April 19 – Bhagavadgita Chapter 5; Verses 5.06-5.07 (Day 110) Karma Yoga

 April 19 – Day 110

Verse 5.06-5.07

संन्यासस्तु महाबाहो दुःखमाप्तुमयोगतः ।

योगयुक्तो मुनिर्ब्रह्म नचिरेणाधिगच्छति ॥ ५-६॥ 

sannyāsas tu mahā-bāho duḥkham āptum ayogataḥ
yoga-yukto munir brahma na chireṇādhigachchhati (6) 

ஸன்யாஸஸ்து¹ மஹாபா³ஹோ து³: க²மாப்¹து¹மயோக³த¹: |
யோக³யுக்¹தோ¹ முனிர்ப்¹ரஹ்ம நசி¹ரேணாதி⁴க³ச்¹ச²தி¹ ||6|| 

6. But renunciation, O mighty-armed Arjuna, is hard to attain without Yoga; the Yoga-harmonised sage proceeds quickly to Brahman! 

Commentary: Muni is one who does Manana (meditation or reflection).  Yoga is performance of action without selfish motive as an offering unto the Lord.

Brahman here signifies renunciation or Sannyasa because renunciation consists in the knowledge of the Self.  A Muni, the sage of meditation, the Yoga-harmonised, i.e., purified by the performance of action, quickly attains Brahman, the true renunciation which is devotion to the knowledge of the Self.  Therefore, Karma Yoga is better.  It is easy for the beginner.  It prepares him for the higher Yoga by purifying his mind. 

योगयुक्तो विशुद्धात्मा विजितात्मा जितेन्द्रियः ।

सर्वभूतात्मभूतात्मा कुर्वन्नपि न लिप्यते ॥ ५-७॥ 

yoga-yukto viśhuddhātmā vijitātmā jitendriyaḥ;
sarva-bhūtātma-bhūtātmā kurvann api na lipyate (7) 

யோக³யுக்¹தோ¹ விஶுத்³தா⁴த்¹மா விஜிதா¹த்¹மா ஜிதே¹ன்த்³ரிய: |
ஸர்வபூ⁴தா¹த்¹மபூ⁴தா¹த்¹மா கு¹ர்வன்னபி¹ ந லிப்¹யதே¹ ||7|| 

7. He who is devoted to the path of action, whose mind is quite pure, who has conquered the self, who has subdued his senses and who has realised his Self as the Self in all beings, though acting, he is not tainted. 

Commentary: He who is harmonized by Yoga, i.e. he who has purified his mind by devotion to the performance of action, who has conquered the body and who has subjugated the senses, whose Self is the Self of all beings, he will not be bound by actions although he performs actions for the well-being or protection of the masses in order to set an example to them.  (Cf. XVIII. 17) 

Commentary by Swami Venkatesananda: 

This renunciation of egoism, private desires and hopes is impossible without the practice of yoga (which is described in the next two verses). It will be seen there-from that the practice of this yoga involves dynamic living. Without this dynamism one might fall into the error of clinging to inflated, subtle, false values, after unwittingly renouncing the right values – even as a man who peels a banana sitting inside a railway compartment might throw the fruit out of the window and put the skin into his mouth!

The ever-watchful yogi acts in this world in the right spirit. He finds that life itself offers him countless opportunities of discovering his own hidden evils, of purifying his heart, of detecting the wiles of the cunning ego, of understanding the innumerable guises in which his own lower self might appear and lead him astray, and of piercing the veil of māyā.

He who practises the yoga described in the next few verses will discover that the world, far from being a hindrance, is truly a great help in the practice of yoga. The Bhāgavataṁ assures us that that is truly the purpose of the Lord’s creation – to help the souls to evolve, to awaken and to lead them to enlightenment.

The yogi must realise that his self is the self of all; and how can he do that if he ‘renounces’ the world and all activities? It is in the context of an active life in the world that the yogi discovers how the momentary experiencer (the ego) is turned into a permanent entity by a trick of memory (the me). This discovery is the ending of the ego, and the arising of the spirit of yoga. 

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