🪷 Bhagavad-Gītā · 5.7

Chapter 5 · कर्मसंन्यासयोग · Karma-Sannyāsa-Yoga · "The Yoga of Action-Renunciation" · Verse 7 of 29

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योगयुक्तो विशुद्धात्मा विजितात्मा जितेन्द्रियः।

सर्वभूतात्मभूतात्मा कुर्वन्नपि न लिप्यते।।5.7।।
Bhagavad-Gītā 5.7 · the yathārtha śloka (Devanāgarī Sanskrit · canonical)

🪷 English Translations

Five authentic English voices · each from a distinct sampradāya · together revealing the verse's full śabda-tattva.

Shri Purohit Swami · Poetic English · 1935 · public domain · Cosmo Press tradition
5.7 He who is spiritual, who is pure, who has overcome his senses and his personal self, who has realised his highest Self as the Self of all, such a one, even though he acts, is not bound by his acts.
Swami Sivananda · Direct prose · Divine Life Society
5.7 He who is devoted to the path of action, whose mind is ite pure, who has conered the self, who has subdued his senses and who realises his Self as the Self in all beings, though acting, is not tainted.
Swami Gambīrānanda · Word-key glosses · Advaita Ashrama · Śaṅkara-school
5.7 When again, as a means to attain full enlightenment, this person becomes yoga-yuktah, endowed with yoga; visuddhatma, pure in mind; vijitatma, controlled in body; jitendriyah, a coneror of the organs; and sarva-bhutatma-bhutatma, the Self of the selves of all beings-one whose Self (atma), the inmost consciousness, has become the selves (atma) of all beings (sarva-bhuta) beginning from Brahma to a clump of grass-, i.e., fully illumined; (then,) thus continuing in that state, he na lipyate, does not become tainted; kurvan api, even while performing actions for preventing mankind from going astray. That is to say, he does not become bound by actions. And besides, this person does not act in the real sense. Hence,
Swami Ādidevānanda · Śrī-Vaiṣṇava perspective · Rāmānuja school
5.7 But a Karma Yogin remains engaged in the performance of pure actions prescribed by the Sastras, which are of the nature of propitiation of the Supreme Person. By this, he becomes purified in mind. He thus subdues his self, i.e., subdues his mind easily, because his mind is engaged in the virtuous actions he has been performing before. Therefore his senses are subdued. His self is said to have become the self of all beings. Because of his being devoted to contemplation on the true nature of the self, he finds that his self is similar to the self of all beings like gods etc. One who contemplates on the true nature of the self understands that all selves are of the same form or nature. The distinctions obtaining among gods, men etc., cannot pertain to the form of the self, because those distinctions are founded on particular modifications of Prakrti i.e., the bodies of beings. Sri Krsna will teach: 'For the Brahman (an individual self), when untainted, is the same everywhere' (5.19). The meaning of this is that when dissociated from the Prakriti, i.e., the body, the self is of the same nature everywhere, i.e., in the bodies of gods, men etc. It is of the same form of knowledge. The meaning is that one, who has become enlightened in this way, active though he be, is not tainted on account of erroneously conceiving what is other than the self (the body) as the self. He is not at all associated therewith. Therefore, he attains the self without any delay. As Karma Yoga is superior to Jnana Yoga because it is more easily pursued and is more rapidly efficacious in securing the fruits, listen to its reirement:
Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Academic precision · modern scholarly
5.7. A master of Yoga, whose self (mind and intellect) is very pure and is fully subdued, the sense-organs controlled, and Soul is [realised to be] the Soul of all beings-he is not stained, eventhough he is a performer [of actions].

🪷 English Commentaries · The Ācārya Voices

The classical commentary tradition rendered in English · each ācārya speaks from their own sampradāya · the seer chooses the depth of darśana.

Swami Sivananda · Verse-by-verse word-keys with Sanskrit anchors
5.7 योगयुक्तः devoted to the path of action? विशुद्धात्मा a man of purified mind? विजितात्मा one who has conered the self? जितेन्द्रियः one who has subdued his senses? सर्वभूतात्मभूतात्मा one who realises his Self as the Self in all beings? कुर्वन् acting? अपि even? न not? लिप्यते is tainted.Commentary He who is harmonised by Yoga? i.e.? he who has purified his mind by devotion to the performance of action? who has conered the body and who has subjugated the senses? whose Self is the Self of all beings? he will not be bound by actions although he performs actions for the wellbeing or protection of the masses in orer to set an example to them. (Cf.XVIII.17)
Swami Gambīrānanda · Advaita-school commentary (Śaṅkara tradition)
5.7 When again, as a means to attain full enlightenment, this person becomes yoga-yuktah, endowed with yoga; visuddhatma, pure in mind; vijitatma, controlled in body; jitendriyah, a coneror of the organs; and sarva-bhutatma-bhutatma, the Self of the selves of all beings-one whose Self (atma), the inmost consciousness, has become the selves (atma) of all beings (sarva-bhuta) beginning from Brahma to a clump of grass-, i.e., fully illumined; (then,) thus continuing in that state, he na lipyate, does not become tainted; kurvan api, even while performing actions for preventing mankind from going astray. That is to say, he does not become bound by actions. And besides, this person does not act in the real sense. Hence,
Swami Ādidevānanda · Rāmānuja Śrī-Vaiṣṇava commentary
5.7 But a Karma Yogin remains engaged in the performance of pure actions prescribed by the Sastras, which are of the nature of propitiation of the Supreme Person. By this, he becomes purified in mind. He thus subdues his self, i.e., subdues his mind easily, because his mind is engaged in the virtuous actions he has been performing before. Therefore his senses are subdued. His self is said to have become the self of all beings. Because of his being devoted to contemplation on the true nature of the self, he finds that his self is similar to the self of all beings like gods etc. One who contemplates on the true nature of the self understands that all selves are of the same form or nature. The distinctions obtaining among gods, men etc., cannot pertain to the form of the self, because those distinctions are founded on particular modifications of Prakrti i.e., the bodies of beings. Sri Krsna will teach: 'For the Brahman (an individual self), when untainted, is the same everywhere' (5.19). The meaning of this is that when dissociated from the Prakriti, i.e., the body, the self is of the same nature everywhere, i.e., in the bodies of gods, men etc. It is of the same form of knowledge. The meaning is that one, who has become enlightened in this way, active though he be, is not tainted on account of erroneously conceiving what is other than the self (the body) as the self. He is not at all associated therewith. Therefore, he attains the self without any delay. As Karma Yoga is superior to Jnana Yoga because it is more easily pursued and is more rapidly efficacious in securing the fruits, listen to its reirement:
Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Modern academic scholarship
5৷৷7 See Comment under 5.11
Swami Chinmayānanda · Chinmaya Mission · modern Vedantic teaching
।।5.7।। पूर्व श्लोक में संक्षेप में वर्णन है कि कर्मयोग पालन करने पर चित्तशुद्धि प्राप्त होकर साधक ध्यानाभ्यास की सहायता से ब्रह्म को प्राप्त कर लेता है। वर्तमान की परिच्छिन्नता एवं बन्धनों को तोड़कर अनन्तस्वरूप की प्राप्ति के प्रयत्न में जो आन्तरिक परिवर्तन साधक में होता है उसका युक्तियुक्त विस्तृत विवेचन इस श्लोक में किया गया है।कर्मयोग से युक्त पुरुष अन्तकरण की शुद्धि प्राप्त करता है जिसका अर्थ है अधिकसेअधिक मन की आन्तरिक शान्ति। मन का कमसेकम क्षुब्ध होना उसकी शुद्धि का द्योतक है। इसे ही दूसरे शब्दों में कहते हैं वासनाओं का क्षीण होना। विक्षेप की कारणरूप वासनाओं का क्षय होने पर स्वाभाविक रूप से वह पुरुष संतुलित बन जाता है।ऐसे शुद्धान्तकरण सम्पन्न कर्मयोगी के लिए इन्द्रियों पर संयम रखना बच्चों का खेल बन जाता है। वह स्वेच्छा से इन्द्रियों को विषयों में प्रवृत्त कर सकता है और निवृत्त भी। जिस साधक को अपने शरीर मन एवं बुद्धि पर पूर्ण संयम है वह ध्यान की सर्वोच्च साधना के लिए योग्यतम है। निदिध्यासन में आने वाले मुख्य विघ्न ये ही हैं वैषयिक प्रवृत्ति मन के विक्षेप एवं अतृप्त इच्छाएं। एक बार इन शृंखलाओं को तोड़ देने पर ध्यान सहज और सुलभ बन जाता है फिर साधक को आत्मा का साक्षात् अनुभव तत्काल और उसकी सम्पूर्णता में होता है।आत्मानुभूति आंशिक रूप में नहीं हो सकती। यदि साधक केवल स्वयं को दिव्य और शुद्ध स्वरूप अनुभव करे और अन्यों को नहीं तो उसका अनुभव वास्तविक और प्रामाणिक नहीं कहा जा सकता। सम्यक् दर्शन को प्राप्त हुये पुरुष के लिए तो शुद्ध आत्मा सर्वत्र एवं समस्त कालों में व्याप्त है। इस आध्यात्मिक दृष्टि से जगत् को देखने पर उसे सर्वत्र सम्पूर्ण प्राणियों में नित्य आत्मा का ही दर्शन होता है। ऐसे ज्ञानी पुरुष को ही यहाँ सर्वभूतात्मभूतात्मा कहा गया है जिसका अर्थ है वह पुरुष जिसकी आत्मा ही सर्वभूतों की आत्मा है।जब एक तरंग अपने वास्तविक समुद्र स्वरूप को पहचान लेती है तब ज्ञान में स्थित उस तरंग के लिए कोई भी अन्य तरंग समुद्र से भिन्न नहीं हो सकती।आत्मानुभूति में स्थित हुआ पुरुष जब जगत् में कर्म करता है तब वे कर्म वासना के रूप में प्रतिफल उत्पन्न नहीं करते। कर्मफलों का बन्धन केवल अहंकार को ही हो सकता है और ज्ञानी पुरुष में उसी का अभाव होने के कारण कर्म उसे किस प्रकार लिप्त कर सकते हैं प्रवाहित जल पर लिखने के समान ही ज्ञानी पुरुष के कर्म उसके चित्त पर वासनाएँ नहीं उत्पन्न करते।भगवान् श्रीकृष्ण कर्मयोग के सिद्धान्त का पुनपुन प्रतिपादन करते हैं। इस श्लोक से भी स्पष्ट होता है कि अहंकार और स्वार्थ से प्रेरित होकर किये गये कर्मं ही वासना उत्पन्न करके बुद्धि की विवेकशक्ति को धूमिल कर देते हैं जिसके कारण मनुष्य को अपने स्वयंसिद्ध शुद्ध दिव्य स्वरूप का अनुभव नहीं हो पाता।सर्वव्यापी परमात्मा के अनुभव में स्थित सिद्ध पुरुष का जीवन की ओर देखने का क्या दृष्टिकोण होगा भगवान् कहते हैं

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सर्वम् कृष्णार्पणम् — this verse is one maṇi (jewel) on Krishna's thread (BG 7.7)