Bhagwad Gita (English) | Chapter 5 | Verse 21

Chapter 5, Verse 21

Karma-yoga-Action in Krishna Consciousness

Such a liberated person is not attracted to material sense pleasure or external objects but is always in trance, enjoying the pleasure within. In this way the self-realized person enjoys unlimited happiness, for he concentrates on the Supreme.

Verse

बाह्यस्पर्शेष्वसक्तात्मा विन्दत्यात्मनि यत्सुखम्।
स ब्रह्मयोगयुक्तात्मा सुखमक्षयमश्नुते।।5.21।।

bāhya-sparśheṣhvasaktātmā vindatyātmani yat sukham
sa brahma-yoga-yuktātmā sukham akṣhayam aśhnute

Meaning of each word

bāhya-sparśheṣhu — external sense pleasure;
asakta-ātmā — those who are unattached;
vindati — find;
ātmani — in the self;
yat — which;
sukham — bliss;
saḥ — that person;
brahma-yoga yukta-ātmā — those who are united with God through yog;
sukham — happiness;
akṣhayam — unlimited;
aśhnute — experiences

Interpretation

This verse talks about a person who has reached a state of enlightenment or liberation. Such a person does not get caught up in the pleasures that come from outside, like food, entertainment, or material possessions. Instead, they find joy deep inside themselves.

Think of it like this: when you are doing something you love or you get lost in a great book, you might forget everything around you. That feeling of being completely absorbed and happy is what this verse describes as being in 'trance'. The ‘pleasure within’ means finding happiness that isn’t based on things you can touch or see, but rather on your own inner peace and contentment.

The verse also mentions someone who practices 'brahma-yoga', which means staying connected to a higher spiritual purpose, often referred to as God or the Supreme. This connection helps such a person to experience what is described as 'unlimited happiness'.

In simple terms, this verse is telling us that real, lasting joy doesn’t come from chasing after things outside ourselves. Instead, it comes from looking within and nurturing our own spirit, being connected to something greater than ourselves. This is far more fulfilling than any temporary pleasure we might get from material things.

So, someone who can do this is truly free and blissful, because they aren't swayed by the ups and downs of life that come from external circumstances. They are stable and joyful no matter what happens around them.

Other Verses of Chapter 5

Verse 1
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?

Verse 2
The Blessed Lord said: The renunciation of work and work in devotion are both good for liberation. But, of the two, work in devotional service is better than renunciation of works.

Verse 3
One who neither hates nor desires the fruits of his activities is known to be always renounced. Such a person, liberated from all dualities, easily overcomes material bondage and is completely liberated, O mighty-armed Arjuna.

Verse 4
Only the ignorant speak of karma-yoga and devotional service as being different from the analytical study of the material world. Those who are actually learned say that he who applies himself well to one of these paths achieves the results of both.

Verse 5
One who knows that the position reached by means of renunciation can also be attained by works in devotional service and who therefore sees that the path of works and the path of renunciation are one, sees things as they are.

Verse 6
Unless one is engaged in the devotional service of the Lord, mere renunciation of activities cannot make one happy. The sages, purified by works of devotion, achieve the Supreme without delay.

Verse 7
One who works in devotion, who is a pure soul, and who controls his mind and senses, is dear to everyone, and everyone is dear to him. Though always working, such a man is never entangled.

Verse 8
"I do nothing at all," thus would the harmonized knower of Truth think, seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, going, sleeping, and breathing.

Verse 9
Speaking, letting go, seizing, opening, and closing the eyes, one should be convinced that the senses move among the sense-objects.

Verse 10
One who performs his duty without attachment, surrendering the results unto the Supreme God, is not affected by sinful action, as the lotus leaf is untouched by water.

Verse 11
The yogis, abandoning attachment, act with body, mind, intelligence, and even with the senses, only for the purpose of purification.

Verse 12
The steadily devoted soul attains unadulterated peace because he offers the result of all activities to Me; whereas a person who is not in union with the Divine, who is greedy for the fruits of his labor, becomes entangled.

Verse 13
When the embodied living being controls his nature and mentally renounces all actions, he resides happily in the city of nine gates [the material body], neither working nor causing work to be done.

Verse 14
The embodied spirit, master of the city of his body, does not create activities, nor does he induce people to act, nor does he create the fruits of action. All this is enacted by the modes of material nature.

Verse 15
Nor does the Supreme Spirit assume anyone's sinful or pious activities. Embodied beings, however, are bewildered because of the ignorance which covers their real knowledge.

Verse 16
When, however, one is enlightened with the knowledge by which nescience is destroyed, then his knowledge reveals everything, as the sun lights up everything in the daytime.

Verse 17
When one's intelligence, mind, faith and refuge are all fixed in the Supreme, then one becomes fully cleansed of misgivings through complete knowledge and thus proceeds straight on the path of liberation.

Verse 18
The humble sage, by virtue of true knowledge, sees with equal vision a learned and gentle brahmana, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater [outcaste].

Verse 19
Those whose minds are established in sameness and equanimity have already conquered the conditions of birth and death. They are flawless like Brahman, and thus they are already situated in Brahman.

Verse 20
A person who neither rejoices upon achieving something pleasant nor laments upon obtaining something unpleasant, who is self-intelligent, unbewildered, and who knows the science of God, is to be understood as already situated in Transcendence.

Verse 22
An intelligent person does not take part in the sources of misery, which are due to contact with the material senses. O son of Kunti, such pleasures have a beginning and an end, and so the wise man does not delight in them.

Verse 23
Before giving up this present body, if one is able to tolerate the urges of the material senses and check the force of desire and anger, he is a yogi and is happy in this world.

Verse 24
One whose happiness is within, who is active within, who rejoices within and is illumined within, is actually the perfect mystic. He is liberated in the Supreme, and ultimately he attains the Supreme.

Verse 25
One who is beyond duality and doubt, whose mind is engaged within, who is always busy working for the welfare of all sentient beings, and who is free from all sins, achieves liberation in the Supreme.

Verse 26
Those who are free from anger and all material desires, who are self-realized, self-disciplined and constantly endeavoring for perfection, are assured of liberation in the Supreme in the very near future.

Verse 27
Shutting out all external contacts and fixing the gaze between the eyebrows, realizing the outgoing and incoming breaths moving within the nostrils.

Verse 28
With the senses, mind, and intellect ever controlled, having liberation as their supreme goal, free from desire, fear, and anger, the sage is truly liberated forever.

Verse 29
The sages, knowing Me as the ultimate purpose of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attain peace from the pangs of material miseries.

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