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BG 05.02 sannyasah karma-yogas ca... cited

Expressions researched:
"The renunciation of work and work in devotion are both good for liberation" |"karma-yogo visisyate" |"nihsreyasa-karav ubhau" |"sannyasah karma-yogas ca" |"tayos tu karma-sannyasat" |"work in devotional service is better than renunciation of work"

Notes from the compiler: VedaBase query: "5.2" or "The renunciation of work and work in devotion are both good for liberation" or "karma-yogo visisyate" or "nihsreyasa-karav ubhau" or "sannyasah karma-yogas ca" or "tayos tu karma-sannyasat" or "work in devotional service is better than renunciation of work"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is

BG Chapters 1 - 6

BG 5.2, Translation and Purport:

The Personality of Godhead replied: The renunciation of work and work in devotion are both good for liberation. But, of the two, work in devotional service is better than renunciation of work.

Fruitive activities (seeking sense gratification) are cause for material bondage. As long as one is engaged in activities aimed at improving the standard of bodily comfort, one is sure to transmigrate to different types of bodies, thereby continuing material bondage perpetually. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (5.5.4-6) confirms this as follows:

nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma
yad indriya-prītaya āpṛṇoti
na sādhu manye yata ātmano 'yam
asann api kleśa-da āsa dehaḥ
parābhavas tāvad abodha-jāto
yāvan na jijñāsata ātma-tattvam
yāvat kriyās tāvad idaṁ mano vai
karmātmakaṁ yena śarīra-bandhaḥ
evaṁ manaḥ karma-vaśaṁ prayuṅkte
avidyayātmany upadhīyamāne
prītir na yāvan mayi vāsudeve
na mucyate deha-yogena tāvat

"People are mad after sense gratification, and they do not know that this present body, which is full of miseries, is a result of one's fruitive activities in the past. Although this body is temporary, it is always giving one trouble in many ways. Therefore, to act for sense gratification is not good. One is considered to be a failure in life as long as he makes no inquiry about his real identity. As long as he does not know his real identity, he has to work for fruitive results for sense gratification, and as long as one is engrossed in the consciousness of sense gratification one has to transmigrate from one body to another. Although the mind may be engrossed in fruitive activities and influenced by ignorance, one must develop a love for devotional service to Vāsudeva. Only then can one have the opportunity to get out of the bondage of material existence."

Therefore, jñāna (or knowledge that one is not this material body but spirit soul) is not sufficient for liberation. One has to act in the status of spirit soul, otherwise there is no escape from material bondage. Action in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is not, however, action on the fruitive platform. Activities performed in full knowledge strengthen one's advancement in real knowledge. Without Kṛṣṇa consciousness, mere renunciation of fruitive activities does not actually purify the heart of a conditioned soul. As long as the heart is not purified, one has to work on the fruitive platform. But action in Kṛṣṇa consciousness automatically helps one escape the result of fruitive action so that one need not descend to the material platform. Therefore action in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is always superior to renunciation, which always entails a risk of falling. Renunciation without Kṛṣṇa consciousness is incomplete, as is confirmed by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī in his Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.2.258):

prāpañcikatayā buddhyā
hari-sambandhi-vastunaḥ
mumukṣubhiḥ parityāgo
vairāgyaṁ phalgu kathyate

"When persons eager to achieve liberation renounce things related to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, thinking them to be material, their renunciation is called incomplete." Renunciation is complete when it is in the knowledge that everything in existence belongs to the Lord and that no one should claim proprietorship over anything. One should understand that, factually, nothing belongs to anyone. Then where is the question of renunciation? One who knows that everything is Kṛṣṇa's property is always situated in renunciation. Since everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa, everything should be employed in the service of Kṛṣṇa. This perfect form of action in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is far better than any amount of artificial renunciation by a sannyāsī of the Māyāvādī school.

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 4.39-5.3 -- New York, August 24, 1966:

So here it is stated, bhagavān uvāca: "The Personality of Godhead said, answered." What He answered? That

sannyāsaḥ karma-yogaś ca
niḥśreyasa-karāv ubhau
tayos tu karma-sannyāsāt
karma-yogo viśiṣyate
(BG 5.2)

Now, Kṛṣṇa says that "Either you renounce this world, either be you in the renounced order of life"—just like we are in renounced order of life—"or you are in ordinary working capacity," that "they are equally beneficial." But... Tayos tu. But if we examine on neutral position, then Kṛṣṇa recommends that better than this sannyāsa is to work, is better. Tayos tu karma-sannyāsāt karma-yogo viśiṣyate.

This is very nice point. Try to understand. The sannyāsī... Just like we are sannyāsī. According to our Vedic system, we are allowed to beg alms from the householders. The social system, the varṇāśrama institution, is so made that the brahmacārī, vānaprastha, and the sannyāsī, and the gṛhastha... Gṛhastha means the householder. Now, the brahmacārī will beg from the householder, the vānaprastha will beg from the householder, and the sannyāsī also beg from the householder. So householder is the only earning member who will feed all these three different status of social orders.

Lecture on BG 4.39-5.3 -- New York, August 24, 1966:

Just like Arjuna. Arjuna was not a sannyāsī. He, after hearing Bhagavad-gītā, he did not take up the renounced order of life and dressed himself in orange-colored dress and went away from the battlefield, no. He remained the same man, the same military man, but he became the most perfect Kṛṣṇa conscious man. So same principle was there. Therefore here Lord Kṛṣṇa says, sannyāsaḥ karma-yogaś ca niḥśreyasa-karāv ubhau: "Either you take sannyāsa or you remain in your position, that doesn't matter. You can attain the highest perfection from any position, provided you are Kṛṣṇa conscious." That's all. Jñeyaḥ sa nitya-sannyāsī yo na dveṣṭi na kāṅkṣati (BG 5.3). Hear how nicely Kṛṣṇa says. Jñeyaḥ sa nitya-sannyāsī. Just try to understand. That person is always a sannyāsī—not by dress but by his actual activities. What? Na dveṣṭi na kāṅkṣati. "He does not, I mean to say, hate anything, and he does not desire anything." These two qualifications. He does not hate anything, and he does not desire anything.

Page Title:BG 05.02 sannyasah karma-yogas ca... cited
Compiler:MadhuGopaldas, Visnu Murti
Created:24 of Feb, 2011
Totals by Section:BG=1, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=2, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:3