Chapter 5: Karma Sannyāsa Yoga – Yoga of Inner Renunciation: Verse 23
शक्नोतीहैव य: सोढुं प्राक्शरीरविमोक्षणात् ।
कामक्रोधोद्भवं वेगं स युक्त: स सुखी नर: ॥
śaknotīhaiva ya: soḍhuṃ prāk-śarīra-vimokṣaṇāt
kāma-krodhodbhavaṃ vegaṃ sa yukta: sa sukhī nara: – 5.23
Whoever is able to withstand the urges of passion and anger before his body falls, is indeed the spiritually integrated and happy human.
Chapter 5: Karma Sannyāsa Yoga – Yoga of Inner Renunciation - Verse 23
Ma Gurupriya
This is another secular statement, proving the dialogue as a non-religious, rational exposition of interactional human life, presenting a host of eternal values to benefit humanity – a point Gita students must grasp wholeheartedly. The text is an administrative and interactional treatise, relevant to all countries of the world.
Rāga and dveṣa, iṣṭa and aniṣṭa, kāma and krodha are synonyms defining the two mutually opposite urges of the mind. Love takes one nearer the object of love, making him intensify his affinity with it. Hate is the opposite urge, dissuading what one hates, seeking to further the dislike and distance. Instead of renouncing these urges, people relish to enhance their incidence and intensity, making life exceedingly miserable.
Krishna says: Whoever forbears these emotions, is well integrated and content. Sublimate likes and dislikes – is the core message, as expressed earlier (5.19, 20). Mind alone causes suffering, and mind brings freedom too.
