Bhagavad Gita Chapter 5 - Sanyasa Yoga - Sloka 8 & 9

The entire content of this mail is from Swami Chidbhavananda's translation of The Bhagavad Gita, published by Ramakrishna Mission.

Karma Yoga is Karma Sanyasa - 1-13

1 Gita Sloka every day - Chapter 5 -Sanyasa Yoga - Sloka 8 & 9

Kurma Avatara

The signs of freedom from the bondage of karma are as follows:

Na eva kinchit karomi iti yujtah manyet tatvavit I

Pashyan shrunvan sprushan jighran ashnan gachchan svapn shvasan II sloka 8

Pralapan visrujan gruhnan udmishan nimishan api I

Indriyani indriya artheshu vartante iti dharayan II sloka 9

न एव किञ्चित् करोमि इति युज्तः मन्येत तत्त्ववित्   ।

पश्यन श्रुण्वन स्पृशन जिघ्रन अश्नन गच्छन स्वपन् श्वसन् ।। श्लोक ८

प्रलपन् विसृजन् गृह्णन् उदमिष्न  निमिषन् अपि । 

इन्द्रियाणि इन्द्रिय अर्थेषु वर्तन्ते इति धारयन् ।। श्लोक ९

The sage centred in the self should think, "I do nothing at all",  though seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, going, sleeping, breathing speaking, emptying, holding, opening and closing the eyes, firm in the thought that the senses move among sense objects. 

 

All activities pertaining to the bodily existence take place in the non-self. The self is actionless.The knower of the self is therefore free from agency.The person seated in an automobile does not himself move. He identifies himself with the vehicle  and says "I am going". The person who blurts in his sleep is not in reality the agent of that act. A man absorbed in deep thought is not aware of the taste of that dish he partakes. In all these cases the activities are not actually of the persons concerned. Similar to these, the jnani established in the atman is not the doer of the activities going on in the body, senses mind, intellect and the life energy called prana.

He who comes to know that he is only an instrument in the hands of the Lord, has no egoistic feeling. He is aware that he is only a tool with which God has his work done. Such a man causes harm to nobody. The poison of egoism is no more in him. A steel knife becomes a gold knife with the touch of  the philosopher's stone. Though the form of the knife is there, it is not useful any more for cutting. Similarly the jnani retains a seeming individuality, but no ignorance-born activity occurs in and through him.

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa