Bhagavad Gita — Moksha Sannyasa Yoga, Shloka 5
Moksha Sannyasa Yoga
यज्ञदानतपःकर्म न त्याज्यं कार्यमेव तत् । यज्ञो दानं तपश्चैव पावनानि मनीषिणाम् ॥ १८.५ ॥
yajñadānatapaḥkarma na tyājyaṃ kāryam eva tat | yajño dānaṃ tapaś caiva pāvanāni manīṣiṇām || 18.5 ||
Acts of sacrifice, charity, and austerity are not to be abandoned; they are indeed to be performed. For sacrifice, charity, and austerity are purifying for the wise.
यज्ञ, दान और तप के कर्म त्याज्य नहीं हैं, वे तो अवश्य करने योग्य हैं; क्योंकि यज्ञ, दान और तप मनीषियों को पवित्र करने वाले हैं।
The actions of sacrifice, giving, and austerity are not to be abandoned; they are to be performed. Sacrifice, giving, and austerity are purifying for reflective persons.
Traditional interpretation often treats these as nitya/naimittika-like disciplines that support purification (citta-śuddhi). The academic phrasing emphasizes their formative function for practitioners rather than their ritual obligatoriness alone.
FAQs
These practices cultivate prosociality (dāna), self-regulation (tapas), and meaning-oriented action (yajña), supporting a stable and less self-centered mental life.
Purification is presented as a condition for higher knowledge or liberation-oriented insight; practices are instrumental in refining the practitioner’s capacity for discernment.
Krishna sides with the view that certain disciplines should continue, preparing for the later claim that the key is renouncing attachment, not necessarily renouncing action.
It supports maintaining constructive routines—ethical giving, reflective discipline, and service—while evaluating them by their capacity to reduce ego and increase clarity.