Moksha-Samnyasa Yoga

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Bhagavad Gita

 

XVIII. CONCLUSION (Moksha-samnyasa Yoga)

 

ARJUNA SAID:

 

1. 'Of Samnyasa' O Mighty-armed, I desire to know the truth, O

Hrishikesa, as also of 'tyaga', severally, O Slayer of Kesin.

 

THE BLESSED LORD SAID:

 

2. Sages understand 'Samnyasa' to be the renouncement of interested

works; the abandonment of the fruits of all works, the learned

declare, is 'tyaga'.

 

3. That action should be abandoned as an evil, some philosophers

declare; while others (declare) that acts of sacrifice, gift and

austerity should not be given up.

 

4. Learn from Me the truth about this abandonment, O best of the

Bharatas; abandonment, verily, O best of men, has been declared to be

of three kinds.

 

5. Practice of worship, gift and austerity should not be given up; it

is quite necessary; worship, gift and austerity are the purifiers of

the wise.

 

6. But even those actions should be performed, setting aside

attachment and the fruits; this, O son of Pritha, is My firm and

highest belief.

 

7. Verily, the abandonment of an obligatory duty is not proper; the

abandonment thereof from ignorance is declared to be Tamasic.

 

8. Whatever act one may abandon because it is painful, from fear of

bodily trouble, he practises Rajasic abandonment and he shall obtain

no fruit whatever of abandonment.

 

9. Whatever obligatory work is done, by Arjuna, merely because it

ought to be done, by abandoning attachment and also the fruit, that

abandonment is deemed to be Sattvic.

 

10. He hates not evil action, nor is he attached, to a good one - he

who has abandoned, pervaded by Sattva and possessed of wisdom, his

doubts cut asunder.

 

11. Verily, it is not possible for an embodied being to abandon

actions completely; he who abandons the fruits of actions is verily

said to be an abandoner.

 

12. The threefold fruit of action - evil, good and mixed - accrues

after death to non-abandoners, but never to abandoners.

 

13. These five factors in the accomplishment of all action, know thou

from Me, O mighty-armed, as taught in the Sankhya which is the end of

action.

 

14. The seat and actor and the various organs and the several

functions of various sorts and the Divinity also, the fifth among

these.

 

15. Whatever action a man does by the body, speech and mind, right or

the opposite, these five are its causes.

 

16. Now, such being the case, verily, he who as untrained in

understanding, looks on the pure Self as the agent, that man of

perverted intelligence sees not.

 

17. He who is free from egotistic notion, whose mind is not tainted -

though he kills these creatures, he kills not, he is not bound.

 

18. Knowledge, the object known, the knower, (form) the threefold

impulse to action; the organ, the end, the agent, from the threefold

basis of action.

 

19. Knowledge and action and the agent are said in the science of

gunas to be of three kinds only, according to the distinction in

gunas. Hear thou duly of them.

 

20. That by which a man sees the one Indestructible Reality in all

beings, inseparate in the separated --hat knowledge know thou as

Sattvic.

 

21. But that knowledge which by differentiation, sees in all the

creatures various entities of distinct kinds, that knowledge know

thou as Rajasic.

 

22. But that which clings to one single effect as if it were all,

without reason, having no real object and narrow, that is declared to

be Tamasic.

 

23. An action which is ordained, which is free from attachment, which

is done without love or hatred by one not desirous of the fruit, that

action is declared to be Sattvic.

 

24. But the action which is done by one longing for pleasures, or

done by the egotistic, costing much trouble, that is declared to be

Rajasic.

 

25. The action which is undertaken from delusion, without regarding

the consequence, loss, injury and ability, that is declared to be

Tamasic.

 

26. Free from attachment, not given to egotism, endued with firmness

and vigour, unaffected in success and failure, an agent is said to be

Sattvic.

 

27. Passionate, desiring to attain the fruit of action, greedy,

cruel, impure, subject to joy and sorrow, such an agent is said to be

Rajasic.

 

28. Unsteady, vulgar, unbending, deceptive, wicked, indolent,

desponding and procrastinating, (such) an agent is said to be Tamasic.

 

29. The threefold division of intellect and firmness according to

qualities, about to be taught fully and distinctively (by Me), hear

thou, O Dhananjaya.

 

30. That which knows action and inaction, what ought to be done and

what ought not to be done, fear and absence of fear, bondage and

liberation, that intellect is Sattvic, O Partha.

 

31. That by which one wrongly understands Dharma and Adharma and also

what ought to be done and what ought not to be done, that intellect,

O Partha, is Rajasic.

 

32. That which, enveloped in darkness, sees Adharma as Dharma and all

things perverted, that intellect, O Partha, is Tamasic.

 

33. The firmness which is ever accompanied by Yoga and by which the

activities of thought, of life-breaths and sense-organs, O Partha,

are held fast, such a firmness is Sattvic.

 

34. But the firmness with which one holds fast to Dharma and

pleasures and wealth, desirous of the fruit of each on its occasion,

that firmness, O Partha, is Rajasic.

 

35. That with which a stupid man does not give up sleep, fear, grief,

depression and lust, that firmness, O Partha, is Tamasic.

 

36. And now hear from Me - O lord of the Bharatas - of the threefold

pleasure, in which one delights by practice and surely comes to the

end of pain.

 

37. That which is like poison at first, at the end, like nectar that

pleasure is declared to be Sattvic, born of the purity of one's own

mind.

 

38. That pleasure which arises from the contact of the sense-organ

with the object, at first like nectar, in the end like poison, that

is declared to be Rajasic.

 

39. The pleasure which at first and in the sequel is delusive of the

self, arising from sleep, indolence and heedlessness, that pleasure

is declared to be Tamasic.

 

40. There is no being on earth, or again in heaven among the Devas,

that can be free from these three gunas born of Prakriti.

 

41. Of Brahmanas and Kshatriyas and Vaisyas, as also of Sudras, O

Parantapa, the duties are divided according to the qualities born of

nature.

 

42. Serenity, self-restraint, austerity, purity, forgiveness and also

uprightness, knowledge, wisdom, faith - these are the duties of the

Brahmanas, born of nature.

 

43. Bravery, boldness, fortitude, promptness, not flying from battle,

generosity and lordliness are the duties of the Kshatriyas, born of

nature.

 

44. Ploughing, cattle-rearing and trade are the duties of the

Vaisyas, born of nature. And of the nature of service is the duty of

the Sudra, born of nature.

 

45. Devoted each to his own duty, man attains perfection; how one,

devoted to one's own duty, attains success, that do thou hear.

 

46. Him from whom is the evolution of (all) beings, by whom all this

is pervaded - by worshipping Him with his proper duty, man attains

perfection.

 

47. Better is one's own duty (though) destitute of merits, than the

duty of another well performed. Doing the duty ordained according to

nature one incurs no sin.

 

48. The duty born with oneself, O son of Kunti, though faulty, one

ought not to abandon; for, all undertakings are surrounded with evil,

as fire with smoke.

 

49. He whose reason is not attached anywhere, whose self is subdued,

from whom desire has fled, he by renunciation attains the supreme

state of freedom from action.

 

50. How he who has attained perfection reaches Brahman, that in brief

do thou learn from Me, O son of Kunti - that supreme consummation of

knowledge.

 

51. Endued with a pure reason, controlling the self with firmness,

abandoning sound and other objects and laying aside love and hatred;

 

52. Resorting to a sequestered spot, eating but little, speech and

body and mind subdued, always engaged in meditation and

concentration, endued with dispassion;

 

53. Having abandoned egotism, strength, arrogance, desire, enmity,

property, free from the notion of " mine " , and peaceful, he is fit for

becoming Brahman.

 

54. Becoming Brahman, of serene self, he neither grieves nor desires,

treating all beings alike; he attains supreme devotion to Me.

 

55. By Devotion he knows Me in truth, what and who I am; then,

knowing Me in truth, he forthwith enters into Me.

 

56. Doing continually all actions whatsoever, taking refuge in Me -

by My Grace he reaches the eternal undecaying Abode.

 

57. Mentally resigning all deeds to Me, regarding Me as the Supreme,

resorting to mental concentration, do thou ever fix thy heart in Me.

 

58. Fixing thy heart in Me, thou shalt, by My Grace, cross over all

difficulties; but if from egotism thou will not hear (Me), thou shalt

perish.

 

59. If, indulging egotism, thou thinkest 'I will not fight', vain is

this, thy resolve; nature will constrain thee.

 

60. Bound (as thou art), O son of Kunti, by thy own nature-born act,

that which from delusion thou likest not to do, thou shalt do, though

against thy will.

 

61. The Lord dwells in the hearts of all beings, O Arjuna, whirling

by Maya all beings (as if) mounted on a machine.

 

62. Fly unto Him for refuge with all thy being. O Bharata; by His

Grace shalt thou obtain supreme peace (and) the eternal resting place.

 

63. Thus has wisdom, more secret than all that is secret, been

declared to thee by Me; reflect thou over it all and act as thou

pleasest.

 

64. Hear thou again My word supreme, the most secret of all; because

thou art My firm friend, therefore will I tell thee what is good.

 

65. Fix thy thought on Me, be devoted to Me, worship Me, do homage to

Me. Thou shalt reach Myself. The truth do I declare to thee; (for)

thou art dear to Me.

 

66. Abandoning all righteous deeds, seek me as thy sole refuge; I

will liberate thee from all sins; do thou not grieve.

 

67. This (which has been taught) to thee is never to be taught to one

who is devoid of austerities, nor to one who is not devoted, nor to

one who does not do service, nor to one who speaks ill of Me.

 

68. He who with supreme devotion to Me will teach this Supreme Secret

to My devotees, shall doubtless come to Me.

 

69. Nor is there any among men who does dearer service to Me than he;

nor shall there be another on earth dearer to Me than he.

 

70. And he who will study this sacred dialogue of ours, by him I

shall have been worshipped by the sacrifice of wisdom, I deem.

 

71. And the man also who hears, full of faith and free from malice

even he, liberated, shall attain to the happy worlds of the righteous.

 

72. Has it been heard by thee, O Partha, with an attentive mind ? Has

the delusion of ignorance been destroyed, O Dhananjaya ?

 

ARJUNA SAID:

 

73. Destroyed is delusion and I have gained recognition through Thy

Grace, O Achyuta. I am firm, with doubts gone. I will do Thy word.

 

SANJAYA SAID:

 

74. Thus have I heard this wonderful dialogue between Vasudeva and

the high-souled Partha, which makes the hair stand on end.

 

75. Through the grace of Vyasa have I heard this Supreme and most

secret Yoga direct from Krishna, the Lord of Yoga, Himself declaring

it.

 

76. O King, remembering every moment this wonderful and holy dialogue

between Kesava and Arjuna, I rejoice again and again.

 

77. And remembering every moment the most wonderful Form of Hari,

great is my wonder, O king and I rejoice again and again.

 

78. Wherever is Krishna, the Lord of Yoga, wherever is Arjuna, the

archer, there fortune, victory, prosperity and polity are

established, I deem.