March 22,2013.Day 202 . BHAGAVAD GITA - As It Is.Original by His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada. Chapter 5.TEXT 1

Chapter 5. Karma-yoga--Action in Krsna Consciousness

TEXT 1

arjuna uvaca
sannyasam karmanam krsna
punar yogam ca samsasi
yac chreya etayor ekam
tan me bruhi suniscitam

SYNONYMS

arjunah uvaca--Arjuna said; sannyasam--renunciation; karmanam--of all activities; krsna--O Krsna; punah--again; yogam--devotional service; ca--also; samsasi--You are praising; yat--which; sreyah--is beneficial; etayoh--of these two; ekam--one; tat--that; me--unto me;bruhi--please tell; suniscitam--definitely.

TRANSLATION

Arjuna said: O Krsna, first of all You ask me to renounce work, and then again You recommend work with devotion. Now will You kindly tell me definitely which of the two is more beneficial?

PURPORT

In this Fifth Chapter of the Bhagavad-gita, the Lord says that work in devotional service is better than dry mental speculation. Devotional service is easier than the latter because, being transcendental in nature, it frees one from reaction. In the Second Chapter, preliminary knowledge of the soul and its entanglement in the material body were explained. How to get out of this material encagement by buddhi-yoga, or devotional service, was also explained therein. In the Third Chapter, it was explained that a person who is situated on the platform of knowledge no longer has any duties to perform. And, in the Fourth Chapter, the Lord told Arjuna that all kinds of sacrificial work culminate in knowledge. However, at the end of the Fourth Chapter, the Lord advised Arjuna to wake up and fight, being situated in perfect knowledge. Therefore, by simultaneously stressing the importance of both work in devotion and inaction in knowledge, Krsna has perplexed Arjuna and confused his determination. Arjuna understands that renunciation in knowledge involves cessation of all kinds of work performed as sense activities. But if one performs work in devotional service, then how is work stopped? In other words, he thinks thatsannyasa, or renunciation in knowledge, should be altogether free from all kinds of activity because work and renunciation appear to him to be incompatible. He appears not to have understood that work in full knowledge is nonreactive and is therefore the same as inaction. He inquires, therefore, whether he should cease work altogether, or work with full knowledge.