Chapter 5, Verse 28

Chapter 5, Verse 28

"With mind and senses mastered,
Intent upon liberation,
Desire, fear and anger dissolved,
They are forever free."

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi:

Is this all that the philosophy of renunciation can offer?

If it is, then the philosophy of renunciation does not furnish the complete picture, because an aloof existence could not possibly encompass the fulfillment of life. Krishna answers the question next in the final verse of the chapter, which explains that fulfillment as the real pinnacle of the philosophy of renunciation.

Sri Aurobindo:

Here we have a process of Yoga that brings in an element which seems quite other than the Karma Yoga of action and the Buddhi Yoga of discernment. It belongs, rather, in all its characteristic features to the system of Raja Yoga. There is the conquest of all the movements of the mind, Yoga Chitta Vritti Nirodha [Patanjali's second Yoga Sutra, the translation of which reads, "Control of thought waves in the mind is Yoga"]. There is the control of the breathing, Pranayama. There is the withdrawing of the awareness from the outward-going senses, Pratyahara. These are processes which lead to the state of Samadhi, superconsciousness, the object of which is Moksha, which signifies a dissolution of our being into Brahm [the Self].

Are we to suppose that Krishna teaches this process as the final release or as a special means and a strong aid for overcoming the outward-going mind?

Is this the finale, the climax and the last word?

We shall find reason to regard it as a special means, a strong aid and a gate of final departure, but this passage is not the last word. The finale follows...