Chapter 6, Verse 23
तं विद्याद् दुःखसंयोगवियोगं योगसंज्ञितम् | स निश्चयेन योक्तव्यो योगोऽनिर्विण्णचेतसा ||६-२३||
taṃ vidyād duḥkhasaṃyogaviyogaṃ yogasaṃjñitam . sa niścayena yoktavyo yogo.anirviṇṇacetasā ||6-23||
Meaning
6.23 Let that be known by the name of Yoga, the severance from union with pain. This Yoga should be practised with determination and with an undesponding mind.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Krishna concludes this great passage with a luminous definition: yoga is the severance of all union with sorrow — duhkha-samyoga-viyogam. We are normally 'joined' to suffering through our identifications and cravings; yoga is the deliberate breaking of that bond. To define yoga not by what it gains but by what it dissolves is deeply hopeful, for it means suffering is not our inescapable destiny but a connection that can be undone.
Yet Krishna adds the essential condition. This yoga must be practiced nishchayena — with firm determination — and anirvinna-chetasa, with a mind that does not grow weary or despondent. The path is long, and the mind will resist, stumble, and lose heart. Knowing this, Krishna asks for cheerful persistence. Discouragement, not difficulty, is the real obstacle. The seeker who refuses to give up, who returns again and again with steady resolve and an unflagging heart, will reach the freedom from sorrow that yoga promises.
💡 Key Takeaway
Yoga is the cutting of every bond with sorrow — pursue it with firm resolve and a heart that never loses heart.
Related Verses
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||
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.
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.