Chapter 5

Arjuna said: Krishna, sometimes you praise giving up action altogether, and other times you praise action performed in a spirit of service. Tell me plainly: which of these two is better?

Krishna replied: Both renouncing works and doing works in holiness lead to the highest bliss; but of the two, the better path belongs to the one who acts piously rather than refraining from action.

The true Renouncer is the person, steady and unshaken, who neither chases after things nor pushes them away, and who stands unaffected by the pairs of opposites. Such a person, even while acting, is easily released from the bondage of deeds. Only beginners speak of Sankhya and Yoga as if they were two different things; the wise know that whoever truly follows one reaps the fruits of both. The high place of rest that the followers of Sankhya reach is the same place the Yogins attain. Whoever sees these two as one sees clearly. Yet such detachment, prince, is hard to win without deep holiness. The person fixed in holiness, self-controlled, pure-hearted, master of senses and of self, who is absorbed in the common life of all that lives—such a one, a “Yogayukt,” is a saint who goes directly to Brahma. He is not stained by his deeds.

“I myself do nothing”—this is what such a person thinks, holding the deepest truth, whether seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, walking, breathing, sleeping, speaking, grasping, releasing, opening or closing the eyes. He is always certain: “It is simply the sense-world interacting with the senses.” Whoever acts with his mind fixed on Brahma, detaching the result from the act and content with the act itself, cannot be stained by the world of sense any more than water stains the polished lotus leaf. With life, heart, mind, and even all five senses—letting go of selfhood—Yogins labor always toward the release of their souls. Such devoted ones, renouncing the fruits of their deeds, gain endless peace; while those who have taken no such vow, who are bound by passion and seek a reward from their works, are tied down.

The embodied sage, withdrawn into his soul, sits godlike with every act in “the city of nine gates,” neither doing anything nor causing anything to be done. The Lord of this world creates neither the work, nor the passion behind it, nor the craving for its fruit—it is the person’s own self that drives toward these. The Master of the World takes upon himself the good or evil deeds of no one—he dwells far beyond. Humans go astray here through folly, which darkens knowledge. But for the one in whom that darkness of soul is driven out by light, the truth shines forth bright and clear, as though a sun of wisdom had risen to spread its dawn. Meditating on Him, seeking Him, blended with Him, resting in Him, illumined souls take that road from which there is no turning back, their sins cast off by the strength of their faith. Whoever wishes may have this Light; whoever has it, sees.

To the one who sees with wisdom, the learned Brahman with his scrolls and sacred rites, the cow, the elephant, the filthy dog, and the outcast eating dog’s meat—are all one and the same.

The world is overcome, even here in this life, by those who fix their faith on Unity. The sinless Brahma dwells in Unity, and they dwell in Brahma. Do not be overly glad in joy, nor overly sad in grief, but resting in Brahma, remain constant. The sage whose soul holds back from outer contacts finds bliss within himself; joined to Brahma through piety, his spirit tastes eternal peace. The joys that spring from sense-life are only wombs that breed certain sorrows: these joys begin and end. The wise mind, son of Kunti, takes no pleasure in them. But if a person, even while alive and wearing the body’s chains, can learn to master lust and anger, he is blessed. He is the Yukta; he has happiness, contentment, and light within; his life is merged in the life of Brahma; he touches Nirvana.

This is how the Rishis go to their rest—those who live with sins erased, with doubts ended, with hearts governed and calm. Glad in all that is good, they live near the peace of God; and so too live all who spend their days free from greed and anger, mastering self and senses, knowing the Soul.

The saint who shuts out from his calm soul all touch of sense, letting no contact pass through; whose quiet eyes gaze straight ahead from fixed brows; whose outward and inward breath are drawn equal and slow through still, closed nostrils; that one—with senses, heart, and mind held in check, intent on liberation, having put away passion and fear and rage—has already, even now, obtained liberation, freed forever. For he knows Me: the One who attends to sacrifice and worship, God revealed; and the One who is beyond all heeding, Lord of Worlds, Lover of all that lives, God unrevealed, in Whom whoever wishes will find safety and refuge.

Here ends Chapter V of the Bhagavad-Gita, titled “Karmasanyasayog,” or “The Book of Religion by Renouncing the Fruit of Works.”