Karma Sannyāsa Yoga

Arjuna said: O Krishna, you praise renunciation of actions and also yoga of action.

The Blessed Lord said: Both renunciation of action and the yoga of action lead to the highest good; but of the two, the yoga of action is superior to the renunciation of action.

One who neither hates nor desires is known as a perpetual renunciate.

Only the ignorant speak of Sankhya (knowledge) and Yoga (action) as different; not the wise.

The state reached by the Sankhyas (renunciates) is also reached by the Yogis (those of action).

But renunciation, O mighty-armed one, is difficult to attain without yoga.

One who is united in yoga, whose soul is pure, whose self is conquered, whose senses are controlled, and whose self has become the Self of all beings - such a person is not tainted even while performing actions.

The knower of truth, being united in yoga, thinks 'I do nothing at all' - while seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, walking, sleeping, and breathing.

Speaking, releasing, grasping, opening and closing the eyes - the yogi holds firm that it is merely the senses engaging with their objects.

One who acts offering all actions to Brahman, abandoning attachment, is not tainted by sin, just as a lotus leaf is untouched by water.

Yogis perform actions with the body, mind, intellect, and even the senses alone, abandoning attachment, for the purification of the self.

The united one, having abandoned the fruit of action, attains lasting peace.

The self-controlled embodied being, mentally renouncing all actions, dwells happily in the nine-gated city (body), neither acting nor causing action.

The Lord creates neither the agency nor the actions of the world, nor the connection between action and its fruit.

The all-pervading Lord accepts neither the sin nor the merit of anyone.

But for those whose ignorance of the Self is destroyed by knowledge, that knowledge, like the sun, illuminates the Supreme.

Those whose intellect is absorbed in That, whose self is That, who are established in That, who have That as their supreme goal - they go to the state of no return, their impurities washed away by knowledge.

The wise see with equal vision a learned and humble brāhmaṇa, a cow, an elephant, a dog, and an outcaste.

Even here in this world, birth is conquered by those whose mind rests in equanimity.

One should not rejoice upon obtaining what is pleasant, nor be disturbed upon obtaining what is unpleasant.

One whose self is unattached to external contacts finds happiness in the Self.

The pleasures born of sense-contact are indeed sources of suffering alone, for they have a beginning and an end, O son of Kunti.

One who is able to withstand the force born of desire and anger, here in this world before giving up the body - that person is a yogi, that person is happy.

One whose happiness is within, whose delight is within, and whose light is within - that yogi, having become Brahman, attains liberation in Brahman.

The sages whose sins are destroyed, whose doubts are cut asunder, who are self-controlled, and who rejoice in the welfare of all beings - they attain liberation in Brahman.

For those ascetics who are free from desire and anger, whose minds are controlled, and who have realized the Self - liberation in Brahman exists everywhere, at all times.

Shutting out external sense contacts, fixing the gaze between the eyebrows, equalizing the outgoing and incoming breaths flowing within the nostrils -

- the sage whose senses, mind, and intellect are controlled, who is devoted to liberation, and who is free from desire, fear, and anger - such a one is forever liberated.

Knowing Me as the enjoyer of all sacrifices and austerities, the great Lord of all worlds, and the friend of all beings - one attains peace.