BHAGAVAD-GITA 5:1

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BHAGAVAD-GITA 5:1

 

arjuna uvaca

sannyasam karmanam krsna

punar yogam ca samsasi

yac chreya etayor ekam

tan me bruhi su-niscitam

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

arjunah uvaca--Arjuna said; sannyasam--renunciation; karmanam--of all

activities; krsna--O Krsna; punah--again; yogam--devotional service;

ca--also; samsasi--You are praising; yat--which; sreyah--is more

beneficial; etayoh--of these two; ekam--one; tat--that; me--unto me;

bruhi--please tell; su-niscitam--definitely.

 

TRANSLATION

 

Arjuna said: O Krsna, first of all You ask me to renounce work, and

then again You recommend work with devotion. Now will You kindly tell

me definitely which of the two is more beneficial?

 

PURPORT

 

In this Fifth Chapter of the Bhagavad-gita, the Lord says that work in

devotional service is better than dry mental speculation. Devotional

service is easier than the latter because, being transcendental in

nature, it frees one from reaction. In the Second Chapter, preliminary

knowledge of the soul and its entanglement in the material body were

explained. How to get out of this material encagement by buddhi-yoga,

or devotional service, was also explained therein. In the Third

Chapter, it was explained that a person who is situated on the

platform of knowledge no longer has any duties to perform. And in the

Fourth Chapter the Lord told Arjuna that all kinds of sacrificial work

culminate in knowledge. However, at the end of the Fourth Chapter, the

Lord advised Arjuna to wake up and fight, being situated in perfect

knowledge. Therefore, by simultaneously stressing the importance of

both work in devotion and inaction in knowledge, Krsna has perplexed

Arjuna and confused his determination. Arjuna understands that

renunciation in knowledge involves cessation of all kinds of work

performed as sense activities. But if one performs work in devotional

service, then how is work stopped? In other words, he thinks that

sannyasa, or renunciation in knowledge, should be altogether free from

all kinds of activity, because work and renunciation appear to him to

be incompatible. He appears not to have understood that work in full

knowledge is nonreactive and is therefore the same as inaction. He

inquires, therefore, whether he should cease work altogether or work

with full knowledge.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.