This summary is about verses 18.49 to 18.56 of the eighteenth chapter of the Gita. It is the thirteenth stop on The Path of Karma Yoga, and after it comes Karma Yoga in Practice. Further on in chapter 18, The Final Counsel: Surrender, Think, Choose begins at verse 18.57.
The answer in one line
The fruit of karma yoga is not the stopping of work. The fruit is a mind in which the grip of ego, desire and "mine" has loosened. That mind becomes peaceful, devotion wakes in the peace, and through devotion the Lord is known. The seeker still always works, but under the Lord's shelter (Gita 18.56).
What problem this answers
Where does this road end, for one who works on, letting go of the grip on the fruit? What does a person who has worked all his life finally get, and what must he become?
The setting
In the eighteenth chapter Arjuna asks about renunciation and relinquishment. The Lord defines both. Then He speaks of natural action and says it should not be left even when it has a fault (Gita 18.48).
After that come these eight verses. The third chapter had asked how to avoid bondage while acting. These verses are the summed-up answer.
Verse 18.49: freedom comes from letting go, not from stopping work
This verse gives three marks. The intellect is unattached everywhere, which means it does not stick on position, praise or result. The mind is conquered. And desires are gone. Such a person, through renunciation, reaches the supreme freedom from the bond of action.
Renunciation here does not mean leaving home. Giving up actions done from desire is renunciation, and giving up the grip on the fruit of all actions is relinquishment (Gita 18.2). A person with a body cannot give up all actions (Gita 18.11). The leaving happens within, and outside the work goes on.
"Supreme" freedom is the freedom that comes while staying in work. Nobody reaches it by not beginning action (Gita 3.4). The third chapter said which road will not get there. Here the road that will is shown.
Verse 18.50: what comes next
The Lord says: now I will tell you briefly how the perfected one reaches Brahman, and what the highest state of knowledge is. This means freedom from the bond of action is not the last stop either. After it there is the reaching of Brahman. It is "in brief" because nothing new is coming. The matters of seventeen chapters are being set in one order.
Verses 18.51 and 18.52: a clear intellect and a restrained life
Verse 18.51 holds four things: a pure intellect, holding oneself firmly in hand, giving up the grip on objects such as sound, and setting aside attraction and aversion (Gita 18.51).
"Giving up objects" is not running away. When the mind is in hand, peace comes even among objects (Gita 2.64). The eye will meet forms and the ear will meet sounds. What is given up is their pull.
Verse 18.52 gives five supports for keeping the mind steady: living in solitude, eating light and in measure, restraint of speech, body and mind, being always devoted to meditation, and taking shelter in detachment (Gita 18.52).
Why food? Because yoga is not for one who eats too much, nor for one who does not eat at all (Gita 6.16). It is for one who is moderate in conduct (Gita 6.17). Solitude is spoken of in the sixth chapter as well (Gita 6.10). "Always" means steadiness. This is not an occasional task.
Verse 18.53: what is to be given up
There are six things to give up. Ego, the feeling "I do everything." The force of obstinacy, the stubbornness to have one's own way. Pride. Desire. Anger. And hoarding, called parigraha. After that the seeker is free of "mine" and, being peaceful, fit for oneness with Brahman.
The six are related. When desire is blocked, anger rises (Gita 2.62). Ego and pride are the soil in which desire and stubbornness grow. Hoarding is the hand of all these. It is not keeping things that is the obstacle but clutching them. And "mine" is the inner form of that clutch.
They can also be set in three grips. The first grip is on one's image: ego, pride and obstinacy. The second is on wanting: desire, and the anger that rises when it is blocked. The third is on things and credit: hoarding and "mine". When one grip loosens, the others begin to loosen too.
Love does not shrink by this. The devotee is free of the sense of mine and of ego, yet is a friend and compassionate to all (Gita 12.13–14). "Mine" goes, and kindness stays. And what is given up is the "force of obstinacy". Firmness (Gita 18.51) is not to be given up.
Verse 18.54: devotion wakes in a peaceful mind
The seeker established in Brahman is of a cheerful mind. He has neither sorrow nor craving, and he is the same in all beings. He gains supreme devotion.
Sorrow is for what is past, craving is for what is ahead. When both go, the mind settles in itself. One who delights within reaches supreme peace (Gita 5.24). Devotion comes after peace. Peace does not take its place. It prepares the ground for it.
Verses 18.55 and 18.56: knowing by devotion, then resting in refuge
By devotion the Lord is known in truth, how vast He is and who He is. And right after knowing, the seeker enters into Him (Gita 18.55). The eleventh chapter says the same: only by undivided devotion is it possible to know, to see and to enter (Gita 11.54). It is a knowing that comes out of love, not cold knowledge.
In verse 18.56 the devotee who takes the Lord's shelter, though always doing all actions, reaches by His grace the eternal, imperishable state (Gita 18.56). Notice "all" and "always". Even when freedom comes, work does not shrink. Outside the work is full, and within there is no burden (Gita 4.20). This supreme state comes by grace. It is not a prize for finishing a list of disciplines.
The eight verses at a glance
In verse 18.49 the seeker's intellect is unattached and his mind conquered, and he gives up desire. In verse 18.50 the Lord promises to speak briefly of what lies ahead. In verse 18.51 there are a pure intellect and firmness, and the grip on objects and attraction and aversion are given up. In verse 18.52 there are solitude, light food, restraint, meditation and detachment, and the restlessness of the mind and the pull of the world are given up. In verse 18.53 the seeker is peaceful and free of "mine", and gives up ego, obstinacy, pride, desire, anger and hoarding. In verse 18.54 he is cheerful and the same in all, and gives up sorrow and craving. In verse 18.55 he knows the Lord by devotion. And in verse 18.56 he does all actions with the Lord as shelter, and gives up the burden of the doer.
This road is rooted in the rest of the Gita
Six verses support it. Verse 4.21 says that the karma yogi who has no hope of fruit, is self-controlled and hoards nothing is not bound even by action for the upkeep of the body (Gita 4.21). Verse 2.64 says to stay free of attraction and aversion among objects, so "give up objects" means "give up the pull" (Gita 2.64).
Verses 5.24 and 6.27 say that the mark of oneness with Brahman is inner joy and a calm mind (Gita 5.24, Gita 6.27). It is no far-off world but a state of mind. In verses 12.13 and 12.14 the devotee's mark is the same as that of one who is Brahman-realised: free of mine, a friend, even in pleasure and pain (Gita 12.13–14). So going from peace to devotion is not a turn backwards. It is the extension of the same road.
Verse 11.54 says that only by undivided devotion are knowing, seeing and entering possible (Gita 11.54). Devotion is not a middle rung. It is the very road by which knowing is completed. And verse 2.71 says that the man of steady wisdom reaches peace without craving, without "mine" and without ego (Gita 2.71). The beginning and end of the Gita draw one person, and the picture at the end takes him from peace to devotion.
Five misunderstandings
The first misunderstanding is that then one should leave work. That is not so. This freedom does not come from not acting (Gita 3.4), and the seeker always does all actions (Gita 18.56).
The second is that giving up objects means going to the forest. That is not so. The road is to stay free of attraction and aversion among objects (Gita 2.64). Solitude is a time for gathering the mind, not for running away (Gita 6.10).
The third is that once "mine" is gone the heart turns cold. That is not so. The devotee is both free of mine and a friend and compassionate (Gita 12.13–14).
The fourth is that once the state of Brahman comes, what need is there of devotion. The order is that one established in Brahman gains supreme devotion (Gita 18.54). Devotion comes after it and does not take its place.
The fifth is that looking calm and restrained from outside is enough. One who holds back the organs of action while his mind dwells on objects is a hypocrite (Gita 3.6). The better is he who restrains the senses by the mind and acts without attachment (Gita 3.7). That is why the list begins with the intellect and the mind.
Questions people ask
Does renunciation mean leaving home and work? No. Giving up actions done from desire is renunciation, and giving up the grip on the fruit is relinquishment (Gita 18.2). The true renouncer does his duty without taking the fruit as his support (Gita 6.1).
Why are food and solitude in the list? The mind is tied to the body. Yoga does not come in excess or in lack (Gita 6.16), and solitude is needed for gathering the mind (Gita 6.10).
What does it mean to be established in Brahman while alive? The verse gives its marks: a cheerful mind, no sorrow and no craving, the same in all (Gita 18.54), and inner joy and a calm mind (Gita 5.24, Gita 6.27). No promise is made here about life beyond.
Why does the list of restraint end in devotion and grace? Restraint loosens the grip, but the Lord is known by devotion (Gita 11.54), and the supreme state comes by His grace (Gita 18.56).
Does giving up the force of obstinacy mean becoming weak? No. Firmness stays (Gita 18.51). What goes is the stubbornness to have one's own way (Gita 18.53).
If you have to explain it in thirty seconds
The end of karma yoga is not the stopping of work. One whose intellect sticks nowhere, whose mind is conquered and whose desires are gone lets go of the grip of ego, obstinacy, pride, desire, anger and "mine." The mind becomes peaceful, devotion wakes in the peace, and through devotion the Lord is known. And such a seeker still always goes on working, only now under the Lord's shelter, without the burden of the doer.
Related hubs: The Path of Karma Yoga (path) · Karma Yoga in Practice (next) · The Final Counsel: Surrender, Think, Choose · Relinquishment and Renunciation of Action