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)
V2 makes the sannyāsa = yoga equation explicit and then gives the internal mechanism: saṃkalpa. What people call sannyāsa (renunciation) and what Krishna calls yoga are the same thing. And the key to both is asannyasta-saṃkalpa — renouncing saṃkalpa, the ego's self-willed intention. No one becomes a yogī while holding onto saṃkalpa — the mental resolve that insists 'I must have this outcome.' Yoga requires releasing that insistence, not releasing action.
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. V2 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.
- V2 pairs with V1: V1 defined the outer behaviour of the true sannyāsī (acts without fruit-dependence); V2 gives the inner mechanism (renounces saṃkalpa — the mental desire-structure that makes fruit-dependence feel urgent). Both together = the complete definition.
V2 introduces one of the most important technical terms in the Gita: saṃkalpa. From sam + kḷp (to intend precisely, to resolve), saṃkalpa is the mental act of projecting a specific future and attaching the self's wellbeing to that projection. It is the ego's planning-with-attachment — not planning as such (which is neutral and necessary) but planning that insists the self requires a particular outcome. The verse states that without asannyasta-saṃkalpa (renouncing this ego-attachment to intended outcomes), no one — kaścana, not anyone — becomes a yogī. This is a universal, exceptionless claim. It establishes saṃkalpa-sannyāsa as the defining inner act of yoga, prior to and more fundamental than any technique. V2 continues the equation V1 established: sannyāsa = yoga. Now it gives the mechanism: what makes them the same is not the external form (active/inactive, fire/no fire) but the internal act of releasing saṃkalpa. The karma-yogi of V1 (acts without fruit-dependence) is precisely the one who has renounced saṃkalpa — the ego's claim on the fruit. The two verses together form the complete opening statement of Ch.6.
Advaita lens
From Advaita's perspective, saṃkalpa is the primary activity of the ego-self (ahankāra). The false identification of the self with a particular body-mind-history produces the insistence that this particular configuration's desires must be satisfied. Sannyāsa of saṃkalpa is therefore the practical expression of the recognition that the ātman has no personal stake in outcomes — ātman is the witness of all saṃkalpas but is none of them. Shankaracharya notes that the jñānī who has recognised ātman = Brahman naturally has asannyasta-saṃkalpa, because there is no separate ego-entity left whose planning-with-attachment could arise. For the pre-realisation seeker, asannyasta-saṃkalpa is the essential preparation for that recognition.
Karma-Yoga lens
In the karma-yoga framework, V2 names the inner mechanism that V1 described externally. The karma-yogi acts without fruit-dependence (V1) because they have renounced saṃkalpa (V2) — the ego's mental claim on the outcome. This does not mean no intention: the karma-yogi intends to do the right action (kāryam) fully and well. But the identity does not ride on the outcome. Tilak (Gita Rahasya) comments that this is what makes karma-yoga genuinely liberating rather than merely morally commendable: the action is full, the skill is full, the engagement is full — and the saṃkalpa (ego's stake in the result) is released. That combination is yoga.
Modern parallels
Daniel Kahneman's distinction between 'System 1' (automatic, ego-driven, emotionally reactive) and 'System 2' (deliberate, considered, capable of stepping back) maps loosely onto saṃkalpa vs. its renunciation. Saṃkalpa is System 1's emotional insistence on a particular outcome — the feeling of urgency that 'this MUST happen.' Asannyasta-saṃkalpa is System 2 observing that urgency without being captured by it. Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) research shows that the single most powerful predictor of reduction in psychological distress is the ability to observe mental states (including desires and plans) without being identified with them — precisely what V2's asannyasta-saṃkalpa describes.
Practice
Sit in stillness. Notice what intentions, plans, or desired outcomes are present in the mind right now. For each one, acknowledge it clearly: 'I see you — saṃkalpa.' Then ask: 'Who is aware of this plan?' Rest as the awareness that sees the saṃkalpa — not as the saṃkalpa itself. The awareness that can observe the ego's planning-with-attachment without being it: that is the beginning of asannyasta-saṃkalpa.
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 tyāga: niyata karma done ONLY because 'this must be done,' having abandoned attachment and fruit.
One with no ego-doer-sense, whose buddhi is untainted — even while killing all these beings, kills not, is not bound.