Gita 05.04 – See beyond the diversity of process to the commonality of purpose

Bhagavad Gita 5.4 samyak ubhayor vindate phalam sankhya yoga prathak balaha prathak means different Bhagavad Gita 5.4, Krishna is answering Arjuna's question, what is better is working better, is karma yoga better or karma sanyas better so there may be some confusion here because different verses, different words are used to refer to the same concepts so here now Krishna uses the word sankhya to refer to karma sanyas and he uses the word yoga to refer to karma yoga this is the same nomenclature that Krishna has used in 3.3 while answering Arjuna's question Arjuna had asked a similar question about what is better in action or in unceasing is better and there Krishna had given two categories in 3.3 loke, smin, vividha, nishtha pura, prokta, mayanagha jnana, yogena, sankhyana karma yogena, yoginam so jnana yogi is those who renounce action, Krishna has referred to them as sankhyana and those who do action with attachment karma yogi, Krishna has referred to them as yoginam so Krishna is using the same nomenclature here so here the karma yogi refers to yoga and the karma sanyasi is referred to by sankhya so sankhya, yoga, prathag that these two parts of renunciation and action that they are different or these two concepts are different sankhya, yoga, prathag balaha that they are different this is a childish opinion, children think like this now children may have their innocence but they don't have much discrimination they don't have much intelligence so when we say oh this is a childish idea that means it does not have much depth, it does not have much maturity so it is based on superficial appearance so similarly Krishna is writing over here, sankhya, yoga, prathag balaha, pravadanti na panditaha na panditaha, panditaha is the wise people, they don't speak like this na pravadanti why? why do they not speak like this? because they understand ekam apyastitah samyag ekam apyastitah if one becomes situated in astitah if a person becomes situated in any one of these also astitah, properly situated then ubhayor vindate phalam ubhayor means of both vindate enjoys phalam, is the fruit now here Krishna is taking this discussion deeper so the third chapter and fifth chapter have a similar starting point and a similar flow of thought similar analysis going on but the concepts and the depth of analysis is going much more much more penetrating so here Krishna is telling that the two of these paths they are not different, now we may say how can they not be different it's clear that their process is different so we see that in sankhya one gives up action and focuses on contemplation in an analysis to analyze matter to deconstruct matter into its fundamental elements thereby understanding that actually the charm of the captivation of matter is illusory and I need to go beyond that and after that to actually go beyond this by the practice of bhakti, sorry by the practice of to actually arise the spiritual level of consciousness by recognizing the illusoriness of all material attractiveness so that is so clearly the path of sankhya is the path of discrimination analysis which is based on contemplation and inaction but the path of yoga, here yoga refers to karma yoga is based on action so how can one say that the two are not different, so here Krishna answers this question by saying that see that the children see the difference of the process but the pandita, the learned see the commonality of their purpose so the two may have a different process but they have a common purpose, what is the common purpose that common purpose is to go beyond matter to spirit, that common purpose is to realize one's spiritual identity and to become situated in spiritual reality and that's what Krishna says over here if one becomes situated properly successfully in one path that means one attains success in one path then that person gets the fruits of both that means the fruit of both is the same to understand this let's say consider two different processes for the same purpose, say for example there is allopathy which is a branch of medicine, there is Ayurveda which is another branch of medicine now their modes of analysis are different and their procedures of treatment are different but they have a common purpose that common purpose is to restore the patient to the health so now there can be people who may question, the allopaths may question and criticize the merits of Ayurveda, they may say it's outdated, it's unscientific, it is this that it's impractical whatever and similarly Ayurvedic practitioners may criticize allopathy it has so many side effects, it is so invasive and it is expensive and this and that whatever but the important point is these are flaws in the implementation of the process but there are people who have been cured by Ayurvedic medicine there are people who have been cured by allopathic medicine also so the process has a similar intent both the processes despite their dissimilarities in operation in function they have the same similarity in destination so the way they work may be different but the destination that they go to is the same, so Krishna is saying similarly over here both Sankhya and Yoga are meant ultimately to take a person towards liberation take the person towards the supreme destination towards beyond material consciousness to spiritual consciousness so now child children or childish people can't see beyond appearance to substance and that's why when they see the difference between Sankhya and Yoga they say that oh these are two different paths but Krishna states over here that the wise people are not deluded deceived by appearances they see the similarity of intent and based on perceiving the similarity of intent they see the commonality and that's why ekam apy astitah samyag if one becomes situated properly in one path the person gets the results of both the paths so here Krishna is actually taking the discussion deeper, if you see the third chapter when Krishna contrasted Karma Yoga and Gyan Yoga there the primary argument was that those unqualified people practice Gyan Yoga then they will become hypocrites and therefore it is better to practice Karma Yoga that was the analysis initially from 3.1 to 8 and then from 3.9 onwards to 3.16 how it was that you will be able to by doing Karma Yoga one contributes to society the cosmic cycle of yajna then when that's a proper example by doing Karma Yoga that was 3.17 onwards to 3.24 so basically the idea is that it is better for you to do Karma Yoga because that's what is best for society and best for you according to your level but now Krishna is not talking about individual level right now he is talking about ultimate destination that both take us to the same destination and this is a very important but subtle point where Krishna is actually rather than simply acknowledging that okay Gyan Yoga is higher but you are not at a high enough consciousness to practice it Krishna says that actually by Karma Yoga itself one can attain perfection now as was said in the previous verse now how exactly Karma Yoga will lead to perfection will lead to liberation that will be that will be discussed in the subsequent flow of this chapter and that will require an understanding of how Karma Yoga actually metamorphosis by the grace of the devotees by the grace of devotees Guru into Bhakti Yoga and that Bhakti Yoga will lead to supreme perfection that will be discussed later but essentially Krishna is now underscoring here that that by the practice of Karma one can get the same result that one can get by the practice of Gyana Sankhya and therefore don't think of those two to be different see that similarity of the purpose and focus on that.