 |
 |
|
|
|
|
TEXT 1 arjuna uvaca
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 that sannyasa, 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.
|
