Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 5, Verse 12: Krishna to Arjuna — Karma-Sannyāsa-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  One who is yukt (integrated, poised — 'acting for Īśvara, not for my fruit') renounces karma-phala (action-fruit) and attains naiṣṭhikī śānti (final peace, i.e., mokṣa) — but this is not terminus: it is the threshold of sattva-śuddhi (purification of being), viveka (discrimination), and ultimately jñāna-niṣṭhā (steady abidance in knowledge). The ayukt (disintegrated one), driven by kāma-kāra (desire-impulse), clings to phala (fruit) and is bound — bound not by action itself but by the ahaṅkāra (I-maker) asserting 'I do this for my fruit.' Arjuna, therefore: become yukt — not as technique but as recognition that the only real agent is Brahman.

  divergence: Śaṅkara glosses yukt as samāhita ('gathered into Īśvara'); the liberation-sequence — sattva-śuddhi → jñāna-prāpti → sarva-karma-saṃnyāsa → jñāna-niṣṭhā — is explicit in the bhāṣya. Kāma-kāra glossed as kāma-prerita ('desire-impelled').

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  The yukt is one whose attention is single-pointed toward ātman alone — ātmaika-pravaṇa (ātman-leaning), without the restless capering after external fruits; performing karma solely for ātma-śuddhi (self-purification), such a one reaches naiṣṭhikī śānti which is precisely ātmānubhava-rūpā nirvṛti — the settled joy of direct self-experience. The ayukt is ātmāvalokana-vimukha (turned away from self-beholding), caught in cāpalya (fickleness) toward external results, and therefore circulates perpetually in saṃsāra — nitya-saṃsārī (perennial transmigrator). The prescription follows: renounce action-as-fruit, take up action-as-self-liberation, until the ātman is liberated from bondage.

  divergence: Rāmānuja distinguishes cāpalya (fickleness toward other-than-ātman fruits) vs ātmaika-pravaṇa; uses phrase ātmānubhava-rūpāṃ nirvṛtim directly. Nitya-saṃsārī is verbatim from the bhāṣya.

• Madhvadvaita

  *Yuktaḥ karma-phalaṃ tyaktvā śāntim āpnoti naiṣṭhikīm | ayuktaḥ kāma-kāreṇa phale sakto nibadhyate.* The verse is taken up *punar yuktyādi-niyamanārtham* — to establish again the rule (*niyama*) governing *yukta* and *ayukta* and their results. Madhva reads *yuktaḥ* as *yoga-yuktaḥ*: the one yoked to Bhagavān in the full sense. Jayatīrtha presses the logic further: *yuktiḥ yogaḥ*, and the *ādi-pada* in *yuktyādi* takes in *sannyāsa* as well — so *yukta-ayukta* is *upalakṣaṇa* (a representative pair) that also covers *sannyāsī* and *asannyāsī*. The governing *niyama* declared here is twofold. Earlier in the chapter, *sannyāsa* and *yoga* were shown to produce their fruit only in combination — *na anyatara-parityāgena anyataraḥ*, not either one alone when the other is abandoned — and that rule (*niyama-jñāpana*) was stated there. Now the present verse states a further rule: *tau eva mokṣa-sādhanam*, those two together are the means to liberation, *na tu tad-ubhaya-tyāgena anyat* — not some third path obtained by abandoning both. Hence the verse declares the fruits for the one who possesses *yoga-sannyāsa* and for the one who lacks both (*tad-ubhayābhāvavataḥ*): liberation (*mukti*) versus *saṃsāra-vistāra* (expansion of bondage). The *paratantra* *jīva* (eternally dependent individual self) who remains in conscious subordination to Hari attains *naiṣṭhikī śānti* — peace that is final; the *ayuktaḥ*, driven by *kāma-kāreṇa* (autonomous desire-impulse), clings to fruit and is bound.

  divergence: Re-anchored to Madhva's *punar yuktyādi-niyamanārtham* and Jayatīrtha's extended niyama-analysis: *yuktiḥ yogaḥ*, *ādi-padena sannyāsaḥ*, *na anyatara-parityāgena anyataraḥ*, *tau eva mokṣa-sādhanam*, *na tad-ubhaya-tyāgena anyat*, and *mukti-saṃsāra-vistāra-lakṣaṇaṃ phalam*. Prior rendering summarized without quoting these moves.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  Yoga here is the channel through which karma becomes Kṛṣṇa's own līlā operating through the devotee; śānti is the fruit — but not the cold peace of extinction, rather the prasāda-śānti of one resting in Kṛṣṇa's will. The ayukt performs action with attachment to phala and so constructs bandha (bondage). Vallabha's brevity ('śāntiḥ phalaṃ tatra ca bandhaḥ') is itself the teaching: the contrast is stark and complete — yoga yields śānti, its absence yields bondage — and the only live question for the Puṣṭi-mārgī is whether one's every act is saturated with Kṛṣṇa's grace or not.

  divergence: Vallabha's bhāṣya offers śāntiḥ phalaṃ tatra ca bandhaḥ verbatim — the rendering follows this binary closely.

• Śrīdharabhakti

  Śrīdhara frames the verse as resolving a genuine puzzlement: how can the same karma liberate one and bind another? The answer: the yukt is parameśvara-eka-niṣṭha (singularly anchored in the Supreme Lord) — performing all karma while releasing phala — and thereby reaches ātyantikaī śānti (ultimate, unrevisable peace, i.e., mokṣa). The ayukt is bahirmukha (outward-turned), operating from kāma (desire), attached to phala, and falls into nataraṃ bandha (deeper bondage). The difference is not the action but the orientation of the performer: toward the Lord or away from Him.

  divergence: Śrīdhara explicitly frames the verse as answering 'how is it that the same action liberates one and binds another?' — parameśvara-eka-niṣṭha and bahirmukha are verbatim. Ātyantikaī śānti glossed as mokṣa.

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  Madhusūdana opens with the precise philosophical problem: even granting equal kartṛtva-abhimāna (ego-ownership of action) in two performers, why does the same action liberate one and bind the other? The answer: the yukt holds the inner resolution 'these actions are for Īśvara alone, not for my fruit' — and from this sattva-śuddhi (purity of being), nityānityavastu-viveka (discrimination between eternal and passing), saṃnyāsa, jñāna, and niṣṭhā follow in sequence. The ayukt, devoid of this abhiprāya (intention-orientation toward Īśvara), acts from desire and is bound into saṃsāra-bandha. The synthesis: Kṛṣṇa-oriented intention is the jñāna-generating catalyst — bhakti as the precondition for Advaitic liberation.

  divergence: Madhusūdana uses 'kartṛtvābhimāna-sāmye api' as the philosophical framing; the liberation-sequence (sattva-śuddhi → viveka → saṃnyāsa → jñāna-niṣṭhā) is verbatim from his bhāṣya. Abhiprāya-śūnya for the ayukt is explicit.