OM
18.
Yoga of Liberation through Renunciation.
1)
ARJUNA:
I desire to know severally, O
Mighty-armed (Sri Krishan), the essence or truth of ‘Renunciation’, O
Hrishikesha (Sri Krishna), as also of ‘abandonment’, O slayer of Keshi (Sri
Krishna)
2)
SRI KRISHAN:
The sages understand Sannyasa to
be “the renunciation of works with desire”; the wise declare “the abandonment
of the fruits of all action” as Tyaga.
3)
All action should be abandoned as evil, declare
some phylosophers; while others (declare) that acts of sacrifice, gift and
austerity should not be relinquished.
4)
Hera from Me the conclusion or the final truth,
about this ‘abandonment’, O Best of Bharatas (Arjuna); ‘Abandonment’, verily, O
Best of men, has been declared to be of three kinds.
5)
Acts of sacrifice, charity and austerity should
not be abandoned, but should be performed; worship, charity and also austerity,
are the purifiers of even the ‘wise’.
6)
But even these actions should be performed
leaving aside attachment and the fruits, O Partha (Arjuna); this is my certain
and best belief.
7)
Verily, the renunciation of ‘obligatory actions’
is not proper; the abandonment of the same from delusion is declared to be
Tamasic (dull.)
8)
He who because of bodily trouble, abandons
action because it is painful, thus performing a Rajasic (passionate)
abandonment, obtains not the fruit of ‘abandonment’
9)
Whatever ‘obligatory action’ is done, O Arjuna,
merely because it ought to be done, abandoning ‘attachment and also fruit’,
that abandonment is regarded as Sattvic (pure.)
10)
The abandoner, soaked in purity, being
intelligent, with all his doubts cut asunder, hates not disagreeable action,
nor is he attached to an agreeable action.
11)
Verily, it is not possible for an embodied being
to abandon actions entirely, but he who relinquishes the fruits-of-actions is
verily called a ‘relinquisher’ (Tyagi)
12)
The threefold fruit-of-action, evil, good, and
mixed-accrues, after death, only to those who have no spirit of ‘abandonment’;
never to total relinquishers.
13)
Learn from Me, O mighty-armed, these five causes
for the accomplishment of all actions, as declared in the Sankhya (Upanishad)
system, which is the end of all actions.
14)
The ‘seat’ (body), the doer (ego), the various
organs-of-perception, the different functions of various organs-of-action, and
also the presiding deity, the fifth.
15)
Whatever action a man performs by his body,
speech and mind – whether right, or the reverse – these five are the causes.
16)
Now, such being the case, verily he who – owing
to his untrained understanding – looks upon his Self, which is ‘alone’ (never
conditioned by the ’engine’), as the doer, he, of perverted intelligence, sees
not.
17)
He who is free from egoistic notion, whose
intelligence is not tainted (by good or evil), though he slays these people, he
slays not, nor is he bound (by the action).
18)
Knowledge, the known and the knower form the
threefold ‘impulse to action’; the organs, the action, the agent, form the
threefold ‘basis of action’.
19)
‘Knowledge’, ‘action’, and ‘actor’ are declared
in the science of temperaments (gunas) to be of three kinds only, according to
the distinctions of temperaments; hear them also duly.
20)
That by which one sees the one indestructible
reality in all beings, undivided in divided, know that ‘knowledge’ as Sattvic
(Pure.)
21)
But that ‘knowledge’ which sees in all beings
various entities of distinct kinds, (and) as different from one another, know
that knowledge as Rajasic (Passionate.)
22)
But that ‘knowledge’ which clings to one single
effect, as if it were the whole, without reason, without foundation in truth
and narrow, that action is declared as Tamasic (dull.)
23)
An ‘action’ which is ordained, which is free
from attachment, which is done without love or hatred, by one who is not
desirous of the fruit, that action is declared as Sattvic (pure.)
24)
But that ‘action’ which is done by one, longing
for desires, or gain, done with egoism, or with much effort, is declared to be
Rajasic (passionate.)
25)
That ‘action’ which is undertaken from delusion,
without regard for the consequence, loss, injury, and ability, is declared to
be Tamasic (dull.)
26)
An ‘agent’ who is free from attachment,
non-egoistic, endowed with firmness and enthusiasm, and unaffected by success
or failure, is called Sattvic (pure.)
27)
Passionate, desiring to gain the fruits-of-actions,
greedy, harmful, impure, full of delight and grief, such an ‘agent’ is said to
be Rajasic (passionate.)
28)
Unsteady, vulgar, unbending, cheating,
malicious, lazy, despondent, and procrastinating, such and ‘agent’ is said to
be Tamasic (dull)
29)
Hear (you) the threefold division of
‘understanding’ and ‘fortitude’ (made) according to qualities, as I declare
them fully and severally, O Dhananjaya.
30)
That which knows the paths of work and
renunciation, what ought to be done and what ought not to be done, fear and
fearlessness, bondage and liberation, that ‘understanding’ is Sattvic (pure), O
Partha (Arjuna.)
31)
That by which one wrongly understands DHARMA and
ADHARMA and also what ought to be done and what ought not to be done, that
intellect (understanding), O Partha (Arjuna) is Rajasic.
32)
That which, enveloped in darkness, sees Adharma
as Dharma, and all things perverted, that intellect (understanding) O Partha,
is Tamasic (dull)
33)
The unwavering ‘fortitude’ by which, through
Yoga, the functions of the mind, the Prana and the senses are restrained, that
‘fortitude’, O Partha (Arjuna), is Sattvic (pure.)
34)
But the ‘fortitude’, O Arjuna, by which one
holds to duty, pleasure and wealth, one of attachment and craving for the
fruits-of-actions, that ‘fortitude’ O Partha, is Rajasic (passionate)
35)
The ‘constancy’ because of which a stupid man
does not abandon sleep, fear, grief, depression, and also arrogance (conceit),
that ‘fortitude’, O Partha (Arjuna) is Tamasic (dull).
36)
And now hear from me, O best among the Bharatas,
of the threefold ‘pleasure’ in which one rejoices by practice and surely comes
to end of pain.
37)
That which is like poison at first, but in the
end like nectar, that ‘pleasure’ is declared to be Sattvic (pure), born of the
purity of one’s own mind, due to Self-realization.
38)
That pleasure which arises from the contact of
the sense-organs with the objects, (which is) at first like nectar, (but is) in
the end (is) like poison, that is declared to be Rajasic (Passionate.)
39)
The pleasure, which at first and in the sequel
deludes the Self, arising from sleep, indolence and heedlessness, is declared
to be Tamasic (Dull).
40)
There is no being on earth, or again in heaven
among the ‘Devas’ (heavenly beings), who is totally liberated from the three
qualities, born of Prakriti (matter.)
41)
Of scholars (Brahmanas), of leaders (Kshatriyas)
and of traders (Vyshyas), as also workers (Shudras), O Parantapa, the duties
are distributed according to the qualities born of their own nature.
42)
Serenity, self-restraint, austerity, purity,
forgiveness, and also uprightness, knowledge, realization, belief in God – are
the duties of the Brahmanas, born of (their own) nature.
43)
Prowess, splendor, firmness, dexterity, and also
not fleeing from battle, generosity, lordliness – these are the duties of the
Kshatriyas, born of (their own) nature.
44)
Agriculture, cattle-rearing and trade are the
duties of the Vaishyas, born of (their own) nature; and service is the duty of
the Shudras, born of (their own) nature.
45)
Devoted, each to his own duty, man attains
Perfection. How, engaged in his own duty, he attains Perfection, listen.
46)
From all beings arise, by Whom all this is
pervaded, worshipping Him with one’s own duty, man attains Perfection.
47)
Better is one’s duty (though) destitute of
merits, than the duty of another well-performed. He who does the duty ordained
by his own nature incurs no sin.
48)
Oneshould not abandon, O Kaunteya (Arjuan), the
duty to which one is born, though faulty; for, are not all undertakings
enveloped by evil, as fire by smoke?
49)
He whose intellect is unattached everywhere, who
has subdued his self, from whom desire has fled, he, through renunciation,
attains, the Supreme State of Freedom from action.
50)
How he, who has attained perfection, reaches
Brahman (the Eternal), that in brief do you learn from Me, O! Kaunteya
(Arjuna), that Supreme state-of-knowledge.
51)
Endowed with a pure intellect; controlling the
self by firmness; relinquishing sound and other objects; and abandoning
attraction and hatred;
52)
Dwelling in solitude; eating but little; speech,
body and mind subdued; always engaged in meditation and concentration; taking
refuge in dispassion;
53)
Having abandoned egoism, power, arrogance,
desire, anger and aggrandizement, and freed from the notion of ‘mine’, and
therefore peaceful – he is fit to become Brahman.
54)
Becoming Brahman, serene in the Self, he neither
grieves nor desires; the same to all beings, he obtains a supreme devotion to
Me.
55)
By devotion he knows Me in Essence, what and who
I am; then, having known Me in My Essence, he forthwith enters into the Supreme.
56)
Doing all actions, always taking refuge in Me,
by My grace he obtains the Eternal, Indestructible State or Abode.
57)
Mentally renouncing all actions in Me, having Me
as the highest Goal, resorting to the Yoga-of-discrimination, ever fix your
mind in Me.
58)
Fixing your mind upon Me, you shall, by My
grace, overcome all obstacles, but if, from egoism, you will not hear Me, you
shall perish.
59)
Filled with egoism, if you think, “I will not
fight”, vain is this, your resolve; (for) nature will compel you.
60)
O! son of Kunti, bound by your Karma (actions)
born of your own nature, that which, through delusion, you wish not to do, even
that you shall do helplessly.
61)
The Lord dwells in the hearts of all beings, O
Arjuna, causing all beings, by His power of illusions, to revolve, as if
mounted on a machine.
62)
Fly unto Him for refuge with all your being, O
Bharata; by His grace you shall obtain Supreme Peace (and) the Eternal Abode.
63)
Thus, the ‘Wisdom’ which is a greater secret
than all secrets, has been declared to you by Me; having reflected upon it
fully, you now act as you choose.
64)
Hear again My supreme word, most secret of all;
because you are My dear beloved, therefore, I will tell you what is good (for
you).
65)
Fix your mind upon Me; be devoted to Me;
sacrifice for Me; bow down to Me; you shall come surely then, to Me alone;
truly do I promise to you (for) you are dear to Me.
66)
Abandoning all Dharmas, (of the body, mind and
intellect), take refuge in Me alone; I will liberate thee from all sins; grieve
not.
67)
This is never to be spoken by you to one who is
devoid of austerities or devotion, nor to one who does not render service, nor
to one who desires not to listen, nor to one who cavils of Me.
68)
He who, with supreme devotion to Me, will teach
this supreme secret to My devotees, shall doubtless come to Me.
69)
Nor is there any among men who does dearer
service to Me, nor shall there be another on earth dearer to Me than he.
70)
And he will study this sacred dialogue of ours,
by him I shall have been worshiped by the ‘sacrifice-of-wisdom’, such is My
conviction.
71)
That man also, who hears this, full of faith and
free of malice, he too, liberated, shall attain to the happy worlds of those
righteous deeds.
72)
Has this been heard, O son of Pritha (Arjuna),
with single-pointed mind? Has the distraction caused by your ‘ignorance’, been
dispelled, O Dhananjaya?
73)
ARJUNA:
Destroyed is my delusion, as I
have now gained my memory (knowledge) through your grace, O Acharya (Sri
Krishna). I am firm; my doubts are gone. I will do according to your word
(bidding).
74)
SANJAYA:
Thus have I heard this wonderful
dialogue between Vasudeva and the high-souled Partha (Arjuna), which causes the
hair to stand on end.
75)
Through the grace of Vyasa, I have heard, this
supreme and most secret Yoga, directly from Krishna, the lord of Yoga, Himself
declaring it.
76)
O King, remembering this wonderful and holy
dialogue between Keshava (Sri Krishna) and Arjuna, I rejoice again and again.
77)
Remembering and again remembering, that most
wonderful Form of Hari, great is my wonder, O King; and I rejoice again and
again.
78)
Wherever is Krishna, the Lord of Yoga, wherever
is Partha, the archer (Arjuna), there is prosperity, victory, happiness and
firm (steady or sound) policy; this is my conviction.
Thus ends the 18 Chapters of the Bhagavad Gita.
OM TAT SAT
