Chapter 5 Sanyasa Yoga Verse 3
Shloka
Jneyah sa nityasannyaasi yo na dweshti na kaangkshati;
Nirdwandwo hi mahaabaaho sukham bandhaat pramuchyate.
Translation
He should be known as a perpetual Sanyasi who neither hates nor desires;
for, free from the pairs of opposites, he is easily set free from bondage!
Interpretation
After talking about the superiority of action over renunciation, Lord Krishna in this sloka turns his attention towards explaining the qualities of a sanyasi. Lord says that a perpetual sanyasi is someone who has neither hatred in his mind nor has any desires. He is free from all the feelings of hate and desires. The second quality of the sanyasi is that he doesn’t experience any extremes of emotions. The extremes of emotions are happiness and sadness, attachment and aversion etc. That person is free from all the bondages and that person is a sanyasi.
Extending Interpretation to Mankind’s Life!
A part of this sloka we have already discussed yesterday. It says that a man does not become a Sanyasi by merely giving up actions due to laziness, ignorance, some family quarrel or unemployment. A true Sanyasi is one who has neither attachment nor aversion to anything. What does it mean? It means that a person who has left everything does not have any attachment to anything. He doesn’t like anything nor dislike anything. Have you ever seen a man who doesn’t react when you keep a crore rupees infront him. It shows he is not attached to money. In the same way the man who you keep a beggar with leprosy also, he will not feel averse towards him. He is out of all this attachments and aversions.
Another thing one needs to understand is that physical renunciation of objects is not enough to attain salvation. Physical renunciation here means money and other materialistic things. For attaining salvation one has to rise above the physical renunciations of objects and go towards the renunciation of egoism. What is egoism? If someone puts you down or insults you what do you do? If you get angry on them or do anything to them as a part of your reaction, then it is your ego which is making you to do it. That ego keeps you away from salvation. If you renounce ego, even if someone says something harsh and disrespectful also towards you, you just smile and let it go. That is what is called rising above ego. Such a person only can attain salvation.
