Bhagavad Gita | Chapter 5: Karma Sannyasa Yoga

Chapter 5: Karma Sannyasa Yoga - Renunciation

Arjuna asks: “You praise both the renunciation of action and the performance of action. Which is better?”

Krishna answers that both lead to the highest, but karma yoga - action without attachment - is superior. The true renunciate is not one who has given up action but one who acts without desire, offering the results to the divine.

The Same Goal

The one who renounces action and the one who acts without attachment both reach the same goal. But action without attachment is easier for embodied beings. True renunciation is freedom from attachment, not from action.

The Still Mind

Krishna describes the person who has realized the Self: such a person sees the same Lord in all beings. They see a learned brahmin, a cow, an elephant, a dog, and an outcaste with equal vision.

“When a person sees the Lord abiding equally in all beings, not harming the Self by the self, that person attains the supreme goal.”

The Witness

The wise person acts like a witness, knowing that the senses move among sense objects while the Self remains untouched. Actions are performed by the gunas, not by the Self. The one who knows this is not bound.

Key Verses

Verse 18: The wise see the same Self in a learned brahmin, a cow, an elephant, a dog, and an outcaste.

Verse 24: One who is happy within, who rejoices within, who is illuminated within - that yogi attains Brahman and attains liberation.

Verse 29: Knowing me as the enjoyer of all sacrifices and austerities, the great Lord of all worlds, the friend of all beings, that person attains peace.