Vaidha-Sannyasa Yoga [The Yoga of Renunciation]
1. Varenya spoke -- O Lord! You have said that renunciation
of action (performing actions without attachment until one's mind is purified)
is the cause of knowledge, and then again you say that the yoga of action is
also the cause of knowledge. Please tell me which of the two is beneficial.
2. Ganesha replied -- Both the yoga of action and the
renunciation of action [depending on the eligibility] are means to liberation;
but between the two, the yoga of action has its superiority.
3. He who always tolerates duality and sorrow, harbors no
hatred, and has no desire, such a being easily gets liberated from the bondage
of actions.
4. Only the ignorant and deluded consider renunciation of
action and the yoga of action as separate; but the wise consider them as one.
5. The result obtained through renunciation of action is
also obtained through the yoga of action. He who knows renunciation and action
as one is the true knower.
6. The wise do not merely call the abandonment of action as
renunciation; if the yogi performs actions without attachment, he becomes
Brahman itself.
7-8. Those yogis with pure minds, who control their minds,
have conquered their senses, are steadfast in yoga, and see the soul in all
beings, do not get attached even while performing actions. The knower of truth,
endowed with yoga, does not consider himself as the doer; rather, he believes
that the actions are performed by the eleven organs including the mind.
9-11. He who dedicates all actions to Brahman does not get
attached to sin or merit, just as the reflection of the sun in water is not
affected by the water. Those wise in yoga, for the sake of mental purity,
perform actions with body, speech, intellect, senses, and mind, giving up the
desire for fruits. The one devoid of yoga performs actions with a desire for
results, gets bound by the seeds of action, and thus experiences suffering.
12-14. It is appropriate for the yogi to renounce all
actions mentally, and to reside comfortably in excellent cities or in caves,
obtained through past actions. He neither does anything [with desire], nor
causes it to be done, and knows that he neither performs any action, nor has
any doership in him, nor does he create anything, nor has any connection with
the seeds of action; all this happens by the power, that is, by nature itself.
O King! I, the omnipresent soul, am not touched by anyone's merit or sin. Only the
ignorant with deluded intellect get attached to delusion.
15-16. Those who have themselves destroyed ignorance through
discrimination, their supreme knowledge shines like the sun. Those whose faith
and intellect are in me, whose minds are extremely attached to me, and who are
always devoted to me, such excellent ones, through superior knowledge, destroy
sin and attain liberation.
17-18. Great souls who are wise, endowed with knowledge and
realization, regard a Brahmin, a cow, an elephant, a dog, and an outcaste
equally. Those whose minds are established in equanimity have conquered the
world and heaven, because Brahman is devoid of faults and is characterized by
equality, hence they abide in Brahman.
19. The great souls who neither rejoice nor grieve at
obtaining the pleasant or the unpleasant, are the knowers, established in
Brahman and know Brahman through equanimity.
20. Varenya said -- O Lord! What is true happiness in the
three worlds, and among the divine and celestial beings? O master of knowledge,
please describe this to me.
21-22. Ganesha said -- Those who delight in their own souls
and are not attached elsewhere, they indeed experience bliss. That is called
imperishable happiness; there is no (true) happiness in objects. Happiness
derived from objects is the cause of sorrow and is subject to birth and
destruction; the knowers of truth do not get attached to it.
23. He who controls the impulses of desire, anger, etc.,
even when they arise, and strives to conquer them while being unattached to the
body, enjoys happiness for a long time.
24. He whose heart has devotion, the light of knowledge,
happiness, and dispassion, and who works for the welfare of all beings, surely
attains the imperishable Brahman.
25. Ah! Those who have conquered the six enemies like desire
and anger, who practice tranquility and self-restraint, such knowers of the
self see Brahman everywhere.
26. Having abandoned all external objects, sit in solitude,
fix your gaze between the eyebrows, and perform pranayama.
27. Pranayama is said to be the regulation of the
life-breath; wise sages have described it as having three kinds.
28-29. According to proportion, pranayama is of three kinds:
minor, medium, and excellent. The pranayama of twelve syllables is minor, that
of twenty-four syllables is medium, and that of thirty-six syllables is
considered excellent.
30. Just as one subdues a lion, a tiger, or a drunken
elephant and brings it under control, so should one practice with prana and
apana.
31. O King! Just as these beasts torment others but do not
harm those who control them, so this breath, when steadied through pranayama,
destroys sins but does not burn the body.
32-33. Just as a man ascends steps gradually, so is it
fitting for a yogi to gradually control prana and apana. By practicing
inhalation, retention, and exhalation, this being becomes the knower of past,
present, and future in this world.
34-35From twelve excellent pranayamas, excellent
concentration arises. By two concentrations, yoga is achieved; therefore, the
yogi should constantly practice concentration. O King! Those who practice in
this way gain knowledge of the three times, and effortlessly, the three worlds
come under their control.
36-37. He sees the entire universe as Brahman within his own
self. Thus, both the renunciation of action and the yoga of action yield the
same results. Knowing me, the Lord, who am beneficial to all beings, the giver
of the fruits of action, and pervading the three worlds, one becomes liberated.
Thus ends Chapter One Hundred Forty-one named
"Vaidha-Sannyasa Yoga" in the Krida Khanda of the glorious Ganesha
Purana.