Chapter 5: Karma Sannyāsa Yoga – Yoga of Inner Renunciation: Verse 11
कायेन मनसा बुद्ध्या केवलैरिन्द्रियैरपि ।
योगिन: कर्म कुर्वन्ति सङ्गं त्यक्त्वात्मशुद्धये ॥
kāyena manasā buddhyā kevalair-indriyair-api
yogina: karma kurvanti saṅgaṃ tyaktvātma-śuddhaye – 5.11
Abandoning saṅga, yogis perform actions only with their body, mind, intelligence and senses, to gain self-purification.
Chapter 5: Karma Sannyāsa Yoga – Yoga of Inner Renunciation - Verse 11
Ma Gurupriya
Human activities are in four levels. Sensory and bodily actions are the outermost. Next is the oral, namely articulation. These two are visible. Further next will be mental activity, like thinking, feeling, emotional urges, memorizing, etc. Intelligential activity, like enquiring, knowing, reasoning, etc., is the last and the most effective.
None of these can be forsaken. All should be pursued with equal zeal, but with the sole aim of purifying oneself. Impure mind will be agitated and confused, and peace will be distant for it.
Purity consists in leaving delusional clinging, saṅga. For the yogi, whatever be the objective outcome of his actions, the real purpose will be purifying himself.
Delusion, clinging, selfishness, etc. are sure to surge forth in various ways, as one remains active. In fact, he gets a chance to identify them properly. Thus through activity the seeker should seek his own inner purity and spiritual enrichment – the point Krishna emphasizes here.
