Chapter 5: Yoga of True Renunciation; Karma Sanyasa Yoga

Arjuna still believes that renunciation is the key to Moksha or liberation. So far Krishna has praised both Karma Yoga and Sanyasa Yoga, so in this chapter, Arjuna asks “which path is better?” Both lead to liberation but these paths present two very different life paths.

Krishna explains that Sanyasa, although it may look like an easier, faster path, is actually much more difficult, as there is a certain depth of understanding needed before one can truly be a sanyasi. Karma yoga actually prepares one for sanyasa. Karma Yoga path is living our whole life, moment by moment, and ‘doing our best and leaving the rest -karmeshu kaushalam’.
Verse 11: Giving up attachment, karma-yogis perform action purely (without attachment) with the body, mind, intellect, and also by the senses, for the purification of the mind.