Chapter 5 · 29 verses
कर्मसंन्यासयोग
Arjuna comes back with the same tangle: drop the work or do it, give me one answer. Krishna says both arrive at the same place, but working is the easier road. This is where the image of the lotus leaf comes in, sitting in water and never getting wet. He sketches the man who sees, hears, touches, eats and breathes and knows throughout that he is not the one doing it. The chapter settles on seeing with one eye: the learned brahmin, the cow, the elephant, the dog, and the man who eats dogs.
It is not the work you put down that frees you, it is the grip.
Arjuna said
संन्यासं कर्मणां कृष्ण पुनर्योगं च शंससि ।
यच्छ्रेय एतयोरेकं तन्मे ब्रूहि सुनिश्चितम् ॥1॥
Arjuna said: Krishna, you praise giving up action, and then you praise action done as yoga. Tell me plainly which one of the two is better.
The Lord said
संन्यासः कर्मयोगश्च निःश्रेयसकरावुभौ ।
तयोस्तु कर्मसंन्यासात्कर्मयोगो विशिष्यते ॥2॥
The Lord said: Both lead to the highest good. But of the two, doing the work is better than dropping it.
ज्ञेयः स नित्यसंन्यासी यो न द्वेष्टि न काङ्क्षति ।
निर्द्वन्द्वो हि महाबाहो सुखं बन्धात्प्रमुच्यते ॥3॥
Know as the constant renouncer the one who neither hates nor hankers, mighty-armed one. Free of opposites, he slips his bonds easily.
साङ्ख्ययोगौ पृथग्बालाः प्रवदन्ति न पण्डिताः ।
एकमप्यास्थितः सम्यगुभयोर्विन्दते फलम् ॥4॥
Only the immature call Sankhya and yoga different; those who know do not. Settled properly in either one, a person gets the fruit of both.
यत्साङ्ख्यैः प्राप्यते स्थानं तद्योगैरपि गम्यते ।
एकं साङ्ख्यं च योगं च यः पश्यति स पश्यति ॥5॥
The place reached by reasoning is reached by practice too. One who sees the two as one sees rightly.
संन्यासस्तु महाबाहो दुःखमाप्तुमयोगतः ।
योगयुक्तो मुनिर्ब्रह्म नचिरेणाधिगच्छति ॥6॥
Renunciation is hard to reach without practice, mighty-armed one. The sage joined in practice comes to Brahman before long.
योगयुक्तो विशुद्धात्मा विजितात्मा जितेन्द्रियः ।
सर्वभूतात्मभूतात्मा कुर्वन्नपि न लिप्यते ॥7॥
Joined in practice, clear within, himself and his senses in hand, at one with the self in all beings, he acts and yet nothing sticks to him.
नैव किञ्चित्करोमीति युक्तो मन्येत तत्त्ववित् ।
पश्यञ्शृण्वन्स्पृशञ्जिघ्रन्नश्नन्गच्छन्स्वपञ्श्वसन् ॥8॥
One who knows how things are, and is settled, thinks "I do nothing at all", even while seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, walking, sleeping, breathing,
प्रलपन्विसृजन्गृह्णन्नुन्मिषन्निमिषन्नपि ।
इन्द्रियाणीन्द्रियार्थेषु वर्तन्त इति धारयन् ॥9॥
speaking, letting go, taking hold, opening the eyes and closing them, holding all the while that it is only the senses moving among their objects.
ब्रह्मण्याधाय कर्माणि सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा करोति यः ।
लिप्यते न स पापेन पद्मपत्रमिवाम्भसा ॥10॥
One who acts having given his work over to Brahman, with attachment let go, is untouched by wrong, as a lotus leaf is untouched by water.
कायेन मनसा बुद्ध्या केवलैरिन्द्रियैरपि ।
योगिनः कर्म कुर्वन्ति सङ्गं त्यक्त्वात्मशुद्धये ॥11॥
With attachment let go, those in practice work with body, mind, understanding and the senses alone, and do it to become clear within.
युक्तः कर्मफलं त्यक्त्वा शान्तिमाप्नोति नैष्ठिकीम् ।
अयुक्तः कामकारेण फले सक्तो निबध्यते ॥12॥
The one who is settled lets go of the fruit and comes to lasting peace; the unsettled, driven by desire and attached to the fruit, is bound.
सर्वकर्माणि मनसा संन्यस्यास्ते सुखं वशी ।
नवद्वारे पुरे देही नैव कुर्वन्न कारयन् ॥13॥
Having given up all actions in his mind, self-possessed, the embodied one rests at ease in the city of nine gates, neither doing nor causing anything to be done.
न कर्तृत्वं न कर्माणि लोकस्य सृजति प्रभुः ।
न कर्मफलसंयोगं स्वभावस्तु प्रवर्तते ॥14॥
The Lord creates neither people's doership nor their actions nor the joining of action to its fruit; it is their own nature that does all this.
नादत्ते कस्यचित्पापं न चैव सुकृतं विभुः ।
अज्ञानेनावृतं ज्ञानं तेन मुह्यन्ति जन्तवः ॥15॥
Nor does the all-pervading one take on anyone's wrong or right. Knowledge is covered over by ignorance, and that is why beings are confused.
ज्ञानेन तु तदज्ञानं येषां नाशितमात्मनः ।
तेषामादित्यवज्ज्ञानं प्रकाशयति तत्परम् ॥16॥
But for those whose ignorance is destroyed by knowledge of the self, that knowledge lights up the highest, like the sun.
तद्बुद्धयस्तदात्मानस्तन्निष्ठास्तत्परायणाः ।
गच्छन्त्यपुनरावृत्तिं ज्ञाननिर्धूतकल्मषाः ॥17॥
With their understanding in that, themselves in that, settled in it and holding it as the goal, their faults washed away by knowledge, they go where there is no returning.
विद्याविनयसम्पन्ने ब्राह्मणे गवि हस्तिनि ।
शुनि चैव श्वपाके च पण्डिताः समदर्शिनः ॥18॥
The wise see the same in a learned and humble brahmin, in a cow, an elephant, a dog, and an outcaste.
इहैव तैर्जितः सर्गो येषां साम्ये स्थितं मनः ।
निर्दोषं हि समं ब्रह्म तस्माद् ब्रह्मणि ते स्थिताः ॥19॥
Those whose minds rest in this evenness have conquered birth here itself. Brahman is faultless and even, so they are settled in Brahman.
न प्रहृष्येत्प्रियं प्राप्य नोद्विजेत्प्राप्य चाप्रियम् ।
स्थिरबुद्धिरसम्मूढो ब्रह्मविद् ब्रह्मणि स्थितः ॥20॥
Not thrilled at getting what he likes, not shaken at getting what he does not, steady and unconfused, knowing Brahman, he is settled in Brahman.
बाह्यस्पर्शेष्वसक्तात्मा विन्दत्यात्मनि यत्सुखम् ।
स ब्रह्मयोगयुक्तात्मा सुखमक्षयमश्नुते ॥21॥
Unattached to what touches him from outside, he finds happiness in himself; joined to Brahman, he enjoys a happiness that does not run out.
ये हि संस्पर्शजा भोगा दुःखयोनय एव ते ।
आद्यन्तवन्तः कौन्तेय न तेषु रमते बुधः ॥22॥
The pleasures that come from contact are wombs of pain, Kaunteya; they begin and they end. One who understands does not take delight in them.
शक्नोतीहैव यः सोढुं प्राक्शरीरविमोक्षणात् ।
कामक्रोधोद्भवं वेगं स युक्तः स सुखी नरः ॥23॥
The one who can hold up against the rush of desire and anger here, before the body falls away, is the one who is joined, and he is happy.
योऽन्तःसुखोऽन्तरारामस्तथान्तर्ज्योतिरेव यः ।
स योगी ब्रह्मनिर्वाणं ब्रह्मभूतोऽधिगच्छति ॥24॥
One whose happiness is within, who delights within, whose light is within: that practitioner becomes Brahman and comes to the peace of Brahman.
लभन्ते ब्रह्मनिर्वाणमृषयः क्षीणकल्मषाः ।
छिन्नद्वैधा यतात्मानः सर्वभूतहिते रताः ॥25॥
The seers whose faults have worn away, whose doubts are cut, who are restrained and take joy in the good of all beings, come to the peace of Brahman.
कामक्रोधवियुक्तानां यतीनां यतचेतसाम् ।
अभितो ब्रह्मनिर्वाणं वर्तते विदितात्मनाम् ॥26॥
For those who have let go of desire and anger, whose minds are in hand and who know themselves, the peace of Brahman is on every side.
स्पर्शान्कृत्वा बहिर्बाह्यांश्चक्षुश्चैवान्तरे भ्रुवोः ।
प्राणापानौ समौ कृत्वा नासाभ्यन्तरचारिणौ ॥27॥
Keeping outward things outside, the gaze between the brows, breath moving evenly in and out through the nostrils,
यतेन्द्रियमनोबुद्धिर्मुनिर्मोक्षपरायणः ।
विगतेच्छाभयक्रोधो यः सदा मुक्त एव सः ॥28॥
senses, mind and understanding held in check, bent on freedom, with wanting and fear and anger gone: such a sage is free already, and always.
भोक्तारं यज्ञतपसां सर्वलोकमहेश्वरम् ।
सुहृदं सर्वभूतानां ज्ञात्वा मां शान्तिमृच्छति ॥29॥
Knowing me as the one to whom offering and discipline come, as the great lord of all worlds, as the friend of every being, a person finds peace.
The Sanskrit here was checked against three independent sources. The meanings are not taken from any published translation; they are put into plain words from the Sanskrit itself.
See all Krishna content →How many verses are in Chapter 5 of the Bhagavad Gita?
Chapter 5, "Renouncing Action", has 29 verses.
What is Chapter 5 of the Gita about?
Arjuna comes back with the same tangle: drop the work or do it, give me one answer. Krishna says both arrive at the same place, but working is the easier road. This is where the image of the lotus leaf comes in, sitting in water and never getting wet. He sketches the man who sees, hears, touches, eats and breathes and knows throughout that he is not the one doing it. The chapter settles on seeing with one eye: the learned brahmin, the cow, the elephant, the dog, and the man who eats dogs.