Bhagavad Gita · 5.5 · Path of Renunciation·5 of 29
यत्सांख्यैः प्राप्यते स्थानं तद्योगैरपि गम्यते।एकं सांख्यं च योगं च यः पश्यति स पश्यति ॥
yat sānkhyaiḥ prāpyate sthānaṁ tad yogair api gamyate
ekaṁ sānkhyaṁ cha yogaṁ cha yaḥ paśhyati sa paśhyati
Sanskrit recitation
Renounce the clinging, not the work · 5.1–5.12 · Teaching
Translation
That place which is reached by the Sankhyas or the Jnanis is also reached by the Yogis (Karma Yogis). He who sees knowledge and the performance of action (Karma Yoga) as one, sees truly.
Meaning
Those who have renounced the world and are treading the path of Jnana Yoga or Vedanta are the Sankhyas. Through Sravana (hearing of the Srutis or Vedantic texts), Manana (reflection on what is heard) and Nididhyasana (constant and profound meditation) they attain to Moksha or Kaivalya directly. Karma Yogis who do selfless service, who perform their duties without expectation of the fruits and who dedicate their actions as offerings unto the Lord also reach the same state as is attained by Sankhyas indirectly through the purification of their heart and renunciation and the conseent dawn of the knowledge of the Self. That man who sees that Sankhya and Yoga are one, as leading to the same result, sees rightly. (Cf.XIII.24,25V.2)
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.
- 5.1Arjuna said, "O Krishna, you praise renunciation of actions and also yoga. Please tell me conclusively which is better of the two."
- 5.2The Blessed Lord said, "Renunciation and the Yoga of action both lead to the highest bliss; but of the two, the Yoga of action is superior to the renunciation of action."
- 5.3He 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.
- 5.4Children, not the wise, speak of knowledge and the Yoga of action, or the performance of action, as though they are distinct and different; he who is truly established in one, obtains the fruits of both.
5.5That place which is reached by the Sankhyas or the Jnanis is also reached by the Yogis (Karma Yogis). He who sees knowledge and the performance of action (Karma Yoga) as one, sees truly.
- 5.6But, O mighty-armed Arjuna, renunciation is hard to attain without Yoga; the sage who is in harmony with Yoga quickly goes to Brahman.
- 5.7He who is devoted to the path of action, whose mind is pure, who has conquered the self, who has subdued his senses, and who realizes his Self as the Self in all beings, though acting, is not tainted.
- 5.8I do nothing at all," thus would the harmonized knower of Truth think, seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, going, sleeping, and breathing.
- 5.9Speaking, letting go, seizing, opening, and closing the eyes, one should be convinced that the senses move among the sense-objects.
- 5.10He who does actions, offering them to Brahman and abandoning attachment, is not tainted by sin, just as a lotus leaf is not tainted by water.
- 5.11Yogis, having abandoned attachment, perform actions only through the body, mind, intellect, and even the senses, for the purification of the self.
- 5.12The one who is united (the well-poised or harmonized) having abandoned the fruit of action attains eternal peace; whereas the one who is not united (the unsteady or unbalanced), impelled by desire and attached to the fruit, is bound.
Word-by-word→
- api
- also
- cha
- and
- tat
- that
- yat
- what
- ekam
- one
- saḥ
- that person
- yaḥ
- who
- yogam
- karm yog
- gamyate
- is attained
- sthānam
- place
- yogaiḥ
- by working in devotion
- paśhyati
- actually sees
- prāpyate
- is attained
- sānkhyam
- renunciation of actions
- sānkhyaiḥ
- by means of karm sanyās
Related verses
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