Chapter 5-Yoga of renunciation
Arjuna uvaacha
Sannyaasam karmaNaam KrishNa
punaH yogam cha Samsasi
Yath SreyaH ethayoH
ekam thath me broohi suniSchayam
Arjuna said,
Sree bhagavaan uvacha
Sannyaasam karmayogaH
cha niSSreyasakarou ubhou
thayoH tu
karmasannyaasaath karmayogo viSishyathe
The Lord spoke,
Renunciation
and karmayoga are both the means to
achieve the goal of realization. But of the two, karmayoga is superior to
renunciation of action.
Arjuna now wants to know which of the two
disciplines, sannyasa , renunciation or karmayoga, performance of work without
attachment is more beneficial for him. Here Krishna, the supreme physician starts
prescribing the medicine suited to the patient and says that though both
sannyasa and karma yoga are equally effective, Karmayoga is to be preferred,
implying that in his case Arjuna needs only karmayoga.
The
word sannyaasa means giving up fully. San +nyaasa. So it could be used in
renouncing the action, or the fruit of action or the sense of agency of action.
In the Gita it is used in all these meanings and hence it should be understood
according to the context.
Here
the word sannyasa means saankhya yoga or jnanayoga, the word saankhya as used
in the second chapter. Though both the paths , jnana and karma leads to the
same goal the one to choose depends on the mental state of the seeker. Since Arjuna
is qualified to do only karma yoga as he had not acquired jnana till then,
The
one who follows saankhyayoga is the one who has already acquired self control and
has given up agency of action and sees Brahman everywhere and hence the action
has no effect on him. Till then one has to do karmayoga only giving up the
desire for the fruit of action by
offering all his actions to the Lord. Gradually he gives up the sense of agency
when he acquires the jnana that all is Brahman.
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