Chapter 6, Verse 2
यं संन्यासमिति प्राहुर्योगं तं विद्धि पाण्डव | न ह्यसंन्यस्तसङ्कल्पो योगी भवति कश्चन ||६-२||
yaṃ saṃnyāsamiti prāhuryogaṃ taṃ viddhi pāṇḍava . na hyasaṃnyastasaṅkalpo yogī bhavati kaścana ||6-2||
Meaning
6.2 Do thou, O Arjuna, know Yoga to be that which they call renunciation; no one verily becomes a Yogi who has not renounced thoughts.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Here Krishna identifies sannyasa and yoga as essentially one path, removing any sense that renunciation and disciplined action are rival roads. What the scriptures praise as renunciation, he tells Arjuna, is the very thing he means by yoga. The two converge at a single inner point: the giving up of sankalpa — the egoic resolve, the web of desire-driven intentions that the mind weaves around every act.
The radical claim is that no one becomes a yogi without renouncing sankalpa. It is not the action that binds us but the self-centred intention behind it. As long as the mind clings to its private projects — 'I must have this outcome' — it remains divided and restless. Release the grasping intention, and the same life becomes yoga. Renunciation, then, is an inward surrender, not an outward escape.
💡 Key Takeaway
Renounce the selfish intentions behind your actions, not the actions themselves — that inner letting-go is the doorway to yoga.
Related Verses
श्रीभगवानुवाच | अनाश्रितः कर्मफलं कार्यं कर्म करोति यः | स संन्यासी च योगी च न निरग्निर्न चाक्रियः ||६-१||
śrībhagavānuvāca . anāśritaḥ karmaphalaṃ kāryaṃ karma karoti yaḥ . sa saṃnyāsī ca yogī ca na niragnirna cākriyaḥ ||6-1||
6.1 The Blessed Lord said He who performs his bounden duty without depending on the fruits of his actions he is a Sannyasi and a Yogi; not he who is without fire and without action.
आरुरुक्षोर्मुनेर्योगं कर्म कारणमुच्यते | योगारूढस्य तस्यैव शमः कारणमुच्यते ||६-३||
ārurukṣormuneryogaṃ karma kāraṇamucyate . yogārūḍhasya tasyaiva śamaḥ kāraṇamucyate ||6-3||
6.3 For a sage who wishes to attain to Yoga, action is said to be the means; for the same sage who has attained to Yoga, inaction (iescence) is said to be the means.
यदा हि नेन्द्रियार्थेषु न कर्मस्वनुषज्जते | सर्वसङ्कल्पसंन्यासी योगारूढस्तदोच्यते ||६-४||
yadā hi nendriyārtheṣu na karmasvanuṣajjate . sarvasaṅkalpasaṃnyāsī yogārūḍhastadocyate ||6-4||
6.4 When a man is not attached to the sense-objects or to actions, having renounced all thoughts, then he is said to have attained to Yoga.