May2 – Bhagavadgita Chapter 6; Verses 6.01-6.02 (Day 123) Adyatma yoga, Yoga of Meditation

 CHAPTER 6

THE YOGA OF MEDITATION

(Adhyatma Yoga)

अथ षष्ठोऽध्यायः ।   अध्यात्मयोगः (आत्मसंयमयोगः) 

Lesson 6.1 (Verses 1-2)

Renunciation and Action Are One

May 2 – Day 123

Verse 6.01-6.02

श्रीभगवानुवाच ।

अनाश्रितः कर्मफलं कार्यं कर्म करोति यः ।

स संन्यासी च योगी च न निरग्निर्न चाक्रियः ॥ ६-१॥ 

Śhrī Bhagavān uvācha
anāśhritaḥ karma-phalaṁ kāryaṁ karma karoti yaḥ
sa sannyāsī cha yogī cha na niragnir na chākriyaḥ (1) 

ஶ்ரீப⁴க³வானுவாச¹ |
அனாஶ்ரித¹: க¹ர்மப²லம் கா¹ர்யம் க¹ர்ம க¹ரோதி¹ ய: |
ஸ ஸன்யாஸீ ச¹ யோகீ³ ச¹ ந னிரக்³னிர்ன சா¹க்¹ரிய: || 1 || 

The Blessed Lord said:

1. He who performs his bounden duty without depending on the fruits of his actions—he is a Sannyasin and a Yogi; not he who is without fire and without action.

Commentary: Actions such as Agnihotra, etc., performed without the expectation of their fruits purify the mind and become the means to Dhyana Yoga or the Yoga of Meditation.

Karyam Karma: bounden duty

Niragnih: without fire.  He who has renounced the daily rituals like Agnihotra, which are performed with the helf of fire.

Akriya: without action.  he who has renounced austerities and other meritorious acts like building rest-houses, charitable dispensaries, digging wells, feeding the poor, etc.

Sannyasi: he who has renounced the fruits of his actions. 

Yogi: he who has a steady mind.  These two terms are applied to him in a secondary sense only.  They are not used to denote that he is in reality a Sannyasi and a Yogi.

The Sannyasi performs neither Agnihotra nor other ceremonies.  But simply to omit these without genuine renunciation will not make one a real Sannyasi. (Cf. V.3) 

 

यं संन्यासमिति प्राहुर्योगं तं विद्धि पाण्डव ।

न ह्यसंन्यस्तसङ्कल्पो योगी भवति कश्चन ॥ ६-२॥ 

yaṁ sannyāsam iti prāhur yogaṁ taṁ viddhi pāṇḍava
na hyasannyasta-saṅkalpo yogī bhavati kaśhchana (2) 

யம் ஸன்யாஸமிதி¹ ப்¹ராஹுர்யோக³ம் த¹ம் வித்³தி⁴ பா¹ண்ட³வ |
ந ஹ்யஸந்யஸ்த¹ஸங்க¹ல்போ¹ யோகீ³ ப⁴வதி¹ க¹ஶ்ச¹ன ||2|| 

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! 

Commentary: Sankalpa is the working of the imagining faculty of the mind that makes plans for the future and guesses the results of plans so formed.  No one can become a Karma Yogi who plans and schemes and expects fruits for his actions.  No devotee of action who has not renounced the thought of the fruits of his actions can become a Yogi of steady mind.  The thought of the fruits will certainly make the mind unsteady.

Lord Krishna eulogizes Karma Yoga here because it is a means or an external aid (Bahiranga Sadhana) to Dhyana Yoga.  Karma Yoga is a a stepping-stone to  the Yoga of meditation (Dhyana Yoga). It leads to the Yoga of Meditation in due course. In order to encourage the practice of Karma Yoga it is stated here that it is Sannyasa. (Cf. V.4) 

Commentary by Swami Venkatesananda: 

Kṛṣṇa breaks down all man-made distinctions, created by a mind limited by its own preconceived ideas and imperfections. The man of renunciation (saṁnyᾱsī) wore the orange robe, had the title of ‘swami’ and was learned in vedānta: he abandoned all rites and rituals, and did not engage himself even in social activity. The yogi, on the other hand, practised certain psycho-physical exercises and possessed and exhibited certain psychic powers. The saṁnyᾱsī need not necessarily do these and the yogi need not necessarily be a man of renunciation. That was the belief.

It is not the validity of these distinctions but the underlying idea that matters. Caught in the snare of these distinctions, we often tend to lose sight of the goal of both renunciation and yoga! We make them an end in themselves, leading in different directions.

Kṛṣṇa points out the synthesis. Yoga is saṁnyᾱsa. How can we ever contemplate God if we have not learnt to detach the mind from the world, and to remove worldliness from our mind? How, on the other hand, can we learn to detach the mind from the world, if we do not attach it to God? The two attributes – detaching the mind from the world (saṁnyᾱsa) and attaching it to God (yoga) – are but two ends of the same stick.

Where such synthesis does not prevail, there is hypocrisy, pride and conflict. Where it does, there is sincerity, humility and harmony – whatever be the outward appearance. 

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