MindKshetraby LogitsLab
← Chapter 5

Bhagavad Gita · 5.3 · Path of Renunciation·3 of 29

ज्ञेयः स नित्यसंन्यासी यो न द्वेष्टि न काङ्क्षतिनिर्द्वन्द्वो हि महाबाहो सुखं बन्धात्प्रमुच्यते

jñeyaḥ sa nitya-sannyāsī yo na dveṣhṭi na kāṅkṣhati

nirdvandvo hi mahā-bāho sukhaṁ bandhāt pramuchyate

Sanskrit recitation

Renounce the clinging, not the work · 5.1–5.12 · Teaching

Translation

He should be known as a perpetual Sannyasi who neither hates nor desires; for, free from the pairs of opposites, O mighty-armed Arjuna, he is easily freed from bondage.

Meaning

A man does not become a Sannyasi by merely giving up actions because of laziness or ignorance or some family quarrel or calamity or unemployment. A true Sannyasi is not a hypocritical coward.The Karma Yogi who neither hates pain and the objects which give him pain, nor desires pleasure and the objects that give him pleasure, who has neither attachment nor aversion to any senseobject and who has risen above the pairs of heat and cold, joy and sorrow, success and failure, victory and defeat, gain and loss, praise and censure, honour and dishonour, should be known as a perpetual Sannyasi though he is ever engaged in action.One need not have taken Sannyasa formally but if he has the above mental attitutde, he is a perpetual Sannyasi. Mere ochrecoloured robe cannot make one a Sannyasi. What is wanted is a pure heart with true renunciation of egoism and desires. Physical renunciation of objects is no renunciation at all. (Cf.VI.1)

After Swami Sivananda

Renounce the clinging, not the work· 5.1–5.12

Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.

Word-by-word
hi
certainly
na
nor
nitya
always
saḥ
that person
yaḥ
who
sukham
easily
bandhāt
from bondage
jñeyaḥ
should be considered
sanyāsī
practising renunciation
dveṣhṭi
hate
mahā-bāho
mighty-armed one
pramuchyate
is liberated
nirdvandvaḥ
free from all dualities
kāṅkṣhati
desire

Related verses

Your reflection

Sign in to save reflections.

Sign in