BG 6.2

[Paramananda das]

yaḿ sannyāsam iti prāhur
yogaḿ taḿ viddhi pāṇḍava
na hy asannyasta-sańkalpo
yogī bhavati kaścana

Translation of Bhagavad Gita 6.2

What is called renunciation you should know to be the same as yoga, or linking oneself with the Supreme, O son of Pandu, for one can never become a yogi unless he renounces the desire for sense gratification.


Commentary by Sri A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada of Gaudiya Sampradaya:

Real sannyasa-yoga or bhakti means that one should know his constitutional position as the living entity, and act accordingly. The living entity has no separate independent identity. He is the marginal energy of the Supreme. When he is entrapped by material energy, he is conditioned, and when he is Krishna conscious, or aware of the spiritual energy, then he is in his real and natural state of life. Therefore, when one is in complete knowledge, one ceases all material sense gratification, or renounces all kinds of sense gratificatory activities. This is practiced by the yogis who restrain the senses from material attachment. But a person in Krishna consciousness has no opportunity to engage his senses in anything which is not for the purpose of Krishna. Therefore, a Krishna conscious person is simultaneously a sannyasi and a yogi. The purpose of knowledge and of restraining the senses, as prescribed in the jnana and yoga processes, is automatically served in Krishna consciousness. If one is unable to give up the activities of his selfish nature, then jnana and yoga are of no avail. The real aim is for a living entity to give up all selfish satisfaction and to be prepared to satisfy the Supreme. A Krishna conscious person has no desire for any kind of self-enjoyment. He is always engaged for the enjoyment of the Supreme. One who has no information of the Supreme must therefore be engaged in self-satisfaction, because no one can stand on the platform of inactivity. All purposes are perfectly served by the practice of Krishna consciousness.

Commentary by Sri Vishvanatha Chakravarthi Thakur of Gaudiya Sampradaya:

Sannyasa means to renounce the results of one’s actions. Yoga means to have a mind which is not agitated by the desire to enjoy sense objects. Therefore, it should be understood that both words mean the same thing. He who has not given up the desire to enjoy objects (asannyasta sankalpah) is not called a yogi.

Commentary by Sri Ramanuja of Sri Sampradaya:

6.2 Know Karma Yoga only to be that which they call as Sannyasa i.e., as Jnana Yoga or knowledge of the real nature of the self. Sri Krsna substantiates this by the words, ‘For no one whose delusive identification of the body with the self is not abandoned, becomes a true Karma Yogin.’ ‘One whose delusion is abandoned is one by whom the delusion of identifying the self with Prakrti (body), which is in reality distinct from the self, is not rejected by the contemplation of the real nature of the self. One who is not of this kind is one whose delusion is not abandoned. One who is not of this kind cannot become a Karma Yogin of the type described here. It has already been said: ‘He whose every undertaking is free from desire for fruits and delusive identification of the body with the self …’ (4.19). Sri Krsna now teaches that by Karma Yoga alone one succeeds in Yoga without the risk of fall.

Commentary by Sri Sridhara Swami of Rudra Sampradaya:

Exactly what is a sannyasa or renunciation in abnegation and what is a yogi or one who is perfecting the science of the individual consciousness to attain the ultimate consciousness? To answer this Lord Krishna establishes that karma yoga or the performance of prescribed Vedic activities when matured into egoless actions is the same as renunciation. The Narayana Purana and other Vedic scriptures have extolled the virtues of sannyasa with statements like: Sannyasa alone excels everything and Sannyasa is to be yoga itself. But the question may be raised that if sannyasa is merely the renunciation of the rewards of action which is found also in the mature stages of karma yoga by not hankering for rewards then why should sannyasa be so glorified? It is because with sannyasa one renounces the desire for rewards for action as well as the action itself, whereas in karma yoga one renounces only the desire for reward of the action. As no one can be a renunciate or yogi without first relinquishing the desire to enjoy the rewards of action there is a common factor with both and so either can be considered a renunciate or a yogi by the cessation of craving for results and rewards. According to Pantajali all mental fluctuations become dormant as there is no reason to strive for obtaining anything.

Commentary by Sri Madhvacharya of Brahma Sampradaya:

Renunciation is also included within the developed stages of karma yoga or prescribed Vedic activities for as Lord Krishna states if desires and cravings are not abandoned then how is equanumity of actions possible? This is the underlying meaning of this verse.

Now begins the summation.

An advanced special attribute of karma yoga is verily the attribute of renunciation of the rewards of action. This is the purport.

Commentary by Sri Keshava Kashmiri of Kumara Sampradaya:

The discussion of the previous verse is augmented here by the statement yogam tam viddhi meaning know that yoga or the science of the individual consciousness attaining communion with the ultimate consciousness, which means performing karma yoga or prescribed Vedic activities selflessly without any sense of ego for rewards is the same as sannyasa or renunciation in abnegation. In the Vedic scriptures are seen passages like: Thus go beyond even sannyasa by performing all actions in this manner. This is designated as true renunciation. Why? Because one may not be considered doing yoga without the cessation of desires for reward.