Chapter 18
THE YOGA OF
LIBERATION BY RENUNCIATION
Verse 1
Arjuna said:
I desire to know severally, O
mighty-armed, the essence or truth of renunciation, O Hrishikesa, as also of
abandonment, O slayer of Kesi!
Verse 2
The Blessed Lord said:
The sages understand Sannyas to be the
renunciation of action with desire; the wise declare the abandonment of the
fruits of all actions as Tyaga.
Verse 3
Some philosophers declare that all
actions should be abandoned as an evil, while others declare that acts of gift,
sacrifice and austerity should not be relinquished.
Verse 4
Hear from Me the conclusion or the final
truth about this abandonment, O best of the Bharatas; abandonment, verily, O
best of men, has been declared to be of three kinds!
Verse 5
Acts of sacrifice, gift and austerity should
not be abandoned, but should be performed; Sacrifice, gift and also austerity
are the purifiers of the wise.
Verse 6
But even these actions should be
performed leaving aside attachment and the desire for rewards, O Arjuna! This
is My certain and best conviction.
Verse 7
Verily, the renunciation of obligatory
action is improper; the abandonment of the same from delusion is declared to be
Tamasic.
Verse 8
He who abandons action on account of the
fear of bodily trouble (because it is painful), he does not obtain the merit of
renunciation by doing such Rajasic renunciation.
Verse 9
Whatever obligatory action is done, O
Arjuna, merely because it ought to be done, abandoning attachment and also the
desire for reward, that renunciation is regarded as Sattwic!
Verse 10
The man of renunciation, pervaded by
purity, intelligent and with his doubts cut asunder, does not hate a
disagreeable work nor is he attached to an agreeable one.
Verse 11
Verily, it is not possible for an
embodied being to abandon actions entirely; but he who relinquishes the rewards
of actions is verily called a man of renunciation.
Verse 12
The threefold fruit of action—evil, good
and mixed—accrues after death to the non-abandoners, but never to the
abandoners.
Verse 13
Learn from Me, O mighty-armed Arjuna,
these five causes, as declared in the Sankhya system for the accomplishment of
all actions!
Verse 14
The body, the doer, the various senses,
the different functions of various sorts, and the presiding Deity, also, the
fifth,
Verse 15
Whatever action a man performs by his
body, speech and mind, whether right or the reverse, these five are its causes.
Verse 16
Now, such being the case, he who, owing
to untrained understanding, looks upon his Self, which is isolated, as the
agent, he of perverted intelligence, sees not.
Continued...
Love.
