BHAGAVAD GITA
Conversation 18. Freedom by Renunciation
Arjuna said: I want to know, O Powerful One, about the essence of the renunciatory way of life and about renunciation! Krishna said:
The abandonment of activity rooted in personal desires is called by sages renunciatory life53. One’s activity aimed not at the personal profit is called renunciation.
“Action must be abandoned as evil!” say some religious thinkers. “Sacrificial acts, charity, and acts of self-restraint must not be abandoned!” say others.
Hear My judgments about renunciation, O Bharata! Renunciation can be of three kinds, O tiger among men!
Sacrificial acts, charity, and acts of self-restraint must not be abandoned but be performed. They purify the reasonable one.
Yet, these actions too must be performed without any attachment to the activity itself, without any expectation of reward, O Partha!
Verily, one should not renounce the prescribed actions! Such renunciation originating from delusion is considered tamasic!
He who renounces actions out of fear of physical suffering, saying, “it hurts!” performing thus the rajasic renunciation — he does not receive the fruits of such renunciation.
He who performs the necessary action saying, “it must be done!” renouncing, at the same time, the attachment to the action and to personal gain — such one, O Arjuna, performs sattvic renunciation.
The one who is detached, imbued with harmony and purity, reasonable, devoid of doubts — such one does not detest unpleasant action and is not attached to pleasant action.
Verily, an embodied person cannot renounce actions completely. Only he who renounces the personal profit renounces truly!
Good, bad, and intermediate — such can be the fruit of action for the non-detached. But for a sannyasi there are no fruits!
Learn from Me, O mighty-armed, the five causes that give the origin to any action, as they are described in sankhya:
circumstances, the man himself, other beings, various energy fields, and the Divine Will — five in total.
Whatever action one performs by the body, word, or thought — be it righteous or unrighteous — the causes of the action are these five.
Therefore, the unwise who sees himself as the only reason of the action is deluded!
But the one who has abandoned such egocentrism, who is free as a consciousness, even when fighting in this world, — such one does not kill and does not bind oneself by this!
The process of cognition, the object of cognition, and the one who cognizes — these are the three causes that give an impulse to the action. The impulse, the action, and the doer are the three constituents of the action.
In terms of the gunas, the knowledge, the action, and the doer are also considered to be of three different kinds. Hear about this from Me!
The knowledge that sees One Indestructible Being in all beings, undivided in the separate — know that such knowledge is sattvic!
The knowledge which considers numerous diverse beings as separate — know that such knowledge originates from rajas!
The knowledge based on the tendency to cling to one separate thing as to the whole, knowledge unreasonable, narrow, not grasping the real — such knowledge is called tamasic!
A due action performed passionlessly, without any desire of reward and without any attachment to it is called sattvic.
An action performed under the pressure of the desire of carrying it out, with self-admiration, or with great effort — such action is called rajasic.
An action undertaken under delusion, without consideration of possible negative consequences, for the sake of destruction, harm, or a coarse action is called tamasic.
Unattached to action, devoid of self-admiration, endowed with confidence and determination, same in success and failure — such a doer is called sattvic.
Excited, desirous for fruits of his actions, greedy, envious, admiring himself, dishonest, subjected to rejoice and sorrow — such a doer is called rajasic.
Arrogant, coarse, angry, obstinate, sly, negligent, insidious, dull, sluggish, somber, cowardly — such a doer is called tamasic.
Threefold, according to the three gunas, is also the distinction of the level of consciousness’ development and the aspiration. Hear about this, O Dhananjaya!
He who discerns: what deserves attention and what is not, what ought to be done and what ought not to be, what ought to be bewared of and what ought not to be, what is slavery and what is freedom — he who can differentiate this has a developed consciousness and lives in sattva.
He who does not distinguish the right path from the wrong one, what ought to be done from what ought not to be done — he as a consciousness is undeveloped and lives in rajas.
He who lives in ignorance, who takes the wrong path for the right one and goes in wrong direction — he as a consciousness is tamasic, O Partha!
An unswerving aspiration that allows one to control the mind, energy, and indriyas and to be in the state of Yoga — such an aspiration is sattvic.
But if one directs his aspiration at the true path, at the sexual passion, and at the profit of work, O Arjuna, then such an aspiration due to the attachment and selfishness is rajasic.
An aspiration that does not help to free the unwise from laziness, fear, sorrow, gloominess — such an aspiration is tamasic, O Partha!
And now hear about the threefold nature of joy, O best of the Bharatas, — about that which brings happiness and allays suffering.
The joy, which at first is alike poison and then turns into nectar, is considered sattvic and originating from blissful cognition of the Atman by the consciousness.
The joy originating from contacts of the indriyas with earthly objects, which at first is alike nectar and then turns into poison — such joy is called rajasic.
The joy which is delusive from the begging until end, originating from rejection of the Atman, against the background of carelessness and laziness — such joy is tamasic.
There is no being, either here on the Earth or among “gods”, which is free from the three gunas born in the world of prakriti!
The duties of brahmans, kshatriyas, vaishyas, and shudras are distributed in accordance with their nature among the gunas, O conqueror of enemies!
Clarity, self-control, self-restraint, honesty, all-forgiveness, simplicity, wisdom, use of one’s own knowledge (for the good of others), knowledge about the Divine — such is the duty of a brahman, born of his own nature.
Valor, grandeur, firmness, agility, inability to flee from the battle, generosity, the nature of a ruler — such is the duty of a kshatriya, born of his own nature.
Tillage, cattle-rearing, trade are the duties of a vaishya, born of his own nature.
Man goes to Perfection by performing his duty with diligence. Hear how man, diligently performing his duty, comes to Perfection!
By performing his duty and worshipping through this the One by Whose Will all beings come into existence and Who pervades everything, man attains Perfection!
It is better to perform one’s own duties even if they are insignificant than the duties of others even if they are grand! By performing duties that follow from his own nature, man does not commit sin.
The preordained destiny, even if it contains unpleasant, must not be abandoned! Verily, all risky undertakings are wrapped in errors as fire in smoke, O Kaunteya!
He who as a consciousness is free and omnipresent, who cognized the Atman, who has no worldly desires — he attains through the path of renunciation the Highest Perfection and the freedom from the fetters of his destiny!
How the one, who has attained Perfection, comes to Brahman, to the highest state of Wisdom — hear from Me in brief, O Kaunteya!
With the completely purified consciousness, overcame oneself by steadfastness, detached from all the outer, cast off passion and enmity,
living secludedly54, abstinent, subdued his speech, body, and mind, being constantly in meditation, passionless,
devoid of egoism, violence, arrogance, sexual passion, anger, greed, imbued with peace and selflessness — such a person deserves to become Brahman.
Having achieved the Eternity in Mergence with Brahman, he attains the highest Love for Me!
By Love he cognizes Me in My Essence: who I am and what I am in reality. Having cognized Me thus in My innermost Essence, he submerges into My Beingness!
Though being engaged in activity (ordained for him) but worshipping Me, he attains with My help the Eternal Imperishable Abode!
Renouncing in thoughts all selfishness in action, having merged the consciousness with Me, being aware about Me as of your Refuge — think about Me constantly!
Thinking about Me, you will overcome all obstacles with My help! But if out of pride you decide not to live like this, then you will lose everything!
If, immersed into egoism, you say, “I don’t want to fight!” such your decision will be vain, for prakriti will coerce you!
O Kaunteya! Bound by your own karma, which is created by your own nature, you will do against your will what you, in delusion, do not want to do!
Ishvara resides in the hearts of all beings, O Arjuna, and by the power of His maya He makes all beings to revolve as on a potter’s machine!
Seek refuge in Him with all your being! By His Grace will you attain the Supreme Peace, the Imperishable Abode!
Thus I have revealed to you the wisdom more secret than the secret itself! Reflect on it thoroughly and then do as you wish!
Hear again from Me My Highest and innermost word: you are loved by Me and therefore receive this boon from Me!
Think always about Me, love Me, sacrifice yourself for My sake, seek refuge only in Me — and you will come to Me! You are dear to Me, and I trust you!
Having abandoned all other paths, go only to Me for Salvation! Do not grieve, I will free you from all your fetters!
Never tell about this to the one who is not disposed to exploits and is not endowed with love! Also do not tell to those who do not want to hear or who slander Me!
But he who reveals this highest Truth to those who love Me, realizing (thus) his devotional love for Me — he will undoubtedly come to Me!
And there will be no one among men performing more valuable service than he does! And there will be no one on the Earth dearer to Me than he is!
He who will study this holy conversation of ours will learn to worship Me by the sacrifice of wisdom! Such is My thought.
If man endowed with faith just listens to this conversation with homage — he will be ridding himself of evil and will attain the pure worlds of the virtuous!
Have you listened to all this with undistracted attention? Has your delusion born of ignorance been destroyed, O Partha? Arjuna said:
My delusion is dispelled! By Your Grace I gained the knowledge! I am firm; my doubts went away! I will do as You said! Sanjaya said:
Thrilled, I was hearing this wonderful conversation between Vasudeva and grand-souled Partha!
By the grace of Vyasa, I heard about this secret and highest yoga from the Lord of yoga — Ishvara Himself, speaking before my eyes!
O Raja! Recalling this holy dialogue of Keshava and Arjuna, I am thrilled again and again!
Recalling this most wonderful Form of Krishna, I rejoice again and again!
Wherever there is Krishna, the Lord of yoga, wherever there is warrior Partha — there well-being, victory, and happiness are assured! This is my opinion. Thus in the Upanishads of the blessed Bhagavad Gita, the Science of Eternal, the Scripture of yoga, says the eighteenth conversation between Shri Krishna and Arjuna, entitled: Liberation through Renunciation.
Thus ends the Bhagavad Gita.