśnan gacchan svapañ śvasan // 5.8

pralapan visṛjan gṛhṇann unmisan nīmisannapi / indriyāṇīndriyārtheṣu vartanta iti dhārayan // 5.9

5.8, 9 One who knows the truth, though engaged in seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, going, dreaming, and breath-ing, always knows within himself that—'I never do anything at all.' While talking, letting go, receiving, opening, closing, he considers that the senses are engaged with their sense objects.

brahmaṇy ādhāya karmāṇi saṅgaṁ tyaktvā karoti yaḥ / lipyate na sa pāpena padma-patram ivāmbhasā // 5.10

5.10 He, who acts without attachment, giving up and surrender-ing to the eternal consciousness, He is never affected by sin, in the same way that the lotus leaf is not affected by water.

kāyena manasā buddhyā kevalairindriyairapi / yoginaḥ karma kurvanti saṅgaṁ tyaktvātmaśuddhaye // 5.11

5.11 The yogis, giving up attachment, act with the body, mind, intelligence, even with the senses for the purpose of self-purification.

5.12 One who is engaged in devotion, gives up attachment to outcome of one's actions and is centered, is at peace. One who is not engaged in devotion, attached to the outcome of one's action becomes entangled.

5.13 One who is controlled, giving up all the activities of the mind, surely remains in happiness in the city of nine gates (body), neither doing anything nor causing anything to be done.

5.14 The master does not create activities nor makes people do nor connects with the outcome of the actions. All this is enacted by the material nature.

5.15 The Lord, surely, neither accepts anyone's sins nor good deeds. Living beings are confused by the ignorance that covers the knowledge.

5.16 Whose ignorance is destroyed by the knowledge, their knowledge, like the rising sun, throws light on the supreme consciousness.

5.17 One whose intelligence, mind, faith are in the Supreme and one who has surrendered to the Supreme, his misunder-standings are cleansed through knowledge and he goes towards liberation.

5.18 One who is full of knowledge and compassion sees equally the learned brāhmaṇa, the cow, the elephant, the dog and the dog-eater.

5.19 In this life, surely, those whose minds are situated in equanimity have conquered birth and death. They are flawless like the Supreme and therefore, are situated in the Supreme.’

na prahṛṣyetpriyaṁ prāpya nodvijet prāpya cāpriyam l sthirabuddhir asaṁmūḍho brahmavid brahmaṇi sthitaḥ ll 5.20

5.20 One who does not rejoice at achieving something he likes nor gets agitated on getting something he does not like, who is of steady intelligence, who is not deluded, one who knows the Supreme, is situated in the Supreme.

bāhyasparśeṣvasaktātmā vindatyātmani yatsukham l sa brahma-yoga-yuktātmā sukhamakṣayamaśnute ll 5.21

5.21 One who is not attached to the outer world sense pleasures, who enjoys in the Self, in that happiness, he, having identified with his Self by engaging in the Supreme [brahma-yoga], enjoys unlimited happiness.

ye hi saṁsparśajā bhogā duḥkhayonaya eva te l ādyantavantaḥ kaunteya na teṣu ramate budhaḥ ll 5.22

5.22 The intelligent person surely does not enjoy the sense pleasures, enjoyments which are sources of misery and which are subject to beginning and end.

śaknotīhaiva yaḥ soḍhuṁ prākśarīravimokṣaṇāt l kāma-krodhodbhavaṁ vegaṁ sa yuktaḥ sa sukhī naraḥ ll 5.23

5.23 Before leaving this present body, if one is able to tolerate the urges of material senses and check the force of desire and anger, he is well situated and he is happy in this world.

5.24 One who is happy from within, active within as well as illumined within, surely, is a Yogi and he is liberated in the Supreme [brahma-nirvāṇa], is Self-realized and attains the Supreme.

5.25 Those, whose sins have been destroyed, who have dispelled the dualities arising from doubts, whose minds are engaged within, and who are working for the welfare of other beings, attain the eternal liberation in the Supreme [brahma-nirvāṇa].

5.26 They who are free from lust and anger, who have subdued the mind and senses, and who have known the Self, easily attain liberation [brahma-nirvāṇa].

5.27,28 Shutting out all external sense objects, keeping the eyes and vision concentrated between the two eyebrows, suspending the inward and outward breaths within the nostrils and thus controlling the mind, senses and intelligence, the transcendental who is aiming at liberation, becomes free from desire, fear and the by-product of desire and fear, anger all three. One who is always in this state is certainly liberated.

5.29 One who knowing Me as the purpose of sacrifice and penance, as the lord of all the worlds and the benefactor of all the living beings, achieves peace.

In the Upaniṣad of Śrimad Bhagavad Gītā, the scripture of yoga dealing with Brahmavidyā Yogaśāstra, the science of Brahman, in the form of Śrī Kṛṣṇārjuna saṁvād, dialogue between Śrī Kṛṣṇa-Arjuna, this is fifth chapter named, Sannyāsa Yogaḥ, ‘The Yoga of Renunciation.’

In this chapter, Sannyāsa Yogaḥ, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Master of all possibilities, enriches us on how to break away from our bondag-es and become multi-dimensional to realize and express our peak possibilities.

Constantly turning many impossibilities into possibilities by playing that within human laws, rules and regulations is the job of an Incarnation. Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa, who is the possibility of all Incarnations, teaches us how to reach our true state. This is what the word Samādhi means–to go back to our true nature.

Kṛṣṇa constantly turns what Arjuna thinks as ‘impossible’ into ‘possible’ by making His peak possibilities to express through Arjuna within the laws of human realm, within the Kurukṣetra warfield. Kṛṣṇa Himself does not use a single weapon throughout the Mahābhārat war, but becomes the cause for Arjuna to live and express his own peak possibilities. It is through the multi-dimensional space awakened by Śrī Kṛṣṇa in the Pāṇḍavas, that they stand victorious.

Throughout the Gītā, Kṛṣṇa talks about yoga. Each chapter refers to one type of yoga or another. Yoga is the same as samādhi. Yoga means ‘uniting’. It means uniting with our true nature. When we unite with our true Self, we become multi-dimensional, we become the space of possibilities. We can be material and spiritual. There are no constraints and no limitations. We are free.

After all the explanations given by Kṛṣṇa, Arjuna continues to ask, ‘Oh Kṛṣṇa, first you asked me to renounce work and then you recommend work with devotion. Now, will you tell me certainly, which one of the two is more beneficial?–yac chreya etayor ekaṁ tanme brūhi su-niścitam (5.1).’

We will never get an answer or solve a problem if we start thinking what would be more beneficial.

Here, Arjuna asks: ‘Kṛṣṇa! Which of the two: karma, action or Sannyāsa, renunciation is more beneficial? Keeping track of accounts is good in business but not in life. The mind is in dilemma! Our mind will be alive as long as we are caught between any two extremes. The moment we come to any single conclusion, we will be liberated.

Listen! Life has no separate benefit. Life itself is a benefit. When you stop calculating for getting benefits, you will start tasting the fruit of life. Listen! Enriching is enjoying and sharing the fruit of life!

Kṛṣṇa uses at least 100 verses to explain this one concept of Karma-Sannyāsa yoga, the paths of responsibility and renunciation. He does this without losing His patience. He is embodiment of compassion. He comes down to the plane of Arjuna and gradually transforms him.

The question concerning Karma and Sannyāsa—responsibility and renunciation—has been asked from time immemorial, and each time it has been answered. Yet this question remains.

Karma and Sannyāsa. Karma is normally out of greed and desires. Sannyāsa is always invariably out of fear, bhaya. When you are not ready to take the risk, you renounce everything. The fear of getting hurt is the first reason for Sannyāsa. Sannyāsa is a way of escapism, turning away from the responsibilities that life presents. In the name of renunciation, one covers the deep fears. This is not true Sannyāsa. Then we have people running after material wealth in the name of karma. Both categories of people are not going to achieve eternal bliss or consciousnes.

In the entire world, only three types of human beings exist: One is surrendered to greed, one is surrendered to fear, and one who is surrendered to the Supreme intelligence, Divine Consciousness. Here, Kṛṣṇa explains that we are caught between fear and greed. Either we constantly surrender ourselves to fear or to greed. Very rare individuals surrender to intelligence, to Divine Consciousness.

People ask me, ‘Why should I surrender to the Divine? If I surrender, what will I get?’ Listen. If you don’t surrender to the Divine, you will be surrendering to your fear or greed. When it comes to life, profit and loss doesn't work. Life is beyond calculation.

Let your inner space be the space of completion. Listen! When you are in incompletion, you constantly feel powerless and anything you do comes out of powerlessness. Anything done out of incompletion, be it Karma Yoga or Sannyāsa yoga, leads you to more incompletion. Anything done out of completion, leads you to more completion.

All we need to know is this—it doesn't matter if we are a karma yogi or a sannyāsa yogi. It is the attitude, the space from which we live life that is most important.

I am defining Sannyāsa. Sannyāsa is you living in the space of completion and constantly enriching everyone to be in the space of completion.

Again, Kṛṣṇa is placing emphasis on the space of completion, on the being. If we don't know the root cause of our actions, why we are living with karma or why we pick up Sannyāsa, we will not be able to solve our problems. Our suffering is neither because of karma nor because of Sannyāsa. Suffering is because of our wrong attitude of incompletion. With the right space of completion, any path will feel like a true blessing for you and for others.

Kṛṣṇa says—sāṅkhya yogou pṛthagbālāḥ pravadanti na paṇḍitaḥ (5.4). Only the ignorant man says that karma yoga is different from sāṅkhya yoga, Sannyāsa. Here, the words karma and sannyāsa are equated to Karma Yoga and Sāṅkhya Yoga. If we complete with the pattern of greed in karma yoga and complete with the pattern of fear in Sannyāsa Yoga, we will drop into eternal consciousness. The whole idea is now reduced to a one-line message.

Let all our feelings, let all our mental thoughts, let all our physical deeds be directed towards gratitude to the Divine.

Understand, you have enough energy and strength to maintain yourself without fear and greed. All you need is trust that you don't need energy from fear or greed to run your life. When you come down to this planet, you have already brought enough fuel. You don’t need fuel from fear or greed.

Kṛṣṇa beautifully says—‘yaḥ paśyati sa paśyati’. The man who is beyond the pull of fear and greed is the only one who can see things as they are. If you are caught in fear or greed, you will see things only as you want, never as they are.

Decide, you will not fuel yourself with fear and greed. Remove the tremendous stress from your inner space. You will suddenly feel a new energy coming up from your being—pure enthusiasm and causeless auspicious energy. Causeless auspicious energy is what we call Śiva.

You see, renunciation, Sannyāsa is going beyond desires, including ‘desirelessness.’ ‘Seeing this Reality as It exists’ is what Kṛṣṇa beautifully calls—yaḥ paśyati sa paśyati. The real, the present, can never be perceived by the mind because it is beyond logic.

In the Mahābhārat, Kṛṣṇa drives Arjuna’s chariot. The horses repre-sent the senses held beautifully in control by the Divine charioteer. He drives the being represented by the warrior, in the body represented by the chariot towards victory, towards bliss. When the individual consciousness surrenders control to the Divine, the Divine controls the body-mind-spirit and steers one towards one’s true nature, bliss.

These verses of Kṛṣṇa are very powerful, but often misinterpreted.

‘One who knows the truth, though engaged in seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, dreaming, breathing knows that he never does anything (5.8-9).’ Not being ‘the doer’ does not mean we give up responsi-bility for our actions. No! When we are so involved in the action, we are overflowing, and we just do out of the blissful energy in us.

Listen. When we are complete in what we do, our whole intelligence, energy will be behind the act; we become the action. Existence is energy. It can never repeat itself. Every moment is unique. Have the courage to live life with intelligence, with consciousness and completion. When the energy behind the action is total, whatever we do will always radiate the blissful energy that is behind the action.

Again, Kṛṣṇa talks about detachment. This is the whole essence of the Gītā. This detachment is renunciation. Renunciation of attach-ment is true renunciation. You can give up all material possessions and move into a forest or an ashram, but if the mind still hankers for possessions, renunciation has not happened. And, one can still be in the material world, busy with wheeling and dealing, and yet be totally detached from the outcome.

Kṛṣṇa says here, ‘saṅgaṁ tyaktvā karoti yaḥ (5.10)—Action without attachment is renunciation.’ Only this renunciation leads to liberation.

The basic truth behind creating the space of completion is really this: Existence is a loving Mother caring and providing for us every moment. When this understanding happens, we surrender to Existence. The wave drops into the ocean, blissfully aware that it is a part of the ocean. It no longer feels it is a separate entity trying to fight Existence, thinking that the ocean, the Whole, is its enemy.

Listen. To whom or to what we surrender is not important. What is important is the surrender itself. Having the wisdom or buddhi to un-derstand that Existence cares for us, and surrendering to Existence is the ultimate intelligence. Realizing that Existence is not just a brute force or power, it is intelligent energy, is the key to a life of bliss.

Kṛṣṇa is repeating a single point: action without attachment—saṅgaṁ tyaktvā karoti yaḥ (5.10). He emphasizes that life happens only when we live as a witness to everything, when we do not identify and attach with external incidents. The moment we catch this thread and start living life in the space of completion, our incompletions simply disappear.

Here, Kṛṣṇa gives us a technique to realize who we are. By giving up attachment to the sense objects, by dropping all false identifications with the body, senses and mind, we can live life with intelligence and this leads us to self-purification, self-completion.

Kṛṣṇa tells us that our job is only to do the work, not to be concerned about the results. He beautifully says, 'brahmaṇy ādhāya karmāṇi (5.10)— do the work surrendering to the eternal consciousness.' We need to keep doing things because we have so much loving energy inside us. Then, we don't even know to expect results because we are continuously expressing our blissful inner energy, that's all.

Just live life in a simple way. Be complete every moment, enjoying every thing that Existence has created. Start witnessing simple yet won-derful things like the sunrise in the morning; chirping of the birds. Look deeply into a flower and you will find God. Just these few moments will show us a whole new dimension of our Being. They will show us what it is to enjoy life without a reason, without running behind or away from something. They will teach us how to relax into the welcoming, embrac-ing arms of Existence.

In these verses, Kṛṣṇa refers to the body, which has nine gates to the external world: the two eyes, two nostrils, two ears, mouth and the two organs of evacuation.

Here, Kṛṣṇa does not refer to not doing anything out of laziness and indulgence. We are in the midst of intense activity and yet are not doing anything. The mind separates the doer from the action. It is the mind that defines 'who the doer is' and 'what the action is'.

Kṛṣṇa is talking of being so completely involved in something that we become the very action itself. First, we become the witness to the action, only then we can be completely involved in it. It is not the action that gives us the joy, but the experience of bliss within us through the action, that actually gives us happiness.

Kṛṣṇa gives a deep understanding. He says, 'I do not create activities or make people do or connect with the fruits of the actions. All this is done by the material nature of humans (5.14).'

Kṛṣṇa is talking about the creation of the Universe itself here, not just about individuals. Nothing in this Universe can be created or destroyed. When I say, nothing, I mean nothing. Everything that exists has always existed in some form or the other. It will continue to exist in some form or the other.

The game of life is all about man trying to realize the Divine in him and the Divine trying to express itself through man.

Kṛṣṇa gives us another technique to liberate ourselves. He says surrender leads to liberation, and happens when one's intelligence is focused on Him. When we cognize that there is a life force that is conduct-ing this Universe and is taking care of us, we relax. When we relax, we can live at our peak potential. We experience liberation. This is surrender. This is true knowledge too. This is the knowledge that cannot be taught or picked up. The Master can simply transmit it when our being is ready to receive it.

Kṛṣṇa explains the neutrality and equanimity of Existence. Existence has no favorites. All comparative definitions are manmade. Kṛṣṇa says there is no difference between a human and an animal, between saints and sinners. Even more dramatically, He says that one in full knowl-edge sees the dog and the dog-eater as the same—śuni caiva śva-pāke ca paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ (5.18).

When we go beyond all three, the subject, object and verb, all dis-appear. The eater and the eaten merge. We reach the source. There are no thought, no mind. That is the true you, the Supreme. Existence continuously showers bliss on us. Existence sees everyone as part of the same Existence.

External appearances are ephemeral. Every atom on Earth is Divine. When we realize this very life is a divine gift to us, our attitude changes from taking life for granted to one of gratitude to Existence for everything! The Divine is far wiser and knows what we really need. Just try living with gratitude, with love for everything, with a deep completion. Automatically, you will experience every person and every happening as a unique creation of Existence, as a reflection of the Divine.

Kṛṣṇa says, when you look every single thing without differentiation, without fear or favoritism, without attachment, then you are a true renunciate, a true Sannyāsi.

Kṛṣṇa explains the characteristics of the Supreme. He says that one who is of steady intelligence, sthira buddhir asammūḍho; one who does not get caught in the play of opposing emotions like pleasure and pain, happiness and misery, is truly not deluded and is established in the truth, in the Supreme, brahma-vid brahmaṇi sthitaḥ (5.20). He is Supreme himself.

This is actually a sūtra, a technique that Kṛṣṇa gives. If we put our attention neither on pleasure nor on pain, but between the two, we actually go beyond both. Instead of trying to hold onto pleasure or run-ning away from pain, just be with it, just witness it. Using this technique, we can transcend this nature of the mind.

Listen. Karma is nothing but unfulfilled desire that makes us repeat the same experience again and again, simply because we do not have the intelligence to enter into that experience with complete awareness.

Once we experience the situation with awareness and complete with it, we will not be the doer, the deed or the doing. We will transcend all three; we will transcend karma. We will be Supreme.

Kṛṣṇa tells us to turn inwards. Move away from your senses, move into your Source, He says. When we are situated in the core of our being, we are not shaken by the emotions at the periphery. The happiness arises from our very being. It is eternal bliss because it cannot be stopped by any external agent, thus says Kṛṣṇa—sukham akṣayam aśnute (5.21).

Kṛṣṇa says that sensory pleasures are bound to end; they do not last. We always attach our happiness to something external to us. If these things are taken away from us, we are left with sadness. The event and the person do not cause happiness and sorrow. It is caused by our sensory perception and by the judgment based on this perception.

Here is a beautiful sūtra, a technique from Kṛṣṇa to enter into the Supreme Consciousness: 'Just be happy, restful and complete from within', says Kṛṣṇa, 'yo'ntaḥ sukho antar-ārāmas tathāntar-jyotir eva yaḥ (5.24)'.

Just be happy from within. Let your smile be a deep expression of the love in your being. When you are in the space of completion with full enthusiasm, you are in a state of bliss. The self-realized one is complete, powerful, active and happy because he is completely in the present moment, living in Reality.

Kṛṣṇa says: When we are tuned fully inwards, we no longer have any attachment to what happens outside; we are one with the All, the Existence, and we have transcended all karma. We are then in brahma nirvāṇa—the ultimate liberation, one with Existence.

When we feel genuine love for others, we feel responsible for everyone, and we take up more responsibility. With responsibility, we harness the power of feeling. Responsibility can happen to you only after completion. I'll now tell you why you need to feel responsibility. Listen. Whatever happens in and around you—you are the Source! That is why you need to take responsibility.

Live this principle of responsibility. Then you will understand that all your decisions will be out of the experience—'I am the Source.' Only when we go beyond the incompletions of the mind, beyond duality, we see the absolute oneness and synchronicity of the entire Existence and we start Living Advaita.

Let you learn the science of how to connect yourself with the Divine energy, how to be driven by the Divine Consciousness. Let you live all your possibilities. Let you function through the Eternal Consciousness.

YOU ARE YOUR BEST FRIEND AND YOU ARE

YOUR WORST ENEMY. WHETHER YOU WISH TO

DEGRADE YOURSELF OR RAISE YOURSELF BY

YOURSELF IS IN YOUR HANDS. KṚṢṆA GIVES

THE TECHNIQUE TO UNITE WITH HIM IN

YOGA, THE SUPREME CONSCIOUSNESS BY

BECOMING A YOGI.

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