Chapter 6, Verse 3
आरुरुक्षोर्मुनेर्योगं कर्म कारणमुच्यते | योगारूढस्य तस्यैव शमः कारणमुच्यते ||६-३||
ārurukṣormuneryogaṃ karma kāraṇamucyate . yogārūḍhasya tasyaiva śamaḥ kāraṇamucyate ||6-3||
Meaning
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.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Krishna gives a beautifully practical map of the spiritual journey, distinguishing the one who is still climbing (aarurukshu) from the one who has arrived (yogarudha). For the aspirant who is ascending toward yoga, action — selfless work done as discipline — is the means. Activity purifies the mind, burns up restlessness, and steadies the will.
But for the sage who has already risen into yoga, the means shifts to shama: serenity, the quiet cessation of mental agitation. What helped at the start would now disturb; what is needed now is stillness in which the Self is simply abided in. The teaching honours where each person actually stands. The beginner must act to grow calm; the established must grow calm to rest in what action has earned. Mistaking one stage's medicine for the other's is a common error this verse gently corrects.
💡 Key Takeaway
Use disciplined action to steady a restless mind, but once steadiness comes, let stillness — not more striving — carry you forward.
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.
बन्धुरात्मात्मनस्तस्य येनात्मैवात्मना जितः | अनात्मनस्तु शत्रुत्वे वर्तेतात्मैव शत्रुवत् ||६-६||
bandhurātmātmanastasya yenātmaivātmanā jitaḥ . anātmanastu śatrutve vartetātmaiva śatruvat ||6-6||
6.6 The Self is the friend of the self of him by whom the self has been conered by the Self, but to the unconered self, this Self stands in the position of an enemy, like an (external) foe.
योगी युञ्जीत सततमात्मानं रहसि स्थितः | एकाकी यतचित्तात्मा निराशीरपरिग्रहः ||६-१०||
yogī yuñjīta satatamātmānaṃ rahasi sthitaḥ . ekākī yatacittātmā nirāśīraparigrahaḥ ||6-10||
6.10 Let the Yogi try constantly to keep the mind steady, remaining in solitude, alone, with the mind and the body controlled, and free from hope and covetousness.