Chapter 5
Karma-yoga - Action in Kṛṣṇa Consciousness
- arjun kahilen:
- he kṛṣṇa bārek karma tyāga ye kathan
- punarāy karma-yog kaha vivaraṇ
- tār madhye yevā niścita jānibā
- saṁśaya-bihīn kari āmāre kahibā
Text 1: Arjuna said: O Kṛṣṇa, first of all You ask me to renounce work, and then again You recommend work with devotion. Now will You kindly tell me definitely which of the two is more beneficial?
- śrī-bhagavān kahilen:
- sannyāsa ār karma-yog dui śreya hay
- sakala vedādi śāstre tāi se kahaya
- tār madhye karma-yog sannyāsa apekṣā
- kriyātmak jana-madhye nā kara upekṣā
Text 2: The Personality of Godhead replied: The renunciation of work and work in devotion are both good for liberation. But, of the two, work in devotional service is better than renunciation of work.
- rāg-dveṣa vivarjita yevā karma-yogī
- anāsakta viṣayete nahe ta' se bhogī
- nirdvanda se mahāvāho duḥkha bandha nahe
- tomāre kahinu āmi kariyā niścay
Text 3: One who neither hates nor desires the fruits of his activities is known to be always renounced. Such a person, free from all dualities, easily overcomes material bondage and is completely liberated, O mighty-armed Arjuna.
- sāṅkhya-yog karma-yog yevā pṛthak bale
- paṇḍita se nahe kabhu bālakera chale
- ubhaya kāryera madhye ye kona se ek
- ubhayer phal prāpti haibe samyak
Text 4: Only the ignorant speak of devotional service (karma-yoga) as being different from the analytical study of the material world (Sāṅkhya). Those who are actually learned say that he who applies himself well to one of these paths achieves the results of both.
- sāṅkhya-yog sādhya kari ye pada se pāy
- yog-siddha hale lābh tāhā upajay
- ataeva sāṅkhya kimvā yog ek bal
- buddhimān sei hay ye bujhe ek phal
Text 5: One who knows that the position reached by means of analytical study can also be attained by devotional service, and who therefore sees analytical study and devotional service to be on the same level, sees things as they are.
- sannyāsa kariyā yadi nahe karma yogī
- mahā-vāho ki baliba vṛthā sei tyāgī
- yog-yukta muni yevā brahmapada pāy
- acirāt sei kārya siddhi yoge hay
Text 6: Merely renouncing all activities yet not engaging in the devotional service of the Lord cannot make one happy. But a thoughtful person engaged in devotional service can achieve the Supreme without delay.
- yog-yukta viśuddhātmā jita ṣaḍa guṇ
- jitendriya hay sei atyanta pravīṇ
- sarva-bhūt lāgi yevā karma-yog sādhe
- viṣayer madhye thāke viṣaye nā bādhe
Text 7: One who works in devotion, who is a pure soul, and who controls his mind and senses is dear to everyone, and everyone is dear to him. Though always working, such a man is never entangled.
- se yogī cintaye sadā haye tattvavit
- sarva kārya kari kintu kari nā kiñcit
- dekhi śuni sparśa kari niḥśvāse praśvāse
- svapane gamane kimvā bhojane vilāse
- pralāpan kari kimvā bhoge vā se tyāge
- unmīlan nimīlan kimvā nidrā yāya jāge
- jaḍa-kārye jaḍendriya satata se jāne
- nija kārya ātma-tattva sarvadā se dhyāne
Texts 8-9: A person in the divine consciousness, although engaged in seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, moving about, sleeping and breathing, always knows within himself that he actually does nothing at all. Because while speaking, evacuating, receiving, or opening or closing his eyes, he always knows that only the material senses are engaged with their objects and that he is aloof from them.
- brahmaṇi niviṣṭa kārya niḥsaṅga ye kare
- viṣaya prabhāve sei tāhāte nā ḍare
- ataeva pāp-puṇye nāhi tāre lepe
- sei padma-patra jale jāni vā saṁkṣepe
Text 10: One who performs his duty without attachment, surrendering the results unto the Supreme Lord, is unaffected by sinful action, as the lotus leaf is untouched by water.
- kāya mana vākye se ye yogera sādhana
- man buddhi indriyādi ekatre bandhana
- yogārthe ye kārya hay vairāgya se yukta
- sakala samaye jñān yogī nitya-yukta
Text 11: The yogīs, abandoning attachment, act with body, mind, intelligence and even with the senses, only for the purpose of purification.
- karma-phal tyaji yukta vairāgya sādhana
- naiṣṭhikī śānti se, nahe saṁsāra bandhana
- phalgu vairāgya ye kām kārī phal
- phal-kārye nivandhana tāi se durval
Text 12: The steadily devoted soul attains unadulterated peace because he offers the result of all activities to Me; whereas a person who is not in union with the Divine, who is greedy for the fruits of his labour, becomes entangled.
- bāhye sarva-kārya kare antare sannyās
- sarva-kārye suṣṭhu kari sukhete nivās
- nava-dvār yukta deha thāki sei pure
- nije kichu nāhi kare nā karāy pare
Text 13: When the embodied living being controls his nature and mentally renounces all actions, he resides happily in the city of nine gates (the material body), neither working nor causing work to be done.
- anādi karma-phale bhavārṇava jvale
- āche paḍe vā nā hay tṅāhāra sṛjan
- karma-phal yevā yog yāhā kare bhog
- svabhāva se kārya hay nām bhava-rog
Text 14: The embodied spirit, master of the city of his body, does not create activities, nor does he induce people to act, nor does he create the fruits of action. All this is enacted by the modes of material nature.
- īśvarer datta nahe sei pāpa puṇya
- pāp puṇya yāhā kichu nija icchā janya
- ajñāna-janita sei bhog icchā kare
- pāśe thāki māyā tāre jāpaṭiyā dhare
Text 15: Nor does the Supreme Lord assume anyone's sinful or pious activities. Embodied beings, however, are bewildered because of the ignorance which covers their real knowledge.
- ataev jñān upajile māyā nāś
- ātmāra svarūpa tathā svataḥ-i prakāś
- sūryera prakāśe yathā andhakār yāy
- jñānera prakāse tathā ajñāner kṣay
Text 16: When, however, one is enlightened with the knowledge by which nescience is destroyed, then his knowledge reveals everything, as the sun lights up everything in the day time.
- sei jñāna anukūle buddhi niṣṭhā yār
- ātma-jñān parāyaṇ saṁsāra uddhār
Text 17: When one's intelligence, mind, faith and refuge are all fixed in the Supreme, then one becomes fully cleansed of misgivings through complete knowledge and thus proceeds straight on the path of liberation.
- samadarśī hay se jñānera prabhāve
- vidyā-vinay-sampanna brāhmaṇe vā gabe
- hastī vā kukur vā se nīca caṇḍāl
- samadarśī jñānī dekhe sabāi samān
Text 18: The humble sages, by virtue of true knowledge, see with equal vision a learned and gentle brāhmaṇa, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater (outcaste).
- jīvanmukta sei jñānī sādhāraṇ nay
- sei sāmyasthita mane saṁsāra ye kṣaya
- samatā nirdeśa brahma tāhe brahma-sthiti
- brahma-jñānī yei tār sei haya rīti
Text 19: Those whose minds are established in sameness and equanimity have already conquered the conditions of birth and death. They are flawless like Brahman, and thus they are already situated in Brahman.
- priya vastu prāpya hale uṭhe nā nāciyā
- apriya prāptite kabhu mare nā kāṅdiyā
- sthir buddhi brahma-vid asaṁ-mūḍha mati
- brahmete niyata vās nām brahma-sthiti
Text 20: A person who neither rejoices upon achieving something pleasant nor laments upon obtaining something unpleasant, who is self-intelligent, who is unbewildered, and who knows the science of God, is already situated in transcendence.
- bāhya-sparśa sukha yāhā nāi ye āsakti
- ātmānande sevānandī ātmāte vindati
- sei brahma-yog yukta ātmā pāy
- akṣara sukhete magna sarvadā se ray
Text 21: Such a liberated person is not attracted to material sense pleasure but is always in trance, enjoying the pleasure within. In this way, the self-realised person enjoys unlimited happiness, for he concentrates on the Supreme.
- sparśa sukhe ye ānanda tāhā duḥkhamaya
- bhog nahe bhogī sei jāniha niścay
- sei sukhe ādi ante śudhu duḥkha hay
- buddhimān vyakti yei nā tāte ramay
Text 22: An intelligent person does not take part in the sources of misery, which are due to contact with the material senses. O son of Kuntī, such pleasures have a beginning and an end, and so the wise man does not delight in them.
- śarīra chāḍite pūrve ye abhyāsa kare
- tāhāra sulabha sei anye kṅādi mare
- ṣaḍaveg jay kari gosvāmī ye hay
- sukhī sei nara-nārī kare dig-vijay
Text 23: Before giving up this present body, if one is able to tolerate the urges of the material senses and check the force of desire and anger, he is well situated and is happy in this world.
- bāhirer sukh chāḍi yevā antarmukh
- antare ramaṇ kare antarjyoti-rūp
- brahma-bhūta hay sei brahmate nirvāṇ
- bahirangā māyā chāḍe pāy bhagavān
Text 24: One whose happiness is within, who is active and rejoices within, and whose aim is inward is actually the perfect mystic. He is liberated in the Supreme, and ultimately he attains the Supreme.
- niṣpāpa haiyā ṛṣī brahmete nirvāṇ
- sarva-bhūta hite rata chinna dvidhā-jñān
Text 25: Those who are beyond the dualities that arise from doubts, whose minds are engaged within, who are always busy working for the welfare of all living beings, and who are free from all sins achieve liberation in the Supreme.
- kām krodha vinirmukta yata citta dhīr
- ātma-tattva jñānī yati atīva gambīr
- sadasad vicāra kari brahmete nirvāṇ
- prakṛti atīta tār brahme avasthān
Text 26: Those who are free from anger and all material desires, who are self-realised, self-disciplined and constantly endeavouring for perfection, are assured of liberation in the Supreme in the very near future.
- e chāḍā aṣṭāṅga yog tāhā bali śuna
- abhyāsa yāhār hay atīva triguṇa
- śavda sparśa rūpa ras ār yāhā gandha
- bahirbāhya kari rākhi nā rākhi samvandha
- cakṣu sei bhrumadhye rākhiyā niścal
- prāṇāpān vāyu dhari nāsā abhyantar
- nāsikār agrabhāg kevala darśan
- uttama prakriyā sei yogera sādhan
- indriya saṁyam sei yog prakaraṇ
- man buddhi dvārā muni mokṣa parāyaṇ
- se bhāve ye vīt icchā bhay ār krodh
- yukta hay se puruṣ saṁyata nirodh
Texts 27-28: Shutting out all external sense objects, keeping the eyes and vision concentrated between the two eyebrows, suspending the inward and the outward breaths within the nostrils, and thus controlling the mind, senses and intelligence, the transcendentalist aiming at liberation becomes free from desire, fear and anger. One who is always in this state is certainly liberated.
- yogeśvara āmi hai āmi sei lakṣya
- se kathā ye bujhe bhāla sei yogī dakṣa
- sakala yajña tapasyār āmi bhoktā hai
- samasta loker svāmī keha nahe sei
- samasta jīver bandhu āmi ekmātra
- jagater śānti hay jānile sarvatra
Text 29: A person in full consciousness of Me, knowing Me to be the ultimate beneficiary of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods, and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attains peace from the pangs of material miseries.
- bhaktivedānta kahe śrī-gītāra gān
- śune yadi śuddha bhakta kṛṣṇagata-prāṇ
Thus Bhaktivedānta sings the song of Śrī Gītā, with the hope that hearing this, Kṛṣṇa conscious pure devotees will be pleased.