4 THE BHAGAVAD Gira: The Blessed Lord’s reply shows that Arjuna rightly appre. hended His meaning. THE BLESSED LoRD spoke: 2. Renunciation and right performance of action are both producers! of the supreme good,? but of these two, better ® is the right performance of action than renun- ciation. It is “better” for the mere aspirant that he should rightly per- form religious and human duties in the world than that he should, abandoning them, retire into solitude; for the hardship of the ascetic life is greater, its observances stricter. As a means for the proper assimilation of truth a life of right action is invalu- able. Only a few are so constituted as to be fitted for the life of renunciation. 3. He is to be known as always a man of renuncia- tion who neither dislikes nor likes, being truly beyond the pair of opposites, O thou of mighty arms; with ease he escapes from bondage. a Although action forges fresh links in the chain of conditioned existence, yet when performed in the right manner it frees from bondage. Thus action rightly performed produces the same result as renunciation, but without the same hardship. It is further explained that renunciation and right action, though not practicable by the same individual, are identical in their results. 4. Fools say, and not the wise, that renunciation and right performance of action are different. He who practises one perfectly, receives the fruit of both. 5. The seat® that is obtained by practisers of renut 1 “Producers,” not indéed directly, but in being instruments fitting one for the reception of spiritual knowledge, which leads to the 3 “ Supreme good,” or Nirvana. 8 “Better ;" this implies comparison and selection. ; 4 “Fruit of both,” because either one of these paths leads to spiritual Lao". edge, culminating in Nirvana. ¢ 5 “The seat,” that is, NirvanaThe Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture Library Presented by 877 wp’