Practice steadily without discouragement.
Krishna speaks to Arjuna
तं विद्याद् दुःखसंयोगवियोगं योगसंज्ञितम् |स निश्चयेन योक्तव्यो योगोऽनिर्विण्णचेतसा ||६-२३||
taṃ vidyād duḥkhasaṃyogaviyogaṃ yogasaṃjñitam . sa niścayena yoktavyo yogo.anirviṇṇacetasā ||6-23||
Use this verse when you feel discouraged in practice.
Meaning
Know yoga as separation from union with sorrow. This yoga must be practiced with determination and an undiscouraged mind.
Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).
In plain words
Yoga separates us from bondage to sorrow.
Word-by-word meaning
Tap a word to see its meaning.
Explanation
Krishna defines yoga as freedom from the grip of sorrow. Practice requires determination and not giving up when progress feels slow.
Read the traditional 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.
In daily life
When emotions return, continue practice instead of quitting.
A meditator may feel anxious again, but repeated practice slowly reduces identification.
Try this today
Restart one practice you abandoned.
I practice yoga with determination.Reflect
Where do I give up too quickly?
Private — only you can see this
Quick check
What does ‘दुःखसंयोगवियोगम्’ mean in this verse?
Krishna on perseverance, in other chapters
- Verse 12.9If the mind will not settle on God, train it through patient, repeated practice.
- Verse 2.66Without discipline there is no wisdom, without wisdom no contemplation, without contemplation no peace, and without peace happiness is impossible.
- Verse 8.10A serene and focused death is earned in life by ripening devotion and disciplined practice together, not separately.
- Verse 15.11Spiritual effort bears fruit only when the heart that makes it has first been purified.
Swipe left for 6.24 · Control desire at the imagination stage.
Questions about Bhagavad Gita 6.23
Who says Bhagavad Gita 6.23, and to whom?
Krishna speaks to Arjuna in verse 6.23, in Chapter 6, Dhyana Yoga (Dhyana Yoga).
What does Bhagavad Gita 6.23 mean?
Know yoga as separation from union with sorrow. This yoga must be practiced with determination and an undiscouraged mind. (Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).)
What is the lesson of Bhagavad Gita 6.23 for daily life?
When emotions return, continue practice instead of quitting. A meditator may feel anxious again, but repeated practice slowly reduces identification.
What do the Sanskrit words in Bhagavad Gita 6.23 mean?
तम् विद्यात् — let that be known; दुःखसंयोगवियोगम् — as the severance from union with sorrow; योगसंज्ञितम् — designated by the name 'yoga'; सः निश्चयेन योक्तव्यः — it should be practised with determination; योगः — this yoga.
Where does verse 6.23 come in the Bhagavad Gita?
It is verse 23 of 47 in Chapter 6, Dhyana Yoga. The next verse is 6.24.