Bhagavad Gita 6.2
Spoken by Krishna · Verse 2 of 47
यं संन्यासमिति प्राहुर्योगं तं विद्धि पाण्डव। न ह्यसंन्यस्तसङ्कल्पो योगी भवति कश्चन॥६-२॥
yaṃ sannyāsam iti prāhur yogaṃ taṃ viddhi pāṇḍava | na hy asannyasta-saṃkalpo yogī bhavati kaścana || 6.2 ||
What they call sannyāsa — know it as yoga, O Pāṇḍava — for none becomes a yogī without renouncing saṃkalpa.
Word by word (6)
- yam sannyāsam iti prāhuḥ
- — what they call sannyāsa / that which is spoken of as renunciation (iti = thus, prāhuḥ = they say/call)
- yogam tam viddhi
- — know that as yoga / understand that to be yoga (viddhi = know! — imperative, direct instruction)
- pāṇḍava
- — O son of Pāṇḍu (Arjuna's address — intimate, familiar, personal)
- na hi
- — for not / indeed not — emphatic negation
- asannyasta-saṃkalpaḥ
- — one who has not renounced saṃkalpa (asannyasta = un-renounced; saṃkalpa = self-willed intention, ego-driven mental resolve, desire-rooted planning — from sam + kḷp = to intend purposefully)
- yogī bhavati kaścana
- — anyone becomes a yogī (kaścana = anyone at all — universal statement, no exception)
Know that what they call renunciation is itself yoga, O son of Pāṇḍu; for no one becomes a yogi without renouncing selfish will.
A modern analogy
Two people are both working on the same project. Person A thinks: 'This must succeed — my identity, my worth, my future depend on it.' Person B thinks: 'This is what needs to be done well; what happens will happen.' Both are fully engaged and working with full skill. Only Person A is operating from saṃkalpa — the ego-grip on outcome. This verse says: Person A is not yet a yogī, regardless of how diligently they work. Person B is, regardless of the result.
What it does NOT mean
Saṃkalpa is not the same as intention or goal-setting. Saṃkalpa specifically means the ego's mental projection that attaches personal identity to a particular outcome: 'I must succeed at this or I have failed.' Renouncing saṃkalpa does not mean having no goals — it means holding goals without the ego's desperate grip on them. The surgeon still aims to save the patient; the ego does not collapse if the patient dies.
Take with you
- Saṃkalpa is the precise word for what blocks yoga: not action, not desire itself, but the ego's insistence that the outcome be a specific way. Watch for the thought 'this MUST happen for me to be okay' — that is saṃkalpa in operation.
- Asannyasta-saṃkalpaḥ yogī bhavati kaścana: 'no one at all becomes a yogī without renouncing saṃkalpa.' The kaścana (anyone at all) is absolute — no exception. This is the sine qua non of yoga. Not posture, not breath, not philosophy — saṃkalpa-sannyāsa.
- This verse pairs with the one before it: the previous verse defined the outer behaviour of the true sannyāsī — the one who acts without depending on the fruit — while this verse gives the inner mechanism: renouncing saṃkalpa, the mental desire-structure that makes fruit-dependence feel urgent. Both together = the complete definition.
Public-domain translations (6) compare all →
"What they call sannyāsa — know that as yoga, O Pāṇḍava. For no one who has not renounced saṃkalpa becomes a yogī." [1]
"Know, O Pāṇḍava, that what they call Sannyāsa is the same as Yoga; for none becomes a Yogi who has not renounced his selfish purposes." [4]
"What they call renunciation, that know thou as devotion; for none becometh a devotee who hath not renounced desire." [5]
"That which the ignorant call renunciation, the sages call Yoga. No one can be a true Yogi who has not renounced his selfish wishes." [6]
"What men call Sannyāsa — that renouncing — know for Yog, Pāṇḍava! For none becometh Yogi who hath not ceased from vows self-willed." [7]
"That which they call Sannyāsa, know that to be Yoga, O Pāṇḍava. For no one who has not renounced his self-will can become a Yogi." [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Who acts in duty without depending on fruit — that one is the true sannyāsī and yogī, not the fireless or the inactive.
Your right is to act — never to the fruits. Don't act for results. Don't hide in inaction.
Both sannyāsa and karma-yoga lead to liberation — karma-yoga surpasses mere renunciation.
Sannyāsa = abandoning desire-motivated action; tyāga = abandoning fruits of ALL action — say the learned.
Sāttvic karma: prescribed, attachment-free, without rāga-dveṣa, by one not seeking fruit.
Sāttvic tyāga: niyata karma done ONLY because 'this must be done,' having abandoned attachment and fruit.
Verse 2 of 47 · back to Chapter 6