Verse 1
Arjuna said: You advocate for renunciation of action, yet you also praise Karma yoga. Please tell me conclusively, which of the two is more beneficial for me?
BG 5.1 - 29
Verse 2
Krishna said: Renunciation of actions and righteous action both lead to salvation. However, of the two, right actions are superior to renounced actions.
Verse 3
One who is free from hatred and from all dualities is a person of renunciation, and is certainly freed from bondage.
Verse 4
The ignorant proclaim the path of renunciation to be different from that of righteous action. The learned know that one who has become situated in even one of the two, achieves the result of both.
Verse 5
That which is attained through spiritual wisdom is also attained by working with devotion. The wise see them both as the same.
Verse 6
However, without right action, it is difficult to attain renunciation. The sage who is a master of righteous action quickly attains divine consciousness.
Verse 7
One who unites with righteous action, acting with a pure intellect and control of the mind and senses seeing the same soul in all living beings, is capable of acting while remaining detached.
Verse 8
Though the saint sees, hears, touches, smells, eats, moves, sleeps, and breathes, they know the truth and know that they are not the one who acts.
Verse 9
Though they talk, give, receive, open their eyes, and shut them, they know the senses are merely operating on the objects of perception.
Verse 10
One who dedicates all action to Brahman, and abandons all attachment, is untouched by sin like a lotus leaf above water.
Verse 11
The sage renounces attachment and uses the body, mind, intellect, and senses as a means of purification.
Verse 12
One who abandons the fruit of action attains everlasting peace. Those who remain attached to the fruit of their actions, driven by desire for the outcome, remain in bondage to attachment.
Verse 13
One who mentally renounces all action enjoys happiness and self-control of the body, neither doing anything nor causing anything to be done.
Verse 14
God does not ordain activity, create incentives, or define the relation between cause and effect - this is all enacted by nature.
Verse 15
God does not accept anyone's virtuous deed nor their sins. Knowledge remains covered by ignorance, and keeps living beings submerged in delusion.
Verse 16
But those for whom knowledge of the self has destroyed this ignorance, their wisdom shines like the sun.
Verse 17
Those whose intellects pursue it, whose minds think about it, who undergo discipline for it, and who hold it as their highest object, have their impurities cleansed by knowledge and reach a state from which there is no return.
Verse 18
The sage looks upon all with equanimity - a humble and wise priest, a cow, an elephant, a dog, or even an outcaste.
Verse 19
Even in this world, those whose minds remain equanimous and established in Brahman conquer the cycle of rebirth.
Verse 20
One who knows and lives in that highest reality remains unmoved and unperturbed, neither elated by pleasure nor depressed by pain.
Verse 21
One who finds happiness within their own self, whose mind is detached from external contact and remains engaged in the contemplation on Brahman, enjoys everlasting bliss.
Verse 22
The enjoyments of the material world only bring pain, for they have a beginning and an end. The wise do not rejoice in them.
Verse 23
One who learns to overcome the impulses of desire and anger, before being released from the body, is a saintly and happy person.
Verse 24
One whose happiness is within, whose pleasure is within, and whose inner light shines, attains eternal bliss and becomes one with the spirit of Brahman.
Verse 25
The sages, whose sins have been washed away, whose minds are subdued, and who only seek the welfare of all beings, become one with the eternal spirit of Brahman.
Verse 26
Those who are free from desire and anger, who truly know themselves and can control their minds, find eternal bliss to be everywhere.
Verse 27 - 28
Depriving the mind of external contact and fixing the attention between the eyebrows, realizing the inward and outward breaths passing through the nostrils,
that sage who has controlled the senses, mind, and intellect, and is free from desire, fear, and anger, attains eternal liberation.
Verse 29
One who knows me as the enjoyer of all sacrifices and austerities, as the mighty ruler of all the worlds, and friend to all beings, attains eternal peace.
Next chapter
6. Meditation
Dhyān Yog