5.3 Who is really a renouncer Krishna speaks
ज्ञेयः स नित्यसंन्यासी यो न द्वेष्टि न काङ्क्षति
निर्द्वन्द्वो हि महाबाहो सुखं बन्धात्प्रमुच्यते
jñeyaḥ sa nitya-sannyāsī yo na dveṣhṭi na kāṅkṣhati
nirdvandvo hi mahā-bāho sukhaṁ bandhāt pramuchyate
Know that one to be always a renouncer who neither hates nor craves. Free of opposites, mighty-armed one, such a person is released.
Explanation
A renouncer is defined by what is absent, not by what is given up.
One who neither hates nor craves, free of the opposites — that person is a renouncer, whatever they happen to be doing.
Which quietly detaches the word from its usual meaning. Renunciation stops being an act you perform, or a life you adopt, and becomes a condition you may already be in or not.
Word by word
- jñeyaḥ
- should be considered
- saḥ
- that person
- nitya
- always
- sanyāsī
- practising renunciation
- yaḥ
- who
- na
- never
- dveṣhṭi
- hate
- na
- nor
- kāṅkṣhati
- desire
- nirdvandvaḥ
- free from all dualities
- hi
- certainly
- mahā-bāho
- mighty-armed one
- sukham
- easily
- bandhāt
- from bondage
- pramuchyate
- is liberated
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