Chapter 5, Verse 3
Karma Sanyasa Yoga — Sanskrit shloka, transliteration, word meanings, English translation, and commentary.
Original Sanskrit verse
Transliteration
Word meanings
jñeyaḥ—should be considered; saḥ—that person; nitya—always; sanyāsī—practising renunciation; yaḥ—who; na—never; dveṣhṭi—hate; na—nor; kāṅkṣhati—desire; nirdvandvaḥ—free from all dualities; hi—certainly; mahā-bāho—mighty-armed one; sukham—easily; bandhāt—from bondage; pramuchyate—is liberated
English translation
He should be known as a perpetual Sannyasi who neither hates nor desires; for, free from the pairs of opposites, O mighty-armed Arjuna, he is easily freed from bondage.
— Swami Sivananda
Listen to Shloka 5.3
Commentary
A man does not become a Sannyasi by merely giving up actions because of laziness or ignorance or some family arrel or calamity or unemployment. A true Sannyasi is not a hypocritical coward. The Karma Yogi who neither hates pain and the objects which give him pain; nor desires pleasure and the objects that give him pleasure; who has neither attachment nor aversion to any senseobject and who has risen above the pairs of heat and cold; joy and sorrow; success and failure; victory and defeat; gain and loss; praise and censure; honour and dishonour; should be known as a perpetual Sannyasi though he is ever engaged in action. One need not have taken Sannyasa formally but if he has the above mental attitutde; he is a perpetual Sannyasi. Mere ochrecoloured robe cannot make one a Sannyasi. What is wanted is a pure heart with true renunciation of egoism and desires. Physical renunciation of objects is no renunciation at all. (Cf. VI.1)
Commentary by Swami Sivananda
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