Bhagavagd Gita - Session 20- Track 2001

I hope today we will make a good progress in the 5th & 6th chapters.

As I told you last time, the first part in the 5th & 6th chapters is related to show the identity of Sankhya and Yoga and to show that only the children make a big difference between the two, but not the wise ones. We have dealt with this last time. So, I will only add one word that in showing that identity, the one crucial word is ‘sannyāsa’.

Because of the ambiguity of the word Sannyasa a confusion arises; because it seems as if in Sankhya, Sannyasa is the central thing. In Yoga or Karma yoga, continuation of action is emphasised, and therefore it seems there is no Sannyasa in it. So, it seems that Sankhya means Sannyasa, Karma yoga means no-Sannyasa and therefore there seems to be a conflict between the two. Whereas Sri Krishna points out that Sankhya and Yoga both are one, because in both Sannyasa is involved; and the same kind of Sannyasa is required. And this is understood by making a distinction between outer Sannyasa and inner Sannyasa.

Very often those who pursue Sankhya, they seem to do Sannyasa but outwardly. But even in Sankhya, the real Sannyasa is ‘not’ outer Sannyasa. The real Sannyasa is the internal Sannyasa: internally you give up. And that is required in both, both in Sankhya and Yoga, because na kāṅkṣati na dveṣṭi, what does it mean? In the Karma yoga, this is the most important thing: na kāṅkṣati na dveṣṭi nirdvandvo, one who has gone beyond dualities. So, Karma yoga is centred on the inner renunciation of desire. And the same thing is also demanded in Jnana yoga, in Sankhya. Therefore, both are actually one and the same process.

The only difference is that in the beginning, in Sankhya the emphasis is on the pursuit of Knowledge. In Karma yoga, the pursuit is of Action, and refinement of action, and perfection of action. And the method used is not to give up action at all, but to utilise action as a means of Yoga. In Sankhya or Jnana yoga the aim is Knowledge, and the means also is centred upon intellectual pursuit of knowledge, in the outset. So, in the beginning there is a distinction and emphasis, which is different, but as soon as you come in the middle point, in both the cases the renunciation of desire and renunciation of all kinds of rivalry is the central point, in both the cases. In both the cases, as you rise higher you have to pass through the gates of Knowledge. Karma yoga is not Karma yoga unless you attain to the integral Knowledge. Sankhya is not Sankhya unless you attain to the integral Knowledge. When you attain to the integral Knowledge, then follows an action because in the integrality of Knowledge, action is not thrown out, and that is true in both the cases. So, even at the top level, both are one and the same. This is the one important part of these chapters 5 & 6.

As a consequence of this, in the 5th chapter, there are a few verses, which describe the divine worker.

If you want to see the link of the argument that proceeds from 4th chapter to 5th chapter, you may say that the 4th chapter describes divyam janma, divyam karma: what is the divine birth and what is the divine action. Naturally thereafter you are to be told what is the nature of one who does divine action. So, there is a link between the 4th chapter and the 5th chapter that having described what is the divine action in the 4th chapter, in the 5th chapter there is a description of one who performs divine action. What is his nature? Therefore the divine worker is described in the 5th chapter.

In the middle, there is this interlude where the distinction between Sankhya and Yoga, which is very often enlarged in the minds of people, is sort to be abridged and eliminated, so that we see that Sankhya and Yoga are the same. And both, when Sankhya rises to the top, and when Karma yoga rises to the top, then both of them become divine workers; therefore the description of divine worker we get. So, if we read now the 6th verse in the 5th chapter, and a few more verses thereafter, you get the description of the divine worker.

And the divine worker has 5 important qualities. One is that he has given up: Sannyasa; he has given up. That is inner renunciation of egoism. There is inner renunciation of desire. There is a sense of equality. There is impersonality. There is peace. There is joy. These are the important qualities of a divine worker. And these paragraphs, these verses, in one way or the other, describe these qualities. So now, we shall rapidly read these so that we know, every time that we come across these words like: freedom from egoism, freedom from desire, impersonality, equality, peace and joy, these words will occur now and then, and we shall see that all of them describe the divine worker. In fact the whole of the chapter in fact can be seen only as a description of a divine worker.