The fifth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita is Karma Sanyasa Yoga. In this chapter, Krishna compares the paths of renunciation in actions (Karma Sanyas) and actions with detachment (Karma Yoga) and explains that both are means to reach the same goal and we can choose either. A wise person should perform his/her worldly duties without attachment to the fruits of his/her actions and dedicate them to God. This way they remain unaffected by sin and eventually attain liberation.
ज्ञेयः स नित्यसंन्यासी यो न द्वेष्टि न काङ्क्षति |
निर्द्वन्द्वो हि महाबाहो सुखं बन्धात्प्रमुच्यते ||५-३||
jñeyaḥ sa nityasaṃnyāsī yo na dveṣṭi na kāṅkṣati .
nirdvandvo hi mahābāho sukhaṃ bandhātpramucyate ||5-3||
Simple English
Primary Translation
One who neither hates nor craves should be known as one who is always renounced. Free from the pairs of opposites, O mighty-armed one, such a person is easily freed from bondage.
साङ्ख्ययोगौ पृथग्बालाः प्रवदन्ति न पण्डिताः |
एकमप्यास्थितः सम्यगुभयोर्विन्दते फलम् ||५-४||
sāṅkhyayogau pṛthagbālāḥ pravadanti na paṇḍitāḥ .
ekamapyāsthitaḥ samyagubhayorvindate phalam ||5-4||
Simple English
Primary Translation
Only the ignorant say that the path of knowledge and the path of action are separate, not the learned. One who is properly established in either gains the fruit of both.
यत्साङ्ख्यैः प्राप्यते स्थानं तद्योगैरपि गम्यते |
एकं साङ्ख्यं च योगं च यः पश्यति स पश्यति ||५-५||
yatsāṅkhyaiḥ prāpyate sthānaṃ tadyogairapi gamyate .
ekaṃ sāṅkhyaṃ ca yogaṃ ca yaḥ paśyati sa paśyati ||5-5||
Simple English
Primary Translation
The state reached by those on the path of knowledge is also reached by those on the path of action. The one who sees knowledge and action as one truly sees.
योगयुक्तो विशुद्धात्मा विजितात्मा जितेन्द्रियः |
सर्वभूतात्मभूतात्मा कुर्वन्नपि न लिप्यते ||५-७||
yogayukto viśuddhātmā vijitātmā jitendriyaḥ .
sarvabhūtātmabhūtātmā kurvannapi na lipyate ||5-7||
Simple English
Primary Translation
One who is united in yoga, pure in mind, master of the body, master of the senses, and who sees their self as the self of all beings, is not tainted even while acting.
Remaining absorbed in the self, the knower of truth should think: I do nothing at all. Even while seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, moving, sleeping, breathing,
ब्रह्मण्याधाय कर्माणि सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा करोति यः |
लिप्यते न स पापेन पद्मपत्रमिवाम्भसा ||५-१०||
brahmaṇyādhāya karmāṇi saṅgaṃ tyaktvā karoti yaḥ .
lipyate na sa pāpena padmapatramivāmbhasā ||5-10||
Simple English
Primary Translation
One who acts by offering all actions to the absolute, and who gives up attachment, is not touched by sin, just as a lotus leaf is not touched by water.
One who is steady gives up the results of action and attains lasting peace. One who is not steady, driven by desire and attached to results, becomes bound.
The self-controlled embodied one, having renounced all actions with the mind, rests happily in the city of nine gates, neither acting nor causing action.
Those whose intellect is fixed in that, whose self is that, who are devoted to that, who hold that as the highest goal, they reach the state of no return, their wrongs cleansed by knowledge.
इहैव तैर्जितः सर्गो येषां साम्ये स्थितं मनः |
निर्दोषं हि समं ब्रह्म तस्माद् ब्रह्मणि ते स्थिताः ||५-१९||
ihaiva tairjitaḥ sargo yeṣāṃ sāmye sthitaṃ manaḥ .
nirdoṣaṃ hi samaṃ brahma tasmād brahmaṇi te sthitāḥ ||5-19||
Simple English
Primary Translation
Even here creation is overcome by those whose minds rest in equality. The absolute is flawless and equal. Therefore they are established in the absolute.
One who knows the absolute, steady in intellect and free from delusion, should neither rejoice on getting what is pleasant nor be disturbed on getting what is unpleasant.
बाह्यस्पर्शेष्वसक्तात्मा विन्दत्यात्मनि यत्सुखम् |
स ब्रह्मयोगयुक्तात्मा सुखमक्षयमश्नुते ||५-२१||
bāhyasparśeṣvasaktātmā vindatyātmani yatsukham .
sa brahmayogayuktātmā sukhamakṣayamaśnute ||5-21||
Simple English
Primary Translation
With the self unattached to outer contacts, such a person finds joy within the self. With the self absorbed in the absolute through yoga, that person enjoys lasting joy.
ये हि संस्पर्शजा भोगा दुःखयोनय एव ते |
आद्यन्तवन्तः कौन्तेय न तेषु रमते बुधः ||५-२२||
ye hi saṃsparśajā bhogā duḥkhayonaya eva te .
ādyantavantaḥ kaunteya na teṣu ramate budhaḥ ||5-22||
Simple English
Primary Translation
The pleasures born from contact with objects are only sources of sorrow. They have a beginning and an end, O son of Kunti. The wise do not delight in them.
योऽन्तःसुखोऽन्तरारामस्तथान्तर्ज्योतिरेव यः |
स योगी ब्रह्मनिर्वाणं ब्रह्मभूतोऽधिगच्छति ||५-२४||
yo.antaḥsukho.antarārāmastathāntarjyotireva yaḥ .
sa yogī brahmanirvāṇaṃ brahmabhūto.adhigacchati ||5-24||
Simple English
Primary Translation
One who finds happiness within, who finds rest within, who finds light within, that yogi has become the absolute and attains absorption in the absolute.
Seers whose wrongs have faded away, who are free from doubt, who have mastered their senses, and who are devoted to the good of all beings, attain absorption in the absolute.
Keeping external objects outside, fixing the gaze between the eyebrows, making the outgoing and incoming breaths even as they move through the nostrils,
यतेन्द्रियमनोबुद्धिर्मुनिर्मोक्षपरायणः |
विगतेच्छाभयक्रोधो यः सदा मुक्त एव सः ||५-२८||
yatendriyamanobuddhirmunirmokṣaparāyaṇaḥ .
vigatecchābhayakrodho yaḥ sadā mukta eva saḥ ||5-28||
Simple English
Primary Translation
the contemplative who controls the senses, mind, and intellect, who is intent on liberation, and who is free from desire, fear, and anger, is always free.