Adhyāya 4 — Jñāna-Karma-Sannyāsa Yogaḥ
The Yoga by Knowledge · 42 verses
Overview
from Q&A with KnAKṛṣṇa now traces the lineage of this teaching: he first gave this imperishable Yoga to Vivasvān, from whom it passed through Manu and Ikṣvāku down a long succession of royal sages, until, lost by lapse of time, he declares it afresh to Arjuna. He explains the mystery of his own repeated births — that he, unborn and imperishable, takes birth by his own Māyā, age after age, to protect the good, destroy the wicked and re-establish Dharma. He unfolds the secret of action-in-inaction and inaction-in-action, praises the many forms of yajña, and crowns them all with the yajña of Knowledge (jñāna-yajña), in whose fire every action is reduced to ash. The chapter closes by warning that only the doubting mind perishes, and by urging Arjuna to cut his own doubt with the sword of Knowledge and stand up.