🪷 Bhagavad-Gītā · 6.2

Chapter 6 · ध्यानयोग · Dhyāna-Yoga · "The Yoga of Meditation" · Verse 2 of 47

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🪷 English Translations

Five authentic English voices · each from a distinct sampradāya · together revealing the verse's full śabda-tattva.

Shri Purohit Swami · Poetic English · 1935 · public domain · Cosmo Press tradition

6.2 O Arjuna! Renunciation is in fact what is called Right Action. No one can become spiritual who has not renounced all desire.

Swami Sivananda · Direct prose · Divine Life Society

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.

Swami Gambīrānanda · Word-key glosses · Advaita Ashrama · Śaṅkara-school

6.2 Yam, that which is characterized by the giving up of all actions and their results; which prahuh, they, the knowers of the Vedas and the Smrtis, call; sannyasam iti, monasticism, in the real sense; viddhi, known; tam, that monasticism in the real sense; to be yogam, Yoga, consisting in the performance of actions, O Pandava. Accepting what kind of similarity between Karma-yoga, which is characterized by engagement (in actions), and its opposite, renunciation in the real sense, which is characterized by cessation from work, has their eation been stated? When such an apprehension arises, the answer is this; From the point of view of the agent, there does exist a simialrity of Karma-yoga with real renunciation. For he who is a monk in the real sense, from the very fact of his having given up all the means needed for accomplishing actions, gives up the thought of all actions and their results-the source of desire that leads to engagement in work. [Thoughts about an object lead to the desire for it, which in turn leads to actions for getting it. (Also see note under 4.19)] also, even while performing actions, gives up the thought for results. Pointing out this idea, the Lord says: Hi, for; kascit, nobody, no man of action whosoever; asannyasta-sankalpah, who has not given up expactaions-one by whom has not been renounced expectation, anticipation, of results;bhavati, becomes, i.e. can become; yogi, a yogi, a man of concentration, because thought of results is the cause of the disturbance of mind. Therefore, any man of action who gives up the thought of results would become a yogi, a man of concentration with an unperturbed mind, because of his having given up thought of results which is the cause of mental distractions. This is the purport. Thus, because of the similarity of real monasticism with Karma-yoga from the point of veiw of giving up by the agent, Karma-yoga is extolled as monasticism in, 'That which they call monasticism, know that to be Yoga, O Pandava.' Since Karma-yoga, which is independent of results, is the remote help to Dhyana-yoga, therefore it has been praised as monasticism. Thereafter, now the Lord shows how Karma-yoga is helpful to Dhyana-yoga:

Swami Ādidevānanda · Śrī-Vaiṣṇava perspective · Rāmānuja school

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 ৷৷.' (4.19). Sri Krsna now teaches that by Karma Yoga alone one succeeds in Yoga without the risk of fall.

Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Academic precision · modern scholarly

6.2. What [the learned] call renunciation, O son of Pandu, know that to be [the same as] the Yoga. For without renouncing intention [for fruit], one does not become a man of Yoga.

🪷 Hindi Translation · हिन्दी अनुवाद

For the Hindi-aware seer · Pūjya Swami Rāmsukhdās ji's translation · a high-readability modern Hindi rendering · Gītā-Press Gorakhpur tradition. (→ Full Mahāpurusha-detail page for the 102-year-living Sādhaka-Sañjīvanī Mahātmā.)

🪷 Swami Rāmsukhdās · Sādhaka-Sañjīvanī tradition · Gītā-Press Gorakhpur · highest modern Hindi reading

।।6.2।। हे अर्जुन ! लोग जिसको संन्यास कहते हैं, उसीको तुम योग समझो; क्योंकि संकल्पोंका त्याग किये बिना मनुष्य कोई-सा भी योगी नहीं हो सकता।

🪷 English Commentaries · The Ācārya Voices

The classical commentary tradition rendered in English · each ācārya speaks from their own sampradāya · the seer chooses the depth of darśana.

Swami Sivananda · Verse-by-verse word-keys with Sanskrit anchors

6.2 यम् which? संन्यासम् renunciation? इति thus? प्राहुः (they) call? योगम् Yoga? तम् that? विद्धि know? पाण्डव O Pandava? न not? हि verily? असंन्यस्तसङ्कल्पः one who has not renounced thoughts? योगी Yogi? भवति becomes? कश्चन anyone.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 eulogises Karma Yoga here because it is the means or an external aid (Bahiranga Sadhana) to Dhyana Yoga. Karma Yoga is a steppingstone to Dhyana Yoga. It leads to the Yoga of Meditation in due course. In order to encourage the practice of Karna Yoga it is stated here that Karma Yoga is Sannyasa. (Cf.V.4)

Swami Gambīrānanda · Advaita-school commentary (Śaṅkara tradition)

Swami Ādidevānanda · Rāmānuja Śrī-Vaiṣṇava commentary

Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Modern academic scholarship

6.1-2 The subject matter that has been thus established in the series of the preceding chapters is summarised by a couple of verses. Anasritah etc. Yam etc. Bounden : Ordained [in the law books] according to one's caste etc. [Thus] man-lf-renunciation and man-of-Yoga are synonyms. That is why [the Lord] says, 'what [the learned] call renunciation' etc. Therefore, without Yoga no renunciation is possible. Similarly Yoga is not possible without renouncing the intention [for fruit]. Conseently, the Yoga and renunciation are ever interlinked. The idea, suggested by 'not he who remains [simply] without his fires etc.' is this : He remains neither without fires, nor without actions and yet he is man of renunciation, Hence this is strange. Of course, following the principle [involved in the statement] 'Playing dice is the kingship, without throne', and following logic it has been asserted already that renunciation is not possible for a person who remains simply without actions. Yet-

Swami Chinmayānanda · Chinmaya Mission · modern Vedantic teaching

।।6.2।। भगवान् यहाँ पूर्वकथित विचार को ही दोहराते हैं क्योंकि कहीं ऐसा न हो कि अर्जुन को इस तथ्य विस्मरण हो जाय कि संन्यास (कर्तृत्व का त्याग) और योग(फलासक्ति का त्याग) दोनों वास्तव में एक ही हैं। योग के द्वारा संन्यास की स्थिति तक पहुँचा जाता है और मन में संन्यास की भावना के बिना योग के अभ्यास का विचार तक नहीं किया जा सकता। वास्तव में देखा जाय तो यह दोनों आध्यात्मिक पूर्णत्व रूपी सिक्के के दो पहलू हैं।भगवान् के इस कथन पर स्वाभाविक है कि अर्जुन ने उनकी ओर प्रश्नार्थक मुद्रा में देखा होगा। संन्यास और योग को एक ही कहने का क्या कारण है भगवान् स्पष्ट करते हैं कि संकल्पों का संन्यास किये बिना योगाभ्यास में दृढ़ता नहीं आ सकती और उसके अभाव में आध्यात्मिक प्रगति भी नहीं हो सकती।साधारणत मनुष्य संकल्पविकल्प किये बिना नहीं रह सकता। वह भविष्य की सुन्दरसुन्दर कल्पनाएँ करता रहता है। हम स्वयं ही किसी एक परिच्छिन्न लक्ष्य को निर्धारित करके उसे पाने के लिए योजनाएं बनाते हैं और उस पर प्रयत्नशील हो जाते हैं। परन्तु अपनी योजनाओं को पूर्णतया कार्यान्वित करने के पूर्व ही मन की कभी न थकने वाली क्रियाशील कल्पना शक्ति हमें नये लक्ष्य का निर्देश करती है जो पूर्व निर्धारित लक्ष्य से सर्वथा भिन्न होता है।जैसे ही हम उस नये लक्ष्य को पाने के लिए तत्पर हो जाते हैं उसी समय फिर यह अनोखी कल्पना शक्ति अन्य विकल्प को उपस्थित कर देती है। इस प्रकार प्रत्येक समय हमारा लक्ष्य तब तक ही निश्चित रहता है जब तक उसे पाने के लिए हम प्रयत्न आरम्भ नहीं कर देते यात्रा प्रारम्भ हुई कि गन्तव्य लुप्त।संक्षेप में विडम्बना यह है कि जब हमारे समक्ष लक्ष्य होता है तब प्रयत्न का आरम्भ नहीं और जैसे ही हम प्रयत्नशील होते हैं तो सामने कोई लक्ष्य ही नहीं दिखाई देता हमारे अन्तकरण में जो सूक्ष्म शक्ति इस उन्मत्त स्वभाव को जन्म देती है वह है निरंकुश संकल्पशक्ति।यह तो स्वत स्पष्ट हो जाता है कि जब तक हम इस विनाशकारी संकल्प शक्ति को वश में करके विनष्ट नहीं कर देते तब तक हम भौतिक और आध्यात्मिक उपलब्धि को प्राप्त नहीं कर सकते हैं। इसे समझने के लिए किसी व्याख्याकार की आवश्यकता नहीं हैं।यह कहकर कि कोई भी (कश्चन) पुरुष संकल्प के बिना योगी नहीं बन सकता भगवान् यह दर्शाते हैं कि बिना संकल्प शक्ति के विनष्ट किये इस विषय में किसी प्रकार का समझौता नहीं हो सकता।फलनिरपेक्ष कर्मयोग का अनुष्ठान ध्यानयोग का बहिरंग साधन है। अत उसकी प्रशंसा करने के पश्चात् अब भगवान् यह बताते हैं कि किस प्रकार कर्मयोग ध्यान का साधन है

🪷 Hindi Vyākhyā · हिन्दी व्याख्या

Pūjya Swami Rāmsukhdās ji's Sādhaka-Sañjīvanī · one of the great modern Hindi vyākhyās of the Gītā · direct, pure, deeply Vedāntic · the modern Sanātana-jāgaraṇa. (→ Full Mahāpurusha-detail page · 1904-2005 · Corner 1 Mādhurya operational anchor · whose 6-lakṣaṇa-śaraṇāgati IS Constitutional Principle 24.)

🪷 Swami Rāmsukhdās · Sādhaka-Sañjīvanī · Hindi vyākhyā · the modern bilingual anchor

।।6.2।। व्याख्या--यं संन्यासमिति प्राहुर्योगं तं विद्धि पाण्डव'--पाँचवें अध्यायके आरम्भमें भगवान्ने बताया था कि संन्यास (सांख्ययोग) और योग (कर्मयोग)--ये दोनों ही स्वतन्त्रतासे कल्याण करनेवाले हैं (5। 2), तथा दोनोंका फल भी एक ही है (5। 5) अर्थात् संन्यास और योग दो नहीं हैं, एक ही हैं। वही बात भगवान् यहाँ कहते हैं कि जैसे संन्यासी सर्वथा त्यागी होता है, ऐसे ही कर्मयोगी भी सर्वथा त्यागी होता है।अठारहवें अध्यायके नवें श्लोकमें भगवान्ने कहा है कि फल और आसक्तिका सर्वथा त्याग करके जो नियत कर्तव्य-कर्म केवल कर्तव्यमात्र समझकर किया जाता है, वह 'सात्त्विक त्याग' है, जिससे पदार्थों और क्रियाओंसे सर्वथा सम्बन्ध-विच्छेद हो जाता है और मनुष्य त्यागी अर्थात् योगी हो जाता है। इसी तरह संन्यासी भी कर्तृत्वाभिमानका त्यागी होता है। अतः दोनों ही त्यागी हैं। तात्पर्य है कि योगी और संन्यासीमें कोई भेद नहीं है। भेद न रहनेसे ही भगवान्ने पाँचवें अध्यायके तीसरे श्लोकमें कहा है कि राग-द्वेषका त्याग करनेवाला योगी 'संन्यासी' ही है।

🪷 Place in the Bhagavad-Gītā

This is verse 2 of 47 in Chapter 6 · Dhyāna-Yoga (The Yoga of Meditation)
Chapter theme: The yogī's discipline · abhyāsa-vairāgya · the supreme dhyāna-state
Ṣaṭka grouping: TVAM-Ṣaṭka (BG 1-6 · the jīva)
Chapter hub: /dhyana-yoga
⭐ Mahābhārata anchor: this verse is also MBh 6.28.2 (Bhīṣma-Parva · the BG in its full narrative home)

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📚 Cite this verse · Academic citation formats

APA: Vyāsa Maharṣi. (n.d.). Bhagavad-Gītā 6.2. Vidhyāmitra. Retrieved 2026-07-27, from https://vidhyamitra.com/bhagavad-gita/6/2

Chicago: Vyāsa Maharṣi. "Bhagavad-Gītā 6.2." Vidhyāmitra. Accessed 2026-07-27. https://vidhyamitra.com/bhagavad-gita/6/2.

MLA: Vyāsa Maharṣi. "Bhagavad-Gītā 6.2." Vidhyāmitra, 2026, https://vidhyamitra.com/bhagavad-gita/6/2.

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🪷 ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय 🪷

सर्वम् कृष्णार्पणम् — this verse is one maṇi (jewel) on Krishna's thread (BG 7.7)