Bhagavad Gita · 5.7 · Path of Renunciation·7 of 29
योगयुक्तो विशुद्धात्मा विजितात्मा जितेन्द्रियः।सर्वभूतात्मभूतात्मा कुर्वन्नपि न लिप्यते ॥
yoga-yukto viśhuddhātmā vijitātmā jitendriyaḥ
sarva-bhūtātma-bhūtātmā kurvann api na lipyate
Sanskrit recitation
Renounce the clinging, not the work · 5.1–5.12 · Teaching
Translation
He 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.
Meaning
He who is harmonised by Yoga, i.e., he who has purified his mind by devotion to the performance of action, who has conered the body and who has subjugated the senses, whose Self is the Self of all beings, he will not be bound by actions although he performs actions for the wellbeing or protection of the masses in orer to set an example to them. (Cf.XVIII.17)
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→
- na
- never
- api
- although
- kurvan
- performing
- lipyate
- entangled
- vijita-ātmā
- one who has conquered the mind
- yoga-yuktaḥ
- united in consciousness with God
- jita-indriyaḥ
- having conquered the senses
- viśhuddha-ātmā
- one with purified intellect
- sarva-bhūta-ātma-bhūta-ātmā
- one who sees the Soul of all souls in every living being
Related verses
- 2.48Perform action, O Arjuna, being steadfast in Yoga, abandoning attachment and balanced in…
- 2.50Endowed with wisdom and evenness of mind, one casts off in this life both good and evil…
- 2.71That person attains peace who, abandoning all desires, moves about without longing,…
- 3.7But whoever, controlling the senses by the mind, O Arjuna, engages himself in Karma Yoga…