BG 5.24 — Karma-Sannyāsa-Yoga

Bhagavad Gītā 5.24Chapter 5 · Karma-Sannyāsa-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · anuṣṭubh

यो ऽन्तःसुखो ऽन्तरारामस् तथान्तर्ज्योतिरेव यः ।

स योगी ब्रह्मनिर्वाणं ब्रह्मभूतो ऽधिगच्छति ॥

yo 'ntaḥ-sukho 'ntarārāmas tathāntar-jyotir eva yaḥ

sa yogī brahma-nirvāṇaṃ brahma-bhūto 'dhigacchati

spokensingle-voice recital; rendered via IndicF5 conditioned on a Sanskrit reference clip

meaning

The yogi whose joy, delight, and light are all turned inward, that person, already one with Brahman, reaches the peace of Brahman here and now.

ekras · bhāṣya

The verse names the inner trio that constitutes the yogi's condition. The closing claim is that this triple inwardness is itself the brahma-bhuta condition; the yogi reaches brahma-nirvana not as a future destination but as a present recognition.

Madhusudana offers the most analytically layered reading of the triad. Antar-sukha refutes pleasure derived from external bhogas — bahya-vishaya-janita-sukha-shunya. Antar-arama refutes even the subtle sensory pleasures that arrive unbidden: moonrise, the scent of ketaki, cool Ganga water. Even yadricha — chance-arrived — sensory delight has been extinguished as a source of joy. Antar-jyoti then specifies that the inner light by which all this is seen is the atman's own self-revealing luminosity, not a borrowed lamp. Each antar is more interior than the last.

Shankara reads the triple qualification as converging on a single fact: the apparent seeker already is what is being sought; sukha, arama, and jyoti are all the atman's own predicates, mistakenly displaced outward. The yogi reverses the displacement.

Madhva makes a sharp distinction. The arama born of seeing another person is one kind of joy; the arama that arises at kama-kshaya — the extinction of desire — reveals the atman's own svayam-jyotishtva. That inner light is not the jiva's possession; it is the reflection of Mahavishnu's svajyotishtva, the Lord's self-luminance shining through the purified jiva.

Shridhara reads the triad as three degrees of interiority: joy not in vishayas, delight not outside, vision not in gita-nritya — the threefold negation is itself the brahma-nirvana.

Context

where

Chapter 5 · Karma-Sannyāsa-Yoga · meter anuṣṭubh

who speaks

Krishna → Arjuna

preceded by — BG 5.23

Whoever can endure the surge of desire and anger while still alive and embodied is a true yogi, and that person alone is happy.

What's going on

The yogi whose joy, delight, and light are all turned inward, that person, already one with Brahman, reaches the peace of Brahman here and now.

Sūtras through this verse (63)

ŚaṅkaraclassicalB

Knowledge alone, with all action laid downbetween

5.13Lay down all acts in mind; sit at ease, body free.───→here5.24───→6.1The fire-keeper is renouncer only in a soft sense.

ĀnandagiriclassicalA

The two-niṣṭhā axisbetween

5.1Every clause tagged jñāna or karma.───→here5.24───→7.1First hexad ends, middle hexad opens.

RamsukhdasclassicalA

What binds you (and how to let go)between

5.12Drop the wish for fruit, not the fruit itself.───→here5.24───→5.29The Lord owns every act, never you.

show all 63

Śaṅkaraclassicalshankara_jnana_nishtha

Shankara Jnana Nishthabetween · other

5.13Nine-gated city, all karma laid down───→here5.24───→6.1Soft sense of renouncer

ŚaṅkaraclassicalC

Knowledge plus action will not save youbetween

5.2Each path bears fruit by its own working.───→here5.24───→18.66The combined-path view named and dismantled.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalD

The fit student vs the unfit studentbetween

5.6Renunciation is hard without yoga first.───→here5.24───→18.41Each order's work is born of its own nature.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalE

Ignorance is the only enemybetween

5.13Body-self confusion is the only error.───→here5.24───→13.2One Self lights every body as one sun lights all.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalK

Liberation while still embodiedbetween

5.13Nine-gated city: body remains, doership does not.───→here5.24───→5.29Knowing Me, all wandering ceases at once.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalH

The Lord is friend of every beingapproach

───→here5.24───→5.29Friend of all beings, the witness of every act.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalI

The lover and the knower are one personapproach

───→here5.24───→7.16Of the four devotees, the knower is dearest.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalG

After knowing, act only to hold the worldexit

5.8I do nothing at all, says the knower.───→here5.24───→

Madhvaclassicalmadhva_pratibimba

Madhva Pratibimbabetween · other

5.14Two tiers of rulership───→here5.24───→9.9Like one detached, not actually

MadhvaclassicalT1

Hari is supreme — the running reading-rulebetween

5.7'Self of all beings' just means the Lord.───→here5.24───→8.3The 'imperishable Brahman' is the supreme person.

MadhvaclassicalT2

Soul depends on Lord — the gap that does not closebetween

5.14The soul rules the inert; the Lord rules the soul.───→here5.24───→6.9Souls differ by nature not by accident alone.

MadhvaclassicalT5

Mirror-and-image — how seeming-action worksbetween

5.14The Lord rules the modes; the soul rules the body.───→here5.24───→9.9He sits like one detached, not actually detached.

MadhvaclassicalT7

Action and knowledge — never rivalsbetween

5.1Renouncing isn't quitting the householder's life.───→here5.24───→6.1The renouncer and yogi are one person, two names.

MadhvaclassicalT8

Direct vision — the only proximate causebetween

5.16Mediated knowing is just the first step.───→here5.24───→6.7The stilled mind sees the seated supreme self.

MadhvaclassicalT12

Closure by gloss — the small repertoirebetween

5.7'Self of all' resolves to the Lord himself.───→here5.24───→6.20'Self' here is not soul but the Lord within.

Ekrasmodernkarma_yoga

Karma yoga — the apprentice pathbetween · v2

5.12Peace of the released───→here5.24───→18.46Work as worship

Ekrasmodernvairagya

Vairāgya — dispassion as instrumentbetween · v2

2.58Tortoise withdrawing───→here5.24───→5.27Senses excluded

Ekrasmodernparadox_of_doership

Paradox of doership — kartṛtvabetween · v2

5.14Lord neither acts nor causes───→here5.24───→13.20Prakriti causes, puruṣa enjoys

Ekrasmodernanger_management

Anger Managementbetween · other

5.23Endure the urge───→here5.24───→5.26Already-released sage

ĀnandagiriclassicalC

Adhikāra: seeker vs. fulfilledbetween

5.1Two saṃnyāsas: fruit and means.───→here5.24───→6.46Yogin vs. jñānin: not synonyms.

ĀnandagiriclassicalD

Praśna-bīja chapter openingsbetween

5.1Recap-then-question becomes the rule.───→here5.24───→7.1Lord answers a question Arjuna did not ask.

ĀnandagiriclassicalF

Which karma? — fourfold typologybetween

5.1Body-residue karma vs. fruit-bearing karma.───→here5.24───→18.1Tyāga and saṃnyāsa named distinct.

ĀnandagiriclassicalH

Phala-saṃkalpa is the only upādhibetween

5.13All actions renounced by mind alone.───→here5.24───→18.1Tyāga = renouncing the relationship.

MadhusūdanaclassicalA

Three groups of six: you, the Lord, the joiningbetween

5.1Two chapters settled action and knowing.───→here5.24───→7.1First six unfold 'you,' middle six unfold 'that.'

MadhusūdanaclassicalB

Different students need different teachingsbetween

5.1Not combined, not optional; distributed by fitness.───→here5.24───→6.1The renouncer and yogi are one under two views.

MadhusūdanaclassicalC

Action purifies before knowing can landbetween

5.1Action for the ignorant: purification's only door.───→here5.24───→6.1Renouncing too lives by purity of mind.

MadhusūdanaclassicalG

Knowing and acting cannot run togetherbetween

5.13The knower's body acts; the knower does not.───→here5.24───→6.1Calling a karma-yogi 'renouncer' is only a courtesy.

RamsukhdasclassicalC

Desire is the root — not actionbetween

5.23Endure desire and anger while still alive.───→here5.24───→5.26With desire gone, the goal stands on all sides.

RamsukhdasclassicalG

Equanimity in everythingbetween

5.19A mind in equality has already won.───→here5.24───→6.8Clay, stone, and gold are all level to him.

RamsukhdasclassicalH

All paths arrive at the same roombetween

5.4Insight and practice are not two paths.───→here5.24───→6.46The lover outranks every other yogi.

RamsukhdasclassicalK

The body is not yoursbetween

5.8The knower thinks, 'I do nothing at all.'───→here5.24───→6.3Body, senses, and mind: none of them yours.

Ramsukhdasclassical

Sādhaka Sañjīvanī commentary at this versebetween

───→here5.24───→

Ekrasmodernmeditation

Meditation — the dhyāna tourapproach · v2

───→here5.24───→6.10Solitary seat

Ekrasmodernbhakti

Bhakti — devotion pathapproach · v2

───→here5.24───→7.16Four kinds of bhakta

ĀnandagiriclassicalI

Bhakti carries jñāna, never parallelapproach

───→here5.24───→7.1Upāsya and tat-pada in apposition. Anchor.

ĀnandagiriclassicalJ

Prakṛti is never autonomousapproach

───→here5.24───→7.4Two-fold prakṛti is the Lord's own power.

MadhusūdanaclassicalE

Devotion is how knowing actually arrivesapproach

───→here5.24───→7.1The chapter elaborates the prior bhajana-line.

MadhusūdanaclassicalF

Every middle chapter opens with a bow to the teacherapproach

───→here5.24───→7.1A bow to the bliss-cloud, Nanda's son, opens seven.

RamsukhdasclassicalI

The Lord already inside the heartapproach

───→here5.24───→6.30See Me everywhere, I am never lost.

RāmānujaclassicalC

Three ṣaṭkas (1–6 / 7–12 / 13–18)between

5.1A four-clause summary of all of 2 through 4.───→here5.24───→6.1The renouncer and yogi are the same person.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalA

The carama-śloka as retroactive bracketbetween

5.16Knowledge dispels what mā śucaḥ will close.───→here5.24───→9.24The receiver of all rites is named one verse.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalG

Three yogas — three angles on one configurationbetween

5.5The fruit of either is one and the same.───→here5.24───→6.1The renouncer and yogi are one figure.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalH

Mā śucaḥ — the inclusio of evolving griefbetween

5.16Knowledge-darkness cleared — not yet refuge.───→here5.24───→16.5Daivī-asuric grief closed mid-text.

VallabhaclassicalC

Drop the doer, not the deedbetween

5.1Arjuna asks the wrong question. first.───→here5.24───→6.1Real renouncing keeps the act alive.

VallabhaclassicalD

Chapter-opening preludesbetween

5.1Single-verse prelude sets sannyāsa-yoga eka.───→here5.24───→6.1Prelude binds yoga to puṣṭi-bhakti.

VallabhaclassicalE

Three paths, one teaching orderbetween

5.5Where one path goes, the other reaches too.───→here5.24───→6.1The two paths are one through fruit-renouncing act.

RāmānujaclassicalA

World as the Lord's body (antaryāmin)approach

───→here5.24───→7.4Two natures of the Lord: matter and selves.

RāmānujaclassicalE

Bhakti as continuous recollectionapproach

───→here5.24───→7.17I am dearest to him.

RāmānujaclassicalF

Two prakṛtis · jīva as eternal aṃśaapproach

───→here5.24───→7.4Lower nature: matter.

RāmānujaclassicalJ

Śeṣa-śeṣī · pati-vrata simileapproach

───→here5.24───→7.18He is My self; I cannot hold without him.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalB

Prapatti — bhakti's access for those the long path defeatsapproach

───→here5.24───→7.14Those who take refuge cross the māyā.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalI

9.24 — the standing citation for ārādhyaapproach

───→here5.24───→7.21Deity-worship: His self-arrangement of grace.

VallabhaclassicalB

Grace alone — the technical markapproach

───→here5.24───→7.18The wise one is Myself, by grace alone.

VallabhaclassicalK

Aphorism, gloss, full commentaryapproach

───→here5.24───→6.47Six chapters of aphorism close at this verse.

ŚrīdharaclassicalE

Inner cleansing reconciles work and knowingbetween

5.5See sāṅkhya and yoga as one — see truly.───→here5.24───→8.7Without a clean mind, steady remembrance fails.

ŚrīdharaclassicalL

Chapter prefaces as the bhāṣya's spinebetween

5.1Settling the doubt: renounce or work?───→here5.24───→6.1Pure mind is not yet release: now meditate.

ŚrīdharaclassicalC

Devotion is both the way and the homeapproach

───→here5.24───→6.47Be a devotee: that is the meaning.

ŚrīdharaclassicalH

The grammar of single-pointednessapproach

───→here5.24───→7.14Undivided love crosses the great mist.

Gauravmodernkarma_yoga_hand

Karma Yoga Handbetween

5.18Ring finger. Samadrishti. 'Vidya-vinaya-sampanne brahmane gavi hastini, shuni ch───→here5.24───→9.22Pinky finger. Shraddha, faith. Gaurav lands shraddha with the Sushma Swaraj six-

Gauravmodernthree_yogas_braid

Three Yogas Braidbetween

5.5'Yat sankhyaih prapyate sthanam tad yogair api gamyate.' The place reached by sa───→here5.24───→6.46'Tapasvibhyo'dhiko yogi jnanibhyo'pi mato'dhikah, karmibhyash chadhiko yogi tasm

Śabda · lemmas (14 unique · 17 occurrences)

योगी yogin — yogi (yoga + -in 'possessor of') · nominative masculine singular noun

show all 14

यः yad ×2 — which, who (relative pronoun) · nominative masculine singular noun
अन्तर् antar ×2 — between, within
ब्रह्म brahman ×2 — Brahman (the Absolute); also: the Veda; sacred utterance · compound · also at 1.1, 2.72, 3.14, 3.15, 4.21, 4.24 +40
सुखः sukha — happiness, pleasure, ease · nominative masculine singular noun
अन्तर antara — interior, inner; interval, between · compound
आरामः ārāma — delight, garden, pleasure-grove (ā- + √ram) · nominative masculine singular noun
तथा tathā — thus, in that manner; likewise
ज्योतिः jyotis — light, brilliance, luminary · nominative masculine singular noun
एव eva — indeed, truly, only (emphatic particle)
स tad — that (distal demonstrative); also 3rd-person pronoun · nominative masculine singular noun
निर्वाणम् nirvāṇa — extinction, liberation (nis- + √vā 'blow out') · accusative neuter singular noun
भूतः √bhū — to be, become; the earth (verbal root / noun) · nominative masculine singular participle noun
अधिगच्छति adhi-√gam — (adhi- + gam: to go) · present indicative 3rd person singular verb

Praśna · so what (7)

01If brahma-nirvāṇa is attained 'here and now' (iha jīvann eva per Śaṅkara), what distinguishes the jīvanmukta's continued phenomenal life from anyone else's — and how would we recognize it from outside?
02Madhusūdana insists that even unsought sensory pleasures (moonrise, flower-scent) are extinguished in the antar-jyotiḥ state. Is this an empirical description of samādhi, or a normative prescription — and what is at stake in the difference?

show all 7

03Rāmānuja's brahma-nirvāṇa = ātmānubhava-sukham (joy of self-experience), while Śaṅkara's = mokṣa (liberation from superimposition). Both use the same compound. How does the underlying ontology — qualified versus non-qualified Brahman — force this semantic fork?
04Madhva roots antar-jyotiḥ in Mahāviṣṇu's svayam-jyotiṣṭva (self-luminance) transmitted to the purified jīva. What does this reading protect that the Advaita reading loses, and vice versa?
05Vallabha insists the world (prapañca) is never dissolved — only one's bondage to it dissolves. Does this make his jīvanmukta more or less functional in ordinary life than Śaṅkara's jīvanmukta who sees the world as mithyā?
06All six schools agree the three qualifiers (antar-sukha, antar-ārāma, antar-jyotiḥ) are necessary and not merely ornamental. What is the logical structure of that triad — are they cumulative, progressive, or simultaneous?
07Śrīdhara's negation-as-definition (not in viṣayas, not outside, not in gīta-nṛtya) is purely apophatic. Does apophatic description of brahma-bhūtatva say anything substantive, or is it simply a checklist of what has dropped away?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

Before reaching for a screen or stimulus in a dull moment, pause and notice whether dullness is located in the situation or in the assumption that the situation must supply what you lack. The practice is not deprivation but the repeated direct inquiry: is the one who is aware of boredom itself untouched by it? Each such pause is a small rehearsal of the antar-sukha the verse describes — not manufactured contentment but recognition that awareness itself is already at rest.

Viśiṣṭādvaita

When you finish a task and feel the specific satisfaction of having served well — not the applause but the inner 'that was right' — recognize that as the specific texture of ātmānubhava-sukha Rāmānuja points to: the self tasting its own fitness as a mode of Bhagavān. Cultivate work that reliably produces that quality of satisfaction rather than merely external reward, so that the ārāma (delight) gradually shifts from the outcome to the act of service itself.

show all 6

Dvaita

When a craving dies down — after the meal is eaten, after the argument has cooled — notice the quiet that appears without your constructing it. Madhva's antar-jyotiḥ is precisely that: Hari's light becoming visible in the space kāma vacates. Deliberately linger in that aftermath-quiet before filling it with the next want. This is not passive — it is the specific practice of recognizing the Lord's illumination rather than immediately obscuring it again with the next desire.

Śuddhādvaita

Take something beautiful in the world — a piece of music, a child's laughter, the colour of late-afternoon light — and instead of analyzing it or trying to possess the feeling, simply let it arrive as prasāda (grace-given). Vallabha's insight is that the world's prapañca is never the problem; clinging to it as self-owned is. The same object that was a bondage becomes a gift the moment it is received as Kṛṣṇa's gift rather than ego's acquisition. The antar-ānanda (inner joy) is experienced through the world, not despite it.

Bhakti

Śrīdhara's three negations are a practical audit: at the end of each day ask where today's energy went — towards viṣaya-sukha (pleasures located in objects), towards social performance and display (na bahiḥ), or towards something whose locus you cannot quite point at externally. The audit is not moralistic; it is cartographic — mapping where your centre of gravity actually lives versus where you assume it lives. Honest surveying over weeks shows the drift, and the noticing itself begins to correct it.

Advaita-Bhakti

Madhusūdana's example of the unsought sensory pleasure — the sudden scent of flowers, the unexpected moonrise — is a precise practice target: when something beautiful ambushes you, watch whether it hooks into a chain of wanting (more of this, keep this, return to this) or simply is received and passes. The measure of antar-jyotiḥ is not the absence of beautiful experience but the absence of the chain. Training this requires neither renunciation of beauty nor indulgence — only the clean recognition that awareness was already present before the moonrise arrived.

Adhiṣṭhāna · substrate signature

substratev2.6-frozen

parserByT5-Sanskrit-multitask (Nehrdich/Hellwig/Keutzer EMNLP 2024)

mūlaBelvalkar critical edition (BORI 1947), via Ambuda multi-witness

show all metadata

weightsa=1 · b=0.01 · e_v=0.005 · z=0.2 · h=0 · th=0.01

anchorfit on Ramsukhdas's Sādhak Sañjīvanī (1980), frozen across the eight-commentator panel; cross-validated R@4 = 71.6% on Śaṅkara

extracted2026-04-21

methodPaper 1, Section II.B

↓ view raw per-verse object (JSON)↗ per-verse-object schema ↗ substrate code (MIT) + data (CC-BY 4.0)

The schema generalizes to any bounded-polysemy corpus with discrete primary text units, attested witness traditions, identifiable schools, and formal substrate. Port the per-verse object; refit weights on a domain-appropriate Layer-3 anchor; ship.

Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 5, Verse 24: Krishna to Arjuna — Karma-Sannyāsa-Yoga