Chapter 5 Sanyasa Yoga Verse 12
Shloka
Yuktah karmaphalam tyaktwaa shaantim aapnoti naishthikeem;
Ayuktah kaamakaarena phale sakto nibadhyate.
Translation
The united one, the well poised or the harmonised, having abandoned the fruit of action, attains to the eternal peace;
the non-united only, the unsteady or the unbalanced, impelled by desire and attached to the fruit, is bound.
Interpretation
In this sloka Lord Krishna compares the person who is not bound by the action with the person who is bound by the action. He says that a person who is not bound by the action is a sanyasi as he renounces the fruits of action and he alone attains the eternal peace. A person who is not a yogi, that means who doesnt unite his senses, body, mind and intellect will always be unsteady and imbalanced in his approach. Not only that he is propelled by the desires and attached to the fruit of action. Such a person is a bound person and the bound person is not a sanyasi.
Extending Interpretation to Mankind’s Life!
For many slokas we have seen the qualities of a person who is not bound by the fruit of action. In this sloka the qualities of a person who is bound by the actions are clearly given. This helps us to understand better the process of renunciation linked to nirvana. A person who is not a yogi is the one who doesn’t exercise his body and mind. A person who doesn’t exercise his body and mind will lose the sharpness of the both at a very young age. If you are below 30 and if you have a protruding stomach then you are physically unfit. If you are under 30 and if you cant do multi tasking and continuous tasks for hours then you are mentally unfit. Such kind of people are not called yogis.
A person who is not a yogi is unsteady and unbalanced. Unsteady and unbalanced can be explained with following examples. An unsteady mind cannot do things continuously or the person cannot focus on one thing for a long period. For example you would have seen many people saying that from today I will study seriously and complete daily tasks on that day itself. They do it for 2-3 days. After that they postpone it, its because their mind is not sharp enough to remain steady on that task. Thus it loses its balance. An imbalanced mind will keep them jumping from one thing to another and they can never decide for themselves what their goal is.
A person who is not a yogi always desires and is attached to the fruit of result. The example for that is, when your father says that I will buy you a bike only if you get an A grade and if you work only keeping that gift in mind then that person is bound by the result of his action. Such kind of people might attain success in the short term but if the motivation for the task is missing they can never complete a task. Thus such person is bound and people who are bound can never attain nirvana. A person who is not bound is self motivated and he never looks at his work with a result in mind and thus he attains nirvana as he is taking the path of renunciation.
