Karma Sannyas Yoga
Karma Sannyas Yoga • 29 verses
Krishna reconciles action and renunciation, showing that true renunciation is the inner surrender of ego and results — not the outer abandonment of work. The chapter describes the experience of the jnani who acts in the world but is inwardly free.
Chapter Overview
Chapter 5 addresses the apparent contradiction between Chapters 3 and 4: Krishna has praised both karma yoga (active engagement) and jnana yoga (renunciation and knowledge). Which is superior?
Krishna's answer is subtler than either/or: true renunciation is internal, not external. The sannyasi who abandons work physically but is still driven by desire has achieved nothing. The karma yogi who acts fully in the world but has abandoned ego and attachment is a true renunciant — and in some ways more advanced, because their liberation is tested and refined in the crucible of daily life.
The chapter beautifully describes the experience of the person who sees the Self equally in all beings — the brahman-knower who is at peace in pleasure and pain, who neither grieves nor rejoices, who is established in self-knowledge. This person finds liberation (moksha) in this very life — what is called jivanmukti in Sanskrit.
Krishna also explains the mechanics of liberation: the person of self-knowledge offers all actions to Brahman (the ultimate reality), seeing themselves as instruments rather than independent agents. This shift in self-understanding — from isolated ego-doer to channel of the divine — transforms the entire quality of experience.
Key Verses
अर्जुन उवाच | संन्यासं कर्मणां कृष्ण पुनर्योगं च शंससि | यच्छ्रेय एतयोरेकं तन्मे ब्रूहि सुनिश्चितम् ||५-१||
arjuna uvāca . saṃnyāsaṃ karmaṇāṃ kṛṣṇa punaryogaṃ ca śaṃsasi . yacchreya etayorekaṃ tanme brūhi suniścitam ||5-1||
5.1 Arjuna said Renunciation of actions, O Krishna, Thou praisest, and again Yoga. Tell me conclusively that which is the better of the two.
श्रीभगवानुवाच | संन्यासः कर्मयोगश्च निःश्रेयसकरावुभौ | तयोस्तु कर्मसंन्यासात्कर्मयोगो विशिष्यते ||५-२||
śrībhagavānuvāca . saṃnyāsaḥ karmayogaśca niḥśreyasakarāvubhau . tayostu karmasaṃnyāsātkarmayogo viśiṣyate ||5-2||
5.2 The 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.
ज्ञेयः स नित्यसंन्यासी यो न द्वेष्टि न काङ्क्षति | निर्द्वन्द्वो हि महाबाहो सुखं बन्धात्प्रमुच्यते ||५-३||
jñeyaḥ sa nityasaṃnyāsī yo na dveṣṭi na kāṅkṣati . nirdvandvo hi mahābāho sukhaṃ bandhātpramucyate ||5-3||
5.3 He should be known as a perpertual Sannyasi who neither hates nor desires; for, free from the pairs of opposites, O mighty-armed Arjuna, he is easily set free from bondage.
साङ्ख्ययोगौ पृथग्बालाः प्रवदन्ति न पण्डिताः | एकमप्यास्थितः सम्यगुभयोर्विन्दते फलम् ||५-४||
sāṅkhyayogau pṛthagbālāḥ pravadanti na paṇḍitāḥ . ekamapyāsthitaḥ samyagubhayorvindate phalam ||5-4||
5.4 Children, 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.
यत्साङ्ख्यैः प्राप्यते स्थानं तद्योगैरपि गम्यते | एकं साङ्ख्यं च योगं च यः पश्यति स पश्यति ||५-५||
yatsāṅkhyaiḥ prāpyate sthānaṃ tadyogairapi gamyate . ekaṃ sāṅkhyaṃ ca yogaṃ ca yaḥ paśyati sa paśyati ||5-5||
5.5 That place which is reached by the Sankhyas or the Jnanis is reached by the Yogis (Karma Yogis). He sees, who sees knowledge and the performance of action (Karma Yoga) as one.