Adhyāya 5 — Karma-Sannyāsa Yogaḥ
The Yoga by Renouncing Action · 29 verses
Overview
from Q&A with KnAArjuna, still caught between renunciation and action, asks Kṛṣṇa to choose for him one path. Kṛṣṇa answers that only the immature see Sāṅkhya (knowledge/renunciation) and Yoga (action) as opposed; rightly done, they reach the same goal, and the one truly established in either gains the fruit of both. He paints the Karma-Yogin who acts with body, mind and senses yet remains unstained, offering all works to Brahman “like a lotus-leaf untouched by water.” He describes the sage who, though seeing, hearing, eating and moving, inwardly knows “I do nothing at all,” dwelling serene in the city of nine gates. He ends with a short, potent meditation-technique — steadying the gaze, balancing the breaths, mastering the senses — and the peace of one who knows the Lord as the friend of all beings.