Bhagavad Gita—Chapter Five

The Yoga of Renunciation of Action

Arjuna said: Renunciation of action
And yoga1–You praise both of these.
Which is the better of these two?
Tell this to me decisively. (1)

The Holy Lord said:
Renunciation and yoga
Both lead to highest happiness;
Of the two, however, yoga
Excels mere renunciation. (2)

He is a constant renouncer
Who neither likes nor dislikes: for
Free from the pairs of opposites,
He easily is freed from bonds. (3)

“Sankhya and yoga are diff’rent,”
The childish declare–not the wise.
If one is practiced correctly,
That person finds the fruit of both. (4)

The place attained by the Sankhyas
Is also attained by yogis.
Sankhya and yoga are one. He
Who perceives this truly perceives. (5)

Without yoga, O Mighty-Armed,
Renunciation’s hard to gain.
The sage disciplined in yoga
Quickly attains unto Brahman. (6)

Yoga-yoked, with self purified,
With self subdued, senses conquered,
His self the self of all beings,
He is not tainted when acting. (7)

“I do not do anything;” thus
Thinks the steadfast knower of truth,
Seeing, hearing, touching, smelling,
Eating, walking, sleeping, breathing. (8)

Speaking, releasing, and holding;
Opening and closing his eyes–
Convinced that it is the senses
That move among the sense-objects. (9)

Offering actions to Brahman,
Having abandoned attachment,
He acts untainted by evil
As lotus leaf is not wetted. (10)

Yogis act only with body,
Mind, intellect, or the senses,
Forsaking attachment to deeds,
For purifying of their heart. (11)

Well-poised, forsaking action’s fruit,
They attain peace of steadfastness;
But those led by desire are bound
By attachment to action’s fruit. (12)

Renouncing all acts with the mind,
The embodied sits happily2.
Within the city of nine gates,
Not acting or causing actions. (13)

Neither agency, nor actions
Does the Lord create for the world,
Nor union with the fruit of deeds–
Inherent nature does the deeds. (14)

The Omnipresent takes note of
Neither merit nor demerit.
Ignorance envelops knowledge,
By it people are deluded. (15)

But those whose ignorance has been
Destroyed by knowledge of the self–
That knowledge of theirs, like the sun,
Reveals then the Supreme Brahman. (16)

With intellect absorbed in That,
Whose self is That, steadfast in That,
And whose consummation is That,
Purified, are freed from rebirth.3 (17)

The wise see the same atman in:
A wise Brahmin who’s disciplined,
A cow, an elephant, a dog–
Even in an eater of dogs.4 (18)

Those whose minds rest in evenness,
Conquer existence in this world.
Brahman is even and perfect–
So they indeed rest in Brahman. (19)

Resting in Brahman, and steady
In intellect, undeluded,
The pleasant does not rejoice him
Nor does the unpleasant grieve him. (20)

Unattached to external things,
Finding happiness in the Self,
And one with Brahman through yoga,
He gains unchanging happiness. (21)

Pleasures born of contact, indeed,
Are wombs of pain, Son of Kunti.
They have beginning and an end;
The wise does not delight in them. (22)

He who can endure here, before
Liberation from the body,
Desire and anger’s impetus,
Is a yogi, a happy man. (23)

He whose happiness is within,
Whose delectation is within,
Whose light is within–that yogi,
One with Brahman, gains nirvana. (24)

With imperfections exhausted,
Doubts dispelled and senses controlled,
Engaged in good for all beings–
The seer gains Brahma-nirvana. (25)

Released from desire and anger,
With thoughts restrained, those ascetics
Who know the Self, find very near
The bliss of Brahma-nirvana. (26)

Excluding all outside contacts,
Fixing awareness ’tween the brows,
Balancing both inhaling and
Exhaling within the nostrils. (27)

Controlling sense, mind, intellect;
With moksha as the supreme goal;
Freed from desire, fear, and anger:
Such a sage is for ever free. (28)

Knowing Me, the Enjoyer of
Sacrificial austerities,
Mighty Lord of all the world and
Friend of all creatures, he gains peace. (29)

Om Tat Sat
Thus in the Upanishads of the glorious Bhagavad Gita, the science of the Eternal, the scripture of Yoga, the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna, ends the fifth discourse entitled: The Yoga of Renunciation of Action.

More chapters of the Bhagavad Gita:

• Introduction • Chapter One—The Yoga of the Despondency of Arjuna • Chapter Two—Sankhya Yoga • Chapter Three—The Yoga of Action • Chapter Four—The Yoga of Wisdom • Chapter Five—The Yoga of Renunciation of Action • Chapter Six—The Yoga of Meditation • Chapter Seven—The Yoga of Wisdom and Realization • Chapter Eight—The Yoga of Imperishable Brahman • Chapter Nine—The Yoga of the Kingly Science and Kingly Secret • Chapter Ten—The Yoga of Divine glories • Chapter Eleven—The Yoga of the Vision of the Cosmic Form • Chapter Twelve—The Yoga of Devotion • Chapter Thirteen—The Yoga of the Distinction Between the Field and the Knower of the Field • Chapter Fourteen—The Yoga of the Division of the Three Gunas • Chapter Fifteen—The Yoga of the Supreme Spirit • Chapter Sixteen— Yoga of the Division between the Divine and the Demoniacal • Chapter Seventeen—The Yoga of the Division of Threefold Faith • Chapter Eighteen—The Yoga of Liberation by Renunciation • Sri Maharshi Gita—An arrangement of verses of the Bhagavad Gita made by Sri Ramana Maharshi that gives an overview of the essential message of the Gita. • The Maharshi Gita sung in english. – This is an arrangement of verses of the Bhagavad Gita made by Sri Ramana Maharshi that gives an overview of the essential message of the Gita. Arranged according to the meter of the original Sanskrit text and sung to a classical Gita melody used to chant the Gita every morning in our ashram and in most of the ashrams of India. Sung by the monks of Atma Jyoti Ashram. • To hear online audio files of the above translation of the Gita, click here.

More Bhagavad Gita Commentary by Swami Nirmalananda:
• A Practical Suggestion on Studying the Gita
1. The Battlefield of the Mind 2. The Smile of Krishna 3. Right But Wrong 4. Birth and Death–The Great Illusions 5. Experiencing The Unreal 6. The Unreal and the Real 7. The Body and the Spirit 8. Know the Atman! 9. Practical Self-Knowledge 10. Perspective on Birth and Death 11. The Wonder of the Atman 12. The Indestructible Self 13. “Happy The Warrior” 14. The Virtues of Karma Yoga 15. Religiosity Versus Religion 16. Perspective on Scriptures 17. How Not To Act 18. How To Act 19. How To Be Miserable; How To Be Free 20. Wisdom About the Wise 21. Wisdom about both the Foolish and the Wise 22. The Way of Peace 23. Calming the Storm 24. First Steps in Karma Yoga 25. From the Beginning to the End 26. The Real “Doers” 27. Our Spiritual Marching Orders 28. Freedom From Karma 29. “Nature” 30. Swadharma 31. In the Grip of the Monster 32. “Devotee and Friend” 33. The Eternal Being 34. Worshippers and the Worshipped 35. Caste and Karma 36. Action—Divine and Human 37. The Mystery of Action and Inaction 38. The Wise in Action 39. Sacrificial Offerings 40. The Worship of Brahman 41. The Core Problem 42. Action—Renounced and Performed 43. Freedom (Moksha)	44. The Brahman-Knower 45. The Goal of Karma Yoga 46. The Will of the Wise 47. The Yogis Retreat 48. The Yogi’s Inner Life 49. Union With Brahman 50. The Yogi’s Future 51. Success in Yoga 52. The Net and Its Weaver 53. Those Who Seek God 54. Those Who Worship God and the Gods 55. The Veil in the Mind 56. The Big Picture 57. The Sure Way To Realize God 58. Day, Night, and the Two Paths 59. The Supreme Knowledge 60. Universal Being 61. Maya—Its Dupes and Its Knowers 62. “Shall Not” Versus “Can Not” 63. Going To God 64. Wisdom and Knowing 65. Going To The Source 66. From Hearing To Seeing 67. The Wisdom of Devotion 68. Right Conduct 69. The Field and Its Knower 70. Interaction of Purusha and Prakriti 71. Seeing The One Within the All 72. The Three Gunas—Part One 73. The Cosmic Tree 74. Freedom 75. The All-pervading Reality 76. The Divine and the Demonic 77. Faith and the Three Gunas 78. Food and the Three Gunas 79. Worship and Discipline and the Gunas 80. Tapasya and the Gunas 81. Sannyasa and Tyaga 82. Deeper Insights On Action 83. The Three Gunas: Intellect and Firmness 84. The Three Kinds of Happiness 85. Freedom 86. The Great Devotee 87. The Final Words

Read the Bhagavad Gita online: The English text of the Gita posted on this Web Site is arranged according to the meter of the original Sanskrit text so it can be sung–as it is done every morning in our ashram and in most of the ashrams of India.

2) “As the ruler” omitted here to fit the meter. [Go back]

3) “They whose minds are absorbed in That, whose selves are fixed on That, whose basis is That, who hold That as the highest object, whose evils have been shaken off by knowledge, go to the end of rebirth.” [Go back]

4) Dogs in India are wild animals related to jackals and hyenas. [Go back]