View source for In this Fifth Chapter of the Bhagavad-gita, God says that work in devotional service is better than dry mental speculation. Devotional service is easier than the latter because, being transcendental in nature, it frees one from reaction. BG 1972 purports

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{{terms|"the Lord says that work in devotional service is better than dry mental speculation. Devotional service is easier than the latter because, being transcendental in nature, it frees one from reaction"}}
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{{first|27Oct12}}
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[[Category:Fifth]]
[[Category:Chapters of the Bhagavad-gita]]
[[Category:God Says]]
[[Category:Working for God]]
[[Category:Working in Devotional Service to God]]
[[Category:Devotional Service to God]]
[[Category:Better Than]]
[[Category:Dry Speculation]]
[[Category:Mental Speculation]]
[[Category:Devotional Service to God Is]]
[[Category:Devotional Service to God is Easy]]
[[Category:Easier Than]]
[[Category:Latter]]
[[Category:Because]]
[[Category:Being]]
[[Category:Transcendental]]
[[Category:Nature]]
[[Category:Transcendental Nature of Devotional Service to God]]
[[Category:Devotional Service to God Gives Freedom from all Reactions]]
[[Category:Free from Reaction]]
[[Category:One (as in someone)]]
[[Category:Bhagavad-gita As It Is - 1972 Purports, Chapter 05 - Vaniquotes]]
[[Category:Bhagavad-gita As It Is - 1972 Purports, Chapters 01 to 18 - Vaniquotes]]
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<div id="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is" class="section" sec_index="0" parent="compilation" text="Bhagavad-gita As It Is"><h2>Bhagavad-gita As It Is</h2>
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<div id="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" class="sub_section" sec_index="1" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is" text="BG Chapters 1 - 6"><h3>BG Chapters 1 - 6</h3>
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<div id="BG51_0" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="196" link="BG 5.1" link_text="BG 5.1">
<div class="heading">In this Fifth Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā, the Lord says that work in devotional service is better than dry mental speculation. Devotional service is easier than the latter because, being transcendental in nature, it frees one from reaction. In the Second Chapter, preliminary knowledge of the soul and its entanglement in the material body were explained. How to get out of this material encagement by buddhi-yoga, or devotional service, was also explained therein. In the Third Chapter, it was explained that a person who is situated on the platform of knowledge no longer has any duties to perform. And, in the Fourth Chapter, the Lord told Arjuna that all kinds of sacrificial work culminate in knowledge.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 5.1 (1972)|BG 5.1, Translation and Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;"> <br />
Arjuna said: O Kṛṣṇa, first of all You ask me to renounce work, and then again You recommend work with devotion. Now will You kindly tell me definitely which of the two is more beneficial?</p>
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<div class="purport text"><p>In this Fifth Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā, the Lord says that work in devotional service is better than dry mental speculation. Devotional service is easier than the latter because, being transcendental in nature, it frees one from reaction. In the Second Chapter, preliminary knowledge of the soul and its entanglement in the material body were explained. How to get out of this material encagement by buddhi-yoga, or devotional service, was also explained therein. In the Third Chapter, it was explained that a person who is situated on the platform of knowledge no longer has any duties to perform. And, in the Fourth Chapter, the Lord told Arjuna that all kinds of sacrificial work culminate in knowledge. However, at the end of the Fourth Chapter, the Lord advised Arjuna to wake up and fight, being situated in perfect knowledge. Therefore, by simultaneously stressing the importance of both work in devotion and inaction in knowledge, Kṛṣṇa has perplexed Arjuna and confused his determination. Arjuna understands that renunciation in knowledge involves cessation of all kinds of work performed as sense activities. But if one performs work in devotional service, then how is work stopped? In other words, he thinks that sannyāsam, or renunciation in knowledge, should be altogether free from all kinds of activity because work and renunciation appear to him to be incompatible. He appears not to have understood that work in full knowledge is nonreactive and is therefore the same as inaction. He inquires, therefore, whether he should cease work altogether, or work with full knowledge.

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