• Arjuna. Yet, Krishna at the one time thou dost laud
• Surcease of works, and, at another time,
• Service through work. Of these twain plainly tell
• Which is the better way?
• Krishna. To cease from works
• Is well, and to do works in holiness
• Is well; and both conduct to bliss supreme;
• But of these twain the better way is his
• Who working piously refraineth not.
• That is the true Renouncer, firm and fixed,
• Who- seeking nought, rejecting nought- dwells proof
• Against the "opposites." O valiant Prince!
• In doing, such breaks lightly from all deed:
• 'Tis the new scholar talks as they were two,
• This Sankhya and this Yoga: wise men know
• Who husbands one plucks golden fruit of both!
• The region of high rest which Sankhyans reach
• Yogins attain. Who sees these twain as one
• Sees with clear eyes! Yet such abstraction, Chief!
• Is hard to win without much holiness.
• Whoso is fixed in holiness, self-ruled,
• Pure-hearted, lord of senses and of self,
• Lost in the common life of all which lives-
• A "Yogayukt"- he is a Saint who wends
• Straightway to Brahm. Such an one is not touched
• By taint of deeds. "Nought of myself I do!"
• Thus will he think- who holds the truth of truths-
• In seeing, hearing, touching, smelling; when
• He eats, or goes, or breathes; slumbers or talks,
• Holds fast or loosens, opes his eyes or shuts;
• Always assured "This is the sense-world plays
• With senses." He that acts in thought of Brahm,
• Detaching end from act, with act content,
• The world of sense can no more stain his soul
• Than waters mar th' enamelled lotus-leaf.
• With life, with heart, with mind,- nay, with the help
• Of all five senses- letting selfhood go-
• Yogins toil ever towards their souls' release.
• Such votaries, renouncing fruit of deeds,
• Gain endless peace: the unvowed, the passion-bound,
• Seeking a fruit from works, are fastened down.
• The embodied sage, withdrawn within his soul,
• At every act sits godlike in "the town
• Which hath nine gateways," neither doing aught
• Nor causing any deed. This world's Lord makes
• Neither the work, nor passion for the work,
• Nor lust for fruit of work; the man's own self
• Pushes to these! The Master of this World
• Takes on himself the good or evil deeds
• Of no man- dwelling beyond! Mankind errs here
• By folly, darkening knowledge. But, for whom
• That darkness of the soul is chased by light,
• Splendid and clear shines manifest the Truth
• As if a Sun of Wisdom sprang to shed
• Its beams of dawn. Him meditating still,
• Him seeking, with Him blended, stayed on Him,
• The souls illuminated take that road
• Which hath no turning back- their sins flung off,
• By strength of faith. [Who will may have this Light;
• Who hath it sees.] To him who wisely sees,
• The Brahman with his scrolls and sanctities,
• The cow, the elephant, the unclean dog,
• The Outcast gorging dog's meat, are all one.
• The world is overcome- aye! even here!
• By such as fix their faith on Unity.
• The sinless Brahma dwells in Unity,
• And they in Brahma. Be not over-glad
• Attaining joy, and be not over-sad
• Encountering grief, but, stayed on Brahma, still
• Constant let each abide! The sage whose soul
• Holds off from outer contacts, in himself
• Finds bliss; to Brahma joined by piety,
• His spirit tastes eternal peace. The joys
• Springing from sense-life are but quickening wombs
• Which breed sure griefs: those joys begin and end!
• The wise mind takes no pleasure, Kunti's Son!
• In such as those! But if a man shall learn,
• Even while he lives and bears his body's chain,
• To master lust and anger, he is blest!
• He is the Yukta; he hath happiness,
• Contentment, light, within: his life is merged
• In Brahma's life; he doth Nirvana touch!
• Thus go the Rishis unto rest, who dwell
• With sins effaced, with doubts at end, with hearts
• Governed and calm. Glad in all good they live,
• Nigh to the peace of God; and all those live
• Who pass their days exempt from greed and wrath,
• Subduing self and senses, knowing the Soul!
• The Saint who shuts outside his placid soul
• All touch of sense, letting no contact through;
• Whose quiet eyes gaze straight from fixed brows,
• Whose outward breath and inward breath are drawn
• Equal and slow through nostrils still and close;
• That one- with organs, heart, and mind constrained,
• Bent on deliverance, having put away
• Passion, and fear, and rage;- hath even now,
• Obtained deliverance, ever and ever freed.
• Yea! for he knows Me Who am He that heeds
• The sacrifice and worship, God revealed;
• And He who heeds not, being Lord of Worlds,
• Lover of all that lives, God unrevealed,
• Wherein who will shall find surety and shield!

HERE ENDETH Chapter V OF THE BHAGAVAD-GITA, Entitled "Karmasanyasayog," Or "The Book of Religion by Renouncing Fruit of Works."