Bhagavad Geeta 18:4-5—Moksha Sanyasa Yoga—The Path of Liberation by Renunciation

Bhagavad Geeta 18:4-5—Moksha Sanyasa Yoga—The Path of Liberation by Renunciation

निश्चयं शृणु मे तत्र त्यागे भरतसत्तम |
त्यागो हि पुरुषव्याघ्र त्रिविध: सम्प्रकीर्तित: || 4||

niśhchayaṁ śhṛiṇu me tatra tyāge bharata-sattama
tyāgo hi puruṣha-vyāghra tri-vidhaḥ samprakīrtitaḥ

Learn from Me the truth about this abandonment, O best of the Bharatas; abandonment, verily, O best of men, has been declared to be of three kinds.

The words Sanyasa and Tyaga are synonyms. Both the words mean abandonment, renunciation and the act of giving up. It is not a negative process born of frustration and failure in life, as some would have it. In renunciation there is fulfillment as well, as acceptance. It is an act of giving up the lower after one’s concern with it is successfully over and embracing the higher with greater responsibility and keener application. All good and purposeful acts in Nature are the acts of renunciation. We shall presently see how they are so.

Renunciation is both the key and the basis for higher life. This principle is evinced by Nature at all levels of existence. The sun is constantly giving up its heat and light, facilitating thereby the life process of beings in planets where they have made their appearance. A ripe fruit renounces the parent tree that has been sustaining it, so that it may fulfill itself elsewhere by its intrinsic worth. A mother fosters a babe in her womb as part and parcel of herself. But she delivers it in time lest a delay in that act should prove dangerous both to herself and the babe. This is an act of renunciation though we do not call it so. A pupil has to renounce in time the school that has been educating him. While availing himself of the benefits of that school, his aim is to get out of it successfully. The aim of the Jivatman is to get himself educated in the school of Nature and then to renounce it so that he may fulfill himself by union with the Paramatman. And this is the acme of renunciation towards which beings are knowingly or unknowingly wending their way. It is the yogi who hastens the progress while the others are lingering in the wilderness of the Prakriti.

The goal of the Jivatman is to be emancipated from Prakriti which expresses itself in the form of karma. But he cannot and should not violently snatch himself away from karma. There is a natural and delightful way of transcending karma; the process is presented as follows:

यज्ञदानतप:कर्म न त्याज्यं कार्यमेव तत् |
यज्ञो दानं तपश्चैव पावनानि मनीषिणाम् || 5||

yajña-dāna-tapaḥ-karma na tyājyaṁ kāryam eva tat
yajño dānaṁ tapaśh chaiva pāvanāni manīṣhiṇām

Acts of Yajna, gift and austerity should not be given up, but should be performed; Yajna, gift and austerity are purifying to the wise.

The silkworm builds a cocoon for its further development and evolution. But it gets itself encaged in the cocoon in order to bring about the required change. In the seeming imprisonment it transforms itself from the larva into a beautiful butterfly. At this stage it has to come out to enjoy light, air and open freedom. For this purpose it has to break open the cocoon built by itself. The act of breaking open the cocoon is as important as that of building it. Man’s position in the world is exactly like that of the silkworm in the cocoon. The varieties of kamya karma that he performs are for his self-education and self-preparation. By experience he comes to know at last of the limitations of the mundane life. An attitude of detachment from earthly existence develops in him as a matter of course. He gets fixed in the truth that his Home is in the Divine and that he is here in the mundane for mere schooling. The karma that he does after gaining in this conviction, transforms itself into Yajna, daana and tapas. As the butterfly breaks through the cocoon it built, the sadhaka breaks through the shackles of the earthly life by his performance of sacrifice, gift and austerity. The world stands to gain thereby. The performer of these holy acts maintains his purity. Maximum good to all concerned emanates from these meritorious acts.

How do the wise men maintain their purity by performing these noble acts? The clarification comes in verse 6. To be continued…

Source: Srimad Bhagavad Geeta-Commentary by Swami Chidbhavananda