Bhagavad Gita Chapter 5: Karma Sannyasa Yoga, Meaning in Simple Words

At the end of chapter 4 Krishna praised the renunciation of action and also told Arjuna to fight while established in yoga. Arjuna asks again which of the two is better. Chapter 5 shows that true renunciation is inner, not outer.

Verses 1 to 6: renunciation and karma yoga

Arjuna says: "Krishna, you praise renouncing action and then the yoga of action. Tell me for certain which one is better."

Krishna says: "Both renunciation and karma yoga lead to the highest good, but of the two karma yoga is better than renouncing action. Know one who neither hates nor desires to be a true renunciate; free of opposites, such a person is easily released from bondage. Only the childish, not the wise, say Sankhya and yoga give different results; one well established in either gains the fruit of both. The state reached by the Sankhyas is reached by the yogis too; whoever sees them as one sees truly. Renunciation is hard to attain without karma yoga, while the sage engaged in yoga reaches Brahman quickly."

Verses 7 to 12: like a lotus leaf

One who is joined in yoga, pure in mind, master of mind and senses, who sees their own self in all beings, is not tainted even while acting. The knower of truth thinks, "I do nothing at all", while seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, walking, sleeping, breathing, speaking, letting go, holding, opening and closing the eyes; the senses move among their objects.

Brahmany adhaya karmani sangam tyaktva karoti yah
lipyate na sa papena padma patram ivambhasa (5.10)

Meaning: One who acts offering all actions to God, giving up attachment, is not touched by sin, as a lotus leaf is not wetted by the water it rests in.

Yogis act with body, mind, intellect and senses only for self-purification, without attachment. One who gives up the fruit of action attains lasting peace; one driven by desire and attached to the fruit is bound.

Verses 13 to 17: the city of nine gates

The self-controlled embodied being, renouncing all actions in the mind, dwells happily in the city of nine gates, the body, neither acting nor causing action. The Lord does not create doership, action or the link between action and result; nature does that. The Lord takes on no one's sin or merit; knowledge is veiled by ignorance, and so beings are deluded. But for those whose ignorance is destroyed by knowledge of the self, that knowledge reveals the Supreme like the sun. Those whose intellect, mind and devotion rest in That, cleansed of sin by knowledge, are not born again.

Verses 18 to 21: equal vision

Vidya vinaya sampanne brahmane gavi hastini
shuni chaiva shvapake cha panditah sama darshinah (5.18)

Meaning: The wise see with an equal eye a learned and humble Brahmin, a cow, an elephant, a dog and an outcaste (for the same self is in all).

Those whose minds rest in evenness have conquered the world here and now, for Brahman is flawless and even. One who does not rejoice at the pleasant nor shrink from the unpleasant, steady and undeluded, abides in Brahman. Unattached to outer contacts, one finds the happiness within and, joined to Brahman, enjoys undying bliss.

Verses 22 to 26: pleasures are wombs of sorrow

Pleasures born of sense contact are sources of sorrow, for they have a beginning and an end; the wise do not delight in them (5.22). One who can withstand the surge of desire and anger here, before leaving the body, is a yogi and is happy (5.23). One whose happiness, delight and light are within attains the bliss of Brahman. Sages whose sins are destroyed, doubts dispelled, minds controlled and who work for the good of all beings attain it. For the self-controlled, free of desire and anger, knowing the self, that bliss is everywhere.

Verses 27 to 29: a glimpse of meditation, and peace

Shutting out external contacts, fixing the gaze between the brows, balancing the breath moving in the nostrils, controlling senses, mind and intellect, free of desire, fear and anger, intent on liberation, the sage is ever free. (The full method of meditation follows in the next chapter.)

Bhoktaram yajna tapasam sarva loka maheshvaram
suhridam sarva bhutanam jnatva mam shantim richchhati (5.29)

Meaning: Knowing me as the enjoyer of all offerings and austerities, the great Lord of all worlds and the selfless friend of all beings, one attains peace.

What this chapter teaches

• There is no need to give up home, family or work; giving up attachment in the mind is true renunciation.
• A lotus lives in mud and water yet stays clean; one can live in the world with a pure mind.
• Seeing one God in every being ends discrimination.
• Pleasure that comes through the senses also goes; the happiness within lasts.
• God is the friend of all beings; knowing this alone brings peace.