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Chapter 5 · Action in Kṛṣṇa Consciousness · 29 verses

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How to study this verse, in six steps
  1. 1Remember who is speaking. Kṛṣṇa is speaking. Take the verse as He directs.
  2. 2Say the verse and its words. Read the Sanskrit, then each word with its meaning.
  3. 3Read the translation as it is. Let the translation say what it says, without adding your own meaning.
  4. 4Read the purport. Hear the verse through the disciplic succession.
  5. 5Bring your own question. Ask: where does this verse meet my life, my trouble, my doubt?
  6. 6Act on it, remembering Kṛṣṇa. Carry one instruction into your work today.
Read the full guide: how to read the Bhagavad-gītā ›
Mind & yogaChapter 5 · Action in Kṛṣṇa Consciousness
5.205.22

Bhagavad-gītā As It Is · Text 5.21

Sense control, peace and inner happiness

Jīva · The soul

बाह्यस्पर्शेष्वसक्तात्मा विन्दत्यात्मनि यत्सुखम् ।

स ब्रह्मयोगयुक्तात्मा सुखमक्षयमश्न‍ुते ॥ २१ ॥

bāhya-sparśeṣv asaktātmā

vindaty ātmani yat sukham

sa brahma-yoga-yuktātmā

sukham akṣayam aśnute

Translation

Such a liberated person is not attracted to material sense pleasure but is always in trance, enjoying the pleasure within. In this way the self-realized person enjoys unlimited happiness, for he concentrates on the Supreme.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io
1

Understand it

What this verse is saying, and where it sits in the story.

3 study points

Happiness in Kṛṣṇa Consciousness

  1. 1

    A liberated person is not attracted to material sense pleasure and enjoys unlimited inner happiness by concentrating on the Supreme.

  2. 2

    Prabhupāda explains that loving service to Kṛṣṇa brings ever-new pleasure, removing the taste for material enjoyment, especially sex pleasure.

  3. 3

    Engage in loving service to Kṛṣṇa rather than seeking happiness in material sense pleasure.

Key points from the purport

Further symptoms of self-realized soul

Being fixed in the self one experiences great happiness within (higher taste) and thus one is never attracted to the temporary sense gratification

One concentrates on the Supreme and enjoys unlimited happiness

a

Example of higher taste — Yamunacarya

b

Brahma-yoga stage — One who is absorbed in Krishna consciousness, looses taste for sense pleasure

c

Test in spiritual realization — One can work with great vigor without sex pleasure, which he avoids

Highest material pleasure – sex pleasure:

Spiritual realisation and sex pleasure go ill together

d

Krishna conscious person is not attracted to any kind of sense pleasure, due to his being liberated soul

Link between texts 5.21 & 5.22:

In the next two verses, Krishna tells Arjuna why sensual desires are foolish

Further reading

Liberation By Focussing On The Supersoul

One who, in knowledge, devotionally fixes his consciousness on the Supersoul and remains materially equipoised, attains liberation in the near future

Chapter 5, section IV: Liberation By Focussing On The Supersoul
2

Word for word

Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.

  1. bāhya-sparśeṣuin external sense pleasure
  2. asakta-ātmāone who is not attached
  3. vindatienjoys
  4. ātmaniin the self
  5. yatthat which
  6. sukhamhappiness
  7. saḥhe
  8. brahma-yogaby concentration in Brahman
3

Key ideas in this verse

The spiritual concepts this verse connects to.

Key ideas: manas, indriya, yoga.

4

Live it

Take one thing from this verse into your day.

Ask yourself

What does BG 5.21 establish in Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation and purport, and how does it connect to mind & yoga?

Practice

Sit quietly for ten minutes and gently return the mind.

5

The story behind it

Mahābhārata episodes and stories from the purports that shed light on this verse.

All stories for chapter 5 ›
6

Related verses

Keep going: verses that carry this teaching further.

BG 5.20Sense control, peace and inner happinessBG 5.22Sense control, peace and inner happinessBG 6.35Practice and detachment
Live this todayEqual Vision Through True KnowledgeA practice from BG 5.18, close to this verse

Study notes are editorial summaries, not the translation. Confirm them in the original text and purport.

  1. Learn
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  3. Lead
Next in Learn · 4 of 9 · 10 minChapters & storiesGo chapter by chapter, with the Mahābhārata stories that explain what is happening.Back · LearnPrabhupāda's Introduction