Bhagavad Gita Chapter 5, Verse 4

Chapter 5 – Karma Sanyasa Yoga · Speaker: Krishna

Sanskrit verse

साङ्ख्ययोगौ पृथग्बालाः प्रवदन्ति न पण्डिताः ।
एकमप्यास्थितः सम्यगुभयोर्विन्दते फलम् ॥

Transliteration

sāṅkhyayogau pṛthagbālāḥ pravadanti na paṇḍitāḥ .
ekamapyāsthitaḥ samyagubhayorvindate phalam ॥

Meaning

Only the childish, not the wise, speak of Sankhya and Yoga as distinct; one who is properly established even in one obtains the fruit of both.

Word meanings

साङ्ख्ययोगौ – Sankhya and Yoga
पृथक् – as distinct
बालाः – the ignorant, the childish
प्रवदन्ति – declare
न पण्डिताः – not the wise
एकम् – one of them
अपि – even
सम्यक् – properly
आस्थितः – established in, following
उभयोः – of both
फलम् – the fruit
विन्दते – obtains

Anvaya (word order)

बालाः साङ्ख्ययोगौ पृथक् प्रवदन्ति, न पण्डिताः; एकम् अपि सम्यक् आस्थितः उभयोः फलं विन्दते ।

Explanation

Here the Lord makes a bold and beautiful statement: "Children, not the wise, speak of sankhya and yoga as separate. One who is rightly established even in one obtains the fruit of both." Sankhya, the path of knowledge and renunciation, and yoga, the path of selfless action, are not two rival roads to two different destinations. They are two approaches to one summit.

The word "balah", children, is gentle but pointed. A child sees only the surface of things. He thinks a river's two banks are different worlds, forgetting that the same water flows between them. Likewise the immature mind sees the contemplative and the worker as opposed. The wise see that each, when truly practised, requires the very thing the other offers. A real worker needs the knowledge that the Self is not the doer; a real knower proves his knowledge by acting freely and without fear.

Shankara draws a careful distinction. He says the verse means that the fruit, liberation, is one, and that by practising even one properly the aspirant obtains the fruit; yet he explains that karma-yoga leads to the fruit through purification of the mind and then knowledge. So the two are connected as means and end rather than as two routes of equal directness. Ramanuja reads the verse more simply: both paths lead to the vision of the Self, because jnana-yoga and karma-yoga are really two limbs of one discipline, and one who is established in either gains what both produce. Madhva stresses that the fruit is the same release, attained by the Lord's grace.

Think about two musicians who play different instruments. One plays the flute, the other the drum; both can lead us into the same rhythm and the same joy. The sincere student of either is moving toward the same heart of the music. Arguing which instrument is better, as children do, misses the music.

The word "samyag", rightly or fully, is the condition. A half-hearted practice of either path produces no fruit. The renunciate who still hungers for praise has not truly renounced; the worker who works only for reward has not truly practised yoga. Only wholeheartedness, standing firm in one path, harvests the fruit of both. This verse leads to 5.5, where the Lord says that the place reached by the knowers is reached by the workers too, and "he sees truly who sees knowledge and action as one".

Context

Verses 5.2–5.3 declared the superiority of Karma Yoga and the mark of the true renunciate. Verse 5.4 lays down the unity of the two paths, and 5.5 repeats it as unity of goal.

Life lesson

Quarrels between paths are a sign of immaturity. Stay steady with full devotion in whatever genuine practice you have chosen; it will take you where other practices take their followers.

Key terms

Sankhya: the path of knowledge and Self-inquiry
Yoga: Karma Yoga, the path of selfless action
Bala: immature in understanding