Suppose you are worn out by work and wonder whether peace means leaving it all behind. Arjuna asks the Lord the same thing in a larger form: should he give up action, or go on with the yoga of action (Gita 5.1)? The answer the Lord gives has a surprise in it. Both paths lead to the highest good, but karma yoga is the better way for most (Gita 5.2).
The reason is that real renunciation is inside. The renunciate is the person who neither hates nor craves (Gita 5.3), and who does the work that is to be done without leaning on its fruit (Gita 6.1). So leaving is not required. What has to be left is clinging. Here we take the verses in order (Gita 5.1–7, Gita 6.1–4) and see what each adds.
Where these verses come in the Gita
Earlier the Lord had named two paths of faith, one of knowledge and one of action (Gita 3.3), a point read in Can We Simply Stop Acting?. At the end of chapter 4, He had spoken of the one who has offered his actions through yoga and whose doubts are cut by knowledge, and whom actions do not bind (Gita 4.41). It sounds like giving up action, and it sounds like doing it. Arjuna is tangled by this: in one breath the Lord praises renunciation and also action. A listener could be forgiven for asking which one he is meant to follow, and Arjuna wants a clear decision. He asks it in the first verse of chapter 5. The answer runs on into the opening verses of chapter 6. The words "renunciation" and "relinquishment" will be sharpened in the last chapter, which is the subject of Relinquishment and Renunciation of Action. Here we stay on The Path of Karma Yoga, after Equanimity.
Arjuna asks which is better (5.1)
संन्यासं कर्मणां कृष्ण पुनर्योगं च शंससि ।
यच्छ्रेय एतयोरेकं तन्मे ब्रूहि सुनिश्चितम् ॥ ५.१ ॥
saṁnyāsaṁ karmaṇāṁ kṛṣṇa punar yogaṁ cha śhaṁsasi |
yach chhreya etayor ekaṁ tan me brūhi suniśchitam || 5.1 ||
Arjuna said: O Krishna, at times You praise the renunciation of actions, and at other times You praise Karma Yoga. Therefore, please tell me clearly and decisively which of these two paths is truly more beneficial for my spiritual progress.
Arjuna says that at times the Lord praises giving up action, and at times the yoga of action. He asks which of the two is better, and asks to be told plainly. The words "for me" show that Arjuna wants a decision for his own life and not a lecture. The first path, renunciation, means giving up action. The second, karma yoga, means doing action offered without clinging.
Arjuna is not holding a philosophical debate. He faces a war, and he needs to know whether to fight or to give up everything and step back. And he believes both things he has heard. He does not want to prove either wrong; he wants to choose for himself.
Both lead to the highest good, but karma yoga is better (5.2)
संन्यासः कर्मयोगश्च निःश्रेयसकरावुभौ ।
तयोस्तु कर्मसंन्यासात्कर्मयोगो विशिष्यते ॥ ५.२ ॥
saṁnyāsaḥ karmayogaśh cha niḥśhreyasakarāv ubhau |
tayos tu karmasaṁnyāsāt karmayogo viśhiṣhyate || 5.2 ||
The Blessed Lord said: Both renunciation and Karma Yoga lead to the highest spiritual good. However, of the two, Karma Yoga is considered superior to the renunciation of action.
The verse has two halves. The first says that both paths bring the highest good. The second says that of the two, karma yoga is better than the renunciation of action. The sameness is of the goal, and the ranking is of the way. Nobody who chooses the quiet life is told that the goal is out of reach. In the tradition, renunciation is a whole order of life, in which a seeker leaves home and earning and gives all his time to practice. The Gita does not look down on that road. The Lord only says which road is better to travel, and the verses that follow give the reason: for the person still on the way, leaving action is hard (Gita 5.6). The verse makes no claim that everything is the same, and none that one road is useless. The goal is one, and the Lord names the road that is easier for the traveller.
Who is a true renunciate? (5.3)
निर्द्वन्द्वो हि महाबाहो सुखं बन्धात्प्रमुच्यते ॥ ५.३ ॥
nirdvandvo hi mahābāho sukhaṁ bandhāt pramuchyate || 5.3 ||
O mighty-armed Arjuna, the person who neither hates nor craves anything should be understood as a true and constant renunciate. One who rises above the dualities of life becomes free from worldly bondage with ease.
The one who neither hates nor craves anything is to be known as a constant renunciate. Free of the pairs of opposites, he is easily freed from bondage. The test is inside. It is not a robe, a place or a stopping of work. A person who works every day can have it, if what pleases and what pains no longer pull the mind into liking and disliking.
Two things are counted: hate and craving. In one we push a thing away, and in the other we pull it near. Either way the mind is tied. "Constant" means that this is not a phase taken up for a time. A person who is sometimes sunk in craving and sometimes in hate does not pass the test, wherever he lives. And a person who lives at home with a family may pass it, if this state holds in him. That is how the matter moves from the outside to the inside.
One goal, not two (5.4–5)
एकमप्यास्थितः सम्यगुभयोर्विन्दते फलम् ॥ ५.४ ॥
ekam apy āsthitaḥ samyag ubhayor vindate phalam || 5.4 ||
Only the spiritually immature consider Jñāna Yoga and Karma Yoga to be completely separate paths. The wise understand their essential unity. A seeker who sincerely and correctly follows either path ultimately attains the fruit of both.
एकं सांख्यं च योगं च यः पश्यति स पश्यति ॥ ५.५ ॥
ekaṁ sāṅkhyaṁ cha yogaṁ cha yaḥ paśhyati sa paśhyati || 5.5 ||
The supreme state attained through Jñāna Yoga is also reached through Karma Yoga. One who understands that these two paths ultimately lead to the same destination is the one who truly sees reality as it is.
The unlearned speak of the yoga of knowledge and the yoga of action as separate. The wise do not. A person rightly set in even one of them gets the fruit of both (Gita 5.4). The state the people of knowledge reach is reached by the people of action too, and the one who sees them as one sees truly (Gita 5.5). Think of two roads to one city. One goes over the mountain and the other along the river. Walkers on both arrive in the same city. The quarrel starts when the walker on the mountain road says that the walker by the river will never arrive. The Lord calls such a quarrel the result of half understanding.
A further point follows. If you are on the road of karma yoga, you need not worry that you will fall behind those who gave up action. The fruit is one.
Why leaving is hard without karma yoga (5.6–7)
योगयुक्तो मुनिर्ब्रह्म नचिरेणाधिगच्छति ॥ ५.६ ॥
yogayukto munir brahma na chireṇādhigacchati || 5.6 ||
O mighty-armed Arjuna, renunciation is difficult to attain without the discipline of Karma Yoga. But a thoughtful seeker who is established in selfless action quickly reaches the realization of Brahman.
सर्वभूतात्मभूतात्मा कुर्वन्नपि न लिप्यते ॥ ५.७ ॥
sarvabhūtātmabhūtātmā kurvann api na lipyate || 5.7 ||
A person established in Karma Yoga, whose heart is purified, who has mastered the mind and senses, and who perceives the same Self in all beings, remains untouched by bondage even while actively performing actions.
Renunciation is hard to reach without karma yoga, but the thoughtful person set in karma yoga soon reaches the Absolute (Gita 5.6). The next verse describes this person from inside. His heart is pure, his mind and senses are mastered, and he sees his own Self in all beings. Though he acts, he is not stained (Gita 5.7).
The reason for "hard" is simple. A person who runs from work carries his clinging with him. His wants, fears and attachments stay the same, and only the place changes. Even a person sitting on a mountain may worry about what people think of him. The same mind that grabbed at praise in the office will grab at comfort in the hills. Karma yoga trains the very thing that renunciation needs, which is the loosening of the grip while the work goes on. The word "soon" comes from this. A practice that happens in daily work needs no separate time, and it is tried again every day. So the karma yogi moves ahead quickly.
To be "not stained" does not mean that the work gets lighter. The work is done fully, and no stain sticks to it. The Gita gives an image of the result: like a lotus leaf that stays dry in water (Gita 5.10).
The renunciate and the yogi are one (6.1–2)
स संन्यासी च योगी च न निरग्निर्न चाक्रियः॥ ६.१॥
sa sannyāsī ca yogī ca na niragnir na cākriyaḥ || 6.1 ||
A person who performs their prescribed duty without depending on or being attached to the results of their actions is the true renunciate and the true yogi. Simply giving up Vedic rituals or refraining from action does not constitute genuine renunciation or yoga.
न ह्यसंन्यस्तसङ्कल्पो योगी भवति कश्चन॥ ६.२॥
na hy asaṁnyasta-saṅkalpo yogī bhavati kaścana || 6.2 ||
O Arjuna, what people call renunciation should be understood as yoga itself. For no one can become a true yogi without giving up selfish desires and attachments born of personal expectations.
The person who does the work that is to be done without leaning on its fruit is the renunciate and the yogi. The one who has only given up the sacred fire and every act is neither (Gita 6.1). Stopping alone does not make a renunciate. The leaning decides. The verse is no insult to the person who leaves action. It says only that leaving alone is not enough. The real test is whether the work rests on the fruit. One who works and does not rest on the fruit has gained what renunciation is taken up for, and here the line between karma yoga and renunciation almost disappears.
The next verse joins the two names. What people call renunciation, know as yoga, because no one becomes a yogi without giving up the plans born of wanting (Gita 6.2). Seen as giving up, it is renunciation. Seen as steadiness, it is yoga. They are one thing from two sides. The meaning is direct: the condition for being a yogi is neither a posture nor the end of work. It is that the mind has stopped making the plans that say "if this happens, I shall be happy." The same giving up is needed in renunciation and in yoga, which is why the two names fit one state.
The means change as one rises (6.3–4)
योगारूढस्य तस्यैव शमः कारणमुच्यते॥ ६.३॥
yogārūḍhasya tasyaiva śamaḥ kāraṇam ucyate || 6.3 ||
For the contemplative seeker who wishes to attain yoga, selfless action is the prescribed means. But for one who has become firmly established in yoga, inner tranquility and withdrawal from mental distractions become the means for further spiritual progress.
सर्वसङ्कल्पसंन्यासी योगारूढस्तदोच्यते॥ ६.४॥
sarva-saṅkalpa-sannyāsī yogārūḍhas tadocyate || 6.4 ||
A person is said to be firmly established in yoga when they are free from attachment to both sense objects and actions themselves, and have renounced all selfish desires and mental projections born of craving.
For the person who wishes to rise to yoga, action is the means. For the person who has risen, calm is the means (Gita 6.3). The risen person (Gita 6.4) is the one who clings neither to the objects of the senses nor to actions, and has given up all desire-born plans. A natural question follows. If action is so necessary, will it go on for ever? The answer is that action is a means, and a means is needed by the one who is climbing. While the exercise of loosening the grip is going on, the mind does its work-out in action. When the practice is ripe, the mind stays calm by itself, and action comes out of that calm.
Calm here does not mean idleness. It is the stillness that comes after the climb. The mark of the risen person is freedom from clinging to actions, which is different from freedom from actions. Even at the top, the test is the same as at the bottom: is there clinging or not?
The seven pieces in one view
| Verse | What it says | What it asks of us |
|---|---|---|
| 5.1 | Arjuna asks which path is better for him | Put your own question plainly |
| 5.2 | Both reach the highest good; karma yoga is better | Choose the way that suits where you stand |
| 5.3 | The true renunciate neither hates nor craves | Test yourself inside, not outside |
| 5.4–5 | Knowledge and action reach one goal | Do not make your path a rival of another |
| 5.6–7 | Renunciation is hard without karma yoga | Train letting go inside your work |
| 6.1–2 | The renunciate works without leaning on the fruit | Do the work, drop the leaning |
| 6.3–4 | Action while rising, calm once risen | Know your stage, and do not mistake idleness for calm |
Why the teaching is built this way
The last chapter confirms the shape of it. Renunciation is the giving up of desire-driven actions, and relinquishment is the giving up of the fruit of all actions (Gita 18.2). It adds that an embodied being cannot give up action entirely, and that the true relinquisher is the one who gives up the fruit (Gita 18.11). So renunciation has to be inner, because the outer kind cannot be complete. There are two things to be left: desire-driven acts, and clinging to the fruit. This is what was working inside the verses of chapter 5 and 6. Leaving action is not as much in our hands as leaving the grip.
Two other verses explain the order in these passages. No one reaches freedom by merely not acting (Gita 3.4–5), which is why stopping alone is not renunciation. And karma yogis act for the cleansing of the mind, giving up attachment, and giving up the fruit brings lasting peace (Gita 5.11–12). The end of the road is described in the final chapter: the person who is unattached everywhere, master of himself and free of desire reaches the freedom beyond action (Gita 18.49). The Lord also says that the yogi is higher than the ascetic, the scholar and the ritual doer (Gita 6.46). The praise goes to the inner state, and not to any outer form: the high place belongs to no dress and no rite, but to the inner state of yoga.
Put together, the matter is this. Action cannot be given up entirely, and simply leaving brings nothing. The Gita's way is therefore the one in which action goes on and the grip goes. This is why karma yoga is called better.
Common misreadings
"Renouncing the world is higher than acting in it." For the person on the road, the Lord says the opposite: karma yoga is better (Gita 5.2). And the renunciate is named as the one who works without leaning on the fruit (Gita 6.1).
"Karma yoga means working without rest." Once a person has risen, calm becomes the means (Gita 6.3), and the mark of that person is freedom from clinging, not endless activity (Gita 6.4).
"The two paths are rivals." Only the unlearned say so. The wise see that both reach one goal (Gita 5.4, Gita 5.5).
An example
Take Arun, a software engineer who has had a bad quarter. His manager commented on his report in front of everyone, and he is worn out. He tells a friend that he wants to quit and go to the hills.
The friend asks what exactly he will leave behind. Arun first says, "This job, this city." Then he thinks about it for a week. He finds that it is not the work he cannot bear. He liked it when a problem got solved. His restlessness lies elsewhere: a hunger for praise and a fear of blame. He sends every report wondering what people will say.
That is the hate and craving of the verse (Gita 5.3): craving for praise, and aversion to criticism. If he went to the hills, both would go with him.
So he stays, and he changes how he works. He gives each task full attention. He prepares each report so that the work is good, and not so that it earns applause. When a harsh remark comes, he lets it pass. The grip on the result begins to loosen (Gita 6.4). In a few months, criticism stings less, and a lightness takes the place of the tiredness. He did not leave his work. He left the clinging inside it, and found peace where he had wanted to flee.
A practice for today
The Gita gives the steps itself:
- Name what you most want to run from: the work, a person, a situation, or your own tiredness. Once it has a plain name, half the confusion goes.
- Ask what you are gripping in it: praise, safety, control (Gita 6.4). The desire-born plans that are to be given up hide here.
- Do the task fully and give up the grip on its result (Gita 6.1). Do what is to be done with all your heart, and do not lean on the fruit.
- Notice hate and craving as they rise, and let them pass (Gita 5.3). You are not asked to fight them, only not to follow them.
- Close the day with a few minutes of calm (Gita 6.3). This calm is the fruit of the climb, and also the means for the next part of it.
Pick one task you wish to escape. Before you begin, ask yourself what you are clinging to in it. Do the task with full attention, and when it is done, let go of how it was received. At night, notice any calm that came.
- What am I really trying to leave: the work, or the clinging in it?
- When praise or blame arrives, how long does it hold my mind?
- Where do I mistake rest for calm, or busyness for duty?
- Whom do I look down on because they choose a different path?
Questions readers ask
Is it wrong to choose a monastic life?
No. The Lord says that both paths lead to the highest good (Gita 5.2). What He adds is the mark that every way of life must have: no hate and no craving (Gita 5.3).
What does "constant renunciate" mean?
It means that the freedom from hate and craving is not a matter of one time but a state that holds at all times (Gita 5.3). A person who is calm one day and sunk in craving the next has not yet gained it fully. The word reminds us that renunciation is a state, and not one moment or one decision. A person who has it is a renunciate in the full sense, whatever his work.
If I rest or meditate, am I stopping action?
Not in the sense the verses warn against. Once a person has risen, calm is the means (Gita 6.3), and the mark is freedom from clinging to actions (Gita 6.4). Rest and meditation are not against karma yoga; they support it. It would be a stopping only if rest were used as an excuse to avoid action. The Gita's own measure for a working life is balance in food, recreation, effort, sleep and waking (Gita 6.17).
How do renunciation and relinquishment differ?
Renunciation is the giving up of desire-driven actions, and relinquishment is the giving up of the fruit of actions (Gita 18.2). The words are taken up in Relinquishment and Renunciation of Action.
Why does the Lord say "soon"?
The thoughtful karma yogi moves fast because the training in letting go goes on inside the work itself (Gita 5.6, Gita 5.7). He exercises every day the very thing he wants to leave: the grip on the fruit. His mind grows purer and he begins to see his own Self in all. Where the practice is daily, how could progress be slow?
Conclusion
Must you leave everything to find peace? The Gita's answer is that what has to be left is the clinging, and the work can stay. Changing the place does not change the mind, and keeping on with work does not bind it if there is no clinging. The path of renunciation and the path of karma yoga reach one goal. For the person on the road, karma yoga is the better way, because it trains the inner letting go that renunciation needs. The renunciate and the yogi is the one who does what is to be done without leaning on its fruit (Gita 6.1).
The confusion arises when renunciation is taken to be an outer thing. The verses put it inside. That is why the karma yogi and the renunciate are not two. A person who is doing his duty without leaning on its fruit, staying where he is, arrives where the renunciate arrives.
For the same teaching in simpler words, see the simple reading. For the close reading with the commentators and the objections, see the deeper reading.