Chapter 5Verse 3 of 29

Bhagavad Gita 5.3

ज्ञेयः स नित्यसंन्यासी यो न द्वेष्टि न काङ्क्षति । निर्द्वन्द्वो हि महाबाहो सुखं बन्धात्प्रमुच्यते ॥

jñeyaḥ sa nitya-sannyāsī yo na dveṣṭi na kāṅkṣati | nirdvandvo hi mahā-bāho sukhaṃ bandhāt pramucyate ||

Translation

He who neither hates nor desires should be known as a constant renouncer; free from the pairs of opposites, he is released from bondage with ease.

Nitya-sannyāsī. The constant renouncer. The verse re-defines the word. Renunciation is not a robe and a forest. It is a steady inner posture: na dveṣṭi na kāṅkṣati, no hating, no longing. The man who walks through the same day as everyone else, doing the same things, but without the pull of either direction, is the nitya-sannyāsī. Nirdvandvaḥ, beyond the pairs. Sukhaṃ pramucyate, easily released. Aurobindo: the redefinition is the whole point. The chapter is going to keep collapsing the apparent gap between the two paths.

Reflection

Whose visible renunciation have you envied that you are already practicing inwardly, unnamed?

Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Five

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