Path of Renunciation

Arjuna said, "O Krishna, you praise renunciation of actions and also yoga. Please tell me conclusively which is better of the two."

Thou teachest renunciation of actions and also their performance. This has confused me. Tell decisively now which is better. It is not possible for a man to resort to both of them at the same time. Yoga here means Karma…

The Blessed Lord said, "Renunciation and the Yoga of action both lead to the highest bliss; but of the two, the Yoga of action is superior to the renunciation of action."

Sannyasa (renunciation of action) and Karma Yoga (performance of action) both lead to Moksha or liberation or the highest bliss. Though both lead to Moksha, yet of the two means of attaining to Moksha, Karma Yoga is…

He should be known as a perpetual Sannyasi who neither hates nor desires; for, free from the pairs of opposites, O mighty-armed Arjuna, he is easily freed from bondage.

A man does not become a Sannyasi by merely giving up actions because of laziness or ignorance or some family quarrel or calamity or unemployment. A true Sannyasi is not a hypocritical coward.The Karma Yogi who neither…

Children, not the wise, speak of knowledge and the Yoga of action, or the performance of action, as though they are distinct and different; he who is truly established in one, obtains the fruits of both.

Children the ignorant people who have no knowledge of the Self, and who have only a theoretical knowledge of the scriptures.Children or ignorant people only say that knowledge and the performance of action are different…

That place which is reached by the Sankhyas or the Jnanis is also reached by the Yogis (Karma Yogis). He who sees knowledge and the performance of action (Karma Yoga) as one, sees truly.

Those who have renounced the world and are treading the path of Jnana Yoga or Vedanta are the Sankhyas. Through Sravana (hearing of the Srutis or Vedantic texts), Manana (reflection on what is heard) and Nididhyasana…

But, O mighty-armed Arjuna, renunciation is hard to attain without Yoga; the sage who is in harmony with Yoga quickly goes to Brahman.

Muni is one who does Manana (meditation or reflection). Yoga is performance of action without selfish motive as an offering unto the Lord.Brahman here signifies renunciation or Sannyasa because renunciation consists in…

He who is devoted to the path of action, whose mind is pure, who has conquered the self, who has subdued his senses, and who realizes his Self as the Self in all beings, though acting, is not tainted.

He who is harmonised by Yoga, i.e., he who has purified his mind by devotion to the performance of action, who has conered the body and who has subjugated the senses, whose Self is the Self of all beings, he will not be…

I do nothing at all," thus would the harmonized knower of Truth think, seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, going, sleeping, and breathing.

A person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is pure in his existence, and consequently he has nothing to do with any work which depends upon five immediate and remote causes: the doer, the work, the situation, the endeavor and…

Speaking, letting go, seizing, opening, and closing the eyes, one should be convinced that the senses move among the sense-objects.

The liberated sage or a Jnani always remains as a witness of the activities of the senses as he identifies himself with the Self or Brahman. He thinks and says, I do not see the eyes perceive. I do not hear the ears…

He who does actions, offering them to Brahman and abandoning attachment, is not tainted by sin, just as a lotus leaf is not tainted by water.

Chapter IV verses 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 37, 41 Chapter V verses 10, 11 and 12 all convey the one idea that the Yogi who does actions without egoism and attachment to results or fruits of the actions, which he regards as…

Yogis, having abandoned attachment, perform actions only through the body, mind, intellect, and even the senses, for the purification of the self.

Yogis here means Karma Yogis who are devoted to the path of action, who are free from egoism and selfishness, who work for the purification of their hearts without the least attachment to the fruits or results of their…

The one who is united (the well-poised or harmonized) having abandoned the fruit of action attains eternal peace; whereas the one who is not united (the unsteady or unbalanced), impelled by desire and attached to the fruit, is bound.

Santim naishthikim is interpreted as peace born of devotion of steadfastness. The harmonious man who does actions for the sake of the Lord without expectation of the fruit and who says, I do actions for my Lord only, not…

Mentally renouncing all actions and being self-controlled, the embodied one happily rests in the nine-gated city, neither acting nor causing others (body and senses) to act.

All actions -- (1) Nitya Karmas These are obligatory duties. Their performance does not produce any merit but their nonperformance produces demerit. Sandhyavandana, etc., belong to this category.(2) Naimittika Karmas…

Neither does the Lord create agency nor actions for the world, nor union with the fruits of actions; rather, it is Nature that acts.

The Lord does not create agency or doership. He does not press anyone to do actions. He never tells anyone, Do this or do that. He does not bring about the union with the fruit of actions. It is Prakritit or Nature that…

The Lord takes neither the demerit nor the merit of any; knowledge is enveloped by ignorance, and beings are deluded.

Knowledge is enveloped by ignorance. Conseently man is deluded. He thinks, I act. I enjoy. I have done such and such a meritourious act. I will get such and such a fruit. I will enjoy in heaven. I will get a birth in a…

But to those whose ignorance is destroyed by knowledge of the Self, like the sun, knowledge reveals the Supreme Brahman.

When ignorance, the root cause of human sufferings, is annihilated by the knowledge of the Self, this knowledge illuminates the Supreme Brahman or that highest immortal Being, just as the sun illumines all the objects of…

Their intellect absorbed in That, their self being That, established in That, with That as their supreme goal, they go whence there is no return, their sins dispelled by knowledge.

They fix their intellects on Brahman or the Supreme Self. They feel and realise that Brahman is their self. By constant and protracted meditation, they get established in Brahman. The whole world of names and forms…

Sages look with an equal eye on a Brahmana endowed with learning and humility, on a cow, an elephant, a dog, and even an outcaste.

The liberated sage or Jivanmukta or a Brahmana has eal vision as he beholds the Self only everywhere. This magnificent vision of a Jnani is beyond description. Atman or Brahman is not at all affected by the Upadhis or…

Even here in this world, those whose minds rest in reality overcome birth; Brahman is indeed spotless and real; therefore they are established in Brahman.

When the mind gets rooted in equanimity or evenness or equality, when it is always in a balanced state, one coners birth and death. Bondage is annihilated and freedom is attained by him. When the mind is in a perfectly…

Resting in Brahman, with a steady intellect and undeluded, the knower of Brahman neither rejoices upon obtaining what is pleasant nor grieves upon obtaining what is unpleasant.

This is the state of a Jivanmukta or a liberated sage or a Brahmana who identifies himself with the Self or Atman. He always has a balanced mind. He is never deluded. He has abandoned all actions as he rests in Brahman.…

With the self unattached to external contacts, he finds happiness in the Self; with the self engaged in the meditation of Brahman, he attains endless happiness.

When the mind is not attached to external objects of the senses, when one is deeply engaged in the contemplation of Brahman, he finds undecaying bliss in the Self within. If you want to enjoy the imperishable happiness…

The enjoyments that arise from contact are only sources of pain, for they have a beginning and an end, O Arjuna; the wise do not rejoice in them.

Man goes in quest of joy and searches in the external perishable objects for his happiness. He fails to get it but instead he carries a load of sorrow on his head.You should withdraw the senses from the senseobjects as…

He who is able, while still here in this world, to withstand the impulse born out of desire and anger before the liberation from the body, he is a Yogi, and he is a happy man.

Yukta means harmonised or steadfast in Yoga or selfabiding.Desire and anger are powerful enemies of peace. It is very difficult to annihilate them. You will have to make very strong efforts to destroy these enemies.When…

He who is happy within, who rejoices within, and who is illuminated within, that Yogi attains absolute freedom, or Moksha, becoming Brahman himself.

Within meansin the Self. He attains Brahmanirvanam or liberation while living. He becomes a Jivanmukta.

The sages obtain absolute freedom or Moksha when their sins have been destroyed, their dualities have been torn asunder, they are self-controlled, and they are intent on the welfare of all beings.

Sins are destroyed by the performance of Agnihotra (a daily obligatoyr ritual) and other Yajnas (vide notes on verse III. 13) without expectation of their fruits and by other selfless services. The duties vanish by…

Absolute freedom exists on all sides for those self-controlled ascetics who are free from desire and anger, who have controlled their thoughts, and who have realized the Self.

Those who renounce all actions and practise Sravana (hearing of the scriptures), Manana (reflection) and Nididhyasana (meditation), who are established in Brahman or who are steadily devoted to the knowledge of the Self…

Shutting out all external contacts and fixing the gaze between the eyebrows, realizing the outgoing and incoming breaths moving within the nostrils.

The verses 27 and 28 deal with the Yoga of meditation (Dhyana). External objects or contacts are the sound and the other senseobjects. If the mind does not think of the external objects they are shut out from the mind.…

With the senses, mind, and intellect ever controlled, having liberation as their supreme goal, free from desire, fear, and anger, the sage is truly liberated forever.

If one is free from desire, fear and anger he enjoys perfect peace of mind. When the senses, the mind and the intellect are subjugated, the sage does constant contemplation and,attains for ever to the absolute freedom or…

He who knows Me as the enjoyer of sacrifices and austerities, the great Lord of all the worlds, and the friend of all beings, attains peace.

I am the Lord of all sacrifices and austerities. I am their author, goal and their God. I am the friend of all beings, the doer of good to them without expecting any return for it. I am the dispenser of the fruits of all…