THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 5, SANYASA YOGA OR THE RENUNCIATION, VERSE NUMBER 5

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER 5

SANYASA YOGA OR THE RENUNCIATION:

VERSE NUMBER 5

Text in Transliteration:

yat saamkhyaih praapyate sthaanam

       tad yogair api gamyate

ekam saamkhyam cha yogam cha

      yah pasyati sa pasyati

Text in English:

The state reached by the Jnanis is also reached by the karma yogis. He sees who sees jnana and karma as one.

 COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

Knowledge and action are the obverse and reverse of the same spiritually evolving entity. The one is not to the exclusion of the other. He who knows truly acts rightly. He who does things perfectly knows them in their true perspective. Know and do, or do and know, are interchangeable. The contact with the one side of a coin necessarily leads to the contact with the other side. Jnana and Karma are in this wise two reading of the spiritual attainment of the sadhaka (practitioner). The knower of Brahman becomes Brahman. The knowing aspect here is samkhya and the becoming aspect, yoga.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

5b appears elsewhere in the M.B., Shantiparva, 305,  19; 316, 4. The true renouncer is not he who remains completely inactive but he whose work is done in a spirit of detachment. Renunciation is a mental attitude, the casting—off of desire in work; true work is work wit all desire renounced. There is not any opposition between the two. Cp. “When actions are performed by the wise man or the fool, the body (that is the external act) is the same but the inward understanding is different. M.B. says that the Bhagvata religion is equal in merit to the Samkhya religion.”

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

Those who have renounced the world and are treading the path of Jnana Yoga or Vedanta are the Sankhyas. Through Sravana (hearing of the Srutis or Vedantic texts), Manana (reflection on what is heard), Nididhyasana (constant and profound meditation) they attain to Moksha or kaivalya directly.Karma Yogis who do selfless service, who perform their duties without expectation of the fruits and who dedicate their actions as offerings unto the fruits and who dedicate their actions as offerings unto the Lord also reach the same state as is attained by Sankhyas indirectly through the purification of their heart and renunciation and the consequent dawn of the knowledge of the Self. That man who sees that Sankhya and Yoga are one, as leading to the same result, sees rightly. (Cf. XIII. 24, 25; V.2)     

Comments by the blogger:

Sankhya Yoga, Karma Yoga, Bhakthi Yoga and Raja Yoga lead to the same result. According to this people like Mahatma Gandhi, Rajagopalachari, Kamarajar and scores of such Karma Yogis and Bhakti Yogis are on the same footing with  Jnanis like Sri Ramakrishna, Vivekananda and to cite a recent example, Sri Chandhrasekarendira Sarasvati Mahaswamigal.

How is it made possible? This tatva or Philosophy is unique to Hinduism.

Other major religions lose out to Hinduism in this score. Hinduism speaks to the individuals whereas most of the other religions speak to the whole people as a group. Both the Bible and Quran are not exception to this. That doesn’t mean they are not good religions. They are. But when they speak to the whole of the humanity, they fail to take into account the varied gunas or tendencies of the individual people. They put all the people in one great group and appeal to their devotion. They fail to understand the scheme of Nature. That Nature has three tendencies like sattvic, rajasic and tamasic. They fail to understand that the Man and Nature are constituted of five elements.

Hinduism speaks to the individuals. It probes deeply into the individual’s relationship with the world on one hand and his relationship with God on the other. Nature is a mother and a school. You can, as per your individual tendency, have belief in God and worship him always, or, with a belief that there is an omnipotent Power, you may indulge in Karma Yoga or the Yoga of action in an unselfish way without expectation of the fruits thereof. Or you may renounce this world and desist from all actions and gain wisdom or Jnana. This is not possible in the two above said religions.

Only a Bhagavat Gita can declare that the state or status reached by the Jnanis or people who have obtained wisdom is also reached by the Karma Yogis or the yogis on the activated mode. Only he sees correctly who sees Jnana (wisdom) and karma yoga (action) as one!