Bhagavad Gita · 5.12 · Path of Renunciation·12 of 29
युक्तः कर्मफलं त्यक्त्वा शान्तिमाप्नोति नैष्ठिकीम्।अयुक्तः कामकारेण फले सक्तो निबध्यते ॥
yuktaḥ karma-phalaṁ tyaktvā śhāntim āpnoti
naiṣhṭhikīm ayuktaḥ kāma-kāreṇa phale sakto nibadhyate
Sanskrit recitation
Renounce the clinging, not the work · 5.1–5.12 · Teaching
Translation
The 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.
Meaning
Santim naishthikim is interpreted as peace born of devotion of steadfastness. The harmonious man who does actions for the sake of the Lord without expectation of the fruit and who says, I do actions for my Lord only, not for my personal gain or profit, attains to the peace born of devotion, through the following four stages, viz., purity of mind, the attainment of knowledge, renunciation of actions, and steadiness in wisdom. But the unbalanced or the unharmonised man who is led by desire and who is attached to the fruits of the actions and who says, I have done such and such an action I will get such and such a fruit, is firmly bound.
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→
- yuktaḥ
- one who is united in consciousness with God
- karma-phalam
- the results of all activities
- tyaktvā
- giving up
- śhāntim
- peace
- āpnoti
- attains
- naiṣhṭhikīm
- everlasting
- ayuktaḥ
- one who is not united with God in consciousness
- kāma-kāreṇa
- impelled by desires
- phale
- in the result
- saktaḥ
- attached
- nibadhyate
- becomes entangled
Related verses
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- 4.20Having abandoned attachment to the fruits of the action, ever content, depending on…