Bg. 5.11

BG 5.11

Devanagari

कायेन मनसा बुद्ध्या केवलैरिन्द्रियैरपि । योगिन: कर्म कुर्वन्ति सङ्गं त्यक्त्वात्म‍श‍ुद्धये ॥ ११ ॥

Verse text

kāyena manasā buddhyā kevalair indriyair api yoginaḥ karma kurvanti saṅgaṁ tyaktvātma-śuddhaye

Synonyms

kāyena with the body ; manasā with the mind ; buddhyā with the intelligence ; kevalaiḥ purified ; indriyaiḥ with the senses ; api even ; yoginaḥ Kṛṣṇa conscious persons ; karma actions ; kurvanti they perform ; saṅgam attachment ; tyaktvā giving up ; ātma of the self ; śuddhaye for the purpose of purification.

Translation

The yogīs, abandoning attachment, act with body, mind, intelligence and even with the senses, only for the purpose of purification.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

11. The karma-yogīs perform action, giving up attachment to results, for purification of the mind, using voice, mind, intelligence or even the senses alone.

Translation (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)

11. The karma yogīs perform action, while giving up attachment to results, using body, mind, intelligence and pure senses for extinguishing false identification.

Purport

When one acts in Kṛṣṇa consciousness for the satisfaction of the senses of Kṛṣṇa, any action, whether of the body, mind, intelligence or even the senses, is purified of material contamination. There are no material reactions resulting from the activities of a Kṛṣṇa conscious person. Therefore purified activities, which are generally called sad-ācāra, can be easily performed by acting in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī in his Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.2.187) describes this as follows: īhā yasya harer dāsye karmaṇā manasā girā nikhilāsv apy avasthāsu jīvan-muktaḥ sa ucyate “A person acting in Kṛṣṇa consciousness (or, in other words, in the service of Kṛṣṇa) with his body, mind, intelligence and words is a liberated person even within the material world, although he may be engaged in many so-called material activities.” He has no false ego, for he does not believe that he is this material body, or that he possesses the body. He knows that he is not this body and that this body does not belong to him. He himself belongs to Kṛṣṇa, and the body too belongs to Kṛṣṇa. When he applies everything produced of the body, mind, intelligence, words, life, wealth, etc. – whatever he may have within his possession – to Kṛṣṇa’s service, he is at once dovetailed with Kṛṣṇa. He is one with Kṛṣṇa and is devoid of the false ego that leads one to believe that he is the body, etc. This is the perfect stage of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

The karma-yogīs perform actions using the body, mind, intelligence and even the senses alone, while giving up attachment, for purification of the mind (ātma-śuddhaye). At the time of making offerings of oblations using the senses, the mind may wander. This is the manner in which only the senses are employed (kevalaiḥ indriyair api).

Purport (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)

He further explains this by testifying that it standard conduct. The yogīs perform activities using the body, mind and intelligence, while being devoid of identification with those instruments. Kevalaiḥ here indicates “very pure.” They perform these acts, having given up the desire for results and the concept of being the doer (saṅgam tvaktvā as in the previous verse), in order to extinguish the beginningless identification with the material body and senses (ātmā śuddhaye).