THE BHAGAVAD GITA — Chapter 5
Excerpts from God Talks with Arjuna: The Bhagavad Gita
by Paramahansa Yogananda
Freedom Through Inner Renunciation
V:10
Like unto the lotus leaf that remains unsullied by water, the yogi who performs actions, forswearing attachment and surrendering his actions to the Infinite, remains unbound by entanglement in the senses
V:11
For sanctification of the ego, yogis perform actions solely with (the instruments of action) the body, the mind, discrimination, or even the senses, forsaking attachment (disallowing ego involveme nt, with its attachments and desires).
V:16
But in those who have banished ignorance by Self-knowledge, their wisdom, like the illuminating sun, makes manifest the Supreme Self.
V:17
Their thoughts immersed in That (Spirit), their souls one with Spirit, their sole allegiance and devotion given to Spirit, their beings purified from poisonous delusion by the antidote of wisdom—such men reach the state of nonreturn. [—Commentary]
V:18
Self-realized sages behold with an equal eye a learned and humble Brahmin, a cow, an elephant, a dog, and an outcaste. [—Commentary]
Transitory Nature of the Material World
V:20-22
The knower of Spirit, abiding in the Supreme Being, with unswerving discrimination, free from delusion, is thus neither jubilant at pleasant experiences nor downcast by unpleasant experiences.
Unattracted to the sensory world, the yogi experiences the ever new joy inherent in the Self. Engaged in divine union of the soul with Spirit, he attains bliss indestructible. [—Commentary]
O Son of Kunti (Arjuna)! because sense pleasures spring from outward contacts, and have beginning and end (are ephemeral), they are begetters only of misery. No sage seeks happiness from them. [—Commentary]
V:24
Only that yogi who possesses the inner Bliss, who rests on the inner Foundation, who is one with the inner Light, becomes one with Spirit (after attaining freedom from karma connected with the physical, astral, and ideational bodies). He attains complete liberation in Spirit (even while living in the body).
V:25
With sins obliterated, doubts removed, senses subjugated, the rishis (sages), contributing to the welfare of mankind, attain emancipation in Spirit.
Kriya Yoga Imparts Soul-Realization
V:27-28
A muni—he who holds liberation as the sole object of life and therefore frees himself from longings, fears, and wrath—controls his senses, mind, and intelligence and removes their external contacts by (a technique of) making even (or "neutralizing") the currents of prana and apana that manifest (as inhalation and exhalation) in the nostrils. He fixes his gaze at the middle of the two eyebrows (thus converting the dual current of the physical vision into the single current of the omniscient astral eye). Such a muni wins complete emancipation. [—Commentary]
V:29
He finds peace who knows Me as the Enjoyer of the holy rites (yajnas) and of the austerities (offered by devotees), as the Infinite Lord of Creation, and as the Good Friend of all creatures.