हरिः ॐ! Salutations!

“Success is not in the trophy won, but in the race run” – Swami Chinmayananda

With Lord Krishna’s grace, Pujya Gurudev’s blessings and Swami Siddhananda-Ji’s guidance, Chinmaya Mission Philadelphia Region Annual Gīta Chanting Yajña will be conducted during year 2024-25. This year we will continue to learn and chant Chapter 5:  Karma Sanyāsa yoga!

Krishna compares the paths of renunciation in actions (Karma Sanyās) and actions with detachment (Karma Yoga) and explains that both are means to reach the same goal of moksha and we can choose either. A wise person should perform his worldly duties without attachment to the fruits of his actions and dedicate them to God. This way they remain unaffected by sin and eventually attain liberation.

In the theme verse (BG-5.23) Krishna emphasizes on the use of the faculty of the power of discrimination within oneself to restrain the impulses of desire and anger.  kām is the desire of the body and mind for material pleasures and when the mind does not attain the object of its desire, it modifies its state to exhibit anger. Krishna urges one to exercise control of senses to harness such impulses, not out of embarrassment, fear, or apprehension, but through discrimination based on knowledge. This opportunity to practice discrimination is available only while the human body exists, and one who is able to check the forces of desire and anger while living, becomes a realized seeker, a yogi. Such a person alone tastes the divine bliss within and becomes happy.

Embrace this Bhagavad Gītā main point whole-heartedly to reduce your anxiety and stress about the future by including devotion to God in all your austerities and striving to live a life of pure joy and contentment!