Bhagavad Gita - Chapter Five

Karma-yoga-Action in Kåñëa
Consciousness

Karma Sannyäsa Yoga

 Section-I – Niskama Karma Yoga is Easier than
Renouncing Work (1-6)

|| 5.1 ||
arjuna uväca
sannyäsaà karmaëäà kåñëa
punar yogaà ca çaàsasi
yac chreya etayor ekaà
tan me brühi su-niçcitam

Arjuna said: You praise both giving up action and

performing action through karma-yoga (sannyäsaà
karmaëäà kåñëa punar yogaà ca çaàsasi). Please tell me
definitely (tad me brühi su-niçcitam), which of the two is
better (yac chreya etayor ekaà).
 Baladeva

•In the fifth chapter Hari speaks of the superiority of karma over
jïäna, because of such reasons as easy performance.

•He also speaks about giving up performance of karma yoga by

one who is pure.

•In the second chapter, speaking to the person desiring

liberation, and having explained that realization of ätmä is a
cause of liberation, Kåñëa explained the necessity of niñkäma
karma as means towards that.

•In the third and fourth chapters He explained that there is no

actions for that person who has attained realization of ätmä with
yas tv ätma-ratir eva syät (3.17 ), and sarvaà karmäkhilaà pärtha
(4.33)
 Baladeva

•Finally he again advised Arjuna to perform niñkäma karma with

tasmäd ajïäna-saàbhütaà (BG 4.42). Arjuna now has a question
concerning this.

•You praise the renunciation of actions, jïäna yoga, a process for

stopping the activities of the senses. But You also speak of yoga,
performance of action, engaging the senses in action.

•It is not possible to perform both at once, because of the opposite

nature of the two, like non-moving and moving, or darkness and
light.

•I cannot understand your desire—whether one who has attained

jïäna should renounce actions or perform them. Therefore I am
asking you. Please tell me definitely which is better, renouncing
actions or engaging in actions.
 Srila Prabhupada

•In this Fifth Chapter of the Bhagavad-gétä, 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.
 Srila Prabhupada

•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, Kåñëa has perplexed Arjuna and confused
his determination.

•Arjuna understands that renunciation in knowledge

involves cessation of all kinds of work performed as
sense activities.
 Srila Prabhupada

•But if one performs work in devotional service, then how is

work stopped?

•In other words, he thinks that sannyäsa, 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.
 Section-I – Niskama Karma Yoga is Easier than
Renouncing Work (1-6)

|| 5.2 ||
çré-bhagavän uväca
sannyäsaù karma-yogaç ca
niùçreyasa-karäv ubhau
tayos tu karma-sannyäsät
karma-yogo viçiñyate

The Lord said: Both renunciation of work and karma-yoga

(sannyäsaù karma-yogaç ca ubhau) produce the highest
benefit (niùçreyasa-karäv). But of the two (tayos tu),
karma-yoga is better than renunciation of karma (karma-
sannyäsät karma-yogo viçiñyate).
 Baladeva

•Asked by Arjuna, the Lord spoke.

•Both are beneficial, since they both lead to liberation.

•But karma yoga is better than jïäna yoga (karma saànyäsät).

•The meaning is this.

•Karma yoga does not bear the same faults that arise in
practicing jïäna, but because of containing jïäna within it, it
makes jïäna steady.

•For one who has renounced action because of steadiness in

jïäna, if he develops a fault in the consciousness, he must
perform karma yoga to correct the fault.
 Baladeva

•This is the injunction of scriptures for remedying the

problem.

•Statements indicating renunciation of action say that

when one attains absorption in ätmä, then all actions
leave that person spontaneously.

•Therefore karma yoga is better because it is easier to

perform, because it is safer, and because it contains
jïäna within it.
 Srila Prabhupada

•Fruitive activities (seeking sense gratification) are

cause for material bondage.

•As long as one is engaged in activities aimed at

improving the standard of bodily comfort, one is sure
to transmigrate to different types of bodies, thereby
continuing material bondage perpetually.

•Çrémad-Bhägavatam (5.5.4-6) confirms this as

follows:
 Srila Prabhupada

"People are mad after sense gratification, and they do not know
that this present body, which is full of miseries, is a result of
one's fruitive activities in the past. Although this body is
temporary, it is always giving one trouble in many ways.
Therefore, to act for sense gratification is not good. One is
considered to be a failure in life as long as he makes no inquiry
about his real identity. As long as he does not know his real
identity, he has to work for fruitive results for sense gratification,
and as long as one is engrossed in the consciousness of sense
gratification one has to transmigrate from one body to another.
Although the mind may be engrossed in fruitive activities and
influenced by ignorance, one must develop a love for devotional
service to Väsudeva. Only then can one have the opportunity to
get out of the bondage of material existence."
 Srila Prabhupada

•Therefore, jïäna (or knowledge that one is not this material body
but spirit soul) is not sufficient for liberation.

•One has to act in the status of spirit soul, otherwise there is no

escape from material bondage.

•Action in Kåñëa consciousness is not, however, action on the

fruitive platform. Activities performed in full knowledge
strengthen one's advancement in real knowledge.

•Without Kåñëa consciousness, mere renunciation of fruitive

activities does not actually purify the heart of a conditioned soul.

•As long as the heart is not purified, one has to work on the
fruitive platform.
 Srila Prabhupada

•But action in Kåñëa consciousness automatically helps one

escape the result of fruitive action so that one need not descend
to the material platform.

•Therefore action in Kåñëa consciousness is always superior to

renunciation, which always entails a risk of falling.

•Renunciation without Kåñëa consciousness is incomplete, as is

confirmed by Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé in his Bhakti-rasämåta-
sindhu:

"When persons eager to achieve liberation renounce things

related to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, thinking them to
be material, their renunciation is called incomplete."
(präpaïcikatayä buddhyä)
 Srila Prabhupada

•Renunciation is complete when it is in the knowledge that everything

in existence belongs to the Lord and that no one should claim
proprietorship over anything.

•One should understand that, factually, nothing belongs to anyone.

Then where is the question of renunciation?

•One who knows that everything is Kåñëa's property is always

situated in renunciation.

•Since everything belongs to Kåñëa, everything should be employed

in the service of Kåñëa.

•This perfect form of action in Kåñëa consciousness is far better than

any amount of artificial renunciation by a sannyäsé of the Mäyävädé
school.
 Section-I – Niskama Karma Yoga is Easier than
Renouncing Work (1-6)

|| 5.3 ||
jïeyaù sa nitya-sannyäsé
yo na dveñöi na käìkñati
nirdvandvo hi mahä-bäho
sukhaà bandhät pramucyate

O Mighty-armed one (mahä-bäho), the person engaged in

niñkäma-karma with pure heart (sah), who is without duality
(nirdvandvah), neither hating nor desiring (yo na dveñöi na
käìkñati), is known as the constant sannyäsé (nitya-
sannyäsé jïeyaù). Easily he is freed from bondage (sukhaà
bandhät pramucyate).
 Baladeva

•Why is it better?

•This person, the karma yogé, with pure heart, is called nitya
saànyäsé.

•This means that the karma yogé is always fixed (nitya) in jïäna
yoga.

•Because he is completely satisfied with the realization of ätmä

contained within karma yoga, he does not long for or hate anything
at all.

•He tolerates the dualities.

•By being fixed in karma which is easy to perform, without effort

(sukham), he is freed from bondage.
 Srila Prabhupada

•One who is fully in Kåñëa consciousness is always a

renouncer because he feels neither hatred nor desire for the
results of his actions.

•Such a renouncer, dedicated to the transcendental loving

service of the Lord, is fully qualified in knowledge because he
knows his constitutional position in his relationship with
Kåñëa.

•He knows fully well that Kåñëa is the whole and that he is
part and parcel of Kåñëa.

•Such knowledge is perfect because it is qualitatively and

quantitatively correct.
 Srila Prabhupada

•The concept of oneness with Kåñëa is incorrect because

the part cannot be equal to the whole.

•Knowledge that one is one in quality yet different in

quantity is correct transcendental knowledge leading one
to become full in himself, having nothing to aspire to or
lament over.

•There is no duality in his mind because whatever he does,

he does for Kåñëa.

•Being thus freed from the platform of dualities, he is

liberated—even in this material world.
 Section-I – Niskama Karma Yoga is Easier than
Renouncing Work (1-6)

|| 5.4 ||
säìkhya-yogau påthag bäläù
pravadanti na paëòitäù
ekam apy ästhitaù samyag
ubhayor vindate phalam

The ignorant (bäläù) speak (pravadanti) of jïäna and

karma yoga as different (säìkhya-yogau påthag), not the
wise (na paëòitäù). Performing one of these completely
(ekam apy ästhitaù samyag), one attains the result of
both, seeing the ätmä (ubhayor vindate phalam).
 Baladeva

•Asking which of the two is better does not arise.

•The fools, not the wise men, will say that karma yoga
and jïäna yoga are different because of having
different fruits.

•Performing one, a person attains the result of both,

seeing the ätmä.
 Srila Prabhupada

•The aim of the analytical study of the material world

is to find the soul of existence.

•The soul of the material world is Viñëu, or the

Supersoul.

•Devotional service to the Lord entails service to the

Supersoul.

•One process is to find the root of the tree, and the

other is to water the root.
 Srila Prabhupada

•The real student of Säìkhya philosophy finds the root

of the material world, Viñëu, and then, in perfect
knowledge, engages himself in the service of the Lord.

•Therefore, in essence, there is no difference between

the two because the aim of both is Viñëu.

•Those who do not know the ultimate end say that the
purposes of Säìkhya and karma-yoga are not the
same, but one who is learned knows the unifying aim
in these different processes.
 Section-I – Niskama Karma Yoga is Easier than
Renouncing Work (1-6)

|| 5.5 ||
yat säìkhyaiù präpyate sthänaà
tad yogair api gamyate
ekaà säìkhyaà ca yogaà ca
yaù paçyati sa paçyati

The goal achieved by jïäna (yat säìkhyaiù präpyate

sthänaà) is the goal achieved by karma-yoga (tad yogair
api gamyate). He who sees (yaù paçyati) jïäna-yoga and
karma-yoga as one (ekaà säìkhyaà ca yogaà ca)
actually sees (sah paçyati).
 Baladeva

•This verse expands the point.

•The steady position (sthänam) of seeing ätmä, which is

attained by the jïäna yogés (säàkhyaiù), is also attained by
the karma yogés (yogaiù).

•He who knows (paçyati) that they are one because of having
one result, though the forms are different— one being
renunciation of action and the other being engagement in
action— is an observant, wise man (sa paçyati).

•The word sthänam here means “that in which they remain

situated: that position in which they do not deviate or fall.”
 Srila Prabhupada

•The real purpose of philosophical research is to find the ultimate

goal of life.

•Since the ultimate goal of life is self-realization, there is no

difference between the conclusions reached by the two
processes.

•By Säìkhya philosophical research one comes to the conclusion

that a living entity is not a part and parcel of the material world
but of the supreme spirit whole.

•Consequently, the spirit soul has nothing to do with the material

world; his actions must be in some relation with the Supreme.
When he acts in Kåñëa consciousness, he is actually in his
constitutional position
 Srila Prabhupada

•In the first process, Säìkhya, one has to become detached

from matter, and in the devotional yoga process one has
to attach himself to the work of Kåñëa consciousness.

•Factually, both processes are the same, although

superficially one process appears to involve detachment
and the other process appears to involve attachment.

•Detachment from matter and attachment to Kåñëa are

one and the same.

•One who can see this sees things as they are.

 Section-I – Niskama Karma Yoga is Easier than
Renouncing Work (1-6)

|| 5.6 ||
sannyäsas tu mahä-bäho
duùkham äptum ayogataù
yoga-yukto munir brahma
na cireëädhigacchati

Renunciation is difficult to attain (sannyäsas tu

duùkham äptum) without karma yoga (ayogataù). The
jïäné engaged in karma yoga (yoga-yukto munih) quickly
attains brahman (brahma na cireëa adhigacchati).
 SVCT

•Sannyäsa gives suffering for the jïäné who cannot fix

complete purity in his heart.

•Karma-yoga however gives pleasure.

•The intended meaning of what was spoken earlier is

made clear.

•Because of not performing karma-yoga which can

pacify the disturbance of the heart, sannyäsa may
give rise to suffering, if it is accepted without proper
qualification.
 SVCT

•Thus it is said by the writers of the Värtikä

“One sees sannyäsés who are absorbed in sense

gratification, with evil minds, fond of arguing, who are
contaminated shelters of spiritual life.”

•The personified Vedas also says:

yadi na samuddharanti yatayo hådi käma-jaöä

Members of the renounced order who fail to uproot the

last traces of material desire in their hearts remain
impure, and thus You do not allow them to understand
You. SB 10.87.39
 SVCT

•Bhägavatam also says:

yas tv asaàyata-ñaò-vargaù pracaëòendriya-särathiù
jïäna-vairägya-rahitas tri-daëòam upajévati
surän ätmänam ätma-sthaà nihnute mäà ca dharma-hä
avipakva-kañäyo ’smäd amuñmäc ca vihéyate

One who has not controlled the six forms of illusion, lust, anger, greed,
excitement, false pride and intoxication, whose intelligence, the leader
of the senses, is extremely attached to material things, who is bereft of
knowledge and detachment, who adopts the sannyäsa order of life to
make a living, who denies the worshipable demigods, his own self and
the Supreme Lord within himself, thus ruining all religious principles,
and who is still infected by material contamination, is deviated and lost
both in this life and the next. SB 11.18.40

•Therefore, the jïäné (muniù) engaging in niñkäma-karma-yoga (yoga-

yuktaù) quickly attains Brahman.
 Srila Prabhupada

•There are two classes of sannyäsés, or persons in the

renounced order of life.

•The Mäyävädé sannyäsés are engaged in the study of Säìkhya

philosophy, whereas the Vaiñëava sannyäsés are engaged in
the study of Bhägavatam philosophy, which affords the proper
commentary on the Vedänta-sütras. The Mäyävädé sannyäsés
also study the Vedänta-sütras, but use their own commentary,
called Çäréraka-bhäñya, written by Çaìkaräcärya.

•The students of the Bhägavata school are engaged in the

devotional service of the Lord, according to päïcarätriké
regulations, and therefore the Vaiñëava sannyäsés have
multiple engagements in the transcendental service of the Lord.
 Srila Prabhupada

•The Vaiñëava sannyäsés have nothing to do with material

activities, and yet they perform various activities in their
devotional service to the Lord.

•But the Mäyävädé sannyäsés, engaged in the studies of Säìkhya

and Vedänta and speculation, cannot relish the transcendental
service of the Lord.

•Because their studies become very tedious, they sometimes

become tired of Brahman speculation, and thus they take shelter
of the Bhägavatam without proper understanding.

•Consequently their study of the Çrémad-Bhägavatam becomes

troublesome. Dry speculations and impersonal interpretations by
artificial means are all useless for the Mäyävädé sannyäsés.
 Srila Prabhupada

•The Vaiñëava sannyäsés, who are engaged in devotional

service, are happy in the discharge of their transcendental
duties, and they have the guarantee of ultimate entrance into
the kingdom of God.

•The Mäyävädé sannyäsés sometimes fall down from the path of

self-realization and again enter into material activities of a
philanthropic and altruistic nature, which are nothing but
material engagements.

•Therefore, the conclusion is that those who are engaged in

Kåñëa conscious activities are better situated than the
sannyäsés engaged in simple speculation about what is
Brahman and what is not Brahman, although they too come to
Kåñëa consciousness, after many births.
 Section-II – The Performance of Niskama Karma
Yoga (7-12)

|| 5.7 ||
yoga-yukto viçuddhätmä
vijitätmä jitendriyaù
sarva-bhütätma-bhütätmä
kurvann api na lipyate

One engaged in karma yoga (yoga-yuktah), gaining

controlled intelligence (viçuddhätmä), mind and senses
(vijitätmä jitendriyaù), the object of love for all living
entities (sarva-bhütätma-bhütätmä), though working
(kurvann api), is not contaminated (na lipyate).
 Baladeva

•Such a person aspiring for liberation is the best among all

people.

•The person engaged in niñkäma karma yoga (yoga yuktaù)

consequently having uncontaminated intelligence
(viçuddhätmä), controlled mind (vijitätmä), and controlled senses
– senses devoid of attraction to sense objects such as sound, and
consequently whose body (ätmä) becomes the object of love
(ätmä bhüta) for all jévas (sarva bhüta), is not contaminated by
work.

•Even performing actions, in this manner, he is not contaminated

by thinking of the self as a material thing, because of his quest
for the individual ätmä. Quickly he will attain the ätmä. Therefore
karma yoga is better.
 SVCT

•The jïäné by performing karma is not contaminated.

•That is stated in this verse.

•The jïänés engaged in karma-yoga are of three types: those who

have controlled their intelligence (viçuddhätmä), those who have
controlled their minds (vijitätmä), and those who have controlled
their senses (jitendriyaù).

•The order of superiority is from last to first: having controlled

intelligence is the best.

•All jévas are attracted to such a gåhastha. His body (ätmä)

becomes the object of love (ätma-bhüta) for all living entities
(sarva-bhüta).
 Srila Prabhupada

•One who is on the path of liberation by Kåñëa consciousness is very

dear to every living being, and every living being is dear to him. This
is due to his Kåñëa consciousness.

•Such a person cannot think of any living being as separate from

Kåñëa, just as the leaves and branches of a tree are not separate
from the tree.

•He knows very well that by pouring water on the root of the tree, the
water will be distributed to all the leaves and branches, or by
supplying food to the stomach, the energy is automatically
distributed throughout the body.

•Because one who works in Kåñëa consciousness is servant to all, he

is very dear to everyone. And because everyone is satisfied by his
work, he is pure in consciousness.
 Srila Prabhupada

•Because he is pure in consciousness, his mind is completely

controlled.

•And because his mind is controlled, his senses are also

controlled. Because his mind is always fixed on Kåñëa, there is
no chance of his being deviated from Kåñëa.

•Nor is there a chance that he will engage his senses in matters

other than the service of the Lord.

•He does not like to hear anything except topics relating to

Kåñëa; he does not like to eat anything which is not offered to
Kåñëa; and he does not wish to go anywhere if Kåñëa is not
involved. Therefore, his senses are controlled. A man of
controlled senses cannot be offensive to anyone.
 Srila Prabhupada

•One may ask, "Why then was Arjuna offensive (in battle) to others?
Wasn't he in Kåñëa consciousness?"

•Arjuna was only superficially offensive because (as has already been
explained in the Second Chapter) all the assembled persons on the
battlefield would continue to live individually, as the soul cannot be
slain.

•So, spiritually, no one was killed on the Battlefield of Kurukñetra.

Only their dresses were changed by the order of Kåñëa, who was
personally present.

•Therefore Arjuna, while fighting on the Battlefield of Kurukñetra, was

not really fighting at all; he was simply carrying out the orders of
Kåñëa in full Kåñëa consciousness. Such a person is never entangled
in the reactions of work.
 Section-II – The Performance of Niskama Karma Yoga (7-12)

|| 5.8-9 ||
naiva kiïcit karométi yukto manyeta tattva-vit
paçyaï çåëvan spåçaï jighrann açnan gacchan svapan çvasan

pralapan visåjan gåhëann unmiñan nimiñann api

indriyäëéndriyärtheñu vartanta iti dhärayan

The person engaged in karma-yoga (yuktah), having knowledge (tattva-vit),

understanding that the senses alone are interacting with the sense objects
(indriyäëi indriyärtheñu vartanta iti dhärayan) while he is seeing, hearing,
touching, smelling, eating (paçyaï çåëvan spåçaï jighrann açnan) [Note: These
are the actions of the jïäna indriya.], going, sleeping, breathing (gacchan svapan
çvasan), speaking, excreting (through genital or anus), receiving (pralapan
visåjan gåhëann) [Note: These are the actions of the karma indriya, except for
sleep and breathing, which are activities governed by the präëas. Opening and
closing eyes are representative of the five secondary präëas. This is Rämänuja’s
opinion. Madhusüdana Sarasvaté says sleeping is the function of the mind.],
opening and closing the eyes (unmiñan nimiñann api), thinks, “I am doing
nothing at all. (naiva kiïcit karométi manyeta)”
 Baladeva

•In this verse the Lord instructs that the pure ätmä is not the
doer of actions, which depend on the five factors, namely the
body, senses, präëas, ego and fate (karma).

•The niñkäma karma yogé (yuktaù), even though performing

actions such as seeing, from the combination of body, senses,
präëas, ahaàkära and karma arising from pradhäna, realizes
the true nature of individual ätmä (tattva vit).

•Thus he is convinced that the senses such as eye relate to the

sense object such as form by the influence of the Lord
according to the individual’s previous impressions.

•He consequently thinks, “I am not doing anything at all.”

 Baladeva

•Seeing by the eye, hearing by the ear, touching by the skin,

smelling by the nose, and tasting by the tongue are the actions
of the knowledge senses (jïänendriya).

•Going by the feet, talking by the voice, excretion by the anus

and genital and grasping by the hand are understood to be the
action senses (karmendriya).

•Breathing represents the actions of the five major präëas.

Opening and closing the eyes indicates the functions of the five
secondary präëas.

•Sleeping indicates the actions of the internal organs (antaù

karaëa). [Note: Baladeva has used the plural for antaùkaraëa,
perhaps meaning, mind, intellect and false ego.]
 Baladeva

•I am only engaged in relishing the ätmä.

•The causes of actions are only the material elements such as

body and senses arising from pradhäna, in turn caused by my
beginningless material impressions (väsanä).

•The cause is not due only to my essential nature.

•However it is not possible to claim that there is no doership at

all for the ätmä in its essential nature, because ätmä itself is
defined by its power of ascertainment and contemplation
(implying doership).

•These elements are jïäna, and that jïäna is eternally part of the
ätmä.
 Baladeva

•The çruti thus says:

na hi vijïätur vijïäter vipariläpo vidyate

Knowing cannot be separated from the knower,

because of being imperishable. Brhad Äraëyaka
Upaniñad 4.3.30

•Moreover it is said that knowledge also is

accomplished by the influence of the Lord as well as
the capacity of the ätmä to know: hariëä dharma-
bhütena jïänena ca.
 Srila Prabhupada

•A person in Kåñëa consciousness is pure in his existence, and

consequently he has nothing to do with any work which depends
upon five immediate and remote causes: the doer, the work, the
situation, the endeavor and fortune.

•This is because he is engaged in the loving transcendental

service of Kåñëa.

•Although he appears to be acting with his body and senses, he is

always conscious of his actual position, which is spiritual
engagement.

•In material consciousness, the senses are engaged in sense

gratification, but in Kåñëa consciousness the senses are engaged
in the satisfaction of Kåñëa's senses.
 Srila Prabhupada

•Therefore, the Kåñëa conscious person is always free,

even though he appears to be engaged in affairs of the
senses.

•Activities such as seeing and hearing are actions of the

senses meant for receiving knowledge, whereas moving,
speaking, evacuating, etc., are actions of the senses
meant for work.

•A Kåñëa conscious person is never affected by the

actions of the senses. He cannot perform any act except
in the service of the Lord because he knows that he is the
eternal servitor of the Lord.
 Section-II – The Performance of Niskama Karma Yoga (7-12)

|| 5.10 ||
brahmaëy ädhäya karmäëi
saìgaà tyaktvä karoti yaù
lipyate na sa päpena
padma-patram ivämbhasä

He who (yaù), giving up attachment (saìgaà tyaktvä), offers his

actions to the Supreme Lord (brahmaëy ädhäya karmäëi), is not
contaminated by sin in those actions (lipyate na sa päpena), just as a
lotus leaf is not touched by water (padma-patram iva ambhasä).

He who (yaù), giving up attachment and material identification (saìgaà

tyaktvä), consigning his actions to the material energy (brahmaëy
ädhäya karmäëi), is not contaminated by sin in those actions (lipyate
na sa päpena), just as a lotus leaf is not touched by water (padma-
patram iva ambhasä).
 SVCT

•Moreover, he who, offering all his actions unto Me,

the Supreme Lord (brahmaëi), giving up attachment
to actions, giving up false identification of “I am doing
it”, performs actions, is not contaminated at all by any
actions, of which some could be sinful.

•Päpena here represents all actions, not just sinful

ones. [Note: Puëya is also contaminating.]
 Baladeva

•This verse elaborates the point.

•The word brahman here indicates the material

pradhäna composed of three guëas, for it is said
tasmäd etad brahma-näma-rüpam annaà ca jäyate:
this Brahman gives birth to food. (Muëòaka Upaniñad
1.2.10)

•Also the Lord Himself will say in the Gétä mama yonir
mahad brahma: the material energy is my womb.
(BG14.3)
 Baladeva

•He attributes activities such as seeing, to the

transformations of pradhäna in the form of body, senses,
präëas, ego and fate, not thinking that these activities are
part of his pure ätmä.

•He renounces desires for results and gives up the thought of

being the doer (saìgam tvaktvä).

•He, endowed with body and senses, thus performs activities,

but is not contaminated with sin, with the thought of the self
being the body.

•He is like a lotus leaf touched by water which is sprinkled on

it but rolls off.
 Baladeva

•Brahmaëi should not be interpreted here as the

paramätmä as was stated in a previous verse mayi
saànyasya karmäëi (BG 3.30)

•This is because it has just been stated in the previous

verse that the doership belongs to the body and
senses of the jéva arising from pradhäna, and not to
the individual ätmä.
 Srila Prabhupada

•Here brahmaëi means in Kåñëa consciousness.

•The material world is a sum total manifestation of the three

modes of material nature, technically called the pradhäna.

•The Vedic hymns sarvaà hy etad brahma (Mäëòükya

Upaniñad 2), tasmäd etad brahma näma rüpam annaà ca
jäyate (Muëòaka Upaniñad 1.1.9), and, in the Bhagavad-gétä
(14.3), mama yonir mahad brahma indicate that everything in
the material world is a manifestation of Brahman; and
although the effects are differently manifested, they are
nondifferent from the cause. In the Éçopaniñad it is said that
everything is related to the Supreme Brahman, or Kåñëa, and
thus everything belongs to Him only.
 Srila Prabhupada

•One who knows perfectly well that everything belongs to

Kåñëa—that He is the proprietor of everything and that,
therefore, everything is to be engaged in the service of
the Lord—naturally has nothing to do with the results of
his activities, whether virtuous or sinful.

•Even one's material body, being a gift of the Lord for

carrying out a particular type of action, can be engaged in
Kåñëa consciousness.

•It is then beyond contamination by sinful reactions,

exactly as the lotus leaf, though remaining in the water,
is not wet.
 Srila Prabhupada

•The Lord also says in the Gétä (3.30), mayi sarväëi

karmäëi sannyasya: "Resign all works unto Me
[Kåñëa]."

•The conclusion is that a person without Kåñëa

consciousness acts according to the concept of the
material body and senses, but a person in Kåñëa
consciousness acts according to the knowledge that
the body is the property of Kåñëa and should
therefore be engaged in the service of Kåñëa.
 Section-II – The Performance of Niskama Karma Yoga (7-12)

|| 5.11 ||
käyena manasä buddhyä
kevalair indriyair api
yoginaù karma kurvanti
saìgaà tyaktvätma-çuddhaye

The karma-yogés perform action (yoginaù karma kurvanti), giving

up attachment to results (saìgaà tyaktvä), for purification of the mind
(ätma-çuddhaye), using voice, mind, intelligence (käyena manasä
buddhyä) or even the senses alone (kevalair indriyair api).

The karma yogés perform action (yoginaù karma kurvanti), while

giving up attachment to results (saìgaà tyaktvä), using body, mind,
intelligence (käyena manasä buddhyä) and pure senses (kevalair
indriyair api) for extinguishing false identification (ätma-çuddhaye).
 SVCT

•The karma-yogés perform actions using the body,

mind, intelligence and even the senses alone, while
giving up attachment, for purification of the mind
(ätma-çuddhaye).

•At the time of making offerings of oblations using the

senses, the mind may wander.

•This is the manner in which only the senses are

employed (kevalaiù indriyair api).
 Baladeva

•He further explains this by testifying that it standard

conduct.

•The yogés perform activities using the body, mind and

intelligence, while being devoid of identification with those
instruments.

•Kevalaiù here indicates “very pure.”

•They perform these acts, having given up the desire for

results and the concept of being the doer (saìgam tvaktvä as
in the previous verse), in order to extinguish the
beginningless identification with the material body and
senses (ätmä çuddhaye).
 Srila Prabhupada

•Çré Rüpa Gosvämé in his Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu

(1.2.187) describes this as follows:
"A person acting in Kåñëa consciousness (or, in other
words, in the service of Kåñëa) with his body, mind,
intelligence and words is a liberated person even within
the material world, although he may be engaged in many
so-called material activities." (éhä yasya harer däsye)

•He has no false ego, for he does not believe that he is this
material body, or that he possesses the body.

•He knows that he is not this body and that this body does
not belong to him.
 Srila Prabhupada

•He himself belongs to Kåñëa, and the body too

belongs to Kåñëa.

•When he applies everything produced of the body,

mind, intelligence, words, life, wealth, etc.—whatever
he may have within his possession—to Kåñëa's
service, he is at once dovetailed with Kåñëa.

•He is one with Kåñëa and is devoid of the false ego

that leads one to believe that he is the body, etc.

•This is the perfect stage of Kåñëa consciousness.

 Section-II – The Performance of Niskama Karma Yoga (7-12)

|| 5.12 ||
yuktaù karma-phalaà tyaktvä
çäntim äpnoti naiñöhikém
ayuktaù käma-käreëa
phale sakto nibadhyate

He who is engaged in karma-yoga (yuktaù) while giving up the results

(karma-phalaà tyaktvä) attains liberation (naiñöhikém çäntim äpnoti).
One not engaged in karma-yoga (ayuktaù), being attached to the results
(phale saktah) out of lust (käma-käreëa), becomes bound up
(nibadhyate).

He who engages his mind in ätmä (yuktaù), giving up the results of work
(karma-phalaà tyaktvä), attains vision of ätmä (naiñöhikém çäntim
äpnoti). The person not engaging his mind in ätmä (ayuktaù), being
attached to the results (phale saktah) out of lust (käma-käreëa), takes
repeated birth and death (nibadhyate).
 SVCT

•Performing action with no attachment leads to

liberation and performing action with attachment
leads to bondage.

•The performer of karma-yoga (yuktaù) attains steady

peace (naiñöhikém çäntim).

•This means he attains liberation.

•The karmé with desires (ayuktaù), who is attached to

the results, due to performing actions out of lust
(käma-käreëa), becomes bound.
 Baladeva

•The person with mind absorbed in ätmä (yuktaù),

having given up the results of work in his performing
activities, attains steady (naiñöhikém) peace (çäntim)
in the form of seeing ätmä.

•One who does not engage his mind in ätmä

(ayuktaù), who is attached to the results of work
(phale saktaù), takes repeated birth and death
(nibadhyate) by performing actions out of lust (käma
käreëa).
 Srila Prabhupada

•The difference between a person in Kåñëa consciousness and a

person in bodily consciousness is that the former is attached to
Kåñëa whereas the latter is attached to the results of his
activities.

•The person who is attached to Kåñëa and works for Him only is
certainly a liberated person, and he has no anxiety over the
results of his work.

•In the Bhägavatam, the cause of anxiety over the result of an

activity is explained as being one's functioning in the conception
of duality, that is, without knowledge of the Absolute Truth.

•Kåñëa is the Supreme Absolute Truth, the Personality of

Godhead. In Kåñëa consciousness, there is no duality.
 Srila Prabhupada

•All that exists is a product of Kåñëa's energy, and Kåñëa is all

good.

•Therefore, activities in Kåñëa consciousness are on the absolute

plane; they are transcendental and have no material effect.

•One is therefore filled with peace in Kåñëa consciousness.

•But one who is entangled in profit calculation for sense

gratification cannot have that peace.

•This is the secret of Kåñëa consciousness-realization that there

is no existence besides Kåñëa is the platform of peace and
fearlessness.
 Section-III – Knowledge of the Three Doers (13-16)

|| 5.13 ||
sarva-karmäëi manasä
sannyasyäste sukhaà vaçé
nava-dväre pure dehé
naiva kurvan na kärayan

Offering all the activities into pradhäna (sarva-karmäëi

sannyasya) by the mind (manasä), while engaging in those
activities and controlling the senses (äste), the jéva with
knowledge of ätmä (dehé) remains comfortable (sukhaà
vaçé) in the body which is a city with nine gates (nava-dväre
pure). He knows that he does nothing (naiva kurvan), nor
causes anyone else to do anything (na kärayan).
 Baladeva

•Though performing activities externally with the body and

senses, having offered (saànyasya) all activities into that
pradhäna with the discriminating mind, being in control of his
senses (vaçi), he remains happy.

•The body is like a city with nine gates. Seven gates consisting of
two eyes, two nostrils, two ears and mouth, are in the head.

•Two gates, the anus and genital are in the lower part of the
body.

•The dehé, the jéva who has attained knowledge, understands

that the ätmä, separate from the body (on its own), is not the
doer or the cause of anyone else doing anything.
 Srila Prabhupada

•The embodied soul lives in the city of nine gates.

•The activities of the body, or the figurative city of the body, are
conducted automatically by its particular modes of nature.

•The soul, although subjecting himself to the conditions of the body,

can be beyond those conditions, if he so desires.

•Owing only to forgetfulness of his superior nature, he identifies with

the material body, and therefore suffers.

•By Kåñëa consciousness, he can revive his real position and thus
come out of his embodiment.

•Therefore, when one takes to Kåñëa consciousness, one at once

becomes completely aloof from bodily activities.
 Srila Prabhupada

•In such a controlled life, in which his deliberations are changed,

he lives happily within the city of nine gates.

•The nine gates are mentioned as follows:

"The Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is living within the
body of a living entity, is the controller of all living entities all
over the universe. The body consists of nine gates [two eyes, two
nostrils, two ears, one mouth, the anus and the genitals]. The
living entity in his conditioned stage identifies himself with the
body, but when he identifies himself with the Lord within himself,
he becomes just as free as the Lord, even while in the body."
(Çvetäçvatara Upaniñad 3.18)

•Therefore, a Kåñëa conscious person is free from both the outer

and inner activities of the material body.
 Section-III – Knowledge of the Three Doers (13-16)

|| 5.14 ||
na kartåtvaà na karmäëi
lokasya såjati prabhuù
na karma-phala-saàyogaà
svabhävas tu pravartate

The Lord does not create (prabhuù na såjati) doership of the jéva
(lokasya karmäëi kartåtvaà) nor does He force the results of action
on the jéva (na karma-phala-saàyogaà). This takes place by the
jéva’s nature (svabhävas tu pravartate).

The jéva does not create his own capacity as agent (prabhuù na
såjati), nor does he cause others to act (lokasya karmäëi kartåtvaà),
nor does he bestow the results of action (na karma-phala-saàyogaà).
This takes place by svabhäva (svabhävas tu pravartate).
 SVCT
•“Well if the jéva is actually not the doer of activities, then, from
seeing the jéva doing and enjoying everywhere in the universe
created by the Supreme Lord, I think that the Lord has created the
jéva’s (illusory) doership and enjoying, forcing it upon the jéva.
Therefore, injustice and cruelty must be present in the Lord.”

•No, that is not true at all.

•He does not make the jéva do activities nor does He give the jéva
the results of his activities.

•Rather the nature of the jéva in the form of his beginningless

ignorance alone produces this.

•That ignorance makes the jéva assume the false identification as

the doer.
 Baladeva

•In this verse the Lord explains how the jéva with ätmä jïäna
does not perform action or cause anyone to act.

•The master of the sense and body, the jéva (prabhuù), does
not become an agent who makes other people perform action
(kartåtvam), saying “You do that.”

•Nor does he perform most desirable actions for himself, such

as making garlands or cloth.

•He himself is not the doer. Nor does he create a relationship

(saàyogam) with the results of action, with happiness and
distress: he does not become the enjoyer of results, nor does
he cause others to enjoy the results.
 Baladeva

•Then who should we conclude acts or makes others act? It takes

place by svabhäva.

•The jéva, in possessing the body and senses arising from previously
described pradhäna, by the impressions arising in pradhäna with no
beginning(svabhäva), becomes the doer and cause of others acting.
The jéva as an isolated entity is not the doer.

•The slight doership attributed to the jéva even in its pure state,
described in the previous verse with the words sukham aste, should
be understood as arising in such things as perception or knowledge
alone.

•In this verse the impressions are said to be the doer, taking the
chief import of the word.
 Srila Prabhupada

•The living entity, as will be explained in the Seventh Chapter, is

one of the energies or natures of the Supreme Lord but is distinct
from matter, which is another nature—called inferior—of the
Lord.

•Somehow the superior nature, the living entity, has been in

contact with material nature since time immemorial.

•The temporary body or material dwelling place which he obtains

is the cause of varieties of activities and their resultant reactions.

•Living in such a conditional atmosphere, one suffers the results

of the activities of the body by identifying himself (in ignorance)
with the body. It is ignorance acquired from time immemorial
that is the cause of bodily suffering and distress.
 Srila Prabhupada

•As soon as the living entity becomes aloof from the activities of
the body, he becomes free from the reactions as well.

•As long as he is in the city of body, he appears to be the master

of it, but actually he is neither its proprietor nor controller of its
actions and reactions.

•He is simply in the midst of the material ocean, struggling for

existence.

•The waves of the ocean are tossing him, and he has no control
over them.

•His best solution is to get out of the water by transcendental

Kåñëa consciousness. That alone will save him from all turmoil.
 Section-III – Knowledge of the Three Doers (13-16)

|| 5.15 ||
nädatte kasyacit päpaà
na caiva sukåtaà vibhuù
ajïänenävåtaà jïänaà
tena muhyanti jantavaù

The Lord (vibhuù) is not responsible for the sinful or pious

acts of the jévas (nädatte kasyacit päpaà na caiva
sukåtaà). The jévas knowledge is covered by their hostility
to the Lord (ajïänena ävåtaà jïänaà). Thus the living
entities are bewildered by that ignorance and blame the
Lord (tena muhyanti jantavaù).
 Baladeva

•“But if you say that the pure jéva is not the doer, then one must
conclude that the paramätmä, out of some impulse of amusement,
forcing pradhäna down the jévas throat, created him with body and
senses which are transformations of pradhäna. This is justified.

•The çruti confirms:

eña u hy eva sädhu karma kärayati taà yam ebhyo

lokebhya unninéñate
eña u eväsädhu karma kärayati taà yam adho ninéñate.

The Lord engages the living entity in pious activities whom he

desires to elevate from these worlds. The Lord engages him in
impious activities whom he desires to degrade. Kauñétaké
Upaniñad 3.8
 Baladeva

•The småti also criticizes the Lord:

ajïo jantur anéço’yam ätmanaù sukha-duùkhayoù
éçvara-prerito gacchet svargaà väçv abhram eva ca

The ignorant living entity is completely powerless in regards to

attaining his distress and happiness. Impelled by the Supreme
Lord he will go to heaven, or the sky. Mahäbhärata 3.31.273
[Note: The Mahäbhärata verse is almost the same as that
quoted.]

•Therefore the Lord leads the jéva into states of sin and piety.

• In being the instigator, the Lord must therefore have the

quality of injustice and must be blamed for the sins of the jéva.”
 Baladeva

•This verse answers that accusation.

•The Supreme Lord (vibhuù), full of immeasurable bliss

and knowledge, and full of unlimited energies, enjoying
His own bliss, and being indifferent to all else, simply
engages the jéva in activity according to the jéva’s
impressions—a jéva who desiring to enjoy, bound up by
beginningless impressions in the pradhäna, takes a body
made of a transformation of pradhäna just by proximity
to the Lord.

•Therefore, the Lord does not receive any sinful or pious

reaction for any jéva’s actions.
 Baladeva

•The Viñëu Puräëa says:

yathä sannidhi-mätreëa gandhaù kñobhäya jäyate
manaso nopakartåtvät tathäsau parameçvaraù
sannidhänäd yathäkäça-kälädyäù käraëaà taroù
tathaiväpariëämena viçvasya bhagavän hariù

Smell brings about disturbance to the mind by proximity with

the mind, not because of doing anything. In the same way the
Supreme Lord also acts in relation to the living entities
without thoughts of disturbing them. Just as by proximity,
ether and time are causes of a tree without their undergoing
transformation, so Bhagavän is the cause of the universe
without His undergoing contact or transformation. Viñëu
Puräëa 1.2.30-1
 Baladeva

•The example of fragrance is given to illustrate the neutral position of the Lord,
but this does not mean that the Lord does not have desire in creating, for the
çruti also says :

so’kämayata

The Lord desired. Båhad Äraëyaka Upaniñad 1.2.4

•But then why do the jévas accuse the Lord of injustice?

•This is explained in the next line of the verse.

•The knowledge of the jéva, though eternal, disappears from view (ävåtam) due
to the jéva’s hostility to the Lord without beginning (ajïänena).

• Because of this (tena), the jévas (jantuh) are bewildered.

•The Lord is just, but the ignorant people, not the wise, say that the Lord is
unjust.
 Baladeva

•The author of the Vedänta Sütras says :

vaiñamya-nairghåëye na säpekñatvät tathä hi

darçayati

The Lord has no injustice or hatred. Rather he is favorable to

the jévas. The sciptures declare this. Vedänta Sütra 2.1.35

na karmävibhägäd iti cen nänäditvät

You cannot say the Lord is just, because He gives them

different karmas to each jéva at the beginning. But that is
not so, because karma is without a beginning. Vedänta
Sütra 2.1.36
 Srila Prabhupada

•The Sanskrit word vibhu means the Supreme Lord who is full of
unlimited knowledge, riches, strength, fame, beauty and
renunciation.

•He is always satisfied in Himself, undisturbed by sinful or pious

activities.

•He does not create a particular situation for any living entity, but
the living entity, bewildered by ignorance, desires to be put into
certain conditions of life, and thereby his chain of action and
reaction begins.

•A living entity is, by superior nature, full of knowledge.

•Nevertheless, he is prone to be influenced by ignorance due to his

limited power.
 Srila Prabhupada

•The Lord is omnipotent, but the living entity is not.

•The Lord is vibhu, or omniscient, but the living entity is aëu, or atomic.

•Because he is a living soul, he has the capacity to desire by his free

will.

•Such desire is fulfilled only by the omnipotent Lord.

•And so, when the living entity is bewildered in his desires, the Lord
allows him to fulfill those desires, but the Lord is never responsible for
the actions and reactions of the particular situation which may be
desired.

•Being in a bewildered condition, therefore, the embodied soul identifies

himself with the circumstantial material body and becomes subjected to
the temporary misery and happiness of life.
 Srila Prabhupada

•The Lord is the constant companion of the living entity as Paramätmä, or

the Supersoul, and therefore He can understand the desires of the
individual soul, as one can smell the flavor of a flower by being near it.

•Desire is a subtle form of conditioning for the living entity.

•The Lord fulfills his desire as he deserves: Man proposes and God disposes.

•The individual is not, therefore, omnipotent in fulfilling his desires.

•The Lord, however, can fulfill all desires, and the Lord, being neutral to
everyone, does not interfere with the desires of the minute independent
living entities.

•However, when one desires Kåñëa, the Lord takes special care and
encourages one to desire in such a way that one can attain to Him and be
eternally happy.
 Srila Prabhupada

•The Vedic hymns therefore declare, "The Lord

engages the living entity in pious activities so that he
may be elevated. The Lord engages him in impious
activities so that he may go to hell." (Kauñétaké
Upaniñad 3.8)

•Similarly, the Mahäbhärata (Vana-parva 31.27) states

"The living entity is completely dependent in his

distress and happiness. By the will of the Supreme he
can go to heaven or hell, as a cloud is driven by the
air."
 Srila Prabhupada

•Therefore the embodied soul, by his immemorial desire to

avoid Kåñëa consciousness, causes his own bewilderment.

•Consequently, although he is constitutionally eternal, blissful

and cognizant, due to the littleness of his existence he forgets
his constitutional position of service to the Lord and is thus
entrapped by nescience.

•And, under the spell of ignorance, the living entity claims that
the Lord is responsible for his conditional existence.

•The Vedänta-sütras (2.1.34) also confirm this. Vaiñamya-

nairghåëye na säpekñatvät tathä hi darçayati: "The Lord
neither hates nor likes anyone, though He appears to."
Section-III – Knowledge of the Three Doers (13-16)

|| 5.16 ||
jïänena tu tad ajïänaà
yeñäà näçitam ätmanaù
teñäm äditya-vaj jïänaà
prakäçayati tat param

When the jéva’s knowledge destroys ignorance (yeñäà

ätmanaù jïänena tu tad ajïänaà näçitam), that
knowledge, like the sun (teñäm äditya-vaj jïänaà),
reveals the Supreme Lord and the jéva (prakäçayati
tat param).
 Baladeva

•But those with realization do not become bewildered.

•The greatness of knowledge of ätmä and paramätmä, attained by

the mercy of an authorized guru, has been stated in verses such as
sarvaà jïäna-plavenaiva (BG 4.36), jïänägniù sarva-karmäëi (BG 4.37),
and na hi jïänena sadåçaà (BG 4.38).

•Those who associate with saintly persons have their ignorance, which
is opposed to knowledge, destroyed by that knowledge of ätmä and
paramätmä.

•Their knowledge then reveals what is param.

•Param indicates the Supreme Lord because he is above (param)

unequal treatment of the jévas. It can refer to the jéva because he is
above (param) the material body and senses.
 Baladeva

•Just as the sun on rising destroys darkness and

reveals objects, knowledge of ätmä attained through
instructions of the authorized guru reveals the real
object known as ätmä.

•The plural case (yeñäm.. teñäm) is used here by the

Lord to indicate that even in the liberated state the
jévas remain in abundance.

•The present statement and the Lord’s instruction in

the beginning: neme janädhipäù confirm each other.
 Srila Prabhupada

•Those who have forgotten Kåñëa must certainly be bewildered, but

those who are in Kåñëa consciousness are not bewildered at all.

•It is stated in the Bhagavad-gétä, sarvaà jïäna-plavena, jïänägniù

sarva-karmäëi and na hi jïänena sadåçam. Knowledge is always
highly esteemed.

•And what is that knowledge? Perfect knowledge is achieved when

one surrenders unto Kåñëa, as is said in the Seventh Chapter, 19th
verse: bahünäà janmanäm ante jïänavän mäà prapadyate.

•After passing through many, many births, when one perfect in

knowledge surrenders unto Kåñëa, or when one attains Kåñëa
consciousness, then everything is revealed to him, as everything is
revealed by the sun in the daytime.
 Srila Prabhupada

•The living entity is bewildered in so many ways.

•For instance, when he unceremoniously thinks himself God, he

actually falls into the last snare of nescience.

•If a living entity is God, then how can he become bewildered by

nescience? Does God become bewildered by nescience? If so, then
nescience, or Satan, is greater than God.

•Real knowledge can be obtained from a person who is in perfect

Kåñëa consciousness.

•Therefore, one has to seek out such a bona fide spiritual master
and, under him, learn what Kåñëa consciousness is, for Kåñëa
consciousness will certainly drive away all nescience, as the sun
drives away darkness.
 Srila Prabhupada

•Even though a person may be in full knowledge that he is not

this body but is transcendental to the body, he still may not be
able to discriminate between the soul and the Supersoul.

•However, he can know everything well if he cares to take

shelter of the perfect, bona fide Kåñëa conscious spiritual
master.

•One can know God and one's relationship with God only when
one actually meets a representative of God.

•A representative of God never claims that he is God, although

he is paid all the respect ordinarily paid to God because he has
knowledge of God.
 Srila Prabhupada

•One has to learn the distinction between God and the living entity.

•Lord Çré Kåñëa therefore stated in the Second Chapter (2.12) that
every living being is individual and that the Lord also is individual.

•They were all individuals in the past, they are individuals at

present, and they will continue to be individuals in the future, even
after liberation.

•At night we see everything as one in the darkness, but in daytime,

when the sun is up, we see everything in its real identity.

•Identity with individuality in spiritual life is real knowledge.

 Section-IV – Liberation: Focussing on the Supersoul (17-26)

|| 5.17 ||
tad-buddhayas tad-ätmänas
tan-niñöhäs tat-paräyaëäù
gacchanty apunar-ävåttià
jïäna-nirdhüta-kalmañäù

Those whose intellect, mind (tad-buddhayas tad-ätmänah) and faith are

fixed on Me, Paramätmä (tan-niñöhäh), who are absorbed in glorifying and
serving Me (tat-paräyaëäù), being washed of all ignorance by knowledge
(jïäna-nirdhüta-kalmañäù), never take birth again (gacchanty apunar-
ävåttià).

Those whose intellects are convinced of My qualities (tad-buddhayas),

whose minds are absorbed in My qualities (tad-ätmänah), who have made
paramätmä their goal (tan-niñöhäh), who are surrendered to Me (tat-
paräyaëäù), being washed of all ignorance by that knowledge of My qualities
(jïäna-nirdhüta-kalmañäù), attain liberation (gacchanty apunar-ävåttià).
 SVCT

•But this vidyä reveals knowledge about the jévätmä, not

knowledge of the Paramätmä.

•The Lord says, bhaktyäham ekayä grahyaù: I am

attainable only by bhakti.

•Therefore the jïänés must additionally practice bhakti in

order to obtain knowledge of Paramätmä. [Note: From this
it is understood that ätma jïäna is not enough to give
liberation. Bhakti, producing Paramätmä realization, is also
necessary for liberation.]

•That is stated in this verse.

 SVCT

•The word tat refers to the Supreme Lord previously

mentioned as vibhu in verse 15.

•Those who place their intelligence in the Supreme Lord, who

are dedicated to contemplation on the Lord using intellect
(tad-buddhayaù), who are meditating on the Lord using the
mind (tad-ätmänaù), who fix their knowledge in the Lord,
giving up sattvic knowledge of the soul apart from the body,
and becoming fixed only in the Lord (tan-niñöhäù) (since the
Lord says one should surrender that knowledge to Him:
jïänam ca mayi sannyaset. (SB 11.19.1); who become
absorbed in the processes of hearing and chanting about the
Lord (tat-paränayaëäù)—these persons do not attain birth
again.
 SVCT

•It will be said later:

bhaktyä mäm abhijänäti yävän yaç cäsmi

tattvataù
tato mäà tattvato jïätvä viçate tad-anantaram

I am to be known in truth only by bhakti. Knowing Me

in truth, one attains Me. BG 18.55

•Those persons’ ignorance has been previously

completely destroyed by vidyä (jïäna-nirdhüta-
kalmañäù).
 Baladeva

•This verse describes the results for those who meditate

on the paramätmä’ñ qualities, such as His sense of justice.

•Those whose intellects are convinced of such qualities of

paramätmä (tad buddhayaù), whose minds are absorbed
in paramätmä’s qualities (tad ätmänaù), who have made
paramätmä their goal (tan niñöhäù), who have completely
surrendered to paramätmä (tat paräyaëäù), cleansed of
all misconceptions by knowledge of the Lord’s good
qualities like justice (jïäna nirdhüta kalmañä), having
destroyed their repugnance to the Lord, attain liberation
(apunar ävåttim).
 Srila Prabhupada

•The Supreme Transcendental Truth is Lord Kåñëa.

•The whole Bhagavad-gétä centers around the declaration that

Kåñëa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

•That is the version of all Vedic literature.

•Para-tattva means the Supreme Reality, who is understood by

the knowers of the Supreme as Brahman, Paramätmä and
Bhagavän.

•Bhagavän, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the last

word in the Absolute. There is nothing more than that.

•The Lord says, mattaù parataraà nänyat kiïcid asti dhanaïjaya.

 Srila Prabhupada

•Impersonal Brahman is also supported by Kåñëa: brahmaëo hi

pratiñöhäham.

•Therefore in all ways Kåñëa is the Supreme Reality.

•One whose mind, intelligence, faith and refuge are always in

Kåñëa, or, in other words, one who is fully in Kåñëa
consciousness, is undoubtedly washed clean of all misgivings
and is in perfect knowledge in everything concerning
transcendence.

•A Kåñëa conscious person can thoroughly understand that there

is duality (simultaneous identity and individuality) in Kåñëa, and,
equipped with such transcendental knowledge, one can make
steady progress on the path of liberation.
 Section-IV – Liberation: Focussing on the Supersoul (17-26)

|| 5.18 ||
vidyä-vinaya-sampanne
brähmaëe gavi hastini
çuni caiva çva-päke ca
paëòitäù sama-darçinaù

The wise man sees equally (paëòitäù sama-darçinaù) the brähmaëa

endowed with knowledge and good conduct (vidyä-vinaya-
sampanne brähmaëe), the cow, the elephant (gavi hastini), the dog
and dog-eater (çuni caiva çva-päke ca).

The wise man sees paramätmä as equal in creating (paëòitäù sama-

darçinaù) the brähmaëa endowed with knowledge and good conduct
(vidyä-vinaya-sampanne brähmaëe), the cow, the elephant (gavi
hastini), the dog and dog eater (çuni caiva çva-päke ca).
 SVCT

•Those who are beyond the guëas have no desire to see any object
made of the guëas in comparative terms of better or worse. They
have equal vision.

•They do not see those in the mode of sattva, such as brähmaëas

and cows, those in the mode of passion such as the elephant, and
those in the mode of ignorance, such as dogs and dog-eaters, as
superior or inferior.

•Being learned, they see equally.

•Equally (sama) means that they are beyond the guëas, so that
they do not see the particular distinctions due to the guëas.

•They have the ability to see Brahman which is beyond the guëas.
 Baladeva

•This verse praises those persons.

•Those who see paramätmä as being equal (sama) in creating

unequal bodies for the learned brähmaëa and dog eater,
differing by actions or duties; and for the cow, elephant and
dog, differing in form by species,—they are truly wise.

•Paramätmä is equal (sama) everywhere, like rainfall, [Note:

As the rain falls everywhere and different seeds sprout up, so
the Lord equally inspires all jévas, who develop different
bodies according to their karmas.] since the respective
species receive their forms according to their respective
karmas, not through the Lord’s like or dislike of certain jévas.
 Srila Prabhupada

•A Kåñëa conscious person does not make any distinction

between species or castes.

•The brähmaëa and the outcaste may be different from the

social point of view, or a dog, a cow, and an elephant may be
different from the point of view of species, but these
differences of body are meaningless from the viewpoint of a
learned transcendentalist.

•This is due to their relationship to the Supreme, for the

Supreme Lord, by His plenary portion as Paramätmä, is
present in everyone's heart.

•Such an understanding of the Supreme is real knowledge.

 Srila Prabhupada

•As far as the bodies are concerned in different castes or

different species of life, the Lord is equally kind to
everyone because He treats every living being as a friend
yet maintains Himself as Paramätmä regardless of the
circumstances of the living entities.

•The Lord as Paramätmä is present both in the outcaste

and in the brähmaëa, although the body of a brähmaëa
and that of an outcaste are not the same.

•The bodies are material productions of different modes of

material nature, but the soul and the Supersoul within the
body are of the same spiritual quality.
 Srila Prabhupada

•The similarity in the quality of the soul and the Supersoul, however,
does not make them equal in quantity, for the individual soul is
present only in that particular body whereas the Paramätmä is
present in each and every body.

•A Kåñëa conscious person has full knowledge of this, and therefore

he is truly learned and has equal vision.

•The similar characteristics of the soul and Supersoul are that they
are both conscious, eternal and blissful.

•But the difference is that the individual soul is conscious within the
limited jurisdiction of the body whereas the Supersoul is conscious of
all bodies.

•The Supersoul is present in all bodies without distinction.

 Section-IV – Liberation: Focussing on the Supersoul (17-26)

|| 5.19 ||
ihaiva tair jitaù sargo
yeñäà sämye sthitaà manaù
nirdoñaà hi samaà brahma
tasmäd brahmaëi te sthitäù

Those whose minds are situated in equality (yeñäà sämye sthitaà manaù)
conquer over the world of birth and death (iha eva tair jitaù sargo). They
are without fault (nirdoñaà hi), seeing equally everything as Brahman
(samaà brahma). Therefore they are situated in Brahman (tasmäd
brahmaëi te sthitäù).

Those whose minds are absorbed in the quality of impartiality (yeñäà

sämye sthitaà manaù) in the faultless paramätmä (nirdoñaà hi samaà
brahma) have conquered over the world of birth and death (iha eva tair
jitaù sargo). Convinced of this, they easily attain liberation (tasmäd
brahmaëi te sthitäù).
 SVCT

•This verse praises the ability to see equally.

•In this world (iha eva), they have defeated saàsära,

that which has been created (sargaù jitaù).
 Baladeva

•Saàsära (sargaù) is conquered, even at the stage of sädhana

(iha) by those persons whose minds are absorbed in the
quality of impartiality displayed by the Brahman (the Lord).

•Why do we say Brahman is equal to all?

•It is because (hi) Brahman is devoid of attachment and

repulsion (nirdoñam).

•Because those persons are convinced of the equality

(samam) in the Brahman due to Brahman’s absence of desire
and hatred (nirdoñam), they are situated in Brahman
(brahmaëi sthitäù), they easily attain liberation, even while
they are situated in the material world.
 Srila Prabhupada

•Equanimity of mind, as mentioned above, is the sign

of self-realization.

•Those who have actually attained to such a stage

should be considered to have conquered material
conditions, specifically birth and death.

•As long as one identifies with this body, he is

considered a conditioned soul, but as soon as he is
elevated to the stage of equanimity through
realization of self, he is liberated from conditional life.
 Srila Prabhupada

•In other words, he is no longer subject to take birth in the

material world but can enter into the spiritual sky after his
death.

•The Lord is flawless because He is without attraction or

hatred.

•Similarly, when a living entity is without attraction or

hatred, he also becomes flawless and eligible to enter into
the spiritual sky.

•Such persons are to be considered already liberated, and

their symptoms are described below.
 Section-IV – Liberation: Focussing on the Supersoul (17-
26)

|| 5.20 ||
na prahåñyet priyaà präpya
nodvijet präpya cäpriyam
sthira-buddhir asammüòho
brahma-vid brahmaëi sthitaù

He whose intelligence is fixed in ätmä (sthira-buddhih), who is

free of bewilderment due to connection with his body
(asammüòhah), and who realizes Brahman (brahma-vid), and
thus does not rejoice on attaining what is enjoyable (na
prahåñyet priyaà präpya) and does not become agitated on
attaining what is disagreeable (nodvijet präpya cäpriyam), is
situated in Brahman (brahmaëi sthitaù).
 Baladeva

•This verse speaks of the characteristics of the person situated in

Brahman.

•Situated in his present body, he does not rejoice or lament on

attaining favorable or unfavorable conditions attained by
prärabdha karmas. Why?

•His intellect is fixed in his ätmä (sthira buddhiù) (rather than the
body).

•He is not bewildered by identifying the eternal ätmä and the

temporary body (asaàmüòhaù).

•He realizes the Brahman with its quality of equality (brahma

vit). The person of these qualities is situated in Brahman.
 Srila Prabhupada

•The symptoms of the self-realized person are given herein.

•The first symptom is that he is not illusioned by the false

identification of the body with his true self.

•He knows perfectly well that he is not this body, but is the
fragmental portion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

•He is therefore not joyful in achieving something, nor does

he lament in losing anything which is related to his body.

•This steadiness of mind is called sthira-buddhi, or self-

intelligence.
 Srila Prabhupada

•He is therefore never bewildered by mistaking the gross body

for the soul, nor does he accept the body as permanent and
disregard the existence of the soul.

•This knowledge elevates him to the station of knowing the

complete science of the Absolute Truth, namely Brahman,
Paramätmä and Bhagavän.

•He thus knows his constitutional position perfectly well,

without falsely trying to become one with the Supreme in all
respects.

•This is called Brahman realization, or self-realization. Such

steady consciousness is called Kåñëa consciousness.
 Section-IV – Liberation: Focussing on the Supersoul
(17-26)

|| 5.21 ||
bähya-sparçeñv asaktätmä
vindaty ätmani yat sukham
sa brahma-yoga-yuktätmä
sukham akñayam açnute

He who, not attached to the happiness from sense object

(bähya-sparçeñv asaktätmä), attains the happiness of
ätmä (vindaty ätmani yat sukham), then becomes fixed in
realization of paramätmä (sa brahma-yoga-yuktätmä) and
attains indestructible happiness (sukham akñayam
açnute).
 Baladeva

•This verse describes that a person realizes his own

ätmä and then paramätmä.

•When a person, not attached to experiencing the

objects of the senses, realizes his own nature and
experiences bliss, he then attains samädhi in
paramätmä (brahma yoga yuktätmä) and attains
indestructible happiness which is an experience of
great bliss (akñayam sukham).
 Srila Prabhupada

•Çré Yämunäcärya, a great devotee in Kåñëa consciousness,

said:

yad-avadhi mama cetaù kåñëa-pädäravinde

nava-nava-rasa-dhämany udyataà rantum äsét
tad-avadhi bata näré-saìgame smaryamäne
bhavati mukha-vikäraù suñöhu niñöhévanaà ca

"Since I have been engaged in the transcendental loving service

of Kåñëa, realizing ever-new pleasure in Him, whenever I think of
sex pleasure I spit at the thought, and my lips curl with distaste.“

•A person in brahma-yoga, or Kåñëa consciousness, is so

absorbed in the loving service of the Lord that he loses his taste
for material sense pleasure altogether.
 Srila Prabhupada

•The highest pleasure in terms of matter is sex pleasure.

•The whole world is moving under its spell, and a materialist

cannot work at all without this motivation.

•But a person engaged in Kåñëa consciousness can work with

greater vigor without sex pleasure, which he avoids.

•That is the test in spiritual realization.

•Spiritual realization and sex pleasure go ill together.

•A Kåñëa conscious person is not attracted to any kind of

sense pleasure, due to his being a liberated soul.
Section-IV – Liberation: Focussing on the Supersoul
(17-26)

|| 5.22 ||
ye hi saàsparça-jä bhogä
duùkha-yonaya eva te
ädy-antavantaù kaunteya
na teñu ramate budhaù

The pleasures arising from sense objects (ye hi

saàsparça-jä bhogä) are causes of suffering (duùkha-
yonaya eva te), and have a beginning and end (ädy-
antavantaù). O son of Kunté (kaunteya), the intelligent
person does not enjoy them (na teñu ramate budhaù).
 Baladeva

•This verse explains that, determining the temporary

nature of the sense objects, which manifest according
to karma, that person is not attached.

•The experiences of happiness generated by sense

objects (saàsparçajä bhogä) are sources of misery.

•The rest of the verse is clear.

 Srila Prabhupada

•Material sense pleasures are due to the contact of the material senses,
which are all temporary because the body itself is temporary.

•A liberated soul is not interested in anything which is temporary.

•Knowing well the joys of transcendental pleasures, how can a liberated

soul agree to enjoy false pleasure?

•In the Padma Puräëa it is said:

ramante yogino 'nante
satyänande cid-ätmani
iti räma-padenäsau
paraà brahmäbhidhéyate

"The mystics derive unlimited transcendental pleasures from the

Absolute Truth, and therefore the Supreme Absolute Truth, the
Personality of Godhead, is also known as Räma."
 Srila Prabhupada

•In the Çrémad-Bhägavatam also (5.5.1) it is said:

näyaà deho deha-bhäjäà nå-loke
kañöän kämän arhate viò-bhujäà ye
tapo divyaà putrakä yena sattvaà
çuddhyed yasmäd brahma-saukhyaà tv anantam

"My dear sons, there is no reason to labor very hard for sense pleasure while
in this human form of life; such pleasures are available to the stool-eaters
[hogs]. Rather, you should undergo penances in this life by which your
existence will be purified, and as a result you will be able to enjoy unlimited
transcendental bliss.“

•Therefore, those who are true yogés or learned transcendentalists are not
attracted by sense pleasures, which are the causes of continuous material
existence.

•The more one is addicted to material pleasures, the more he is entrapped

by material miseries.
 Section-IV – Liberation: Focussing on the Supersoul
(17-26)

|| 5.23 ||
çaknotéhaiva yaù soòhuà
präk çaréra-vimokñaëät
käma-krodhodbhavaà vegaà
sa yuktaù sa sukhé naraù

He who can tolerate (yaù soòhuà çaknoti iha eva) the

agitation arising from lust and anger (käma-
krodhodbhavaà vegaà) when they arise till the time of
giving up the body (präk çaréra-vimokñaëät) has attained
realization of ätmä (sa yuktaù ) and is blissful in that
realization (sa sukhé naraù).
 Baladeva

•The disturbance of lust and anger is unfavorable for steadiness in

jïäna.

•Therefore one who is endeavoring for steadiness in jïäna should

tolerate them.

•He who can tolerate the agitation (vegam) in the form of

disturbances and problems to mind, eye or other organs, arising
from lust and anger, he who can control them (soòhum) at the
time they arise (iha), by the joy of realization of ätmä, until the
time he gives up the body, has attained samädhi in realization of
ätmä (yuktaù), and he is blissful with realization of ätmä (sukhé).

•Therefore, with intense effort one must tolerate these

disturbances.
 Srila Prabhupada

•If one wants to make steady progress on the path of self-

realization, he must try to control the forces of the material
senses.

•There are the forces of talk, forces of anger, forces of

mind, forces of the stomach, forces of the genitals, and
forces of the tongue.

•One who is able to control the forces of all these different

senses, and the mind, is called gosvämé, or svämé.

•Such gosvämés live strictly controlled lives, and forgo

altogether the forces of the senses.
 Srila Prabhupada

•Material desires, when unsatiated, generate anger,

and thus the mind, eyes and chest become agitated.

•Therefore, one must practice to control them before

one gives up this material body.

•One who can do this is understood to be self-realized

and is thus happy in the state of self-realization.

•It is the duty of the transcendentalist to try

strenuously to control desire and anger.
 Section-IV – Liberation: Focussing on the Supersoul
(17-26)

|| 5.24 ||
yo 'ntaù-sukho 'ntar-ärämas
tathäntar-jyotir eva yaù
sa yogé brahma-nirväëaà
brahma-bhüto 'dhigacchati

This niñkäma karma yogé (sah yogé), whose happiness is

within (yah antaù-sukhah), whose enjoyment is within
(antar-ärämah), and whose sight is within (tathä antar-
jyotir eva yaù), having realized ätmä and then paramätmä
(brahma-bhütah), attains liberation (brahma-nirväëaà
adhigacchati).
 Baladeva

•This verse explains that, by this joy, he conquers the

disturbance.

•He who has happiness through realizing the ätmä

within, whose has amusement through that realization
(ärämaù), whose vision is concentrated upon the ätmä
alone (antar jyotiù)—such a niñkäma karma yogé (sa
yogé), having attained his svarüpa as the pure jéva
(brahma bhütaù), attains paramätmä (brahma), who is
the very form of liberation.

•By attaining the Lord he attains liberation (nirväëam).

 Srila Prabhupada

•Unless one is able to relish happiness from within, how can

one retire from the external engagements meant for deriving
superficial happiness?

•A liberated person enjoys happiness by factual experience.

•He can, therefore, sit silently at any place and enjoy the
activities of life from within.

•Such a liberated person no longer desires external material

happiness.

•This state is called brahma-bhüta [Purport. 18.54], attaining

which one is assured of going back to Godhead, back to home.
Section-IV – Liberation: Focussing on the Supersoul
(17-26)

|| 5.25 ||
labhante brahma-nirväëam
åñayaù kñéëa-kalmañäù
chinna-dvaidhä yatätmänaù
sarva-bhüta-hite ratäù

The sages, devoid of ignorance (åñayaù kñéëa-

kalmañäù), devoid of dualities (chinna-dvaidhä), with
controlled mind (yatätmänaù), engaged in the welfare of
all beings (sarva-bhüta-hite ratäù), attain liberation
(labhante brahma-nirväëam).
 Baladeva

•This verse explains that many people attain

perfection through this sädhana.

•Those who have vision of the truth (åñayaù), who

have all their doubts destroyed (china dvaidhä), (who
have destroyed all ignorance, controlled their minds
and are engage in the welfare of all beings) attain
paramätmä and liberation.
 Srila Prabhupada

•Only a person who is fully in Kåñëa consciousness can be

said to be engaged in welfare work for all living entities.

•When a person is actually in the knowledge that Kåñëa is

the fountainhead of everything, then when he acts in that
spirit he acts for everyone.

•The sufferings of humanity are due to forgetfulness of

Kåñëa as the supreme enjoyer, the supreme proprietor,
and the supreme friend.

•Therefore, to act to revive this consciousness within the

entire human society is the highest welfare work.
 Srila Prabhupada

•One cannot be engaged in such first-class welfare

work without being liberated in the Supreme.

•A Kåñëa conscious person has no doubt about the

supremacy of Kåñëa.

•He has no doubt because he is completely freed from

all sins. This is the state of divine love.
 Srila Prabhupada

•A person engaged only in ministering to the physical

welfare of human society cannot factually help anyone.

•Temporary relief of the external body and the mind is not

satisfactory.

•The real cause of one's difficulties in the hard struggle for

life may be found in one's forgetfulness of his relationship
with the Supreme Lord.

•When a man is fully conscious of his relationship with

Kåñëa, he is actually a liberated soul, although he may be
in the material tabernacle.
 Section-IV – Liberation: Focussing on the Supersoul
(17-26)

|| 5.26 ||
käma-krodha-vimuktänäà
yaténäà yata-cetasäm
abhito brahma-nirväëaà
vartate viditätmanäm

Paramätmä and liberation attends (brahma-nirväëaà

vartate) in all respects (abhito) upon those who have
become free of lust and anger (käma-krodha-vimuktänäà),
who make endeavor (yaténäà), control the mind (yata-
cetasäm), and have realized the ätmä (viditätmanäm).
 Baladeva

•The paramätmä indeed serves such persons.

•Paramätmä in all respects (abhitaù) attends upon (vartate)

those persons who endeavor in this way (yaténäm).

•It is said:

darçana-dhyäna-saàsparçair matsya-kürma-
vihaìgamäù
sväny apatyäni puñëanti tathäham api padmaja

The fish nourishes its offspring by seeing, the turtle by

meditation, and the birds by touch. I nourish My devotees
with similar affection, O Brahmä. Padma Puräëa
 Srila Prabhupada

•Of the saintly persons who are constantly engaged in striving

toward salvation, one who is in Kåñëa consciousness is the best
of all.

•The Bhägavatam (4.22.39) confirms this fact as follows:

yat-päda-paìkaja-paläça-viläsa-bhaktyä
karmäçayaà grathitam udgrathayanti santaù
tadvan na rikta-matayo yatayo 'pi ruddha-
sroto-gaëäs tam araëaà bhaja väsudevam

"Just try to worship, in devotional service, Väsudeva, the

Supreme Personality of Godhead. Even great sages are not able
to control the forces of the senses as effectively as those who are
engaged in transcendental bliss by serving the lotus feet of the
Lord, uprooting the deep-grown desire for fruitive activities."
 Srila Prabhupada

•In the conditioned soul the desire to enjoy the fruitive results
of work is so deep-rooted that it is very difficult even for the
great sages to control such desires, despite great endeavors.

•A devotee of the Lord, constantly engaged in devotional

service in Kåñëa consciousness, perfect in self-realization, very
quickly attains liberation in the Supreme.

•Owing to his complete knowledge in self-realization, he always

remains in trance. To cite an analogous example of this:

•"By vision, by meditation and by touch only do the fish, the

tortoise and the birds maintain their offspring. Similarly do I
also, O Padmaja!“ – Padma Purana
 Srila Prabhupada

•The fish brings up its offspring simply by looking at them.

•The tortoise brings up its offspring simply by meditation.

•The eggs of the tortoise are laid on land, and the tortoise
meditates on the eggs while in the water.

•Similarly, the devotee in Kåñëa consciousness, although far

away from the Lord's abode, can elevate himself to that abode
simply by thinking of Him constantly—by engagement in Kåñëa
consciousness.

•He does not feel the pangs of material miseries; this state of life
is called brahma-nirväëa, or the absence of material miseries due
to being constantly immersed in the Supreme.
 Section-V – Liberation: Astanga Yoga Previewed (27-29)

|| 5.27-28 ||
sparçän kåtvä bahir bähyäàç
cakñuç caiväntare bhruvoù
präëäpänau samau kåtvä
näsäbhyantara-cäriëau

yatendriya-mano-buddhir
munir mokña-paräyaëaù
vigatecchä-bhaya-krodho
yaù sadä mukta eva saù

That person (yaù), keeping the sense objects outside (sparçän kåtvä bahir
bähyäàç), focusing the eyes between the brows (cakñuç caiväntare bhruvoù),
equalizing the präëa and apäna moving in the nostrils (näsa abhyantara-
cäriëau präëa-apänau samau kåtvä) , and thus controlling the senses, mind
and intelligence (yatendriya-mano-buddhir), completely dedicated to liberation
(munir mokña-paräyaëaù), thus freed from desire, fear and anger (vigatecchä-
bhaya-krodho), is ever liberated (sadä mukta eva saù).
 SVCT

•The heart becomes purified by performance of niñkäma-karma-yoga

offered to the Lord.

•Then arises jïäna, whose subject is the soul (tvam).

•Then arises bhakti, for gaining knowledge of the Lord, Paramätmä (tat).

•By the appearance of that knowledge of the Lord which is beyond the
modes, one gains realization of Brahman. This has been stated in this
chapter.

•Now in three verses (27-29), the Lord speaks in abbreviated form what
He will explain in the sixth chapter: that the process of añöäìga-yoga,
practiced after having purified the heart by niñkäma-karma-yoga, is
shown to be superior to the process of jïäna-yoga for producing
realization of Brahman.
 SVCT

•The word sparçän (touches) stands for all the sense objects—
sound, touch, form, taste and smell.

•Externalizing these from the mind when they enter, that is,
withdrawing the mind from the sense objects (pratyähära),
placing the eyes between the eye brows, with half closed eyes,
the yogé should fix his glance between the brows in order to
prevent both sleep and wandering eyes.

•By extinguishing the upward and downward motions of the

präëa and apäna which move in the nostrils through inhaling and
exhaling, one makes them equal.

•By that means, the senses, mind and intelligence are brought
under control.
 Srila Prabhupada

•Being engaged in Kåñëa consciousness, one can

immediately understand one's spiritual identity, and
then one can understand the Supreme Lord by means
of devotional service.

•When one is well situated in devotional service, one

comes to the transcendental position, qualified to feel
the presence of the Lord in the sphere of one's
activity.

•This particular position is called liberation in the

Supreme.
 Srila Prabhupada

•After explaining the above principles of liberation in the Supreme, the

Lord gives instruction to Arjuna as to how one can come to that
position by the practice of the mysticism or yoga known as añöäìga-
yoga, which is divisible into an eightfold procedure called yama,
niyama, äsana, präëäyäma, pratyähära, dhäraëä, dhyäna and samädhi.

•In the Sixth Chapter the subject of yoga is explicitly detailed, and at
the end of the Fifth it is only preliminarily explained.

•One has to drive out the sense objects such as sound, touch, form,
taste and smell by the pratyähära process in yoga, and then keep the
vision of the eyes between the two eyebrows and concentrate on the
tip of the nose with half-closed lids.

•There is no benefit in closing the eyes altogether, because then there

is every chance of falling asleep.
 Srila Prabhupada

•Nor is there benefit in opening the eyes completely, because then

there is the hazard of being attracted by sense objects.

•The breathing movement is restrained within the nostrils by

neutralizing the up-moving and down-moving air within the body.

•By practice of such yoga one is able to gain control over the senses,
refrain from outward sense objects, and thus prepare oneself for
liberation in the Supreme.

•This yoga process helps one become free from all kinds of fear and
anger and thus feel the presence of the Supersoul in the
transcendental situation.

•In other words, Kåñëa consciousness is the easiest process of

executing yoga principles.
 Srila Prabhupada

•This will be thoroughly explained in the next chapter.

•A Kåñëa conscious person, however, being always

engaged in devotional service, does not risk losing his
senses to some other engagement.

•This is a better way of controlling the senses than by

the añöäìga-yoga.
Section-V – Liberation: Astanga Yoga Previewed (27-29)

|| 5.29 ||
bhoktäraà yajïa-tapasäà
sarva-loka-maheçvaram
suhådaà sarva-bhütänäà
jïätvä mäà çäntim åcchati

Knowing Me (jïätvä mäà) who am the object of worship of the

karmés and jïänés who do sacrifice and penance (bhoktäraà
yajïa-tapasäà), the object of worship of the yogés as
Paramätmä (sarva-loka-maheçvaram), and the object of
worship of the devotees— the friend of all living entities by
giving instructions on bhakti (suhådaà sarva-bhütänäà)—
this añöäìga-yogé attains liberation (çäntim åcchati).
 SVCT

•This verse explains that yogés who act in this way, by obtaining
knowledge of Paramätmä through bhakti, like the jïänés, attain
liberation.

•I am the guardian (bhoktäram) of the yajïa of the karma-yogés and

the austerities (tapasäm) of the jïänés. That means that I am the
object of worship of the karma-yogés and jïänés.

•I am the great controller of all people (sarva-loka-maheçvaram), the

Paramätmä: the object of worship of the añöäìga-yogés.

•I am the friend of all entities: I am the person who gives benefit to all
living entities by instructions about bhakti, through the medium of
My devotees, out of My mercy.

•I am the object of worship for the devotees.

 SVCT

•One cannot attain realization of Me, who am beyond the

modes, by sattva-guëa-jïäna.

•I have said that I am attainable only by bhakti:

bhaktyäham ekayä grahyaù.

•In the same way, the yogé, only by bhakti which is beyond
the modes, by realizing Me as Paramätmä (jïätvä mäm), the
object of his worship, attains liberation (çäntim).

•This chapter explains that the jïäné and the yogé, by

niñkäma-karma-yoga, attain liberation, after realizing both
ätmä and Paramätmä.
 Srila Prabhupada

•The conditioned souls within the clutches of the illusory energy are
all anxious to attain peace in the material world. But they do not
know the formula for peace, which is explained in this part of the
Bhagavad-gétä.

•The greatest peace formula is simply this: Lord Kåñëa is the

beneficiary in all human activities.

•Men should offer everything to the transcendental service of the

Lord because He is the proprietor of all planets and the demigods
thereon.

•No one is greater than He. He is greater than the greatest of the
demigods, Lord Çiva and Lord Brahmä. In the Vedas (Çvetäçvatara
Upaniñad 6.7) the Supreme Lord is described as tam éçvaräëäà
paramaà maheçvaraà.
 Srila Prabhupada

•Under the spell of illusion, living entities are trying to be lords of all
they survey, but actually they are dominated by the material energy
of the Lord.

•The Lord is the master of material nature, and the conditioned souls
are under the stringent rules of material nature.

•Unless one understands these bare facts, it is not possible to

achieve peace in the world either individually or collectively.

•This is the sense of Kåñëa consciousness: Lord Kåñëa is the

supreme predominator, and all living entities, including the great
demigods, are His subordinates.

•One can attain perfect peace only in complete Kåñëa

consciousness.
 Srila Prabhupada

•This Fifth Chapter is a practical explanation of Kåñëa

consciousness, generally known as karma-yoga.

•The question of mental speculation as to how karma-yoga

can give liberation is answered herewith.

•To work in Kåñëa consciousness is to work with the

complete knowledge of the Lord as the predominator.

•Such work is not different from transcendental knowledge.

•Direct Kåñëa consciousness is bhakti-yoga, and jïäna-yoga

is a path leading to bhakti-yoga.
 Srila Prabhupada

•Kåñëa consciousness means to work in full knowledge of one's

relationship with the Supreme Absolute, and the perfection of this
consciousness is full knowledge of Kåñëa, or the Supreme Personality of
Godhead.

•A pure soul is the eternal servant of God as His fragmental part and
parcel.

•He comes into contact with mäyä (illusion) due to the desire to lord it
over mäyä, and that is the cause of his many sufferings.

•As long as he is in contact with matter, he has to execute work in terms

of material necessities.

•Kåñëa consciousness, however, brings one into spiritual life even while
one is within the jurisdiction of matter, for it is an arousing of spiritual
existence by practice in the material world.
 Srila Prabhupada

•The more one is advanced, the more he is freed from the

clutches of matter.

•The Lord is not partial toward anyone.

•Everything depends on one's practical performance of

duties in Kåñëa consciousness, which in every respect
helps one control the senses and conquer the influence of
desire and anger.

•And one who stands fast in Kåñëa consciousness,

controlling the abovementioned passions, remains
factually in the transcendental stage, or brahma-nirväëa.
 Srila Prabhupada

•The eightfold yoga mysticism is automatically practiced

in Kåñëa consciousness because the ultimate purpose is
served.

•There is a gradual process of elevation in the practice

of yama, niyama, äsana, präëäyäma, pratyähära,
dhäraëä, dhyäna and samädhi.

•But these only preface perfection by devotional service,

which alone can award peace to the human being.

•It is the highest perfection of life.