CH 5, Verse 4

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Chapter 5

Verse 4

 

Saankhya-yogau prithag baalaah pravadanti na panditaah

/

ekam apy aasthitah samyag ubhayor vindate phalam //

 

Children, not the wise, affirm that the path of

knowledge (Sankhya Yoga) and performance of action

(Karma Yoga) are different. He who is truly

established in one gains the fruits of both.

 

LESSONS FROM BHAGAVAD GITA – 46

As taught by Parama Pujya Sri Swamiji

Compiled by: Swami Dattananda

Bhakti Mala, October 1996

 

“Children, not the wise, affirm that the path of

knowledge (Sankhya Yoga) and performance of action

(Karma Yoga) are different. He who is truly

established in one gains the fruits of both.”

 

Here Sankhya means the knowledge accompanied by

abandonment of work and Yoga means performance of work

with detachment to its fruits. The Lord says that

Sankhya and Yoga are one and the same and it is only

the childish and not the wise that speak of them as

different. A person who is truly established in any

one of these two paths attains the end, that is, the

liberation itself, which is the common goal of both.

So although the means employed by these two paths look

different their ultimate purpose is identical.

Therefore, there is no conflict with regard to the

result, as the result of both the paths is liberation

itself.

 

But the path of renunciation is not given to all. It

is given only to those who are extremely unattached

and are free from all sorts of desires. Such people,

abandoning all worldly dealings, can devote their

whole life for the attainment of knowledge. Sri

Krishna has already pointed out the chief three

characteristics of renunciation (path of knowledge.)

They are 1) absence of desire for enjoyment 2) absence

of hatred and 3) being free from the pairs of

opposites like pain and pleasure. It is only to those

who possess these three characteristics the path of

knowledge is advised.

 

But generally people are under the clutches of

desires. As such, they subject themselves to the

feelings of pain and pleasure and hatred. So they are

not entitled to the path of knowledge. They have to

take to the path of disinterested action (Karma Yoga.)

By practicing the discipline of Karma Yoga,

gradually they can secure the same qualities as those

possessed by the followers of Jnana Yoga (Path of

Knowledge.)

 

In other words, by continuing the discipline of Karma

Yoga, one will get the competence needed for the

contemplative discipline of Jnana Yoga, which is

mentioned in this verse as Sankhya. When one has

attained to that competence, one has to give up all

karma and take to contemplative life. This karma

sannyasa is in the strict sense of the term abandoning

all actions both ritualistic and social and living on

alms for the bare maintenance of the body.

 

 

 

 

 

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