FIVE: THE RENUNCIATION OF ACTION
“Arjuna said: My Lord! At one moment Thou praisest renunciation of action; at another,
right action. Tell me truly, I pray, which of these is the more conducive to my highest
welfare?
Lord Shri Krishna replied: Renunciation of action and the path of right action both lead to
the highest; of the two, right action is the better.
He is a true ascetic who never desires or dislikes, who is uninfluenced by the opposites
and is easily freed from bondage.
Only the unenlightened speak of wisdom and right action as separate, not the wise. If any
man knows one, he enjoys the fruit of both.
The level which is reached by wisdom is attained through right action as well. He who
perceives that the two are one, knows the truth.
Without concentration, O Mighty Man, renunciation is difficult. But the sage who is
always meditating on the Divine, before long shall attain the Absolute.
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.
Though the saint sees, hears, touches, smells, eats, moves, sleeps and breathes, yet he
knows the Truth, and he knows that it is not he who acts.
Though he talks, though he gives and receives, though he opens his eyes and shuts them,
he still knows that his senses are merely disporting themselves among the objects of
perception.
He who dedicates his actions to the Spirit, without any personal attachment to them, he is
no more tainted by sin than the water lily is wetted by water.
The sage performs his action dispassionately, using his body, mind and intellect, and even
his senses, always as a means of purification.
Having abandoned the fruit of action, he wins eternal peace. Others unacquainted with
spirituality, led by desire and clinging to the benefit which they think will follow their
actions, become entangled in them.
Mentally renouncing all actions, the self-controlled soul enjoys bliss in this body, the city
of the nine gates, neither doing anything himself nor causing anything to be done.
The Lord of this universe has not ordained activity, or any incentive thereto, or any
relation between an act and its consequences. All this is the work of Nature.
The Lord does not accept responsibility for any man’s sin or merit. Men are deluded
because in them wisdom is submerged in ignorance.
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